ARRGH!!!!

I just made a stupid, stupid mistake on the thing I am sewing, and ruined it. Luckily, I have half the fabric left and can start over but GRRR. I was cutting and just didn't notice that I was doing it ass-backwards!!!

As I just said to my husband (before I even made this error), sewing teaches me a lot about patience and imperfection.

And for a knitting arrgh, my son pulled the needle out of Falling Leaves sock 2. Luckily I hadn't even finished the toe, so I can rip it and start over, but another argh. Green stripy sock #2 is coming along, almost ready to turn the heel.

I have not abandoned you, o my blog!

I just seem to have abandoned knitting.

No, not really, but it sort of feels that way!

I finished the two blankets: the one for the new baby and a smaller blankie for DS2. Neither were particularly interesting, though I should take some done shots. Then, I haven't done anything. Well, that's not true, lots of life stuff, much more driving than I wish, we did some more unpacking with the house, weekends have been packed and busy, so life is really good, but I'm just not feeling the knitting love. The closest I've gotten to knitting is to (a) transfer my knitting stuff from piles and a shopping bag to a pretty basket in the living room and (b) carry around the green stripey sock but not actually work on it.

However, I did have knitting night at the library last night!! I had forgotten until 10 minutes before, and actually motivated myself to go! I can only go to one meeting a month right now, though once I'm no longer on the board of DS1's school, I can go to both meetings, and I plan to! I got there just as it was starting, and reintroduced myself to everyone. I did an entire cable repeat on the cable scarf, and it looks like I'm 1-2 repeats away from finishing, depending on how long I want this to be. It'll need to be blocked, which will be a first for me. I assume you can block super-wash wool, yes? I am so glad I went, and am just feeling happy about being a member of this community.

So, that's it. I've got some sewing projects on the map at the moment: two baby pouches, and I'm debating fabrics for another MT carrier as well. I so shouldn't be ordering anything, but I've got some money saved for a new carrier and I think I'm going to get something really fun and funky. VERY excited!

Blah

I've got the blahs right now.

I'm doing a whole bunch of knit-knit-knit projects: two baby blankets and a stockinette sock. While that's pretty much all I'm capable of at the moment, it's kinda...boring. I have made a vow to finish everything on needles before (a) I can do some sewing projects that are calling to me and (b) I start anything new. Besides the above, there's also a cable scarf and a lace sock that need completion. I'd love to have them done BEFORE the Froggie shows up, but that might be unlikely.

I am going to my parents' house this weekend withOUT the family, and I plan to sit around and knit. And process my dad's bypass surgery as needed, of course. And sleep. I want to sleep a lot. It turns out I'm anemic, which may account for my bone-crushing lethargy of late. I can do what needs to be done, but everything else is falling by the wayside. Like returning phone calls and emails to friends.

Am I allowed to talk about non-knitting crafty stuff here? I've got fabric to make two pouches, and I'm now drooling over some fabric for a mei tai (my baby carrier of choice). Can you tell I'm going to have a baby in a couple of months? :) Oh my god. That's coming up!

Knitting Night

The town we moved to seems to have an actual small knitting culture. There's a real LYS, which seems lovely, and there's a twice-a-month knitting group at the library. I got myself together and went this week. I am *so* glad I did. There were 8 women total, age ranging from me (late 30s) to probably late 60s (maybe early 70s?). The women clearly all knew each other well, but also were very friendly and welcoming. They clearly also have lots of gossip knowledge about the town. There were socks, sweaters, scarves, and a crocheted vest in process. I got the toe finished on my 2nd green stripey sock and started the foot. It was so nice to have a chance just to sit and knit without worrying about someone needing something (I even forgot to bring my cell phone!!), and to be in the company of women (knitting). Sadly, one of the meetings is on the first Wednesday of the month, so until we're done with preschool, I can't make that one because I have board meetings. But I can do the Tuesdays and once we're done with the preschool, I can go to both, and I plan to.

It was definitely moving me out of my comfort zone. I'm pretty social, but it's always hard to walk into a new group. Building a new life in a new place is hard, but the wonderful thing is that I feel like there really is a big life here for me/us, it's just going to take time to build it.

Another FO!

Okay, so TECHNICALLY this isn't, you know, KNITTING, but whatever. I can be cognitively flexible if you can! No really, I can. NO REALLY. Stop laughing. Anyway, moving on.

I bought the fabric for this a couple of days ago, along with fabric for some other projects and today I busted out the sewing machine. The thing about me and crafting is that I sometimes have more enthusiasm than skill. Which is, as I think about, quite a preferable state in some ways to the reverse, right? I only get in trouble when my perfectionism kicks in, and I've spent years in therapy to work on that personality trait.

