September?

How did it get to be September??

The rest of the summer has flown by. In part, we've been ridiculously busy the last few weeks. We were away for a week, then the weekend we came back, we rearranged our house and hauled a lot of furniture. Then we had some friends over then another friend came for 3 days with her 10-month-old baby girl. Then we were away over the weekend visiting family (and seeing James Taylor!!) and now we're back. We went down to RI yesterday to hang out with a friend at the beach, and now we're gearing up for DS1's birthday. Friend party tomorrow, family all through the weekend...and then he starts Kindergarten next week! We had the practice bus ride this morning and I will admit I got a bit choked up when the bus pulled out with all those wee folks waving to us. They couldn't see over the seats in front of them! Sometimes he seems to big to me (and he's older for Kindergarten due to the cutoff, which I am so thankful about) but I have to remind myself that he's still just a very little boy and this is a big deal. He's nervous about it, but I'm hopeful it's going to be a great year!

So, while we were in the Berkshires, I knit a sock. :) Just an ankle sock but still a sock! I used the leftovers from my Branching Out (and I'm going to be cutting it verrrrrry fine to squeeze the second one out of what's left!). I cast on in the car on the way out and bound off the day after we got home. So, it's STR, I can't remember if it's light or medium weight (lemme look at the other skeins...lightweight), toe-up, 60 sts and a 1x1 ribbed short ankle. It didn't pool weirdly at all and it's so pretty!! It knit up really nice and quickly and if I didn't live somewhere with serious, serious winter, I'd make all my socks ankle socks because it's really nice to turn the heel and think "wow, I'm going to be binding off in eight rows!"so

Now I just need some new shoes for the fall, to show off my socks! Keen replaced my warped Calistogas with new Calistogas...which warped again!! And the glue that holds the toe to the shoe leather leaked, and I can't get it cleaned up. I think Calistogas are just not in the cards for me...we'll see if they replace these. I love Keens, but this one style just doesn't work. Which is a bummer because they're perfect for showing off handknit socks.

Of course, in order to show off all these alleged socks, I need to actually finish some PAIRS. Yes, socks come in pairs. I know, it's shocking, but it's true. So, this means you have to KNIT TWO OF EACH KIND OF SOCK YOU WANT TO WEAR. Can you believe it? I apparently couldn't because I've now got four or five single socks hanging out, waiting for mates. Need to get on that.

It's all in how you think about it.

Yesterday we spent the entire day at the celebration of a friend's mother's wedding. It was a lovely day, beautiful weather, lots of love and joy in the air. It was also very, very social, and I think we're a family of introverts (even me! This would surprise most people who know me), so we were all left a bit tired. Today, the boys were just Not Listening to me. I'd tell them to stop doing something, they'd do it again. I'd tell one boy to knock it off, the other would then do the exact same thing. We were out on a walk and I ended up taking the boys home because of this, while DH took the girl off to poke sticks in the lake (a favorite pastime of most of the family). Instead of staying angry, or just tuning out, I decided that we needed a little running around, so I got out the cones and the soccer ball, and we played a soccer/tackle/rolling down the lawn game for the next hour, that left us all laughing and breathless. It was a powerful reminder to me that so much of life is truly what I make of it. I have been very influenced by Viktor Frankl's work (probably time to go reread it, actually!) and it's useful to remember that I have a great deal of control over how I experience my life.

And on to the knitting!

I got a chance to do some knitting, and I actually took a picture! My sister, when I told her that I'm currently obsessed with knitting shawls, asked if I'd be willing to make one for her. I immediately got excited, and did a little stash-diving to come up with this! The yarn is some yarn that my mom found for me at the local second-hand store: The yarn is Madil Rebus in sapphire. The pattern is Swallowtail and I'm knitting it on size 8s. Since the yarn is listed as a bulky weight, I'm sort of winging it on size. I've got 5 skeins (600 yards), which I am hoping is enough to give me a good-sized shawl. I really wasn't sure this yarn would work with a lace pattern, because it's a mini-boucle, but it actually really works nicely, in my opinion. It also just feels so soft and velvety! I think this will be a lovely, warm, but lightweight shawl. I'm interested to see how it blocks, with the nylon content that it has. It looks like it will felt, so I'm hoping to spit-splice the skeins and have fewer ends to deal with. I've done 7 pattern repeats, and am about to do a couple more. I haven't decided if I'm going to do the nupps or not, since it is a bigger and fuzzier wool, I'm not sure if they'd look good or not. I'll decide when I get there! Mainly I just have to figure out how many pattern repeats to do! And yes, I am using lifelines.

And in other news, my SIL asked if she could "hire" me to make my niece a cardigan! On the one hand, wow! I got really excited...on the other hand, I am not sure my skills (especially my buttonhole skills!) are really good enough to do something that she could actually wear. Scary!!

