Under The Knitting Moon

It's Fall!!

2009-09-25T21:06:00.005-04:00

Yes, I will try and keep up to date on this blog...Life is good. I love being a black belt - although I really and truly miss my fellow brown belts. Chris, Christophe, Quentin (!!Oh, how I miss Quentin!) and Monday nights with my fave teacher Justin. Sigh. But now I get to work out with the people that used to teach me!!! It's crazy! At once exciting and humbling. I am trying my best to work on decluttering our home. I've already sold off some homeschooling books and next are the comics. Any extra cash I can make right now is helps so much.
Our new puppy Miley is so precious! I actually finished a project and began another, making great progress until I was sidetracked by some baby booties.

I bought the yarn just because it was a) the most beautiful shade of orange I'd ever seen and b) I really wanted to make the Ishbel shawl pattern and knew it only required a single skein of sock yarn. SOLD. I was so in love with both the pattern and the shawl that I finished the thing within a week! I love it! I am currently trying to figue out a pattern for some house shoe/booties that will fit me based on a pattern for baby booties. !! I'm almost there. I need to decrease, cast off, seam and see how it fits. From there, I think I'll have a workable pattern.

Black

2009-09-05T22:07:00.002-04:00

Wow! I'm a Black Belt!! I can't believe it. It seems too good to be true! In two more days, I will attend my first Black Belt class. Granted I will probably get my ass handed to me (there's that darned "initiation" thing) but I truly feel like a new student again. That feeling is worth all the past effort, pain, blood, sweat and tears.
The test went well. I was a nervous wreck ALL WEEK. When we finally took the floor, I felt surprisingly numb. Grandmaster The' was there speaking and I was so enchanted by that I forgot to pay attention to what he was saying 99% of the time. The result of that was that I got a few forms confused and was doing something different than the rest of the testing students. WHOOPS! I rocked the rest of the forms and did even better on my second test which was to second Brown Sash in Tai Chi. The greatest bonus was the fact that so many of my fellow test-ees are good friends. It is a wonderful feeling to be with such a large group of people you care about and all be doing something important and fun together. Two words to describe the night: Gratitude and Relief!

New news and vampires

2009-08-25T08:06:00.004-04:00

Wow. I have no excuses for not blogging for over a year besides the glaring fact that I'm incredibly lazy. Too many things have happened in the past year to recap right now (again with the lazy) so I'll start with whats new now. The kids are back in school and I'm busy practicing for my black belt test. The Grandmaster is coming to town and I'll test for my first black belt next Friday evening. I'm incredibly nervous. Thank the Lord that I'm testing alongside some of the most awesome people ever. Last nights workout didn't seem hard at the time, but I'm feeling it already this morning. My body did not want to move out of the bed this morning. It was a supreme effort of mind over body to get up. Then I was harassed by the puppy who thinks it's awesome fun to put her paws on my feet and lick at me randomly while I stumble around and try and get dressed. Needless to say I was ready to bury her in the backyard by the time I got the kids on the bus. When I came in my husband showed me this ad that was in our paper.

If you look closely at the last line....

I find this endlessly delightful!

back to school x 3

2008-08-21T20:15:00.002-04:00

Back to school. Me. I'm a student again. Who okay'd this?! How did this happen? I barely remember filling out the application...
These are a few of the thoughts that raced through my head as I sat through a freshman math class (ya, I'm mathematically challenged, so what?!) with a bunch of 18year olds. (SOB)
I kid! Really, it is awesome being back at school. Thinking back on when I was younger and in school...how much I took it all for granted! Ack! Just being in a class where I have something to learn and comprehend is fullfilling. But, besides all this lovey dovey back to school stuff, there is the "oh my goodness, the sheets haven't been washed yet? What happened in the kitchen?" and "how long can the dog be inside without peeing in the dining room?" On top of me trying to balance mom/housewife/student/volunteer I've fallen behind on my Ravelympics project! Yes, thats right...something I'm supposed to finish in what...a few days' time now?
Someone...send help...and a math tutor. (who knew you couldn't take a square root of a negative number? he he! SOB!!!)

Ravelympics countdown....

2008-08-06T12:10:00.004-04:00

Four more days until school starts and none of us are excited about it. sigh...
I'm going to miss my babies a lot the first few weeks. After that, the sense of freedom takes over and I get into a groove. Also, school will be starting for me the week after next. Yes, I'm an official Georgia Bulldog! I'll only be going 2 days a week for a math course, but it's a start.
Knitting has been going good. I knit Gina a baby hat that could fit a 2 - 4 year old.

I can't say I'm totally happy with it, but it's cute and serves it's purpose. It's going to El Paso for pete's sake, so I'm sure it won't get worn very much.
Ravelry is sooooo addicting. Pattern browsing and forum reading take up most of my computer time. Tatami is back up for sale - downloadable!!!! Yipee!!! I'm already trying to think of yarns to use.
I've only dyed two skeins of yarn in the past couple of weeks because I read that even while cooking, the fumes from acid dyes aren't healthy and I don't want the kids around. I'll wait for school to start. I've got some great ideas for colorways floating around in my head.

In other news:
The Ravelympics are coming! I'm really excited for this (easy to please I guess). I've got my lovely green wool

my modified pattern notes and I'm ready to go. I think I may wait until the opening ceremonies broadcast in the evening to cast on. Technically, I can begin at 8 am (8pm Beijing time and beginning of the ceremonies). I'm going to knit a ribwarmer jacket to fit a child ages 8 to 14. Since I don't know the pattern well, my gauge is not the same as the pattern and I'm modifying it, I don't know what size to excpect, but I'm betting that it will fit into this age range somewhere.

New yarns!

2008-07-28T22:44:00.004-04:00

Well, new colors, old yarns.

This one was my first and I love it even though I'm not a pink person.

I named this colorway September because I love brown, my birthay is in September and the birthstone for Sept is Saphire. The base yarn is Paton's Kroy Socks and I can't wait to knit this into some socks.

The Halloween yarns came out great!! Too much fun!

Vampires, zombified and jack o' the lantern. Halloween socks!!
Dyeing is too much fun. I'm going to try self-striping next.

Yarn and weather

2008-07-13T22:47:00.006-04:00

Okay, the yarn did not come out exactly as planned. I guess I didn't really expect it to, but I was hoping...

The green is my favorite.
In the meantime, I've ordered more supplies, and I'm just sitting on my hands waiting for them to arrive. Okay, not too much sitting. I've made some stitch markers.

And swapped one of my Aracaunia skeins for a brighter shade at The Yarn Garden. Incidentally, the sale was still going on there on Sat. when I went. Score!

All of it is ready to be dyed.

I cast on for the baby sweater I want to make for Gina's little boy. She is due at the end of this month, so I hope I can get my crap together and get it done along with a little viking hat (her dad is CRAZY about the Minnesota Vikings) before the kid is too big.

In other news....lightning almost struck my mom's house! From what Mom and Dad say, it was like something huge rammed the side of their home. My mom was so shook up from the sound and vibration, her heart was racing for half an hour afterwards. There are bits of tree all over their roof and yard - even some clear across the street!

Back to black

2008-07-06T19:28:00.006-04:00

Well, most of my online time is now being spent on ravelry which is my knitting journal now - plus..GROUPS! Anyhoo..I've decided to embark on yarn dyeing adventures. It is pretty addictive so far. I'm only using Kool Aid and Wilton's Icing coloring, but I've got good enough results to feel hooked. One of the big motivators for me to get started with dyeing is the burning desire for Halloween theme colored yarns. I've seen a few on etsy and ravelry that are awesome, and if I can make some myself....then thats even more awesome!
I've tried hard to get some jack-o-lantern and zombie colors going. Handpainting so far has not been successful. I had all my colors run together. So I tried the stove top in 2 pans with Wiltons:

Red and black was my goal. I think it came out pretty colors, but it's definitely not the colorway I was hoping for.

So I decided to try again. (I have a bunch of Fishermans wool) So I tried handpainting in the crockpot. Everything ran together despite the fact that I wrapped individual skeins in plastic wrap. Out of four skeins, only two came out sorta okay.

and

Getting true black is more difficult than I thought. So, after some rummaging, I found some glass jars and decided to give it one more go.

I'll post the results when ALL the frickin black dye has been absorbed!

Knitter Down, take two....

2008-03-27T21:09:00.003-04:00

Well, just as I'm getting myself together and making it back to the external program at the Shaolin Center when what happens?... I make a rookie mistake (pull back your toes for frick's sake!): front kick toe jam. ARG! Make no mistake about it, this hurts. This all happened last night after I made it through a painful second day back in Kung Fu. I thought I was home free until they said we'd spar the last 10 minutes of class. I'm so out of practice it makes me sick! Anyway, today was the kid's Boosterthon and it feels like I walked miles. My foot is sore to the 10th degree.
I've been knitting a new sweater: Forecast by Stephanie Japel and its been a lot of fun so far. I want to slip it on some holders and try it on. I cast on for the M size and I haven't checked my gauge so far (smart, huh?) but it is so cool looking and I'm picturing myself wearing it in Sept/Oct. Meanwhile, some of my other knitting has been put to good use.

With Aaron and I getting the flu, then the following sinus trouble and hand injuries, I guess I wore these things out. Yowsa. I really like these slippers and will probably make another pair for next winter.

Knitter Down!!

2008-02-21T10:41:00.007-05:00

I spent most of Tuesday night reorganizing my rather large mess otherwise known as "mom's knitting chair". Yikes. I can officially say that I think I have a yarn problem. Earlier I made a trip to The Yarn Garden and, well, bought some yarn. So I decided to clean up my area and get focused on the projects I really want to get done. I found 4 UFO's and could only bring myself to frog 2.

