Did you hear that thud??

That was me, falling off the yarn diet wagon with a resounding thud. You may have heard it? You know it's bad when you're gathering your new purchases to photograph them and think "waaait just a minute, wasn't there a whole 'nother box around here somewhere??"

So yes. I have purchased yarn. A lot of it. Well, a lot for me. And now, reallytrulyseriously I have to stop because, well, I just don't have that much time to knit!! And this pretty much blows my allowance for a while too.

First up, we have the Knit Picks order:

Here we have the Essential sock yarn (now called Stroll) in Meadow. You know, I read the description of this colorway, but in the picture on my monitor, the brown looks more greenish, but it's really...BROWN. We'll see, I'm undecided about this.














Next up is Stroll in Pansy Multi. Purples, it's very pretty, what can I say. I love purple. This will probably be a basic stockinette sock.



















After this, we have the Stroll Handpainted, in Make Believe. This is gorgeous! I have three skeins because I was pondering a lace shawl of some sort, but I'm a bit concerned it'll be too busy. I guess I might *gasp* have to swatch. Not sure what pattern, maybe a Swallowtail? And really, it's a handpainted, superwash sock yarn with Nylon in it! I don't know if this is the same base as the Felici self-striping, but the socks I made from that line have worn really well so far, and I do love being able to toss them into the wash as needed.

Also in this order I got a replacement Options cable (for the one the cat chewed on) and some more locking stitch markers because I'm running low.



Then we have the Simply Sock Yarns order. I was a bit frustrated with how long it took to get this until I read the blog wherein they mentioned that they were on vacation! So, once I knew that, no worries and they shipped immediately upon return. First, the Ty Dy Sock Yarn from Knit One, Crochet Too, in Blue Pansy. What can I say, I'm a follower. It's totally "my" colors, and will be some sort of simple sock. I need to do some Rav surfing to see what other people have done. (Ooo, just found a gorgeous sock in the same colorway, I may have to do it!)
















Then we have the gorgeous Dream in Color Starry in Midnight Derby! It's *much* darker than on their website, but on the Simply Sock Yarns website, it's a bit more accurate. There are color shifts in there, but they're more subtle. But, the main reason I wanted a darker yarn was that the silver fibers just really pop! This is destined to be shawl of some sort.



















And then we have the huge, terrible splurge from ColorSong Yarn. Hand Maiden Sea Silk. More of it than one slow knitter should have. I just fell in love with the Lily Pond colorway, so I actually bought two skeins of that. I don't know what pattern it will be, but a shawl of some sort, most likely. And then, they had the 150g balls. So I got one in the Renaissance colorway, which I think will be a Gail. This yarn is gorgeous, just gorgeous.





























I was feeling pretty seriously guilty about all this, but you know, it's not like I really have any other vices left to me! I do love yarn, I really do.

The Simple Things

There's a song I really love (exposing my adoration of cheesy music) by a guy named Jim Brickman. Most of his stuff is sort of new-age, instrumental, George Winston-esque piano, but he's got one song that has been in my head all day. Here's a sample from it:

So here we go,
Let’s just dance,
Teach my soul to take this chance,
Put my heart, in your hands.

Out of all the moments that,
We leave behind,
Turn around and tell me,
Baby we’ll remember.

The thunder and the rain,
The way you say my name,
After all the clouds go by,
The simple things remain,
The sun, the moon, the stars,
The beating of two hearts,
How I love the way the simple things,
The simple things just are.

I think it's on my mind because I've had a day just filled with simple moments of joy.

• Breakfast with one of my dearest friends and her son (who is, of course, my daughter's future husband).
• Some time home alone with my girl, just playing. She adores me right now, and I'm trying to soak it up because I know (a) it won't last and (b) she's the last one. The older they get, the more complex the relationship gets. We've been having all these moments lately where she looks up and connects with me and just lights up, and gives me a giant, sloppy kiss. Pure love, what an amazing gift.
• Time playing Lego with the boys while the girl slept, just listening to their imaginative play and chatter.
• Time knitting - I got re-engergized on my Falling Leaves Lace Sock! It's sock #2, and I started the pair in, oh my, August of 2007! For some reason I just have been dragging my feet. I don't love the yarn, but it's bothering me less right now than it did. They're so pretty, and I am almost done turning the heel, and then I have 7 pattern repeats to go and the ribbing and the pair is done! (I am totally laughing because I am doing colorway 726, AKA "Put One Foot in Front of the Other"!)
• A gorgeous moment this afternoon, at the farm where we pick up our CSA produce. We always pick up the veggies, put them in the car, and then go visit the goats, the chickens and the bunnies(in that order). Today we also took a walk out by the pond. My daughter was walking next to me, holding on to my finger (did I mention, since Friday, she is *totally* a walker now!), the boys were running and playing and chattering, the sun was so warm, it smelled like sweet hay, and it was just a moment where all was *right* in my world. The only way it could have been better is if my husband had been with me too.
• We had a delicious dinner: steak (from our meat CSA, so local and humanely raised); fresh, local corn; fresh local greens for the salad; and mac'n'cheese (always a hit in our household).
• Another wonderful moment, when I was taking out the recycling. Our lot slopes up to the road, so I was hauling stuff up the hill, smelling the summer evening, and feeling the earth beneath my feet. I try to be open in the present moment as much as I can, but it's so easy to get lost in all the things I "have" to do.

This isn't to say that I'm somehow calm and zen and happy all the time. I live with an anxiety monologue in my head that can make me crazy if I'm not careful, not to mention all the regular worries of an ordinary life (Did I pay all the bills? Why does my sink smell so bad? What *are* we going to have for dinner? Oh crap, the deadline for soccer registration is tomorrow!). There are also always larger concerns in any life of substance. But, I believe I have some choice, a lot of choice, actually, as to how much power I give those worries.

Ultimately, all I have, all any of us has, is this moment right now. Sometimes those moments are painful, or scary, or sad, or lonely, but often, far more often than I pay attention to, those moments are just simply beautiful.

Knitting and Math

Now, I really like math, I always have. I never got far enough along for it to get messy, and I just always enjoyed the fact that there were right answers, and they could be worked out. I loved equations, I adored geometry. Calculus was where I met my Waterloo but up until then, I loved it. It's odd, given my love of black&white thinking, that I ended up in Philosophy and Psychology, both areas known for fuzziness.

(Total tangent, I've been reading a bit on the whole issue of illiteracy in the US, and I'm wondering if math illiteracy is also an issue. Is that even the right term? Not quite the right term, but yup, it's an issue. Thanks, Google!)

Anyway, so I love to read and I love math. And statistics.

So, I'm knitting on my Forest Canopy shawl, and looking at the pattern, which calls for 8 pattern repeats. I'm knitting a large gauge yarn on smaller needles (god, will you just stop with the whole SWATCH thing already!!!), which is looking nice, I think, but really, I'm already halfway through the 5th pattern repeat, and this thing is nowhere near shawl size. It's not even napkin size, should you, you know, want a wool/silk blend, lace, hand-wash-only napkin, which I'm not saying you would, but it takes all kinds, people, it really does. Wait, what was I saying? Oh yes, it's not big enough. I also don't appear to have used a whole lot of my 100g ball of yarn. Given that it's a triangular shawl, knit...well, how to describe it if you haven't done one, it's knit out from the center of the long side. So, you're increasing every other row for a bunch of rows (20 stitches per pattern repeat of 8 rows). So I was pondering how to figure out how much yarn I might be using.