A bit of the blahs...

I'm not sure where my awesome knitting mojo went, but it's trickled away. I had the day "off" yesterday - in the morning I went and did some studying and then did a yoga class. The yoga classes offered at my gym aren't really the style of yoga I love, but it was really nice, and it was an actual class I could actually go to, as opposed to those amazing hypothetical classes that don't work in my schedule. I dashed home, nursed DD and shoveled some lunch into myself, and headed off to the movies. YAY! I love going to the movies, and actually love going alone. It was the first matinee of the day, and I think there was one other woman in the theater to me. I chose to go light, I saw He's Just Not That Into You.

Now, I am someone who truly enjoys being entertained and doesn't need everything I watch to be High Art, or even really all that good. So perhaps my expectations were low, but I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I laughed, I teared up (yes, I am hormotional, whatever), and I actually found it quite thought provoking. I could relate to the dilemmas of the women, in some way, and wondered why it took me so long to learn in my own life that men who treat you like dirt and play games just aren't worth it. I also thought it was interesting that while these women were all portrayed as being desperate to find THE ONE and get married, most of the actual marriages were portrayed very negatively. Anyway, after that I had the option to go knit, but I realized that I so rarely get to shop for ME without kids in tow, so I went and got some new yoga wear.

All this is a long-winded way of saying that I haven't been knitting much. DH and I watched a movie on Friday night and I did some rounds on one of my socks, but that's about it. I'm at that point where I'm just BORED with everything I'm doing, or it takes more brain power than I have available. All I want to do is cast on tons of new projects, mostly socks, but I'm exercising restraint and not doing it because I really want to finish.

Also, I went through this phase where I was knitting a ton and I wasn't reading much. Now I am a voracious reader, and I always have at least one book going, usually more. I actually, for perhaps the first time, didn't have a book I was reading! While I was away last week, I got rehooked into reading. I read...5 books while I was there (about a book a day), and now all I want to do is curl up and read. Most of what I read was the emotional equivalent of comfort food, but I did read this, and thought it was absolutely FANTASTIC. (I'm not sure why Amazon thinks it hasn't been released yet...my sister used to work for a bookstore, maybe she got an advance copy? It wasn't a reader. Oh wait, it's book two that's coming out in April. Squee!). Anyway, if you're a Fantasy Fiction reader (which I am) and if you're a writing snob (err, which I am, a bit - I know, it seems in contrast to my statement above, but honestly, so much that's published is just crappy writing), you will appreciate this book.

What else...school vacation is over, THANK GOD. That's how I know I have truly become an adult. It's not that I don't enjoy my kids, I do. But, I'm lucky enough to be a stay-at-home-mom, which means that I'm with them all the time. School gives us all a bit of a break from each other, which is a good thing. My oldest is...intense, and having some time away from him helps me be more present and available when I am with him. I actually hit a point yesterday where I was trying to get something done in the kitchen and both my sons were coming at me. I was backed up against the cabinets, whimpering, and saying "SPACE! I NEED SPACE!! NOBODY TOUCH ME!!" So yeah, school=good. I'll try and get some knitting done tomorrow...

And now I should post this rambling, non-knitting entry before my internet turns off.

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!!

Whoops! Sorry about the last post!

Well, I'm not sorry about the post, I just didn't mean to post such a downer and then disappear for a while.

Things are actually going pretty well. DD is not so yellow anymore. We'll see on Thursday how she's doing on the gaining weight thing. I know she's getting lots of food because she's nursing a lot and we had Poop-A-Thon 2008 this afternoon (good times!!). She also has a cold, poor bub. She's quite possibly the most wonderful baby ever, and she has this truly amazing characteristic that neither of the boys had: she lets you PUT HER DOWN. Now I just have to, well, do that. I love holding her, but man, my back is aching.

We've been on our own for about a week now, and it's actually going well. I can manage the kids, but not so much the house/cleaning/cooking part of it. Though, to be honest, that's never actually been my strength. I sort of wish I were really wealthy because then we'd hire someone to come and clean, and that would be really cool. Except that I'd still have to pick up all the crap that's lying around so someone COULD come and clean, wouldn't I?

Oh, did I mention that I'm now truly, 100% a suburban housewife? We now have (a) the house in the 'burbs, (b) the many, many children, (c) the minivan and as of today, (d) the stand-alone freezer in the basement! Can I just say that I lay awake last night thinking of what I'm going to fill it with, and it's not even ice cream! Whoa.

There was a neighborhood association party on Sunday and I saw two of the women from my knitting group there. :) It was really cool to actually have people that I sort of know to run in to, you know? And one of then gave me nine tomato plants, so that was even cooler. AND, my MIL found the green sock (it was tucked in with some sewing stuff), so that's a happy thing. So, at this point, I have the green stripy sock to do, and Falling Leaves #2 to start. I have so much great sock yarn, which I reacquainted myself with when I reorg'd my stash, but I fear that all I am capable off right now is stockinette. At least I'd have some pretty socks at the end, right?