My biggest problem is, I don't want to frog it, so I leave my needle in it, then I wonder what the hell has happened to all my needles. Part of my trip to the LYS was to procure some great sock yarn for Mike's tie. He's been asking for a tie for a while now and I've yet to deliver. So being the smartie that I am, I buy a great new skein of Jitterbug
then come home and hold up my yarns for him to choose from. I let him choose between the Jitterbug, some Auracania and Koigu that is so pretty I think I've fallen in love with it. Of course he chose the Koigu.
Curses!! Fortunately for me though, I've discovered that I've only got 1/2 the yardage the pattern calls for!! I feel a little guilty because he's really been looking forward to this tie...for a few years now. Unfortunatley, I'm not sure if I could knit anything right now if I wanted to!

I was trying to get the lid off the dog food can when it snapped off taking some of my hand with it. It wasn't too painful, but I could see the inside of my hand so we went to the Doctor and I've got 4 stitches now. She gave me pain medicine which I thought was a little much for the size of my injury, but last night I understood why. Yowser. I've yet to try and knit, or play video games (my two fave things to do when laid up). We'll see how it all goes. I really want to start a few projects.

I survived!!!

2008-01-04T22:30:00.001-05:00

Wow! Almost a whole month without blogging...but not quite. I cannot begin to say how glad I am that the holidays are over and done with for another year. Phew. I managed to eek out with my sanity intact. I've come to one realization though: my children are spoiled spoiled spoiled!! While I managed to churn out Aaron's stocking in time, I completely lost momentum on Maya's. For shame. Then managed to forget all stockings for our trip to sister n law's house for Xmas! Oiy!
Christmas morning was fine despite all that. Everybody got what they wanted. Well, I didn't get yarn or a gift card to a yarn store but I got everything I needed and more.
With the turn of the season has come sort of a freeing up of knitting time. I know there were a bunch of things I wanted to make/finish but can't seem to recall them now. I had to spit out a pair of houseshoes as we experienced a freak cold snap here in ATL and they came out nice and cozy.

That was until the dog (with un-groomed butt hair) dropped a piece of poop on the kitchen floor and hubby proceeded to step in and track said poop all over the kitchen. Next thing I know, there's poop on my brand new FO and Hubby is having an A-plus hissy! I love the man, but he reacts with predictable hysteria whenever something dirty gets in the house. Even the kids know the drill: go upstairs and stay out of the way of the furious cleaning taking place. Our dog is an Australian Shephard. She has LOTS of hair. It grows fast. The temp outside is 30 degrees. I don't wanna go out in the cold and cut dog butt hair. She's my dog however, therefore, I am solely responsible for her maintenance and cleanup. Nevermind he follows behind me and cleans everything thing I've just cleaned (only when it comes to dog poop).
One thing is for sure...I know what I'm getting him for his birthday.
In other news I've been spending a crazy amount of time playing Tomb Raider Anniversary. Oh, Tomb Raider, how I love thee. Let me count the ways.....
I'm a fan of Laura, okay? Sheesh. We went to the GameStop post Xmas and struck Gold. Two, count them 2, Tony Jaa movies, Tomb Raider, Sonic the Hedgehog games, Napolean Dynamite and Front Mission 4!! We're set for the next 6 months baby! Do our kids even realize how cool their parents are?!!

Christmas FO's

2007-12-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a crazy week so far. Well, I’ve somehow managed to finish 2, yes TWO, projects in the last 48 hours.

Aaron’s Christmas stocking was seriously stalled because I chose the smallest cable in the Knit Picks set to use to knit it. I was constantly shuffling the stitches around and if you look closely at it, you can see how uneven they are about 4” into the leg. I mucked up the first few rows on the cable band and for some unknown reason kept it. In the back of my mind I kept thinking, “I’ll probably end up knitting another one for them both a few years down the road…” Uh Huh. Anyhoo, when I switched cables (36” for my scarf and 16” for the stocking- smart huh?) the rest of the dadgum thing flew. It felt great to get it off the needles and great to see his reaction to it, even though its less than perfect.

Next, I quickly cast on for a hat for my sweet and handsome bro-n-law Nathan. It had to be something quick, cool and fit for a guy. I came across The Boy Hat on ravelry and was instantly sold. Great pattern and knit up like frickin’ lightning with Auracania Nature Wool Chunky.

I really disliked the wool from the moment I bought it to the moment I began to cast on. After that, I was totally in love. Great substance and color. I’m definitely using it for more stuff in the future. I bought one skein at the Yarn Garden and once I got about ¾ the way through the hat, began to worry I’d run out. But I had plenty left over and should have used it to add a few rows. My husband has (what I tell him to be) a freakishly large head. He swears to me that Nate’s is the same. Of course, me being the star knitter I am, fail to measure Mike’s head for consideration of gauge. Le Sigh. So after I proudly finish it off and slap it on him to see just how well my lovely hat fits him, he declares its too small. It covers his ears and it’s too small. I’m hoping a good blocking will add a bit of length, but I’m sending it in the Christmas gift package regardless. Grumble grumble….

So 2 FO’s and I’m on to the next big thing….oh wait….what’s that I hear? A child coughing? Yes, Aaron had a moderate asthma attack yesterday that nearly sent me into the corner to eat my hair. There’s nothing quite as horrifying as seeing your child deteriorate and there is nothing you can do but watch nurses and doctors crowd around him. Also, I’m on the flighty/anxious side so after it was all over and his blood oxygen level met the MINIMUM for him to be released, I almost lost my shit right there and then. But I didn’t. I held on. I was strong, sorta.
So I need to start Maya's stocking, finish the One Row Handspun I'm making for the gift swap at X-mas, and also I was toying with throwing caution to the wind and casting on for Tam B from Knitty. I bought some Noro and Cascade when I went to the yarn store for the Nature Wool and I’m so excited it’s ridiculous.

I've lost it....

2007-12-05T16:53:00.000-05:00

my mind, my energy and my knitting mojo. I've written down about 2 dozen great scarf patterns and cast on for about 10 and they've all been ripped. We are doing a "present swap" this x-mas and I thought I'd knit a great unisex scarf from some gorgeous green Ultra Alpaca. Its been 1.5 weeks and the only knitting I've done is about 5 rows on Aaron's stocking. Christmas is now what, 2 days away? Ugh. I woke up yesterday with a head cold and suffered through a ridiculously busy day with the kiddos. Kung fu has been put off so far this week. Its really starting to feel rushed, and Manny reprimanded me last Saturday for not punching right!! White belt techniques done wrong by me, a brown belt. I must have looked like shit because he pulled me aside to ask if I was okay. (Damn, was I that bad?!) So I feel bad about that and now I've missed 2 opportunities to learn the second part of this beautiful form. I'm going to have to go on Saturday again and risk getting grilled on basics. Manny keeps wanting me to test at every opportunity and thats great, but just learning the stuff is good enough for me. I do realize to learn more, I'll have to test, but there is no going slow and understanding it!! Just go, go, go!!!
sigh
Last weekend, we made the trip down to Knitch. It is a great store. But I didn't find anything I had to have. Thats how low my knitting morale has sunk. They had lots of great roving and even dyeable yarns.....a snugs kit (but only in the small sizes) and Rowan yarns. All of this made me excited, but we are broke right now with the holidays and all. I need a job to support the yarn habit. Le sigh. Anyhoo....I'm going to get back to Knitty - the new winter patterns are up!! Yippee!

Deadlines approaching

2007-11-15T08:50:00.000-05:00

I love this time of year! And adding to that is living in such a beautiful place! Despite the havoc the drought is causing for everyone, the trees are still turning and the air is getting colder. I'm amazed after living in a desert that got less than one inch of rain a year, that a place so full of water and plants can be in such dire straights with water supply. I've been doing my best to shorten showers, cut out baths, and do dishes without letting water run too long. Our bill this month was $25. How low can it go I wonder?

Another week, another illness. This time Mike and I have caught the chest cold. At least its not the kids again. It seems they are finally getting back into the school groove and there are half days, vacation days and special holiday activities for them to do. I think Aaron grew about 5 inches the other night! Such a big boy now. He and I agreed that when he turns 15 we'll both join a bushido school together and learn to become samurai. God, I love that kid.

There has been limited knitting because frankly...I'm tired of knitting!!! I'm hittin' a wall at a bad time. I've got the Hemlock Ring to finish by next Thurday and I'm on row 80 I think. There are Christmas stockings to knit and maybe some hats for gifts! I stopped working on Maya's Starsky cuz I decided I needed a hat. I took a skein of beautiful Malabrigo and cast on for an earflap hat. It looks good (Holy Jeebus I love this yarn) but apparently my gauge was off. The hat fits, but not well. SSSSHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEITTTTT! I don't know whats worse - being in a knitting slump or not being smart enough to check gauge on a HAT in time to realize its too small! Dumb Dumb!

2007-11-05T10:29:00.000-05:00

I've been knitting on Starsky Jr. for 5 days straight now and have only a meager 2 inches to show for it. I somehow continue to screw up the damn banana leaves pattern!!!! The killer part is I'm done with the armhole shaping, so I'm just knitting straight with the last 60 sts to the neck. I have approximately 14 rows left until bind off and still can't manage to make it through 3 rows without noticing some huge error I've made 3 rows down. Its gotten so bad I'm saying the pattern aloud as I knit it, then closely examine the sts after I knit them. This is taking FOR-E-VEERRRRR. I'm praying to God that the fronts will go more smoothly and that I can move on! I'm trying not to think about how on the fronts, the sleeve and neck shaping takes place together and how much that might confuse me!
I've cast on the Halloween Mystery Shawl about eleventeen hundred times. I got my red beads in the mail, but still haven't decided if I'm going to use them. I'm really wanting to see Renee's finished shawl, or someone who used black yarn with red beads. In the mean time, I also got these.

They've been my consolation so far. I've only learned about 5 steps into the form, but handling these things is new and awkward and is enough of a challenge on its own. I'm learning section 2 of the form tonight.