So, I created a spreadsheet. Ahh, the noble spreadsheet.

I figured out how many rows the pattern calls for (this is just for the increases section, not the scalloped edging, I'll fudge that calculation later), and put those in, and figure out how many stitches you're doing on each row. Then I look at how many rows I'd already done, and weighed my ball to see how much I've used. (Caveat, I didn't weigh the ball to start with, so I don't know if I started exactly at 100 g or not. Which may make all my calculations way off.) Then I summed stitches completed (2974), and divided the weight I'd used (100-the weight of the ball, or 3 g) by the stitches I'd done, giving me, I think, a grams per stitch calculation. Just FYI, it's 0.0010.

Then I summed the total number of stitches for the lace body as the pattern is written (9706) and multiplied it by my grams per stitch variable, giving me just under 10 g for 8 pattern repeats. This seems low, so I'll be interested to see what it comes out to be! It is interesting to me that while I'm just over halfway through the lace repeats, I've done about less than a third of the pattern stitches.

This means, obviously, that I'm going to be doing far more pattern repeats than the pattern calls for. Which is so not a problem, but I was all psyched to get this thing done, and it's not going to happen that quickly.

And, since I'm home with one baby sleeping and two boys off at Machines Camp, I'm going to go knit on the thing right now! I *should* be doing housework, but knitting and math are way more fun.

Proof that I'm doing *something*

Well, I guess TECHNICALLY it isn't proof that *I'm* knitting, just proof that someone has started a Forest Canopy Shawl. This is being knit in a fingering weight yarn, purchased from the Vermont Yarn Company, and it's one of their yarns, hand-dyed. I can't find the tag, but I believe it's a wool/silk blend, with 2% silver fibers. I wish the silver showed up more, it's very subtle but really pretty. I don't think you can see it all in these pictures. The color remind me of the twilight sky.

I am trying to get better at the double decreases (sl1, k2tog, psso), because when I pass the slipped stitch, I tend to pull it a bit, and it gets loopier, and thus more noticeable than I like.














And as you may have noticed, I am using lifelines. :)

Hubris

I am a researcher. Whether it's psychology, child birth, diaper bags, strollers, yarn, or whatever, if I am caught by something, I like to learn a lot (A LOT) about it. I love to share what I've learned, but I also just like knowing things. So, having gotten caught up by lace, I've done some reading, books and blogs and whatnot, about the process, other people's projects, etc.

The hallmark of hubris is a presumptive pride, and let me tell you how mine went. "The pattern's not that hard...I'll be REALLY careful...I can do this...I DON'T NEED A LIFELINE."

Ha. HA.

I ripped out the 7 pattern repeats I'd done on the Swallowtail shawl for a mistake that I cannot for the life of me figure out. I finished the pattern repeats with the correct number of stitches, I did Row 1 of the next repeat correctly (verified about 8 times) and yet...I had the wrong number of stitches. Perhaps it's the fact that I did something horrible to my back yesterday that resulted in hours of lying on the floor weeping from pain (that's actually not an exaggeration, sadly), but my morale was low, and I frogged it.

*sigh* I decided to do the Forest Canopy Shawl instead, as that is listed as a good beginner project, and I *am* a lace beginner (however many lace socks I've knit notwithstanding). It's very pretty, and I've already got my first lifeline in. I'm using unwaxed dental floss and the clever clever hole in the KnitPicks Options needle to pull it through.

In other news, I finished Wicked Monkey #1 and it's very pretty.

It's funny, I really like variegated yarn in lace, but when I linked to some yarn I was interested in in another forum, one (very experienced) knitter raised the opinion that the yarn was "too busy" for lace (and clearly owned it as her own opinion). I thought it would work. I am doing Branching Out in STR, (this, to be specific) and I think it looks nice. I don't know, now I'm second guessing myself.

Willpower is overrated.

Isn't it?

*sigh*

Back on the yarn diet tomorrow...

Things I am Interested In

People who know me, know I could be described as a bit obsessional and controlling a planner. I like to think about what I might do, I like to look at yarn...I am pondering some purchases (which I should NOT be making).

So, let's see what's on the radar right now.

A friend *cough*ROBIN*cough* has me convinced I need this yarn, in this colorway: Knit One Crochet One Ty-Dy Sock in Blue Pansy.

I am knitting with a local version of Dream in Color's Starry, and I *love* it. I want to do a darker colorway because I think the silver will really pop. I'm pondering another triangular shawl (you know, because I've already finished the one I'm worki...oh wait, no I haven't). But I'm thinking about the Forest Canopy Shawl maybe. Either in a dark blue or green colorway. Pretty, right?

I am also thinking about doing Gail in Handmaiden Sea Silk, maybe in Lily Pond or Renaissance (if I can find it anywhere).

Hmm, apparently I have become obsessed with knitting shawls. I think a shawl (or three) would be really useful for me to have around the house this winter, as we like to keep the heat low, and I don't actually own a ton of sweaters (odd, I know, I live in New England). I love being wrapped up in a blanket, and really, what is a shawl but a blanket sized for mobility?

I still laugh at how emphatic I was that I would not, never, no way no how, want to knit lace, and now....well, that's all I want to knit!

I'm also pondering Rona (in Iris Heather) and Janet (as shown, I love that color) from KnitPicks. And, they've got some new sock yarn colors that are nice too.

Hi, I'm Knitting with a Purpose, and I am addicted to sock yarn.

There's a lot of muttering in knitting lace.

For me, at least. I have to mutter the pattern aloud so that I don't lose my place or forget things like a YO or a K1. And since I'm either sneaking some knitting in while on kid duty or knitting after the kids go to be (i.e. when I'm in an exhausted daze), I need all the help I can get.

Someone, please stop me before I order some of this. Look at how pretty the pansy is! Pansies were my wedding flower! I have pansies tattooed on my back! *sigh* I'm broke.

I am very very tired. We had two very sick little boys yesterday who recovered enough to have energy today, but not enough to do anything (and we were still in quarantine anyway). And the baby got me up at 5:30, which is too damn early. Good thing she's cute.

And, I am completely ashamed to report that in the midst of a bounty of wonderful produce and delicious meat, tonight's dinner was canned baked beans, hot dogs and frozen garlic bread.

Wait, what's that??

It appears to be my knitting mojo! Not embracing me completely, mind you, simply putting in a bit of an appearance.

Part of the circumstances leading to some actual knitting happening are that both of my boys are SICK. They've got some crappy (and hopefully short-lived) virus that has knocked them out with HIGH fevers, and each one has had one random barfing episode (SO FUN). So today was spent entertaining the baby while bringing them ice water and letting them watch the most consecutive hours of TV they have ever watched. They watched more TV today than they've watched in the last 4 months, seriously. We're not usually a big TV family, but today was one of those "do what you gotta do to get through." I'm swimming in a triathlon on Sunday as part of a team, so I'm praying I don't get it. But anyway, I had some actual time while the baby was napping.