So this is a blanket for the new baby. The reason I had to get this panel was because when we were at our first u/s for this baby, we had DS2 with us. DH asked him "so, do you think it's going to be a baby sister or a baby brother?" DS2 answered with great authority, "I think it's going to be a FROG!" So, the froggie it is. I thought this panel was adorable without being to cloyingly cutsie (I like sweet, I loathe saccharine). The backing is some sort of plushy fabric (I'm sure it's totally polyester) with little raised hearts on it - borderline for me, but the color worked and it's so soft, so I went for it. The panel was ridiculously expensive, but I sort of had to splurge on it. It's from Joann, which had a surprisingly good selection of cute and not hideous (and not character) kids' fabrics. I feel the urge to sew some flannel blankets for donation. I wish I had serger!!! Maybe I'll save my pennies.

This blanket is definitely not perfect. When I wash and dried the panel, not all of the blocks in the quilting shrank/tightened up evenly, so it went from being flat to puckering. Oh well. Nothing I can do about that. Also, I won't use that same fabric as a backing again, I will definitely use flannel. This one had some stretch to it, and I'm just not an experienced enough sewer yet to do a really good job of backing a non-stretch fabric with a stretch one (or pairing to stretch fabrics, really). My top-stitching isn't perfectly straight, but I did an okay job in this, except I missed the part where I had to catch the edges for the hole I left to turn the work right-side out, so I had to hand-stitch an extra little seam there. It's almost invisible, and DH kept reminding me that the Froggie won't notice, or care. Whate matters is that I made it, and it's pretty cute. And it's done. In a day, no less!

Another FO!

I guess it counts as an FO as I haven't decided if I'm actually going to block it or not. I finished the baby sweater that I talked about here. I ended up doing the cuffs and bands in the purple Tahki Cotton Classic, and I think it works really nicely. I wanted the buttons to contrast, and I think the pink and green are cute. I couldn't decide which ones I liked better, so I went with both!

It's *definitely* not perfect. I put the bottom button on a tad too low, and I am too tired to fix it at the moment, and honestly, I probably never will. The top button hole is really loose for some reason, and I have no idea how to fix it. I just went with simple yo/k2tog buttonholes since these buttons are really small. I am not sure if I picked up too many stitches for the button bads, but I think they're fine. Since I watched the video at knitting help, I found the actual picking up of stitches not so hard, but the whole "pick up 3 stitches for every 4 rows" thing baffled me. There are some other imperfections but overall, I think it's cute, and hopefully this baby will actually turn out to be a girl, so she can wear it. At this point, I'll be honest and admit that I really just don't like knitting sweaters all that much. I am sure that makes me weird, but that's okay! I'm sorta used to it by now.

One other frustration is that my son spilled tea on the coffee table and a little got on the sweater, so I need to pour some boiling water on it and see if it comes out or not. I am not in the mood to do it tonight. Mostly I am just thrilled to have another project (particalrly this one since it was a distraction project anyway!) off needles!!

I really really need to do some NICU knitting, or do something for donation - my soul needs a boost.

A FO with a PICTURE!!

Can you believe it? I found the cord for the camera (it was actually already hooked up to my computer, I don' t know when DH did that!). So, here's at least ONE small sample of what I've been up to.


This was made as a donation for my son's preschool silent auction (this was last year's endeavor). These were knit using Tahki Cotton Classic, no pattern, I just sort of winged them. They were knit using my KnitPicks Options (what else) size 5 needles, magic loop. This is actually the second hat - the first I cast on 72 stitches, which gave me a hat circumference of 12" (I was getting 6 sts/inch), which will work on a very new baby, but not for long. So I redid it with a cast on of 80 sts. I can't remember the length I knit to, about 7"? Then I did decreases starting on 8, every round. I thought it was cute as is, so no i-cord. The socks are 32 stitches, 2x2 rib for the cuffs (about 3.5 inches in length), short-row heel, knit the foot to approx. 3 inches, then the decreases every other row (4/decrease row), and a grafted toe. Very simple and easy, and I had to squeal several times at the cuteness. Can you tell I have baby girls on the brain? :) I may have to bid on them myself.

In other news, because what I really need to be doing is starting a new project, I, um, started something new. DS2 has requested a "green blankie" so we went to Joann's and picked out some Lion Big Fat Chenille (that's not what it's called but I am too lazy at the moment to look it up). He picked the color "basil," which is really pretty. I'm not certain about the yarn, in terms of quality, and how well it will wash, but it was easily available and it's VERY soft and cuddly. At first I was going to crochet something, but I'm not a great crocheter and this yarn is so not a good yarn for a novice crocheter (too fluffy to see what you're doing). Then I just cast on a bunch of stitches and did a random pattern but I didn't like it. So I'm doing YET ANOTHER diagonal eyelet-edged blanket. I've only done a few rows, but I think I'm going to frog it and start over with a slip-stitch edge as I just like that better than the straight garter-stitch edge. I bought two skeins of the yarn, so we'll see how big the thing ends up. It's a snuggly blankie, not an actual "cover you you up and keep you warm while you sleep" blankie, so I don't think it truly matters. But yeah, another garter-stitch blanket. Ah well, they're good zoning out projects.