2007-10-27T21:21:00.000-04:00

Maya's Starsky is definitely coming along. Seeing one thin cotton sweater next to her thick winter coat as her only two cold weather options is starting to light the fire. I've made a few visible errors that I'm unwilling to tink or frog back to, in order to correct. Le sigh...
Being so monogomous to one project is hard! I've been working only on it because the other WIP I have to get done is the Hemlock Ring which for some reason is languishing beside my knitting chair. ? I like the color, I love the pattern... but I don't want to knit on it. I guess I feel great pressure on those lace rounds to get it right and then the following stockinette on 200 plus sts is alternately killing me!
Besides that, you know, I have joined the Halloween Mystery Shawl KAL. Wow! What a ride! I love Halloween lovers!! They're all so passionate! We all have our own ideas and I think we get disappointed when something so cool comes along and then its not as we envisioned. That's life! So much drama! Anyways...I haven't even cast on the dadgum thing yet!! I've bought 4 different sets of beads for it too. :)
What can I say? Give me a pattern with the name Halloween, Dracula, or black lace yarn with beads somewhere in the description and I'm in. Ya, I know, I'm easy.
Anyhoo, speaking of beads....after learning the name and theme was indeed vampires (YES!!) I decided I had to have red beads! I go to the closest Michael's. Apparently, I hit the tail end of a HUGE bead sale and most of the bead inventory is gone, including all but 2 packages of red beads. Hmmmmm. days later..... I Google bead stores in my area... 2 show up close: one near the mall and one up the freeway a bit. I circle the mall for about 15 minutes before realizing: "hey, maybe the store is inside the mall!" Genius that I am, I can't find it inside either. Next day I call said shop. They are in the mall, they're a kiosk. A kiosk? I drive there. I find them. Beaded necklaces people. Ugh. I try the next store which is about ten minutes further up the freeway. Lovely lady with a cute store! About 5 choices of the right size beads for me! Ahhhhhh! I wasn't about to leave empty handed! I bought two tubes of lovely silvery/grey beads in a size smaller then whats called for.

Black yarn and silver beads = awesome Halloween/vampire shawl, right?!

Next day, I'm with my Mom, heading to a fabric store. I tell her about my bead store adventure.

Mom: "Did you go to that bead store thats on B street?" (b street is five minutes from my house)

Me: "What? What bead store on B street?"

Mom: "The one right next to the grocery store!"

Me: .....

Mom: "We'll go by there now, it's on the way"

Me: ?!!!.......

Needless to say there is an awesome bead store very close!! The lady was friendly and the store had an excellent selection, including a great workstation in the back. There weren't too many seed bead size 6/0 options, but there was enough other cool stuff to make up for it. (Oh and also, I may have ordered some red beads as well, just in case those silver ones don't work out from Fire Mountain Gems last night in a desperate fit of red=blood for vampire shawl thinking.)
I bought some Halloween beads and made these:

my first stitch markers.

Starky is coming along

2007-10-19T08:45:00.000-04:00

The days continue to whiz by! Brown belt classes are hard. Hard and fun. Its been frustrating though due to my broken arse. I'm not able to stretch and move like I should be, so things are that much harder. ARG! I'm tempted not to go on Saturday to give my leg a full 7 days of rest. It's been feeling better the less I do with it, but there is still pain.

I've finished the sleeves to Starsky Jr. and have moved on to the back.
I was sooooo excited to knit the cables part but I only got 3 rows into the pattern before I realized I was too tired to continue.
Getting to bed late is taking its toll. I did get to watch Last Man Standing which was interesting. I just wish there were more martial artists in the mix.
Anyhoo, I'm thinking I'm going to add some knitted gifts to my Christmas list. We'll be seeing my SIL and her boyfriend for the first time in a loooooong time and frankly, the budget is tight. I'm just at a loss as to what to make! This may call for some ravelry pattern searching!

Bad zippers, good belts

2007-10-11T08:46:00.001-04:00

ARG! Me hates sewing. I suck at it. But how else does one attach a zipper? How, I ask you?
Look at the lovely jog in the front. Apparently, my ability to match up the sides leaves a bit to be desired. UGH! I spent most of the afternoon yesterday sewing the damn thing on, now I'm gonna have to go undo it all?! Thank goodness they've extended the deadline. The saddest part about all this is, as I'm going to post about my FO, I look at the uploaded picture thinking, "wow, that looks crooked". Duh.
In other news...... Looky what I accomplished last night.

Six long forms, 30 self defense, 19 kumite, 20 sparring, 16 nunchaku spins and 30 short forms later, I received my brown belt. AWESOME! I stayed after my hour long test to join the brown belt class which was as challenging as I expected and that was mostly because my legs were literally shaking with fatigue by then. But from this point on, I will be learning all animal forms which is unbelievably cool for me. Kung fu is so pretty that just doing the animal forms is a joy. Also, eventually they'll give me sword! A SWORD people!!!! Mine! I'll learn how to use it!! Holy frick I love this stuff!

Halloween approacheth....

2007-10-03T13:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I struggled, I ripped, I seamed, I ripped, I weaved and voila!!

A mostly done Tomten! I began crocheting an edge around, but I really did not like the way it was coming out. I'm wondering if I should go for the I-cord border or just block and zipper. Hmmmmm. I got actual butterflies in my tummy thinking about casting on for Starsky Jr. today. In trying to keep down my rising frustration and excitement about the Halloween Mystery Shawl, I was telling myself I could work on Maya's sweater and get a good start on it without halloween distraction. But, alas, it was not to be for today (a mere 2 days after my order was placed!!) my shawl yarn arrived in the mail.

It is blacker and shinier and beautifuller than I imagined. In a weak moment yesterday, after spending $15 on beads, I went to the Yarn Garden to see what their laceweight situation was (I'd swear to you I was a patient person, but now, I'm starting to wonder) and they didn't have anything I really liked. The yarn I ordered was cheaper and better than what was there (love you Yarn Garden!).
So now I'm off to bust out the laundry, vacuuming, kitchen and bathrooms so I can wind this yarn so that when the kids get home I can do homework, snacks, dinner and cleaning, baths and then I can sit and cast on!!! T minus 7.5 hours.

Uninvited guest

2007-09-26T20:12:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I decided to head over to the LYS just to get out of the house and maybe spend some birthday money. I bought 3 more skeins of Ultra Alpaca and one more skein of the Ranco with a special project in mind. After I'd come home, I decided to reorganize my yarn and knitting area downstairs. It was a MESS. I ended up taking two large bags of yarn upstairs and bringing about 10 skeins of yarn down for other projects. I decided to frog Maya's cardi. I just can't seem to get it right! Then it occured to me....Starksy Jr.!! Of course! That would be a great fall sweater for her and she would fall between sizes which may allow her to get an additional years' wear out of it. Also, I have yarn! Twice now I've bought blue (okay three counting the Ella Rae Amity) yarn just for a sweater for this poor girl and all three times, something has doomed the project! So I dug it all out. I've got 7 balls of Knit Picks Andean Silk. Seven. Thats not enough yardage for the sweater in a small size! I just bought yarn! I can honestly say, I think I have too much yarn! I still don't have what I need! I want to make this sweater so she can wear it this fall, which means I need yarn ASAP. I don't want to wait and order more. The dye lot is old. Frick!
As I was feeling sorry for myself I noticed Roxie looking at me pitifully. In this house sad look = dinner time. So I open the door to get her doggie dish and I'm looking at the mess on the porch and.....Holy Shit!! Is that a spider?!!!

Needless to say I'm afraid to go in the backyard now. When it saw me it scrambled up towards the top of the canopy thingy. Its legs are HUGE! I don't even know how to go about getting rid of such a creature. I don't want to kill it (surprisingly) but my gut instincts are telling me to go get a baseball bat.
I tried my best to capture the creepy beauty of this baby but there was no way I was going to leave my safety zone in the doorway to get closer.

Those are Christmas lights he/she is next to. Yikes. As scary as it is I can't help but feel a little compassion for someone who can spin...
Here's an action shot. Once the sun went down, this baby started spinning like crazy! All I know is, if I go out there and any web touches me, I'm losing my shit.

Post Birthday

2007-09-25T08:33:00.000-04:00

For the past 3 days, I've actually felt NORMAL! I was sick for like 3 weeks straight and it feels good to be normal again! Only 2 days of Antibiotics left. Yay! I really didn't get much knitting done this weekend. My birthday was yesterday so we kinda celebrated over Sat and Sun. Nothing big. Lunch and shopping at the Forum, then dinner and a pumpkin chocolate cake on Sunday night. I also got to Joann's for some fabric to make some chair seat covers. I was foolish enough to choose chairs with cushions on them, now they're ruined! Mind you we've only had this table/chair set for one year! I guess kids with dirty hands will do that. So making a slipcover for the seat makes sense. Something removable and washable. They really only had 2 fabrics I liked!! My mom helped me come up with a pattern and now I'm on my own. Me and the sewing machine don't mix. Ugh. This is gonna be interesting.
Also, I've been reading Laurie's book. I love her so much! I also bought a book on Shambhala that is very interesting. So thats what I've been doing instead of knitting. I did get through with the right sleeve on the Tomten yesterday. Its official. NOT a size 7. More like 3-4!!! I'm determined to finish it though. The laziness in me is telling me that I should put it aside and finish when I can since it won't fit the criteria for their Oct. 12 deadline. I mean, I still have to do the other sleeve, finish the hood, the seaming and attach the zipper!! This tomten has been fun to knit though. EZ is always a mind trip for me because she requires me to think when usually its challenge enough to follow a pattern without error! The yarn is great. I thought it was a bit itchy and raw at first, but it seems to be getting softer the more I knit with it, and I've heard that PF can bloom and soften quite a bit after washing.

I should be working on Maya's sweater, Aaron's sweater and Linda's Hemlock!! She won't be here for Christmas so I need to finish it sooner than I thought.