And I had some repair to do. SOMEONE who shall remain nameless (mainly because I don't know which kitten it was) pulled a sock-in-progress out of my bag and CHEWED THE YARN THROUGH! ARGH!! It's my KP Imagination in Wicked Monkey sock. I *love* this yarn. So I sat down to fix it in my own fairly half-@ssed way. It's superwash so you can't spit splice it, so I just tied a tiny knot and hoped it would land more on the side of the sock. Which it didn't, hopefully it won't be really uncomfortable under my foot. But, I'd rather have the knot there then in the lace work on the top of the foot. So, I actually managed to complete a couple more lace repeats, and I think I have about 4 more before I'll start the toe. Which makes me very happy. This sock is going to fit me very snuggly but it should work.

Then I pulled out my Koigu stockinette sock and swooned over the yarn a bit, and then knit about 15 rows. I decided to decrease it down 2 stitches as it felt like it was going to be loose. (Gague? Huh? What?) This is another one of these socks where I just increase until it sort of looks right.

Yesterday I also managed an entire lace pattern repeat (it's only 6 rows) on the Swallowtail shawl. This is so, so pretty. I'm struggling with my higher nature on this project, in terms of keeping it versus gifting it.

AND I also got Branching Out going again. I'd say it's close to half done, it really doesn't need to be that long as it's a decorative scraf, not a 6-foot-keep-me-warm-in-the-depths-of-Massachusetts-winter scarf. Also, so, so pretty.

So there you go, I'm knitting a bit. It makes me happy.

Blog Name Not So Accurate

...at the moment, anyway. I'm not doing much knitting at all, either with a purpose or without one. It's summer, it finally got warm, I have three kids. Yeah, yeah, same old same old. It does hit me sometimes, holy cowzels (a phrase of my son's), I have THREE kids! That's a lot of kids. Thankfully they're awesome. Have you ever noticed that all bloggers' kids are (a) awesome and (b) brilliant? Heh.

I will say that I'm enjoying July a lot more than June. At this moment in time, everyone seems healthy (knock wood, it won't last). Older son's bone thing was nothing. Younger son's tummy thing is NOT celiac (don't know what it is but it's not celiac). We're really busy, which seems odd, because it is summer, but we're having fun. The last couple of weeks have been hit or miss with weather (miss, really), but we've had a couple of good days. Today being one of them - it's GORGEOUS out there. We spent the entire morning at the beach. Both boys actually enjoyed their swim lessons - hey, how odd, when it's warmer than 60 degrees, they like it better! Then we just hung out for the rest of the morning! We came home for DD's nap and now we're heading back to the beach, to meet up with more friends and have dinner there. The local pizza place delivers to the beach, how awesome is that?

I'd love to get more knitting done...but somehow, when it's hot, I'm just less in the mood.

Summer is here!!

After something like 30 straight days of rain, we've finally had some wonderful summer days! This weekend, my DH and I were able to go out for dinner ALONE together! The place was even BYOB so we had a lovely wine for a reasonable price. It was so wonderful just to sit and be together, and remember why it was we wanted to get married NINE years ago! He's the best. We had a nice long weekend filled with some productive stuff (finally weeded the front gardens, which desperately needed it!), some lounging around, and some fun family stuff. AND, I got some swimming in! I'm doing the Appleman Triathlon with two friends, and I'm the swimmer. I finally got in the lake and did the course, and I'm quite pleased with how it's going. The race in is less than two weeks. Of course my gym membership expired Saturday so I have to decide if I'm going to re-up or not. I probably will, it's cheap and close and has babysitting. But for now, I'm swimming. Today was gorgeous, and we spent the whole morning at the lake, and then the afternoon at a friend's house for swimming lessons. I am *exhausted* now. But happy.

Knitting has been, well, um, you know, not so much going on there. I started YET ANOTHER sock, because I needed a plain stockinette project for knitting group (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) and I just couldn't face the Mini Mochi yet. So I pulled out some Koigu. Ahhhh, Koigu, how I love thee. It's just so pretty! I also did a little more (like, two rows) on my Swallowtail but made the mistake of leaving it out on the couch. Did I mention we have kittens? Thankfully they didn't pull it off the needles, but SOMEONE chewed on my KP Options cord, so it's no longer usable!!

I think I may go do a little knitting right now! Though honestly, given how tired I am, I'll probably just go nap on the couch until it's time for bed.

Darn computer!

I had a whole long post going but my computer froze up and WHOOSH! It was gone. I was a bit demoralized, so I took a day to recover my strength and try again. Ha ha.

So much is going on, I cannot believe it's July on Wednesday, not to mention my 9th wedding anniversary!

In the knitting part of my life...I finished the knitting that had been giving me so much trouble. Clearly it's not a pattern I am meant to do, as each part was just FRAUGHT with difficulty. I couldn't get gauge, I couldn't keep track of my rows, apparently I forgot how to read in English, which is not only my native language, it's my only language...really, it was just bad. It's a gift, so I tried to imbue the project with love (you know, in between curses), but mainly I'm thankful it's done. It's also clear to me that knitting on a deadline is just not a good practice for me. It's odd, because as much of a confrontation-phobe as I am, I also really don't like being told what to do...even when I am the one doing the telling!! It's a problem. Anyway, it's done and in time, to gauge. More details when I can reveal them.

Now, while I was up in VT, I got to spend some time at a lovely LYS. I know, I know, I'm on a yarn diet! Except that I have no will-power. Some gorgeous purple Malabrigo came home with me (she had FOUR DIFFERENT SHADES OF PURPLE, oh my god, I thought I had died (dyed?) and gone to heaven but even I couldn't justify FOUR skeins!). And, she had some hand-dyed sock yarn in a base that must be similar to this, but dyed by her, in gorgeous light and dark blues and a bit of purple. It's so pretty, it reminds me of an evening sunset with the stars just starting to shine! I finished the above-mentioned project and immediately cast on a Swallowtail with this. I'm knitting it on size 5s, and I think it really works. I am just praying there's enough yarn. I have 420 yars, and I'm planning more of a scarf than a shawl. I've still got several socks in flight, and recently when cleaning my desk, I came across my Branching Out. *blush* And another lace project. I have entirely too many lace projects in flight, and not enough brain cells to complete any of them!

In non-knitting life...well, WHOA. I just feel like my head is spinning! We had our New England tour last week, which went very well, considering the potential for it to, well, not. We spent time with my family, we spent time with my husband's family. We're working with our oldest, who is quite social but is truly an introvert and needs alone time to recharge, on figuring out how to learn his internal cues so he can get what he needs without having to act out to get it. So there were some moments of challenge there. We're now back home. This morning was my older son's appointment at Children's in Boston to make sure that the bone anomoly thing really is just nothing and not some horrible SOMETHING. It's nothing. :) It was about a 5 minute appointment, where the doctor basically said "It's nothing, a variant of normal, don't come back, don't let the door hit you on the bum as you leave." My *favorite* kind of appointment! I slept very poorly last night, envisioning way too many "what ifs." Then, my husband suggested that DS1 and I have date day, so we did! We went to the Aquarium, had lunch out, and then rode the T for a very long time. Funnily enough, we ran into a good friend on the Green line! We stopped in Porter Square for some vitamins and then went home. I am exhausted!

Tomorrow begins our regular "hang out at the beach" part of the summer. We always see lots of friends there, so that'll be fun. Let's home the weather cooperates!

It is what it is.

So, one of the things that knitting does for me is that it gives me a lot of practice in facing reality. As I said to my lovely husband, it's hard to lie to yourself with knitting. You've either done it correctly, or you haven't. It's either 5 inches, or it isn't. You've either done the yarn over, or you've forgotten it. Now, an error doesn't necessarily mean a do-over. I can compensate for some errors. Not all, of course. As I've mentioned before, I do have my error threshold, and once I pass it, I need to redo or I'm just not going to be happy with the finished product. But, the thing is what it is.