I also started the second Falling Leaves lace sock. I've not even got the toe done, so I don't feel like I'm in a groove with it. But, I'm in desperate need of socks.

I read somewhere of one knitter's plan to end 2008 without a stash. I so could not do this (my knitting time is so limited) but I think it's a cool idea to try! I can't afford anything right now ayway, and in about 3 months, my knitting time is going to be severely curtailed.

OH! I forgot to mention, I found out that there's an actual real-life yarn store in my new town! AND there's a knitting group at the library, twice a month! If this town had a coffee shop, I think it would be perfect.

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.

Because this IS what I need to be doing right now.

I started a new project. A baby sweater. This is foolish for a number of reasons. I have lots of projects going or needing to go already. Then there's the whole, I'm really not sure if I have enough of the yarn to make this sweater. I have 1 full skein (100 grams) plus another 33 grams. The yarn is Fantasy Naturale by Plymouth Yarns, in 9490. I am currently OBSESSED with this yarh. I want to knit many things from this yarn. I love it. I am planning on ordering some skeins of 9701 from Patternworks. I haven't decided if I want to knit a sweater and hat or a blanket...I am thinking sweater/hat, because it's more likely they'll get done. What do you think? But I digress.

So anyway, I'm really not convinced I have enough of the 9490 to do a whole sweater, so I'm thinking about ordering some coordinating solid to do the sleeves and button band, but which color? The pink looks a little dark, I'm not a big fan of aqua, and they don't have a light lavender, just the lilac which looks to be the wrong purple. Any suggestions? Well, actually the 2576 might work (Patternworks calls it baby blue, but Yarndex calls it Lavender). I could just order a couple of different things and return (HA HA!) the one that doesn't work right?

And, because I'm me and just like to jump blindly into projects without adequate preparation, I am sure the sizing of this is going to be weird. I'm using this pattern, but I'm doing it on 6s instead of 8s for some reason that I cannot adequately articulate but I actually had one. So, perhaps it will be too small? But the Fantasy Naturale is a heavy worsted, so maybe it'll be too big? Well, it'll fit the frog sometime, right? Right!

What does this say about me?

I am dreaming about yarn. And knitting. I've had several of these dreams of late, it's interesting. I am currently obsessing over yarn, and wanting to knit things for the new baby. And crochet blankets. It's odd. I'm not a very good crocheter. I saw a crocheted blanket in a yarn store a long time ago and LOVED it, and cannot for the life of me remember what it looked like. I have learned this lesson, I think. If I am mesmerized by something in a store, I need to acquire the pattern immediately, because I will need to knit it someday. Or crochet it, apparently.

But these dreams. Mainly in them I'm looking at yarn, which is something I like to do, so it's pleasant. The best one though, was the one in which I was sorting my sock yarn stash, and I kept finding pairs of socks I had knit!! It was funny, they were mostly in colors I don't actually like all that much (a lot of brown for example) but I was so psyched! I adore wearing handknit socks, and I don't have that many pairs completed yet, so clearly my subconscious wants me to knit more socks. OR! Hmm. Maybe it's related to the fact that there's a lot of brown in the new house, but I love it here. I don't know!

Still plugging away on the blanket, that's all I got brain for right now.

Increases are DONE!

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

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

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

Still here...sorta.

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

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

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

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

Absolutely No Knitting Content

None.

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

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

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

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

Finishing off 2007 with a bang!

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

ARGH!!!!

So, I'm pretty behind on the knitting, what with having many other things to be doing. I got the booga bag done and felted it last night (and attempted to re-felt the purple slippers too, but I think they may be as felted as can be, they got a little smaller, so that should be okay, but next time I make the ladies M). I got the bag done and decided to let the icord felt a little more. Can you see where this is going? I spaced out, and tossed the things I'd put in with the felting items into the dryer...and the pillowcase with the icord in it. Which managed to shrink it so it (a) looks like crap and (b) is nowhere near long enough. F-ck. So, now I have to HOPE I have enough yarn left to knit another one, and then refelt it it sometime tonight, while also finishing the 2 pairs of Fetching left to do, plus doing primary kid care for the rest of the afternoon, plus somehow cleaning, doing laundry, and packing, so that we can go away for vacation for a week tomorrow, oh plus we're doing the walk-through for the house tomorrow on our way out of town. Did I mention we're closing in less than a week and moving in 3 weeks?