New week, new projects

2007-09-12T16:39:00.000-04:00

Whew! If I don't stop getting sick, I'm afraid my sinuses will be so screwed that I won't be able to smell/taste anything! ARG! Anyhoo, in light of me being sick, surfing on ravelry (cuz apparently looking at my knitting is funner than knitting my knitting) and joining a new KAL, I have cast on for a Tomten Jacket. Yum. I'm using my Peace Fleece and I'm beginning to think that people find wool itchy are wearing sweaters with lots of veggie matter in the wool! There is SO MUCH matter in this one skeing I can barely believe it! Besides that, the wool is so nice. Tough wool. Natural wool.

I'm sending the Jacket to Afghans for Afghans when its done. And that has to be before 10/12! Yikes! I'm at 14 garter ridges. Yep, I should be knitting and instead I'm on the computer again. Really I'm just waiting for this decongestant to kick in. Le sigh.
If there is time/wool, I will also whip up some socks or add a hood. I'm really unsure of the yardage for this baby. The gauge and sizing also had me a bit vexed; it needs to fit ages 7 - 14 years. I didn't think my gauge would be large enough for that but it is!! Yay!

I've also made a bit of progress on my Hemlock.

Originally, I told myself that if I worked 5 rows a day, that would be plenty good enough. It seems to be a quick knit and its SO fun to see your knitting grow
and take shape so quickly. I think the recipient will love it!

Another week gone already?

2007-09-08T19:06:00.000-04:00

I can't believe its Saturday! And I've had a revelation: now I know what has holding me back and practically killing my knitting mojo: my printer! It's been out of yellow ink for awhile now and apparently that means a no go on any printing. Of course, Mike orders black ink (which it also needed) and the lack of yellow ink is still keeping it from printing!!!
So Mike offered to print some of the patterns I've been wanting at work. When he came home with the large stack of copies I was so happy!! I want to cast on for Starsky NOW. I'm going to use the Ultra Alpaca and I'm planning on having to knit the Large size to make up for the gauge difference. I did a little math and I think it will work out.
Earlier in the week, I gave into weakness and cast on the Hemlock Lap Blanket.

FUN people. The yarn is actually nice too! It is one of the patterns I now have printed (writing down those line by line instructions SUCKED!!!! I only got to line 35) so I want to get back to it. Its awesome to see it take shape so fast.
Today we went to Gwinnett Mall. Not our usual shopping grounds but we needed a water filter for the fridge and that's the closest Sears. Anyhoo, it was fun. We hadn't been to the mall in a long time. I guess its because the Mall of Georgia is crazy almost always! I hate crowds. This time, I even got to look at some clothes. Women's clothes. Clothes that I can wear. Although it takes me some time to get my bearings. One good thing that came from all the window shopping was getting to see all the fall sweaters. Lots of short cardi's and lots of cables. Many of the sweaters I saw in multiple stores looked a lot like Wendy's Flair. Awesome!
I'm probably one of the WORST shoppers I know. I'm turning 30 this year. I'm 5'4", 125 lbs. In what department do I shop?! Do I wanna look like a college slut? Or like I'm a 45 year old school marm? The only stuff I found was in the "business professional" section. Where am I going to wear nice stuff like that? To the elementary school when I help out my sons Kindergarten teacher for 30 minutes every Wednesday?! Can you tell that I hate shopping? I think this also stems from the fact that my kids are in school and I feel like I'm in limbo. Stay at home mom? Go back to school? Get a job? Ugh! Give me my bottle of wine and pass the knitting.

September already!

2007-09-04T22:02:00.000-04:00

Wow. Just got back from Kung Fu and my body is Tired! I ran about a whole mile yesterday and today my entire torso is sore. ? I'm not sure why its my torso and not my legs but okay. This week is cardio week so I'll probably run again tomorrow morning after the kids get on the bus. It was really nice going though. I haven't been to class in few weeks now and I realize now how I missed it! Lots of upper belts are gearing up to test this weekend with the Grandmaster so there was lots of excitement in the air. At one point I looked over and saw a black sash/belt (who is a woman, woot!) and her belt was hanging a little low and I thought to myself, "gee, she needs to pull that thing up, her gi top is really poofing out". Only minutes later I realized the black belt who is practicing a broad sword form is about 6-7 months pregnant! I love my school.
Back here at chez dog hair, we are continuing to share the cold germs and now Maya has fallen sick. ARG! She's a trooper though and eats her weight in fruit everyday so I'm not too worried about her.
I've been knitting on Maya's sweater and have gotten one skein into it. The color is lovely and the yarn is making a nice thick fabric.

Pardon my craptastic photo, I was trying to take the picture before the battery died.
I'm so tired of all my WIP's. I want to start something new. I've decided to make a Hemlock Ring Blanket and a Baby Surprise Jacket for charity. I also have been eyeballing the xmas stocking patterns and yarn as well as some black-ish cotton ease I want to use to make Maya a batty dishcloth (she loooooves bats). I went to the LYS again today and left with another skein of sock yarn (for chrissakes somebody STOP me!!!!) and The Opinionated Knitter. I went to find a machine washable aran weight yarn in some shade of maroon. No luck.

Wool is best

2007-08-28T14:48:00.001-04:00

Ack! I think I have knitters block. I feel like I've abandoned all projects. Maya's sweater is now in its 3rd incarnation and I don't think its gonna make it. I like Ella Rae yarns, but Amity is just too much acrylic for me. I can't take it anymore. So how do you solve a knitting project problem? Well, in this house you throw more (new) yarn at it. This stuff is right on gauge, but also with too much acrylic and Maya said she didn't like the color.

Sigh.

I pulled my Pom's out and they look lovely, but I'm considering just completely starting the second one over. I still don't know about my Leyburns.
Not having anything in progress that I wanted to work on, I opted to cast on for Aaron's sweater. Again, with the acrylic. Why oh why did I agree to this yarn? Wool is always best.

Sunday

2007-08-26T19:50:00.000-04:00

What a long weekend this has been. I caught a cold and started feeling crappy Thursday night. Friday night we had dinner company so I spent a lot of time on my feet and it just about did me in. My body ached so bad that getting up out of bed was like taking a punch to the gut. I felt so bad that I didn't even want to knit! When I did feel better, I ripped back on the Leyburns and worked some extra increases in before I got to the heel. Toe up socks just don't seem to fit right at the heel! UGH! I am so determined to make this pattern work for me that I inc early, did an extra deep heel (2 rows) and kept my sts inc early on to make up for the tight fit. Now its too big. It looks silly. I'm thinking that maybe I should just rip back and start over completely. Maybe finish my Pomatomus' first. Start something new. Wind my Araucania into a cake and start the Artichoke Socks. I don't know. It's going to be September soon and I want to have the kids' sweaters finished. Maya's sweater with the gauge issues seems to be vexing me. I decided the Plush yarn is soft, but won't hold up to the kind of use she'll put it through. UGH! I don't have yarn the gauge needed for the pattern.
Aaron's sweater is tempting me, but I have guilt about starting his when hers was first and now will be put aside. I need to start the Backyard Leaves scarf as its a present and at this rate, I'll barely get it done in time for Xmas. Also, theres the christmas stockings!! As long as I get the kids' stockings done, it'll be okay. Mike and I can wait another year.
So its Sunday and I'm feeling a bit better. Gearing up for another week of school. Lots of errands and knitting to do!

later:
okay, now that I've added pictures of the sock, it doesn't seem too bad. But still, its a little big around the leg. I've got bird legs okay?! Large ankles + small calves = hard to make hand knit toe-up socks?

Mas estambre esta aqui.

2007-08-23T13:31:00.001-04:00

Holy fricking sock yarn Batman!

Stash Enhancement eXpedition

2007-08-23T12:46:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning with the idea that I could go to the LYS to look for a contrasting yarn for Maya's cardigan. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out so well (she chose the corniest seafoam green/blue that goes with no other color). But in the front room they have a new arrivals area. It automatically drew me in because it was handdyed wools (like a moth to a flame I tell you). Anyway, I happened to notice besides the bulky stuff there was...fingering weight. Sock yarn weight. Handdyed Araucania sock yarn in multis and solids. My heart fluttered. One of the employees came over to me and together we may have stared and twittered over it for a good 5 minutes. I had a reddish color chosen originally, but decided on this one:

Next, I stumbled upon some Jo Sharp Silk Tweed Aran that I decided I may be able to use for a sweater I want to make for ME. I'd looked at it once already and was about to go when something caught my eye. It looked like alpaca all purple and fuzzy. I was half right:
Ultra Alpaca

I've been waiting to get a hold of some of this yarn for a while now! Its beautiful and perfect and I bought 7 skeins with no design in mind! All I know is that I will find some pattern worthy of its soft warm perfectness. Yum!

Doggie love

2007-08-21T16:31:00.000-04:00

This is a-freakin-mazing. Alex is home now doing well. What a sweet family!
I love how there are suddenly so many dog videos on the news websites. I think maybe Vick's dogs haven't died totally in vain. I also love how the Atlanta animal shelter is using all the donated Vick jerseys as clean up rags/pet blankies. AWESOME!!

More socks

2007-08-19T10:35:00.000-04:00

Since I've put away my Pomatomus', I snatched up another ball of Bearfoot and cast on. Unfortunately it was the wrong color for the socks I was knitting: Leyburn by Mintyfresh. It turned out okay though, I messed up the toe and a repeat so I took it off and started over with the right colorway.

This is starting to be a bit familiar, everytime I try and start a pair of socks, something goes wrong and I end up frogging and restarting! Good thing my love of knitting is pure and blind and I don't care if I start over a million times.

Maya's sweater is coming along too. The gauge is definitely off, so I'm trying to decide if its time to divide the sleeves from the body yet. There seems to be lots of projects to work on, and I've added a lot to the queue on ravelry. There are 3 new babies coming and I want to knit for all of them. I knit a Saartje's Bootie, but promptly misplaced it. I have no buttons. I don't know the sex of one of the babies....I need to find some patterns for these kids ASAP.

School and moths!

2007-08-16T12:21:00.000-04:00

Well, school has started here in Gwinnett county and surprisingly, my sanity is still intact. I knew this was going to be a big to-do because its Aaron's first year of school and they both wanted to ride the bus.