This is very good practice for life. At the conference I went to in May, with the Dalai Lama, there was discussion about compassion and wisdom, as if they are the two wings of a bird. Without both, you can't fly. Wisdom in the Buddhist tradition, as I understand it, is related to seeing things as they actually are. For me, this is not always easy, as the world is often other than how I wish it were. Knitting allows me a wonderful practice in facing things are they are.

And now I have to reknit the damn project because a 1/2 inch too big is a 1/2 inch too big.

Cursed Knitting

I am working on a project that I can't really blog the details about, but I will say that I am cursed. It's something that's being knit with great love, and yet, as they say, love can only take you so far. It turns out skill counts for something too.

In this latest case, I managed to do the pattern just fine, this was an easy one, but somehow ignored the fact that my piece was a 1/2" too wide. That's a lot. I was just about DONE and ripped it out. *sigh* I need to get this done, and done right.

Other than that...we're on the mend here. We're fairly sure that DS2 does not have celiac, though we're waiting on lab results. We're fairly sure that DS1 does not have bone cancer, though we're waiting on our specialist appointment (the fact that we're not in as an urgent appointment is deeply, deeply comforting to me). We're mourning our sweet kitty, it's true. It's interesting though, while I have moments of intense sadness and grief (after all, she was my family for 15 years), I'm also realizing how hard it's been to see her failing for so long, and how worried we've really been. I am sad she's gone but I am so, so thankful that we made the call when we did. I think we could have made it without guilt a couple of months ago, but I don't think we could have gone much longer. She died still herself, not in pain.

I told my wonderful husband that "the universe will tell us when it's the right time to welcome some new kitties into the house." Two days later, our very good friends and neighbors rescued some kittens and were seeking homes for them. Hmm. I think that's the universe saying NOW!!! NOW!! So we leaped and now have two adorable little boys living with us!

Yes, it makes life more complex, more chaotic, more messy in all senses, to be sure. But really, isn't it the complexity and chaos that makes life so vibrant and so damn interesting?

Kittens!

It's been a hard week.

My oldest son got bitten by dog this week. In addition, he's got some GI stuff going on and had an x-ray, during the reading of which something "weird" was discovered on one of his bones. We're pretty sure it's not something horrible, but we'll be following up with Children's Hospital next week. My other son is having a minor surgical procedure this week, to test him for Celiac disease, but the procedure involves general anesthetic. And then, we had our amazing wonderful kitty, Miss L, put to sleep yesterday.

I'm not enjoying June so much yet.

Sock Wear

So, I posted on the LJ Sock Knitters group about my frustrations with my socks wearing out and got some interesting feedback.

1. Apparently, 8 stitches per inch (which seems fairly standard in sock patterns) is, according to one commenter, way too loose, and will not result in a dense-enough fabric that will wear well. Hmm. Sadly, I like the 8 sts per inch fabric so I don't think I'm going to totally change what gauge I am knitting at (nice grammar there, KWAP).

2. Pure merino wears out more quickly than yarn with nylon in it. Yes, I knew this, and the socks that are starting to wear are not pure merino, they're knit with Felici, which is 25% nylon.

3. Perhaps your shoes are too tight? Hmm. This might make sense. I've been wearing my Calistogas a lot, and they do rub more on the heel. In addition, I believe that my three pregnancies may have transformed my dainty, elf-like feet into something a tad...larger. Thank god I've gotten over the vanity thing and now I'm pretty much mainly about comfort. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm still about the cute shoes, but just in a larger size.

My thought is that perhaps these Calistogas aren't the perfect shoe for me, especially in this size. (These brown ones are the replacements for my black ones that got all hoarked - I don't think I blogged about it here, but Keen's customer service ROCKS.) Perhaps I need some new shoes? I think I'm going to get these in the fall, in Soy. I think they're really cute, and I think I like them better than the slide version of the Calistogas. I like the ballet flats too, but they may have that heel issue. (I also love these, but I'm not sure they really GO with handmade socks, you know?) I'm also interested in these and these, but I think I'd have to see them in person and on before deciding. It's funny, I'm not really a SHOE person, you know? I tend to have two pairs (one brown, one black) that I wear all the time, and that's about it. I am in love with those slides though...I just wonder if they'll be warm enough in NE in the Fall.

All this to say, I did finish the Mini Mochi sock, did I tell you all that (you know, all five people who read this blog! ;) I'm trying to plug away on some other projects but it's tough when you're tired. I am sick of the Mini Mochi yarn, so I may start another vanilla sock out of something not so...annoying, before I come back and finish it. We'll see.

It is almost summer!!!

We've been so busy here, it's crazy! Between school, friends, social stuff, and just life, I feel like time is FLYING. My oldest heads off to Kindergarten in the fall, so they're talking about it A LOT at school and I think he's feeling a bit anxious. He missed our K cutoff by a week, and I have to say that I am so happy about it. I think for him in particular, being one of the oldest is such a good thing. I am so glad that we didn't have to make the call, because it would have been a tough one. I can't believe I'm going to have a kid in real school! Amazing.

I have been doing some knitting. I did a few rows on the Falling Leaves sock. I finished the leg of the Mini Mochi sock. I am so not happy with how that is going. I did a sewn bind-off, which is what I usually do for toe-up socks and it did NOT play well with the yarn. Because the yarn has almost no twist, it's not strong enough to the sewing, and it BROKE, THREE TIMES. And since it's superwash, it (of course) doesn't spit-splice. I was so annoyed and frustrated that I ended up just knotting it. Annoying. Then I totally screwed up the picking up the stitches for the heel. I somehow managed to hook the loop from one side onto the needle (no idea how I did this, or even really what I did), so I had to end up SNIPPING it and knotting it. It's noticeable and I am not happy. I also somehow ended up with way too many stitches. Which is fine, I can use a bit of width there, as I also made this just a bit too snug (I should have done one more round of increases), but all in all, it's made me annoyed with the sock. It'll be wearable and the front is pretty but still. *I* know about the errors. Not my best effort, by far.

I've got a couple of other projects too, which I'm not feeling up to blogging about, so suffice to say, I've got a lot to do.

AND, a FB friend posted a picture of an adorable dress she made for her daughter and now I am totally wanting to sew for my daughter, so I'm in the middle of some sewing too.

Guilt and Knitting (or lack thereof).

I have to keep reminding myself...the thing about hobbies is, they're for FUN. I don't get paid to knit, just the opposite really, so it's okay to take time "off" for having fun. I have the sort of personality that is way too loyal, so when I commit to something, I do it FULLY. Knitting is just not high on my list right now! It's been a busy busy month, and things aren't looking to calm down any time soon! All this is to say, really, I'm not knitting much at all. I did several more rows on my Mini Mochi sock, and that's about it. I don't know, some folks knit all year round, but I do find my knitting tapers off a LOT in the summer.