The other day I had DD in her hat that I knit her, tucked into her carseat with her blanket that I knit her around her so all you could see was her (completely adorable) face, and my husband looked at her and said "Someone who knits loves this baby." So true.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Why am I awake?

My body has this super annoying habit of being unable to return to sleep for several hours, if woken up in the middle of the night. I'd say this has happened 7 of the last 10 nights and I am SICK OF IT. But, I thought I'd blog a bit. Whee! Middle of the night blogging! Better than middle of the night angsting, which is what I usually do, right? Right!

My new favorite sock heel is the afterthought heel, and I haven't even done it yet! We'll see how I feel about it once I actually complete it. I am happy with the sock so far because the striping has stayed in pattern. Hey, here's a question - say you knit one sock, and realize that you don't like something about how you designed it (just, hypothetically speaking, say you knit a sock in self-striping yarn and did a short-row heel and now it bugs you that you didn't do an afterthought heel). When you do the second sock, would you change your design? Which would bug you more - having two socks that are out of striping order, or having two socks that don't technically match? I think I need them to be identical, but I'm not sure.

I have started and ripped out the scarf for my friend about 25 times. It turns out, when I have an idea of what I want to do (a cable knit scarf), substituting all sorts of other things (fake cables, twisted stitch patterns, faggot lace) doesn't work for me. I am not sure why I am surprised by this, as this is completely my personality, but hey, there it is. So yeah, after many more design hours than I anticipated, I just picked a fairly complicated cable, and I'm just doing that. I finished the first set of pattern repeats and I'm fairly happy with it. The cable crossings aren't making me want to poke myself in the eye with a shiny stick, so that's good. The yarn is great, it's KnitPicks Swish in Deep Ocean which shows the pattern really nicely. It even withstood being knit and yanked a LOT without too much pilling. I could see this yarn being a nice sub for the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.

So, I've been having fantasies about dying my own yarn. Shh, don't tell my husband, I think he would be...well, to be honest, he'd be completely amused and supportive because he is the Best Husband Ever, and tends to be supportive, but given the variety of things we have coming up over the next year, I don't think I'm going to have time for this for quite some time.

I also want to learn to spin my own yarn.

FOs: Rosemary Shawl and more Fetching

Given that I haven't posted a FO picture in about a month (and those were all dishcloths), I have a couple of other types of things to show.

The first was actually finished quite some time ago, but I hadn't sent it to the recipient until recently (and if you're reading, friend, I loved your email and I'm truly not ignoring you!). This was a triangle shawl (my very first shawl) out of Lion Suede. I *love* the colors in this colorway, but I was frustrated with the lack of consistency within the dye lot - not only from skein to skein but WITHIN a skein as well. It's OBVIOUS (to me at least). But, the shawl was really pretty and snuggly and I think my friend liked it. I think I knit this up on size 9s? I used my KnitPick Options (which I loved, as always). This picture is horrible, but I was packing it up to send off (which took way too long), so I was really in a hurry (as you can see by the unmade bed! Oh the shame of it!). I was pleased with how the eyelets on the hypotenuse came out, as I had to sort of make up the pattern there. I had lots of fun with the math of this project, both in trying to figure out how long my sides needed to be to get a 60"-62" hypotenuse, and also getting the eyelets to work with the number of stitches (I wish I'd written down what I did).

The second FO is a pair of Fetching for my friend. I haven't sent them off yet (tomorrow, Fred!), but she knows they're coming (though she may have given up hope at this point!). The one modification I made to the pattern was that I made the hands a few rows shorter as she has eensy little hands! I hope they're not too wide. As always, I really loved knitting these. It's such a nice pattern, the yarn is delicious, and I had fun experimenting with different shapes of cable needles. I found that I liked the flat needle better for the cable in back, and the U-shaped needle better for the cable in front.

With the completion of these, I can now start new projects. I started a Zokni Sock today while I had the babysitter (I gave myself a couple of hours off, it was so lovely). I like the pattern but I had to write it out as I'm not adept at charts yet. I still need to do Monkey #2 as well. I need to do a couple more NICU hats and get those off, as they haven't had anything from me in months and probably think I disappeared.

My baby blanket is on hold, but I just heard that an old friend had a baby girl (didn't even know she was pregnant) so maybe I'll finish it up for her. I'm waiting on more buttons for the Fruit Salad Cardi, once I get those, I'll post pictures (if you promise not to laugh at my slightly funny shaped baby sweater, babies are boxy, right??).

In other news, we're house-hunting with a vengeance, which makes me so anxious I can barely breathe (it's just my nature, nothing to write home about), so expect a lot of knitting these days. It calms me.

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?