So they are.
To make a long story short, they are riding the bus happily while their mother sits at home fretting and pacing wondering what they are doing and how they are feeling with each passing moment. Today is Thursday and the first day I haven't felt a twist of anxiety about them being on a bus/at school. Who knew being a mother would be so freakin' difficult? I must admit though, it is soooooo nice to have the house to myself all day. Wooot! If it weren't so damn hot, I'd be out running in the mornings or practicing some material for Kung Fu. I've got 6 months of material to review for a brown belt test which I can take anytime after next week. Oiy. That makes me nervous. The Grandmaster is coming to town in September to do some testing (black belts only) and I'm going to go watch. This is gonna be awesome!
Anyway, I've been knitting up a storm. I started Maya's sweater.

I can't decide whether I hate the yarn or like it. It's Ella Rae Amity. Its soft, but in the heat it feels scratchy and unforgiving. I took it out to the bus stop yesterday and knit practically 10 long rows before the bus got there (in 100 degree weather - growing up in El Paso has conditioned me I suppose). Its producing a pretty fabric so I'm sure it will come out looking okay. I measured the gauge and it seems off, but the measurement of the sweater seems on track...? I don't know...it seems to be working so I'll deal with whatever problems as they come. Thankfully, this is a top down cardi so I should be able to fit it as I go.
I had to put my Pomatomus' away! I found a dead moth in my finished sock! Then I proceeded to screw up a repeat on the second. I didn't rip back yet. I just stuffed the whole thing back in its bag. When I pick it up again, I'll have to nuke it for a few seconds to be sure to kill any larvae. EWwwww. So I'm gearing up to make either the Leyburn's or the Flickering Flame socks. I ordered some yarn from Bluemoon Fiber Arts. Yipee! I'm really excited for it to come. More packages!

August 2007, the month of Ravelry

2007-08-10T13:57:00.000-04:00

The lack of posting is due to ravelry overdosing. Also, as a result of my Ravelry fever, my Flickr uploads are maxed already for the month and its only the 10th! Ugh!
One of the coolest things about Ravelry is getting to see other peoples FO's. All the modifications they may make, the colors they choose, the body types....it's so interesting and is changing the way I think about knitting. The only bad thing is sometimes you come across an awesome FO and the knitter hasn't really written any descriptive notes on the process, not to mention the hours wasted staring at your computer screen.
Anyhoo...all the sock knitting I've been doing lately has gotten lots of ooohs and ahhhhs from the fam. My dad has asked me twice now, "when am I going to get something?" and "is that for me?" Ack! I absolutely adore this man..I love him more than I can say. I'm worried my knitting skills are not good enough to give him something worthy of....him. I don't think I want to make socks: its usually a crap shoot that the socks I make for myself will fit, let alone someone else. A scarf? I don't think he'd use it. He might use a hat during the colder months but I'm not sure. I would absolutely LOVE to make him a sweater or vest, but I'm unsure about his chest measurement and don't want to give myself away by whipping out the measuring tape. A ribwarmer? Tomten? (have you seen Brooklyn Tweed's?!!) I want him to have something useful and comforterable. Nothing too fancy or intricate. I'm really at a loss! You know what this means....yep, more pattern hunting on Ravelry.

And because I hate posting without pictures, here's a random one from the Buffett concert a few years back.

Yep, this is how we roll. BTW, thats my friend Val and her hubby Derek. They're awesome can't you tell?

Progress

2007-08-03T18:58:00.000-04:00

Yeah!! I finished my first Pomatomus!

Its very bright blue, soft, warm and pretty. I don't like the toe however. Maybe on the next one, I'll try a different toe. Does it matter what kind of toe technique one uses? I'm sure some lend themselves better to certain patterns, but I'm going to do some investigating.
Also, I got my Interweave Knits today!! That is the earliest its ever gotten here!! There are soooooo many nice patterns in this issue. Now I remember why autumn has always been my favorite season.

Socks, Ravelry and school

2007-08-02T14:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been knitting away on the Pomatomus socks despite some confusion on chart B. What is it with me and lace charts?! Anyway, I figured it out and they are coming along. I'm actually at the part where I start the toe decreases. This is a cool pattern, but I don't know if I'll make a second pair. I will however, definitely make a second pair of Embossed Leaves Socks. Those are just so pretty!! In other exciting news....I finally got my Ravelry invite! This is waaaaaay cool! I've been adding stuff and researching projects all week. Also, I've been discovering that I have way too much yarn. Yarn without a purpose! In addition to that, I've been gearing up and mentally preparing myself for school to start. The kids definitely drive me batty all day, but I'm going to miss them a lot when they are gone all day.

Pomatomus is...

2007-07-27T12:54:00.001-04:00

In a word...

Thrilling!

I think I never really liked knitting socks because I wasn't knitting something patterned. Plain socks are very nice to have, but knitting these lace pattern socks is sheer joy! I'm simple, what can I say? The picture was taken after one complete pattern repeat plus 3 rows into the second. Thank goodness this yarn is resiliant! I started over 3 times (just like the embossed leaves pattern). I started out with the dpns from KnitPicks and they were great, but my hands just were NOT used to dpns and I gave up and put the thing on a circular. I knew these socks were supposed to have a lot of stretch and I figured I'd use a size smaller needle. Mistake. I tried the thing on after taking this picture and barely got it over my heel!! So I've switched needles to the next size up and the knitting is much easier!! I had a hell of a time with the ktbl's with those tiny needles! When I look at the sock, I can tell the gauge difference, but I'm not sweating it. I'm making these socks for sheer enjoyment and wear, they don't have to be perfect. This one will never slide down my leg at least!!
I'm at the end of the second repeat now (its going so fast!!) and I think I can get through the third and maybe the first part of the heel flap by bedtime.
In other yarn news...this:

became this:

and will soon be reincarnated into Backyard Leaves.

Needles!!!

2007-07-25T14:07:00.000-04:00

Figures....the day after I call and complain about a late package, it comes. It CAME!! My new needles are here!!! Yipee!! Now the only question is to knit them with circulars or dpns.
All the waiting was forcing me to look at my WIP's and the lists of things to knit by Christmas. I currently have only one Christmas gift to knit and it was going to be this:

Now, I've decided to frog what little progress has been made there and make this instead:

I think it will be a) more enjoyable to knit b) quicker to finish and c) more usable for its recipient. I could be wrong, we'll see.

No mail = no knitting

2007-07-24T10:37:00.001-04:00

Baby Bog July 24
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl

I was stunned when I failed to receive any KnitPicks package in the mail over the weekend. Devastating as this was, I was in a cranky mood all weekend except for Friday cuz that was Maya's 7th birthday. Her party will actually be this Saturday, but of course we had a little pizza party with presents on Fri.
So I didn't really pick up the needles and work on anything all weekend even though I carried around my new knitting bag (with 2 to 3 projects in it) everywhere we went. I did try and continue on my Pomatomus sock, but it is hard doing tbl with blunt needles! I screwed up the pattern repeat and frogged the WHOLE thing. I'm doing my best trying to sit tight and wait for those KnitPicks needles to arrive. After calling customer service (today was the 15th day) we discovered that it had a postal number, but was nowhere to be found! She (regrettably I didn't catch her name) is shipping me a whole new set! This makes me happy even though it means more waiting. In the mean time...I've plotted out the socks to make out of the 4 skeins of Bearfoot: Pomatomus, Leyburn, Bells and Whistles and Flickering Flame socks. I can barely wait!! Must. Knit. Socks.

In other news, the joy and excitement I felt at the discovery that Mrs. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee will be coming to Atlanta can only be matched by one other thing....
Meeting this man

Mr. James Marsters (aka Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Plans were made a year ago to make a family trip to the DragonCon Convention in Atlanta and although I faithfully checked many times, never saw his name on the roster. Lo and behold, as we checked on Saturday (looking for Darth Vader pictures for Maya) I saw his name on the confirmed guest list. The edges of my vision may have gotten black and I may have jumped up so fast that a child flew off my lap. I have had a crush on this dude for a while now. Also, Brent Spiner will be there, Q, the Ghosthunter guys....I could go on but I'm getting too excited again. 4 days of Sci-Fi fun. Now just to figure out how to ask Mr. Marsters to hold my sock while I take a picture.....without him calling security....

Letting sleeping dogs lie.....

2007-07-19T22:39:00.000-04:00

Well, its been a long day here at Chez elderly pets. I dropped Roxie off at the vets at 8am (hello 7am! Haven't seen you in a while!) and 10.5 hours later, picked her up again. She is an older dog. How old? I'm not sure. All I know is she that she aint no spring chicken. She had a total of six, yes 6, teeth pulled. So when we picked her up, she was swollen, stoned and her eyes seemed to be pointed in two different directions. The first people she recognized were Maya and Aaron and she smiled in her silly doggie way as much as she could with a swollen doggie mouth. Since getting home she has successfully manuevered her way around the kitchen table twice and walked on her own to the fireplace.

Roxie has been a part of our family for about 4 to 5 years now. We (the vet and I) guestimate her age to be between 10 and 13 years. She is a sweet and smart dog. She is a shephard and does love to try and herd people when they come into the home. If you are wondering why I'm blogging about a dog on my knitting blog (or not?) I just want to say that, I feel, as a dog owner and a lifeform on this planet, that dog fighting is unacceptable. It is not a "sport". Roxie's value in our home is immeasurable. She loves us and we her. I am astonished that the NFL hasn't taken more of a stand with this Vick indictment. I know Michael Vick is "innocent until proven guilty" and that is how it should be. But the NFL needs to be a little more vocal about the standard of character of its players. Children across the country (and world) look up to these men. They need to at least be able to show that they value life. All life.

Back to Bags

2007-07-17T13:32:00.000-04:00

After yesterday's pity party post, I decided to take a picture of my knitting area.

Yes its a disorganized mess.