We've had a couple of major milestones. DS2 turned FOUR last week. We had an in-school celebration on the day of his birthday (along with a field trip to the Butterfly Place), and we're having the kid party tomorrow. Thankfully, we decided to outsource, so we're going to a party place. It's cheesy, yeah, but hey, I don't have to clean up my house or figure out what to do with 19 guests!! I just can't forget to make the cake. And my daughter. I can't believe she's one. Having a third was such a leap of faith (well, having kids at all is a leap, isn't it?). I am so, so glad we did it. We were so lucky - blessed - to have her, and she's just a joy to me, every day. Not every single moment is, of course, but we get way more moments than most, I think. I was such an anxious first-time mom, and when my second came, not only was I completely sleep-deprived, I had a couple of major losses (my uncle dying, some friendships changing) that first year, and was just really sad for a long time. With her, we'd moved out of the city and I've been really happy here, I've got amazing friends in my life (both old and new), and I think, since I know she's my last, I'm just savoring it as much as I can. And, she's such a delightful baby. Not easy, exactly, she's very very active (just like her brothers), into everything and a bit of a handful, but she's such a sunny baby, I'm just so lucky.

Whoa, where have I been?

Busy, but in a really good way! Last week, I got an email letting me know that I had made it off the wait list to a conference that I really wanted to go to. The course was on Meditation and Psychotherapy, and the main speaker on Friday was the Dalai Lama. Of course, I went. The entire conference was amazing, and I'm trying to figure out how to make some changes in my priorities. Doing is hard than thinking about doing, for me at least.

One part of the conference that was wonderful was that I got to go with one of my best friends, a fellow mom from the old 'hood, and I ran into another mom friend there, as well as a friend from my postdoc. So wonderful. I've been feeling really really blessed lately. I feel like my life is flowing over with friendship, family, and love. Not to mention so many material blessings.

Even with all of this, I've been doing some knitting, but, sadly, I think it may be translating out to negative knitting! I'm working on one project where I started it, and didn't get gauge. Started again, got gauge, but dropped a stitch. Started again, got some rows done and realized something looked weird, only to discover that there were 4 more rows of the pattern on the next page. *sigh* I gave up at that point, and tried again a few days later. I knit some, dropped a stitch and ripped it again.

I had the issue of the monkey that had to be ripped back and redone and I haven't had the heart to start it again, because somehow when I started it again, I started at the wrong side, so I'm half a row off and honestly I am not sure what to do about it.

THEN. I started the mini mochi vanilla socks again, this time on 2.5 mms, and I'm definitely liking the fabric much better. However, I noticed that I'd dropped a stitch, something like 15 rows down and just hadn't, you know, noticed. Okay, I had noticed but I didn't really see that it was a dropped stitch. I don't know what is going on with me and dropping stitches these days, it's not something that I do usually that often, but it's an epidemic right now! I'm actually really proud of myself - I got a very very small crochet hook and managed to manually knit the stitch up to the needle and it looks just fine!

So, I think maybe I'm just too tired to be knitting. I think the fact that I am finally getting some decent sleep (for the most part, not including the night my oldest was up from 2:00 am to 4:30 am with nightmares, except how can you be having nightmares if you WILL NOT GO BACK TO BED??) means my body is kicking and saying "Oh yeah, SLEEP! That's what I've been missing for the last year! Gimme more of that!!"

I feel like there are all kinds of wonderful things coming up, and all kinds of things that I'm super-excited to be doing...I'm working out to train for my part of my team's triathalon, I've got a wonderful new bookclub with some amazing women, I've got my group of friends in "the City" that we try to get together with regularly...my second son turns FOUR on Thursday, my daughter turns ONE a week after that...wow, life is just so full.

Monkey Update

• Ripping done. I *think* I managed to rip back to Row 1, so I'll start Row 2.
• Stitches reacquired - thank goodness for very small crochet hooks. It was done with more force than finesse, but it is done. Now I just need to reknit and see how it goes. Luckily, it's really clear where the heel stitches are, so I'm quite confident that I'm at the beginning of the round so the pattern *should* work.

Uffda.

Not a multi-tasker

As in, apparently I cannot knit and hold a conversation at the same time...at least, not knit something that requires me to think. I had knitting with the library ladies last night, and took Monkey to get some work done, and I have somehow managed to drop two stitches without actually changing my stitch count (really, what the heck??), so I need to actually frog about 1 lace repeat. We'll see how it goes. This is where I have much less confidence in my skills.

*deep breath* Off to rip. Will post an update.

Has anyone seen it?

My motivation, that is.

I just don't feel like knitting, how weird is that? Well, I do feel like starting a new sock, but I really shouldn't - too much on needles. The weather is finally getting nicer (it was GORGEOUS today, 70 degrees!), so we've been spending more time outside. I've got some weird virus that's making me feel like CRAP in the evenings (horrible sore throat, runny nose, earaches etc.), so my energy when I have time to knit is low. And I'm just not...excited by anything I'm doing right now. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have some new things DONE (oh darn, just realized that I forgot to give my mom the scarf I made for her when she was here!), but apparently I don't want it enough to, you know, FINISH things. This happens to me, I know it'll come back...

So, since I don't have any knitting content, I give you a cute baby picture:

We went to the beach today to play (I still can't quite believe that I now live WALKING distance to a beach! Pinch me, someone!) and DD had a lovely time in the swing!

Knitting 1: KWAP 0

Actually it sort of feels more like Knitting 1,000,000: KWAP 0.

I did manage to finish the gusset decreases of the Monkey I am doing (which I shouldn't even BE doing). I'm working on something else that requires gauge and I finally got it, only to screw up somewhere and now I'm three stitches short.

I give up. I'm having a cookie and going to bed.

Non-Knitting Life

I don't think I've knit a stitch all week. It's been one of those weeks, we've been crazy-busy with school, life, playing with friends, enjoying the beginning of spring weather. We had a picnic on the back deck yesterday! I'm also struggling with some bad news on the kitty front.

We have two elderly kitties, one (A) I've had since she was about 5 weeks old, and she'll be 16 this year, and the other (L) came to me through my horrible ex-BF, so I've known her for 14 years, and she's been mine for 12. we think she's at least a year older than A, maybe more. L is just wasting away. She's now down to 4.9 pounds (and this was a cat who got very plump after she was spayed, over 12 pounds). She's got bowel disease, we believe. There's not much we can do, but keep her comfortable. She's still HER, still marching around demanding petting and love, but I don't think we've got long with her. Even the vet, when looking at L, said "I think we're coming to the end." and "I think if she goes below 4 pounds, we should consider euthanizing her." A is now manifesting kidney disease and is also losing weight. We need to figure out how aggressively we want to treat it. It's going to be really hard for A when L goes too.

It's so hard to think of losing them, to know it's coming. They've been part of my life for a long time, much longer than my husband and kids. We've been through some really hard times together. I'm working on not pre-suffering too much, but it's a delicate balance, to live in the moment with them while keeping a strict eye on not letting things go too far.

I also struggle with the guilt of knowing how far down the list they've moved in terms of how much time and attention is alloted to them. Since having children, I haven't had anywhere near as much available for the "girls" (as we call them). Now I'm just feeling sad. DH would like to have more cats, and part of me would like that too. The other part of me is just feeling like I've been sucked a bit dry by all the need around me and perhaps it would be good to renew a bit before jumping back in.

The huge thing, of course, is how much the boys love L and A, and how we're going to explain it to them.

Just in case you were wondering...

Sitting on the computer reading all sorts of blogs about knitting, surfing yarn store sites, and especially spending time pattern-surfing on ravelry? None of these activities actually help you get real knitting done.