Can't blog, knitting.

Well, not just knitting. It turns out that if one wants to make a holiday festive, and one does not go visit one's Mommy who will do this for one, then one must do all festivity-creation oneself. We were totally low-key and it still was a LOT of work.

But, presents were wrapped, cookies and a pie were baked, the Christmas meatloaf was delicious, the fancy breakfast with homemade cinnamon rolls was also delicious, and fun was had by all.

On the knitting front - booga bag is knit and I've got about 18" of icord done. One pair of mini-fetchings are done, another is started. The third pair is just a gleam in my eye. The hat for BIL is done. It looks sort of funny off the head, but it fits my DH just fine (who has a huge head), so it should be okay. Turns out I knit it on size 9s, not 8s, and I took out 1 12-stitch cable repeat, but it looks just fine to me. DH has decided he wants one too, so if I have enough of the Swish Superwash left-over after I finished the braided cable scarf, I'll do a hat for him in that.

Once everything is done, I'll post a ton of pictures. I've been sadly delinquent on the photo-front, which makes for a none-too-interesting blog, I am sure.

And I pulled out the baby blanket that I'm almost half way through. Remember how I thought it was girly looking and wasn't sure whose daughter I was knitting it for? Turns out it was for mine*. :)


* At least, they give us an 85% chance of the Frog being a girl...which apparently is as good odds as they'll give.

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.

Slogging Through

That's how it feels, anyway. We've got lots going on, big stuff, some very good but stressful, some simply stressful. Nothing truly BAD (no one is sick or dying, knock wood). But other big stuff. So, I'm doing some easy therapeutic knitting. Even though I hate casting on, I enjoy starting projects, so I've got mini-Fetching #1 going (1 of 6 needed), and I started SIL's Booga Bag. It's funny, the colors she chose so aren't ME (since I pretty much only seem to like green and purple), but it's actually fun to be knitting something so bright and cheery. Lots to get done, but it'll all be gifted POST-Christmas, so I've got some time. I'm going to knit BIL a hat too, since I can't really give hand knit stuff to everyone in the family but him.

I still haven't taken pictures of finished Fetching-Inspired-Inspired hat, but I am loving it. I didn't wear it today, as it's not as entirely wind-proof as I'd like (fleece is good for that) and it was a raw and chilly day today, but I do love wearing it.

I feel like I've been focusing a lot on knitting for MEMEME lately, and once I get through the Christmas season, I need to get back into knitting more for others (err, you know, not including the hat, the booga bag and the 3 pairs of Fetching I'm doing for family). I haven't been doing the NICU hats that I love, and I need to keep doing that. I've got plenty of yarn, just need to get focused. Anything that can get me out of my own head and into the perspective of what's really important is good right now.

Fetching-Inspired-Inspired Hat Done!

I'm not sure where the camera is, so no pictures at the moment. Maybe tonight.

The hat is done and it IS long enough! Woo hoo! This makes me happy. I ended up modifying the pattern a bit. Where she has you doing 8 rounds of st, I did 14 (I think). I then did one round of decreases, 5 rounds of st, then alternated a decrease round and a round of st until the end. For the last couple of rounds, I did decreases (so 16 to 8, and then 8 to 4), and then did not do the last knit round (I didn't like the little bump it made).

I think it's going to be toasty warm. I wore it around the house a bit, but I was self-cleaning my oven, so it was really hot in the kitchen. My head was quite warm though. I am going to wear it out in a bit when we go to pick up DS1 from school, so I'll report back. But, at least it fits, and I think it's cute!

Buh-bye hat!

So sad. I ripped out the hat. I actually tried it out last night (24 degrees, felt like 10 or so with the wind) and it was entirely inadequate. It just didn't cover my ears, and it turns out that when it's very cold out, you don't just want the top of your long and pointy head to be covered, you do actually want your ears covered too.

So, I pulled it out, and managed to pick up all stitches (only really dropping two, which were easily picked up), AND figure out where the start of my row was. I am pleased! I also actually measured the (ballpark) length that I need to add, and did a rough estimate gauge, and figured out how many rows. Turns out it was double what I was assuming. I guess I have tall ears as well. :) So, I'll reknit it and see if my math leads to a hat that fits me in reality. It would be nice to have such a thing, and it's a good thing to learn that I need to add a couple of inches to hat patterns to make them cover my ginormous pointy head (why no, I haven't developed a self-esteem issue around this AT ALL). (Really.)

I must say that I do adore the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran...it's so yummy!!!