Wow!! Look at all that yarn! And thats just the stuff thats in the living room. Awesome. Go me!
Sometimes I think about putting some of the wool away, but I can never bring myself to do it. I keep thinking that I'll start all these projects soon. Instead of starting them, I just add more projects (and yarn) to the list. This is why I need to get organized. I've only gotten nerdy enough to get a binder and put my WIP's in plastic protectors. But after looking at these photos I think I may need something more. Like maybe an intervention!

Speaking of more.....one of my long awaited packages did come in the mail today!!!!

Yipee!!!!

A Namaste Everyday knitting bag in Brick Red.

Oh isn't it beautiful?

I took a picture of the inside to show ALL the (many) pockets but it was too dark. This sucker is much bigger than I'd imagined it. I think I could fit a sweater plus another WIP in there!! I am soooooo excited to start using it I can hardly stand it.

I usually don't splurge on purses. Nope, not even the $69 I spent on this one. But I was perusing the knittinghelpforum one day and there was a thread about knitting bags. I'd come very close to buying a green mountain knitting bag before, but they were too pricey and I didn't really like any of the handles. Anyway, I started looking at all the bags and then at the online stores. This evolved into handbag shopping in general and I figured I'd spend just as much on a nice big handbag at a department store so I might as well get the one I liked best. This one.

Now all I need are my knitpicks needles and I'll be set. Set for socks that is! I found an absolutely awesome sock pattern from Pepperknits. They are the Leyburn socks. A skein of the Bearfoot would work perfectly with this pattern I think. But right now I'm going to go play with my new bag!

Waiting and bogging

2007-07-16T12:40:00.000-04:00

I've been waiting and watching for the mailman for the past 5 days now and its starting to get on my nerves. I was SURE that one of my two expected packages would come Saturday. Nothing. I was so disappointed that I grabbed some old Cotton Ease and cast on 120sts. I decided to make a Baby Bog Jacket (from EZ's Knitting Around) the rest of my current projects be damned. The area next to the loveseat in our living room looks like a knitting explosion. I have bags of bags of yarn. Lots of yarn. New yarn. Old yarn. Needles, notebooks and patterns stacked. I'm getting disgusted with myself and now....? Waiting for more knitting packages. Somebody Stop Me!!!
Ahem.

Here is a picture of some of the projects that reside in the knitting pile.

At the top is the Baby Bog, the darker purple is the beginning of a Kimono Shawl and the lighter purple is a mostly done shrug; pattern from Fitted Knits. I should have been working on the shrug because it needs to be done for Maya before school starts and I'm soooo close to finishing it. There is really no excuse. I just want to knit more socks. Those Embossed Leaves socks were so much fun that all the other WIP's are really just languishing. The Pomatomus cuff I knitted is just sitting there on the shelf driving me batty. I'm so excited to get those darn Knitpicks DPN's its ridiculous. Hopefully today will be the day they come...

breaking it to me gently...

2007-07-11T15:03:00.000-04:00

I swear I know how to add. I was even pretty decent at pre-calculus in high school. Sadly, all that hard work has not amounted to much in the "real world". I was so excited to find the Gems yesterday that I completely overlooked the fact that the yardage between it and the required yarn for Tatami is VERY different. Sigh. Hundreds of yards of difference in fact.

Oh well. I'll stick with what I got previously. It was a shock though, when I realized my mistake. Duh! Its still beautiful and still residing in a place of honour on the dining room table for all to see. Maybe it can tell me what it wants to be sooner rather than later. I was really looking forward to knitting it up.
Anyway, I started some new socks and they're not the ones I'd originally planned on.
Pomatomus:

And notice the LARGE print chart underneath. Yes thats me and my tech skills in action. I somehow managed to print that baby in jumbo size and laughed for about 20 minutes afterward. I didn't think anything else of it till we were sitting in the waiting room at the dentists office this morning and the guy next to me did a double take when I whipped it and my yarn out.
So far so good. Reading ahead has been a bit confusing so I stopped. Since I'm knitting it on circs I'm a bit stumped by her stitch switching (say that 3 times fast) on the needles. I guess I'll jump that hurdle when I reach it. The yarn is sooooo nice but I'm having a hard time with the needles. Addi turbos just aren't good enough for sock knitting anymore. I need those Knit Picks needles; so sharp and slick...... and they didn't get here today. Hopefully tommorow. I'm putting these socks down until then. The needles are killing my hands and eyes.

I'm tired and sleepy and its a rainy day. I'm gonna have to drag my carcass out of the house to make it to Kung Fu tonite. This week: nunchaku spins.

Yarn Haul #3....

2007-07-10T15:44:00.000-04:00

Where are #1 and #2?
I’ve been getting antsy about my KnitPicks order. I want my sock needles!! I”ve got lots of projects going on but none are getting knit.
Must. Knit. More. Socks.
The LYS had a huge sale today to celebrate their anniversery. Wooooooot! Every yarn in the store was on sale. There were door prizes too, but I didn’t win any. I was only there for maybe an hour, but managed to get away with some great stuff. Stuff with a purpose. Stuff I can use NOW. You know you done good when the ladies ringing up your order are ooohing and aaahing over your skeins.

The seven remaining skeins of Louet Gems Merino in a dark blue. I think I’m going to go for Tatami with this.

3 Gorgeous skeins of Bearfoot. Hello socks!!

And some yarn for Christmas stockings

It was a great sale and lots of people were there. I really like this yarn store for many reasons.

The staff is always nice and laid back. The layout is good (they have a wool “room”). They are always changing/adding things so everytime you go there is something new to see. She’s got a great selection of patterns and books too.

So I got another yarn fix. This will have to do as an anniversery present (is the 10th year wool?) seeing as I got a Namaste knitting bag and more needles and books coming any day in the mail.

Hello there...

2007-07-05T10:47:00.000-04:00

2007 is already half over!! Time does go by faster every year. Anyhoo...I know I haven’t bothered posting here in a while, which is a shame because there has been lots going on and great knitting being knit too. I actually feel more serious about knitting lately. Whether or not that will stick I don’t know. I guess I’ve hit some milestone and just feel like I understand more about yarn and needles and gauge and drape and fibers etc etc. Yes, its been four years and finally, its all starting to sink in. I’ve been buying lots of yarn lately with specific projects in mind. I’ve finished a few too. I dug out an old binder and some plastic sheets and organized my queue by putting all WIP’s in my binder with notes and stuff. I bought the Knit Picks needles set (more on the way) and that helped me get organized all by itself. The only downside to this is, I am running out of storage room for all the yarn.
I’ve already got some Christmas knitting lined up. The only problem is I KNOW I’ll want to add more the closer December comes. I really would love to knit something for Mom and Dad, but what? They are hard to shop and knit for!!

Here is one recent FO which was one of the most exciting and satisfying knits I’ve done ever

Embossed Leaves Socks designed by Mona Schmidt
Interweave Knits winter 2005
KPM 2 skeins green

I had a bit of trouble beginning the chart. Stupid here thought “oh yes, you work even rows from left to right on charts.” That is only if you are knitting back and forth – not in the round! Oiy.

After that little set back it was smooth sailing.
I was a little intimidated by the cast on (it was different, change is scary) but it was quite easy. And I love the garter st edges on the heel and the toe is beautiful. Whenever I look at handknit socks, I usually end up critical of the way the toe looks. Too pointy, to round, to triangular....
This one is beautiful.

I’ve bought some more sock yarn (although not from lack of supply in the stash) and have already found another pretty pattern to knit which is also designed by Miss. Schmidt: Bells and Whistles. Its in the Holiday 2006 issue. I’ll be using this.

Besides socks, I have lots of other stuff planned.
Clementine Shawl is started.
Kids cardigan for Maya.
Aran Sweater for Aaron (ha ha).
Kimono style sweater for me (or two).
Shrug for Maya which is almost done.
Necktie for Mike.

That last one is a real problem for me. He picked out a couple of skeins of Wick in a Easter/sprintime colorway (?? Don’t ask, he did mens fashions for a while) and wants me to make him a neck tie.

Here are the problems:
#1. While I have no problem with the idea of a handknit necktie, there is nothing appealing about it to me.
#2. Wick? In a yellow/blue colorway? What hell were we thinking?
#3. There are many respectable necktie patterns that exist out there on the internets alone, but how am I going to knit this thing? Does it need a backing? How do I keep it from curling? How will the larger gauge (I was thinking fingering or sock weight yarn) lend itself to different stitch patterns? And, how will I keep it from looking ridiculous?

I guess its the idea that I will probably spend much time planning, knitting and finishing only to have something silly looking at the end of it all. Just a little skeptical..
He really is disappointed that I haven’t even started yet, and I keep buying more yarn and starting other projects...
I probably should really try and get on this.

One thing is for sure: it aint gonna be pretty

Long time...no post...

2006-12-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm alive! I hate that I haven't been posting here. That is mostly because I feel "so busy" and have no time for posting. But more likely I feel the need to post pictures lest my blog be too boring. Also, there is new technology I'm using that I'm not sure how to use. I'm lucky to be posting here successfully!
Anyway, the only FO I have to show for the last 2 months is Odessa for Maya. She loves it! Wears it every day to school and hasn't lost it yet. I love her. Holidays have been awesome and this house...there are no words for the gratitude I feel for being where we are. Christmas is coming up so fast though! We were thrown for a loop with the stomach flu for like 10 days. Everyone caught it but me. Miraculously. Literally. Between taking care of 3 other sick people and cleaning up after various...ahem...accidents...and being obsessed with catching up on previous seasons of 24..I'm surprised I'm bathed and well fed. Since we arrived in GA, there hasn't been much of the knitting urge until lately. After Maya wore my hat all week and the temp was below 25 degrees outside (brrrrrrr!) I decided that I too needed a hat (mostly to cover up my bed head as I loaded the kids in the car for the drive to school, my new neighbors have suffered enough). I found to awesome patterns that interested me here. Also, I'm working on a vest out of the Sirdar booklet I used for Aaron's sweater for him. He saw an obnoxiously red vest at the store one day and wanted it. It, being a knitted item, was analyzed and replaced by several skeins of wool the same hue. He likes it. I'll post a pic as soon as I'm done. I'm trying to avoid the inevitable guilt I feel every time I pick a project, buy yarn, then never finish. I have a few projects I feel I MUST finish otherwise I am a bad knitter/wife/mother. Then I'm homefree. ya, thats it, home free....