Gah.

I just frogged the Mini Mochi sock. It's always a bit heartbreaking, how quickly one can rip out hours of work. I'd only invested...maybe 3ish hours in it? Something like that. There were enough errors that I knew it was going to make me crazy, and if I'm going to put that much work into something, I want it to be right.

Issues:

1. Needle size. I really wanted to try the KP harmony fixed circs, but apparently I bought them in 2.25 mm...well, no apparently about it, I *did* buy them in 2.25, and I seem to prefer 2.5s for most sock yarns. The needles themselves are really pretty but I kept worrying that I was going to snap one. They are nice and pointy though. The fabric they were making was just a bit tighter than I was liking.

2. Yarn issues. Now, this yarn is so pretty. SO SO PRETTY. But, it's not tightly plied at all, and seemed almost unplied at points. I kept snagging so that somehow I had several loops sticking out, which aren't pretty. Now, I could probably have just pulled them through with a little crochet hook, but there were enough that I knew it would bug me, and there was one big error. I don't even know what happened, it looked almost like I dropped a stitch, or perhaps I dropped most of a stitch.

Like I've said before, I have an error threshold, and I passed it. I'm going to try again with nickel-plated 2.5s and see how it goes. But not right away. I need some time to get off my ass and finish some other projects nurse my wounded heart.

Knitting, it's not for the faint of heart.

FO: Another Noro Scarf

I finished another Noro scarf! Nothing really much to be said about it, actually. Details are the same as for the Trinnit scarf. Except for colors of course! I can't find the ball bands for this, but I *think* the colors are 274 and maybe 270? I don't know. I'm not sure who this is going to be for, actually. It's definitely not for me, it's not really my colors overall (which are, of course, green and purple). I think this is pretty, but I don't really love it. It was still a very fun knit, nice and easy with no thinking really involved. I'm glad it's done so I can move on to something else!

I did start a plain vanilla toe-up stock with the Mini Mochi in the Violets Rainbow (see what I mean, green and purple!). I cast on 24 and increased to 64 stitches which look like they it should fit. I'mgoing to do an afterthough heel to preserve the striping. I just needed a super-low-brain-intensity project. Since getting back from the hospital, poor DD is sleeping like CRAPOLA which means I am too, and I am just So. Tired.

And I have the new Monkies that are going well (heel is turned, finishing the gusset rounds). The KP Imagination Wicked Witch is quite possibly the prettiest yarn I've ever seen, really. I am wondering if I'd wear socks made out of it in a different pattern. Because of the alpaca (I think), it's a bit fuzzier than I normally like, but it's so gorgeous!

I am also just OBSESSED with learning to spin. OBSESSED. I think that hobby is 1-2 years off for me, just for time and space issues, but I really want to.

Oh the week that was.

So, after that ER visit, baby girl wasn't doing so well, so on Tuesday we were admitted to the big local hospital, where we ended up staying until 9:00 pm Friday night, to get her vomiting etc. and dehydration under control. Not a fun week. Not fun at all, seeing your baby on an IV. I had time between the doctor's visit that ended with "she needs to be admitted" and actually going to the hospital to pack a few things, so of course, I tossed in some knitting.

Did I toss in any one of my current projects? Nope. I started another sock. I am a bit worried that they're going to be a skosh too small - I got the leg of one done, and I'm in the midst of turning the heel. I'm doing another pair of Monkeys in KP Imagination, the Wicked Witch colorway. SO PRETTY.

Like I said, we got home Friday night, and the weekend has been spent recovering. The boys are up and down. Thankfully the baby is just so delighted to be out of that room that she's in a great mood.

Too tired to knit.

There has been a vast amount of barfing in our household over the last few days, including more laundry than is good for our septic and six hours in the ER to rehydrate the baby girl, and a current looming threat of hospitalization for said baby, should she not pee enough tonight, so my knitting has been pretty much abandoned for the moment. The logistics of cleaning barf off of a WIP are beyond me, so better not to risk it, right?

That being said, I did get in a lace repeat on Falling Leaves when barfing baby kept me from going to a baby shower, but the boys (DH and the little boys) went to a birthday party and the girl napped.

I somehow snagged a hole in the bottom of my heavy winter socks...I think these were the first socks I made, and they're so awesomely warm, semi-felted and just lovely. I don't think I ever blogged them, I think I finished them before I had this blog...I can probably darn them, but I'm bummed. They're so warm and lovely.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled knitting for...

A FO! This is a baby hat for a shower I'm going to on Saturday for one of the neighborhood ladies who happens to be a knitting lady too (there are several knitting ladies in my neighborhood, which is awesome). I know I'm on a yarn diet (I KNOW, ADRIENNE!!), but I didn't have exactly what I wanted for this so I did buy yarn for it. Does it count if it's for a gift? The pattern is my own, and I'm going to write it up and put it on Ravelry, I think. It's terribly cute! Now I want to make one for my own little girl.

Moving Along, Now.

Mainly for my own records because really, I think reading about someone else's knitting progress without pictures is just pretty boring. But it amuses me, so there you go. I am actually getting something done, though now that the weather seems finally to be cooperating a bit, that may stop. I did spend the afternoon outside running around with my kids, riding bikes, and playing catch and baseball with the neighbor kids. Suburban paradise, I think.

So, I got re-enchanted with the Double Gradient Noro Scarf. Honestly, I don't love the colors in this one (and I won't mention the fact that I caved on my yarn diet and bought some more pretty pretty NSG to make ANOTHER one of these, no, I won't mention that AT ALL) but it's so fun to knit and so interesting to see what the yarn does! So that's out of hibernation. I've got more of the super-secret project to do, with the gague issues that are making me crazy. I've got Falling Leaves still in process, and a couple of crochet things. I just remembered that Branching Out is still in process, and I started a big lace project. Lace? It's hard. Mainly I'm having trouble adjusting to the lace-weight yarn. I fear I've got ladders at my joins in my Magic Loop because I don't want to yank it too hard. I can't redo though, I had so much trouble getting started. I don't know, we'll see. But yeah, it's hard. Anything else? I'm going to a baby shower for one of my library knitting ladies next Saturday, so I've got to whip something up for that.

Maybe I'll take pictures of all my WIPs and post them. And then feel horrified at all the things I have in flight.

Around the Riverbend

Yes, I am actually following up on a promise to blog about an FO. And I even have pictures. So, here are the Riverbend Socks. The pattern is from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, the yarn is Regia Cotton Colors (I believe the colorway is 5407, but the ball bands are long gone, so who knows?). I believe I knit these on KP 2.5 mm fixed circs, using Magic Loop (of course). If I ever knit a pair of socks with DPKs, well, I don't know, I think we'll all be a little stunned.

Okay, so the pattern is the issue here, obviously, because this is a plain stockinette sock. On the one hand, I really like the yarn. It's lovely to knit with, has a really nice feel and I like the fabric produced on this size needles. I love the reinforced heel, I've never done one of these before. I really love the Riverbend design. Unfortunately....I do not love the fit. I've worn them a couple of times now, and they're baggy. Not horrendously, not so I can't wear them, but they bag around the ankles. I also think the cotton leads to a fabric that stretches out and doesn't bounce back (I'm not sure if that's the proper term or not, but these stretch as you wear them). Even brand new, they bagged at the ankle. Fit is apparently an issue with these new sockitectures. The thing is, I haven't (so far) really had fit issues in the other socks I've made. People on the Ravelry group talk a lot about how much you have to "tweak" the numbers to get them to work for you. I don't know, I'm just not sure I have that kind of time, you know? I can definitely wear these...perhaps the bagginess would have been alleviated by fewer stitches at the largest part? (Fewer decreases?) I don't know. Maybe I have narrow ankles. :) I just don't have the brainpower right now to do a lot of tweaking of anything.