In other news...Yarn store review update!
Yesterday, I paid a visit to Hidden Haven Farm. My aunt Linda lives no less than 4.1 miles from this place so I decided to pay a visit when I went to visit Linda. Well, I yahooed the directions and forgot to write the street number or name of the store down. Heh. But we found it quickly despite that. We pulled in the driveway and it seemed a little mysterious at first but she has signs posted which was a relief. It's a 13 acre property (with sheep and chickens if your into that sort of thing) and her little barn o' yarn is off the right of their main drive. For being small, she has quality yarns, alpaca, wool, mohair and novelties along with winders, spindles and fibers for spinning. Hand dyes and hand spun by her are also available. I bought my first boucle type yarn from her, hand dyed by her which is awesome and I will most definitely have to post pics of it soon (its already on the needles). I also bought a louet drop spindle and fiber. ps. she sells spinning wheels!!! (Sorry, I'm 2 glasses into some chardonnay).
She was a lovely lady who has good yarn and other addicting fiber stuffs. Her farm is lovely and I wish I could have seen more of it! I hope I will get the chance to go back there soon. Since she is there by appointment and well, its her home, hours may not be a big problem. Meanwhile, I hope there is a gift card for the other LYS under the tree somewhere for me.
Another ps, my grandmother's website is up...
www.earlinebarnes.com
awesome

Still here

2006-11-16T22:52:00.000-05:00

Ya, I'm still here. In a spankin new house and LOVING it! Now if I could only get myself organized enough to get down to the knit in at the LYS! The weather here is getting cold (yay!?) and much wool has been sorted through. Aaron's sweater has been getting a lot of use and I love that whenever he puts it on, I can smell the wool. I took the kids to Mc Donald's the other day and one of the employee's commented on it and asked how many stitches were in it? I don't know, she didn't speak good english and I don't speak Spanish. Curses.
I've frogged Maya's Odessa twice now. Oh well third times the charm right? And I've started a pair of toe up socks for her in some cool Regia yarn. I got the short row toe thing down but snipped a part of the sock instead of the crochet cast on to start knitting in the round because I had a little too much chardonay (did I mention I'm enjoying the new house?). More pictures and knitting to come.

new knits

2006-09-02T22:58:00.000-04:00

well, okay, so not many new knits since the move to Georgia. In fact, so few knits that my Mom has started to say that I'm "all talk and no action" when it comes to knitting. She wants a second sweater for fall. For Fall?!! It is fall lady!
Anyway, I've knit the back of Maya's sweater and gotten more yarn for a few other projects, but my time is mostly spent trying to find a #@*% house!!!
Pics to come

Sweet Georgia Brown

2006-09-02T22:47:00.000-04:00

Its been so long since I've written and I feel bad about that but hey, moving to a new state can take it out of ya. Let me just say that as a girl who grew up in El Paso, TX, I never imagined that I would ever live in the beautiful state of Georgia. I was a fan of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind" and my imagination ran wild with the scenes from the film and book. Sigh. Real life Atlanta hasn't disappointed yet. It is so beautiful and green here I cannot begin to say. Don't get me wrong..I love the desert, but there is something so comforting about the trees.
We've been here about 5 weeks and its been go go go the whole time! The biggest event (besides the move) has been getting my baby into public school. Maya started first grade and let me just say I'm surprised that I didn't need a tranquilizer that day. Leaving one's child with total strangers is UN-NATURAL (no matter how much said child may drive you mad while at home). The best thing about this is how well Maya has done at school. She was moved to a new state, and went to a family reunion (from which we returned only 1 day before school started) prior to being thrust into a whole different experience. I'm a homebody and I kept my kids home with me most of the time. This had to have been a HUGE adjustment for her and she has just gone with flow and done her best every step of the way.
Maya, I salute you and you are a brave little soul!! I love you and am more proud of you than I can say!

thunderstorm July 11, 2006

2006-07-17T22:31:00.000-04:00

thunderstorm July 11, 2006
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Okay, this photo was taken at 3pm. 3 O'clock in the afternoon people. It was so dark I had to turn on all lights like it was 10pm. I knew something was coming and it was bad.
The one most awesome thing about living in Florida for me has been the rain. I grew up in a desert and so rain is always new and exciting to me...hopeful if you will. This baby scared me. There was more rain in this storm than in some of the hurricanes that have passed by in the last 2 years! This one photo hardly captures the dark and foreboding nature of this particular storm, but you'll just have to trust me...it was awesome! As I took this, it was just beginning to rain and only five minutes before, it had been bright and sunny.

Thunderstorms and more hats...

2006-07-17T22:27:00.000-04:00

Apple hat take 2
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Its late on a Monday nite of all nites and I'm updating my blog because I was without internet for like .... SEVEN DAYS!!! Although the only really necessary thing I need the internet for is banking, not having access to my knitting blogging free patterning world was only making my stress levels rise by leaps and bounds. In the meantime I finished another apple hat for my husbands boss. Awesome. Imagine starting and finishing a knit project that has definite potential for being used! After this, all knitting has somehow come to a complete standstill. Moving is busy work I suppose. Although my evenings are still pretty free, I haven't picked up any knitting for like...many days. I don't really have an urge to and right now, that is okay with me. My husband is working hard so he can end his time at his current job with no worries which leaves me home alone with 2 young kids 12-13 hours a day, cooking, cleaning, boxing, shopping, planning, calling, boxing, organizing, and basically stressing.
I'm a little sad to leave tropical Florida. But then I see alligators and the swamp and I'm so ready to leave.

Apple hat

2006-07-06T08:56:00.000-04:00

Apple hat
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Happy belated 4th of July!! We had a good holiday here despite my everlasting cold. The kids got to see lots of fireworks and miraculously no one on our street needed emergency medical care. I started this hat on Tuesday and finished it yesterday. I chose the 1yr size to make, but instead of 5 sts I got 6sts/inch. Yep. Anyway, the hat is smaller than it should be but it will fit some baby somewhere. After I finished it and held it up, the kids tried to snatch it from me and claim it for their own and my husband wanted to give it to a co-worker who is expecting. I practically had to hide it away out of site. These people had no control in the presence of the wool knitted item. Maybe there is hope for them after all. So of course, I have to make more now.
In other good news Sizzle is finally up for purchase! I really like this design and I'm excited to knit it, but of course there is no yarn! Also the new Knitty is finally up! Finally! So, I'll be shipping out my apple hat to the WIC program in MA since it's made of wool. (In case you don't know about this charity project check out Stephanie's site)
And I'm getting to the instep part of Mike's sock so thats almost done too. Maya is already suspicious about why I'm not working on her sweater. I don't know what to do. Now that knitpicks has needles I want to get some of the smaller sizes too.... ah hell, I'll just pick out some stuff and try and place my order by phone.
Only 2 more weeks here in FL so I'm going to try and hit up 2 of the LYS's before I go. Memento yarn, you know.

Non-knitting weekend

2006-07-03T09:47:00.000-04:00

We've been so busy this past week! Another open house on Saturday. I think it went okay, a little slower than the first. Someone has to like our house! Anyway. After a week of colds and constant cleaning, I got to go out with my girlfriend on Saturday night. It was her and her husband and two army helicopter pilots in training. Ya, thats right, I went out sans hubby with 2 of America's finest. Actually, they were great guys and gentlemen the entire time (through at least 4 shots and countless beers). I had fun. It was the first time I've been in a club since I was 19! Wow almost ten years! I love Valerie's husband Derek. He is hilarious! It's been so cool to be here in Tampa with them and I'm hoping that we can spend some more time together (not in a club) before we all go our separate ways.
Earlier on Saturday, since I had to stay away from the house, I drove the kids up to the first yarn store I ever shopped at. Fiber Arts in Odessa. She has changed her stock since the last time I was there and she had some AWESOME stuff. Most of which, I couldn't afford, so I bought 2 skeins of Elsbeth Lavold's Angora and 2 of Debbie Bliss' Alpaca Silk for scarfs or hats for the kids. I've decided I've got to hit this store again before we move. So I redid my knitting to-do list (which apparantly needs updating every month) and there are now 14 knitted items on there where I actually have all yarn and supplies for. 14.
For some strange reason, this excites me. I love knitting. I think its the only thing thats kept me sane the past 3 years. But alas, there is bad news on the sweater front. For Maya's flower pullover, I cannot get gauge! So I thought I'd just knit with size 7's the next size up. But guess what....not enough yarn. I figure I'm 20 yards short. Of course I ordered this yarn from KnitPicks so I'm gonna have to call and see if they can match the dyelot. Oiy. Maybe I should just buy enough in a different blue....Somebody stop me.

Yarn haul

2006-06-25T18:55:00.000-04:00

Yarn haul
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

The yarn sale was AWESOME. We got there at maybe a quarter after it opened and it was packed of course. I looked for a long time at all the wool and couldn't really pick anything out. So we saddled on over to the cotton blend side and Maya found Euroflax! Euroflax!? I never knew she carried it! It must be new inventory. Brilliant move. I was floored. I think I shoved someone out of the way to get to it. Four (4) skeins of the lighter weight in a beautiful brown. Also, another score. The first yarn you see on your right as you enter the front is the sock yarn. She had freaking Austermann Step! So Soft! Yay! So here in the picture is my Euroflax and Austermann Step with some US 7 addi turbo's since apparently there isn't a size 7 needle in the house. (? how does that happen?) I also bought some polyester yarn that is so soft that you almost feel like you are touching nothing. I'm knitting it together with another novelty yarn I bought at Joann's for a scarf. I figure this scarf will keep me sane while I knit another gray sweater (Mike has been assimilated). I didn't get much but I absolutely LOVE what I got! It was a lot of fun and I wish I hadn't had to run off but we had a barbeque to go to.
This next week I'll try and go to the knit-in on Thursday just to see whats left over and whats new. Besides, I bought some baby yarn I want to return (valid excuse). Mike can't believe I spent $100 on yarn and didn't even buy the yarn for his sweater.
The book that is under the Euroflax is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and I'm about 24 chapters in. It's really good. I have this thing with vampires- I think they are fascinating. This book however, is so well done, its creeping me out! Good stuff! New yarn, good book... what else does a girl need?