I'd love to do some more socks from the book, I really do think it's such a neat idea, but I'm thinking now might not be the time for it. So sad, because I love the heel architecture. Maybe I'll do another pair, but not increase as much as she tells you to and see what happens. One thing I love about this particular architecture is that the increases are all on the bottom of the foot (can't take a picture because I've been wearing them all day and they're grubby). This means you could easily adapt any patterns to this architecture. I may try it, I may not. I'm glad I knit a pair (and finished them!), and I do think they're really pretty, I'm just a tad disappointed that I followed the numbers and they don't fit as well as I'd like.

Fo and Gague Issues

I haven't had the energy to take a picture but I finished the Riverbed socks!! I actually finished them on Thursday, but I haven't worn them yet, for shame! And I do need to take pictures...maybe tomorrow. I'm dead today. In the Riverbend sockitecture, the increases are all on the bottom of the foot. I think it makes a nice fitting sock, though there's a tiny bit of puckering around the ankle. I've actually read this as a common complaint for many of Cat Bordhi's sockitectures, which makes me ponder whether they'll be for me. The yarn is really nice, Regia Cotton Color, so pretty! I just did a basic stockinette stitch, simple enough. I will try and do pictures tomorrow, I promise! What's odd is that even though I've finished something, I'm not going to go cast anything else on, I'm just going to go work on some other WIPs.

And now, I'm working on a secret project that I can't blog about yet, but I am having gague frustration. I hit required gague in stockinette perfectly on my first try (yes, I know, *I* swatched! ME!!), and started the pattern. Well, my first round I messed up the pattern (forgetting to add in a P3, which, y0u know, makes a difference). Ripped out, started over. I can't remember what I screwed up the second time, but I did, ripped out, started over. Third time, I realized that I'd been misreading the lace pattern, like, seriously dyslexicly (is that even a word?) misreading. Sigh, rip, start over. Finally nailed the pattern, am sailing along and...it's too big. As in, close to 20% too wide. This is a project where gague really matters. I ripped it, and started again, going down a needle size. Sadly, the only size 8 straights I appear to have are stumpy little bamboo 9-inchers, so they may not work and I may need to head out and get new needles tomorrow too. Just to get it measured, I'm going to have to get it off these needles.

I don't know, sometimes I think I'm a pretty decent knitter, and then sometimes I'm just stunned at my own ineptitude. :)

FOs with pictures...

Okay, so TECHNICALLY these aren't, you know, knitting, but they are things that I did make, so why not share them?

We're at that point where the winter stuff is pretty much all gone from the stores, but we've got at least another month, probably more like 6 weeks, of hat weather. Somehow all of my older son's hats have disappeared. I think I might have left one in VT, I'm not sure. So, sure, I could go buy him yet another hat, but instead I decided to make them! I didn't have a pattern, I pretty much just winged it, and there's definitely changes I would make. So, we're at the stage where it's hard to get a good picture of the boys, but here they are.

Both hats were done the same way, and both have things that make them not perfect, but they're wearable. I did the littler guy's hat first. It's hard to tell, but this was the splurge fleece, it's John Deere. He likes tractors, that kid. Since I am from VT, that seems most appropriate to me. I measured his head at about 19" (I had to use a piece of string, because all of my measuring tapes have disappeared. I used Malabrigo at first but it's too stretchy to get an accurate length). I used about 1.5" of ease, but in retrospect, I should have used more like 3". It fits him, but it's snug. And this was after I cut a piece that was too small! Third time's the charm? I made a rectangle of 14" x 20.5". I put the right sides together and sewed a tube and closed off one end. First I just rolled the brim, but I didn't like having the raw seam showing, so I turned under a deep hem (for that one, maybe about 3.5" or so, I think a bit deeper is better), and then folded that back. Done. I think it's really quite cute, actually! You could also do pom-poms on the points, but honestly, I just don't have that kind of energy right now.

I did the same thing for my older son's hat - this fleece is super-cute, it's dogs and fire hydrants (I'd say he's just on the borderline of being too old for it, it's probably more appropriate for a toddler than a kid his age but he liked it). I made this one a bit taller, 15", I think, and used about 3" of ease for his head. On this one, I did a much deeper hem (5"), which makes the hat a tad shorter. In fact, I think it's almost too short. If you pull the brim down more, you can see the seam where I sewed it. I'm sure there's a more clever way to do the brim than this, but I couldn't think of it.

For the last hat, I really wanted to do more of a stocking hat. I folded the fleece in half and cut down the whole yard of fabric, I think I did a width of about 12.5" (so the whole piece would be 25" wide). This did result in a hat that's a bit loose on him. It's sort of hard to describe how I did the cut. I cut the fabric on the diagonal, but not corner to corner. I hit about 4" up on the long side on each side, and cut diagonally that way. I screwed up the top = I wanted to leave two short pieces hanging to tie fringe with, but I sewed them on the wrong side. Ooops. Oh well. Then I just seamed up the side, and did the same hem thing. Right now this cap ends flat, rather than to a point, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. DS says he likes it the way it is, but I think it looks a bit...well, different from my vision.

Overall, though, I'm really pleased. These are quick and easy projects, and now they have hats! DS2 wants a bug stocking cap too, so I think I'll try to put fringe on his (and make it a bit smaller too).

The top hats are so easy, literally it's two seams and you're done. These would be fantastic and easy hats to make for donation, and you could get about 6 hats out of 1 yard of fleece.

Drive By Post

Just a quick one since I've got to get the kids out the door...

It's a sad sad day here at KWAP. One of my first pairs of socks has developed holes in the heels. So sad! I love the Yarn Harlot's idea that sock knitters are the ultimate optimists because they spend a long time (and, comparatively speaking, a lot of money) on something that you KNOW isn't going to last! I actually have some ideas about how this makes the product all the more dear, and yet, the pressure isn't so great, but like I said, I don't actually have time this morning.

I need to finish some things and then I was pondering setting myself a personal sock challenge. Say...a sock a week, for 10 weeks? Something like that. Details when I actually get there!

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.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

I am back from my trip. Overall it was really nice, it was great to spend time with my family, though I did miss my DH. The kids all decided to have massive sleep upheavals which really was not fun, but we got through it. All of them were driving me crazy at different times, but then they all managed to enchant me as well, which is pretty cool, actually. My daughter is just about to learn to crawl up stairs, oh joy.

I have some yarn feedback to report.

1. This, the Mermaid is much more teal/aqua than I expected it would be. I was picturing softer blues, somehow. Softer colors all around. It's nice, I suppose, but I'm not sure it's really *my* colors. Of course, venturing outside of my narrow palette of purple and green might be good for my soul or something. Maybe? You think? Of course, I also bought the Wicked Witch colorway, which is very pretty, though a bit darker than I expected. Still, lovely.

2. The Cadena is just the wrong shade of green. I knew it was a risk - greens are hard to coordinate, but I thought there was a chance. Their picture is pretty good actually, and mine sort of sucks, but it's too much of a blue-green (it's not a blue-green, but it's a green that's a bit more to the blue side), and I need a green that's a bit more to the yellow/olive side. It's very pretty and I'm sure I can find something lovely to do with it, but it won't be the replacement for my Foliage that I had hoped.

That's okay though, because I happened to stop into a yarn store in my home town...*innocent look* and found a lovely yarn that will work with my coat! The green is in the right family of olives. It's obviously not a bulky, but I think it should work for the worsted weight version of Foliage. We'll see. I also gave into the Noro sock yarn. We'll see how it turns out.

And with these purchases, I am now officially putting myself on a YARN DIET. I really need to just start a knitting marathon and get some stuff done!

The amusing part of all this yarn purchasing is that I did start something new...well, not new exactly. FALLING LEAF #2! I did about 2 rows on my other sock and just wasn't into it, so I pulled out the Tofutsies and cast it on. I managed to get the toe and one whole lace repeat done as well. (Apparently I finished the first one in October of 2007.)

So, yarn diet. We'll see how that goes. Knit a whole lot. We'll see how that goes. Do these count as New Year's Resolutions, if it's already more than halfway through February?

Packing

It's school vacation week here in MA, and since our little co-op nursery school follows the school calendar, we're off for the week. So I'm doing what any sane woman (with an awesome mom) does, and fleeing the state to go visit my family. DH isn't coming with, he's got work and since things have been tough for him lately, I'm hoping a break will help restore him a bit. At least maybe he'll get some sleep.

It turns out that having a baby who wakes up and screams for an hour to an hour and a half in the middle of the night isn't really all that much fun! I know, I'm shocked too. The brochure made it sound so appealing.

I always have this fantasy that I'm going to get So Much Knitting Done when I'm at my folks. I do often get stuff done, but not as much as I dream about. And yet, the question remains, what do I pack?

Right now I've got two socks in flight, plus a scarf, plus a crochet project plus another big project. And I have all this lovely new sock yarn, and I really need socks. I think the smartest thing to do would be to bring the scarf and the socks that are in process, and *maybe* yarn to cast-on one more pair, just in case I suddenly, you know, become a really speedy knitter. Because g-d forbid I run out of knitting options.

Have I mentioned that I'm helpless in the face of sock yarn?

Yeah. It's true.

I had a gift certificate to KnitPicks for Christmas, so a few things are coming to live with me...

This, in Mermaid Lagoon and Wicked Witch....
This, in Leaf (hopefully to match my coat for another Foliage, as the Malabrigo Chunky in Olive appears to be sold out everywhere, and yes this isn't sock yarn, I know)
This, in Tyrian Purple (I did some socks in an older colorway and I really like the yarn, it's durable and soft)
This, in Ash (I have a couple possible plans for this yarn)
And then this, just because I need it.

And now, a few skeins of this are coming to live with me, in Intense Rainbow and Violet Rainbow. One possible plan for this is to stripe the intense rainbow with the Ash KP Essential, either in socks or a scarf (a la Noro 1x1 ribbed scarf). I'm not sure about my sanity, that I'm considering knitting a scarf out of SOCK YARN. Clearly some sort of intervention is required. :)

I also think I have more than enough sock yarn in purple/green combos, and I need to start actually, you know, knitting the darn socks.

Time Out

I was on such a knitting streak, getting stuff done and posting about it! That's on hold for the moment. My husband's uncle passed away last week, so DH has been out of town. My mom came down to help me but there's not been much downtime and my heart's not really been in it. I'd like to do some knitting today. My mom left this morning and DH gets home later tonight, so we'll see.

The rest of my yarn shipment from Webs arrived, the last of the Noro Silk Garden...My mom really liked the colors of the scarf I'm doing now, so I'd love to get that done this week for her. Noro is so different in real life than what you see on the page, so I'm not sure I'll order it without being able to see it again. I also now have two skeins in a colorway that I don't like as much in person, not sure what to do with it...and the baby unwound one of them so I don't think I can sell it...maybe I'll list it on Ravelry.

Blah. I'm just feeling blah today.

I did get a larger mat for using the rotary cutter (40% off!), so maybe I'll go cut up fleece for blankies!

FO: Flowers of a Grave

I absolutely love cloche-style hats. I don't have any (until now) but I always try them on and want one! Because my head is a bit smaller than the average bear's, the ones available in stores don't tend to fit me either. It just occurred to me, HEY! I'm a knitter, right? I could make one! I did a bunch of rav-surfing and found this pattern, and decided to try it! I had some Noro Kureyon that happened to come in my latest Webs order, so I cast it on. It's a quick knit, fairly easy. I should have taken pictures of the pre-felted product, it was VERY large.

Since I have a front-loader, I decided to attempt to hand-felt it. This would have been successful if I were willing and able to put the time in, but I just wasn't. (And I started working on my arms at the gym today too.) I ended up running it through the wash 3x before it felted enough and wasn't down around my nose! On the last round, I made sure I was using HOT water and a heavy-duty agitation, and that worked well. I am so pleased with how this came out! I just love the colors, I love how Noro felts, and I am completely amused that it matches the Booga Bag. Sadly, we're getting ANOTHER snow storm today, and this hat doesn't really go, stylistically-speaking, with my heavy winter coat, so I'm going to have to wait until we have slightly warmer weather to wear it with my wool coat, which will work. Fun fun!

Happy February!

Where on earth did the month go? My goodness, time is flying. We had a birthday party for a friend of DS2's today and we're now on vomit-watch 2009, as two kids barfed at the party. GOOD TIMES! DS had a good time. He's a poor second child who has pretty much tended to be friends with his big brother's friends, so having his own school time has been awesome for him this year. One of the moms announced that she was pregnant (her third) and I was so happy for her, and so glad it's not me!

So for knitting...I'm wearing my spiral hat and scarf all the time and loving them. I realized that one of the reasons I'm really focused on knitting for ME right now is that I have so little in my life that really is just for me. I'm too tired (or had too many kids) to have any brain cells left for the big stuff that requires thinking, but knitting is something I can do. Wearing things I've made for myself feels like self-care, which is cool. I've had various helping professionals over the years tell me I needed to learn "self-care" and I never really understood what that meant, but now I'm starting to get it.

So, I finished the knitting of Flowers on a Grave today, and attempted to felt it by hand. After 20 minutes I decided I was tired (and need to lift more weights), so I sent it through the washer. Now, I do have a front-loader which is supposed to be not-as-good for felting, but it felted my Foliage just fine (insert eye roll here), so I thought I'd see what happened. It's a quick knit, so if it fails utterly, well, that's okay. After one trip through, it was still reaching down to my nose. After two trips through, it was reaching down over my eyebrows. We'll see what the third trip does!

I was knitting along, and it was time to go to the above-mentioned birthday party, so I pulled out my Booga Bag (total side note, going out with a kid where I brought NOTHING kid-related with me=awesome!), and realized that I knit the hat in the same colorway as the booga bag, though the stripes are a bit different. I am amused.

My husband was laughing at me because I was saying to him "I seem to be obsessed with hats and scarves right now, but once I'm done with that, I'm going to be obsessed with socks." He said "You're planning your obsessions?" Um, doesn't everyone?

I'm plugging away on my Noro stripe scarf...it's funny, I know it's not going to be for me, but I don't know who it is going to be for!