The next project

2006-06-21T09:39:00.000-04:00

Yarn for the pullover
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

I hate being in this gotta sell the house limbo. I feel like there are a million things to be taking care of and like I have no clue as to what they are. So giving myself more things to do is the only logical solution to this problem (in my mind anyway). Some "more things" include a new knitting project I want to begin right away. This cute pullover sweater for Maya that I found in Family Circle's Easy Knitting Spring/Summer issue. It's really cute with a twisted border at the cuffs, bottom and collar. I bought some Andean Silk Twist from Knitpicks for it and it is very soft. I figured she would be wearing it against her skin so it had to be soft yarn. I let her choose the colors and crossed my fingers that they would go well together. They don't look as great as I'd hoped but they'll do (she really likes them) and maybe it'll look better knitted up.
I worked on a gauge swatch yesterday. Its always the same thing with me and the gauge swatches: first I stomp around the yarn looking at it longingly wishing I could just knit it and not waste time (and yarn!) on an f*^#ing swatch! Then I give in, find the needles and cast on the 30 sts. I knit the sucker really fast, feeling better about myself and the kind of knitter I am for doing such a good gauge swatch. Finally done I whip out the measuring tape and realize instead of 5.25sts/inch, I'm getting 5.64sts/inch. I remeasure the damn thing about forty times and get more and more pissed off each time (as a side note: I think my measuring skills are improving). Then I frog back the swatch and put the yarn away for the night. I know that one doesn't always get gauge on the first try, but I was so sure with this one I would be. I had visions of myself knitting the back piece of this today. Of course thats not happening. Anyway. Despite the amount of yarn and projects in the queue, this is the ONLY thing I really want to knit right now. I started Mike's socks and out of sheer heel turning entertainment purposes that one has managed to stay alive, but nothing else is interesting to me.
Good thing the LYS is having a sale this Saturday. Insert evil laugh here. There are four projects I want to make and I've got my yardage requirements all written out for shopping purposes. One of these projects is a sweater for my beloved husband who recently told me he "just doesn't like sweaters. Not on anyone." WTF?! He'll learn to like sweaters if thats what it takes! The sweater I want to make him is Piers from Vintage knits for crying out loud!! He'll look like Fabio or something! What's he whining about?! How can someone who's lived in Salt Lake City not like sweaters? Come on!

EVidence of my Finished projects!

2006-06-21T09:20:00.000-04:00

Fo's for babies
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Even in the morning they're beautiful (of course I could be prejudiced) so I got my models to model their new knitted clothing. I still haven't gotten to blocking the sweater. If it looks good now, I wonder what will happen after I block it! It's a smidge on the big side for him, but I'm hoping that way he might get another years worth of use out of it. It is SO FREAKING SOFT. I checked all my other skeins of Paton's classic wool and no other color except for this dark gray is this soft. ? Even at Joann's the skeins seem to be like this. Its confusing. I would love to buy some of this soft wool for my Ribby Cardi, but I don't want to make it dark gray. Besides, I know Aaron loves his mommy but matching Mom and Son sweaters may be going overboard.
Yay for FO's!! And yay for warm babies!!

Sweater backside view

2006-06-21T09:13:00.000-04:00

Fo backs
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

I had the kids turn around for this one so we could appreciate the backside of the sweaters. Maya's shrug seemed too small at first and the bottom curls under but she likes it and it has become more compliant as she wears it. Score.

putting on the zipper

2006-06-15T08:08:00.000-04:00

putting on the zipper
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Whew. It feels like forever since the last post even though I know it wasn’t that long. I’ve been working on finishing Aaron’s sweater non stop. On Tuesday, I had one heck of a crick in my neck from knitting all day Monday (apparently with my shoulders around my ears). Today is better. More finishing. I am 98.5% complete. All that is left is to finish applying the zipper and blocking. I probably shouldn’t have stopped halfway through this process but I had to pretend like I knew what we were having for dinner. What I came up with looks so bad I think I should throw it out pan and all.

invisible seam

2006-06-14T18:23:00.000-04:00

invisible seam
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

I ordered some yarn from KnitPicks for her pullover yesterday. Last weekend we made a trip to the LYS to look at wool for it and there were too many colors to choose from! Seriously. So I left with nothing. Then yesterday, while doing my morning yarn store surf Maya and I saw that the Andean Silk was the perfect gauge and an interesting blend of fibers. So we order! Yay! I’m wondering if there is a yarn review of this yarn somewheres on the internets. I’m excited to make her sweater. Especially since I realized my seaming was crap and got the invisible seaming thing DOWN thanks to knittinghelp.com. Brilliant site! That is the third time I’ve been able to go there and get great help. I was kinda hoping that the lys would have some of that Ultra Alpaca but I guess that’s for fall so they don’t have it yet. I love that Berroco has so many shades available, but I hate that they discontinue their yarns after a while.
I still haven’t made a gauge swatch for Grannie Smith, but I so like the look of her sweater, I’m truly worried my Alpaca yarn won’t look the same. May have to order some Kidsilk haze. It’ll be a sacrifice I’m willing to make. Also saw this. I love it!! Too bad I don’t know any baby girls. Well, actually I do. But she’s brand new. Maybe I’ll save this one for her first birthday. It’s awesome but I don’t think I would knit one for myself.

Back to the Grind...

2006-06-05T18:11:00.000-04:00

We're back from our wonderful vacation to Walt Disney World. It was pretty awesome and pretty stressful. I'm amazed at the amount of people that go to these parks! Oiy. Granted we went at the beginning of the busy season but still...very busy. The kids had a blast and so did the adults. I wish I had taken more pictures (of course). We went to the Polynesian Resort for the dinner show which was awesome once they got to the polynesian dancing. I recommend that highly. We also ate at Le Cellier in Canada at Epcot's World Showcase which was supreme! Anyway, we had a good time and everyone is back home. Joy. To take my mind off the terrible longing to return to the Animal Kingdom Lodge I will discuss the main topic of this blog...knitting.

I was working hard on getting that damn shrug done for this vacation and I did end up finishing it. I finished it the day after we got home. I think she maybe has 8 months before she outgrows it! I washed it so that I could block it and it came out looking like I'd put it in a cement mixer. Its all fuzzy and weird. I hate cotton. Or it hates me. The yarn was so nice to knit with and now its turned into a fuzzy stiff wad of....blue. To console myself, I've completed 3" of sock for Mike. I harassed him for a while about what color of wool he would like for a sweater. His reply was, "I want socks first." What the..? He's getting a damn sweater at some point. Probably one out of Vintage Knits. Also, I'm getting ready to swatch for Grannie Smith. Isn't it cute?! And I began working on the right front of Aaron's sweater so it will for sure be done by this fall. I held the back piece up to his body and I think it will be just right. So he'll get one year's worth of wear in. So thats all for now. I know this is like, the most boring knit blog ever but oh well. KNit ON!

Quick knits

2006-05-22T13:12:00.000-04:00

Baby Bonnet
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Driven out of the house by cabin fever (I was alternating between cleaning and resting with a chest cold for what seemed like FOREVER) the kids and I went to our local Joann's Superstore and I came away with Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I've wanted this book for a while now so I forked over the extra dough to buy it there. It was fun to knit something out of a new book and have a finished object for instant gratification. I think its cute but I sewed up the back part while watching Desperate Housewives and it came out a little wonky. Next are the booties. I think I'll take this book on vacation so I can show it to my aunt Kim. She's a beginning knitter who is showing early signs of becoming fully obbessed with the craft. Its in our blood. Must. Knit. Must. Knit....

Before...

2006-05-17T11:11:00.000-04:00

kittty pi before
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

here is my kitty pi again, for comparison's sake. Bear with me...

and after...

2006-05-17T11:10:00.000-04:00

Kitty pi after
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

I only got to wash it one time! It had shrunk so much that I decided that I didn't want to wash it anymore! Then, I couldn't find anything to shape it with! First I tried my tupperware cake container - too small. Then in the garage I found a large plastic pot for potted plants. I flipped that baby upside down and forced the kitty pi onto it. It was difficult (mostly due to the overly tight bind off big surprise) but I finally got it on there. I think it turned out perfectly. I wanted high sides and a big bottom diameter and it looks good! Yay! Now all I gotta do is find a box to ship this puppy in...

Before......

2006-05-16T10:25:00.000-04:00

kittty pi before
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Yay!!! I worked on this thing for the past three days and finally got it finished. It seems a bit smaller than I thought it would be, but we'll see how much felting shrinks it. I really hope its not too small. I may have to ship it to my BIL for his Chihuahua's to use. Or maybe give to someone with a kitten. Hmmm...a ferret? Hamsters? Maybe I'm worrying for nothing, I barely put it in the washer!! Fingers are crossed. I really want to give my Mom's kitties something to enjoy. They are the spoiltest kitties ever you know.

Necktie?

2006-05-16T10:22:00.000-04:00

Necktie?
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

So here is my (lame) attempt at coming up with a necktie pattern in crochet for the missionary. All I have to do is knit 50 more inches. Whoops, I mean crochet 50 more inches. I don't know if its the yarn or the type of fabric crochet makes (maybe both) but this little bugger is STIFF! Perhaps too stiff for a tie. I don't know. Luckily, I've never had to wear one. I did get some help and found 3 other patterns for free online. Too bad the printer is out of ink.
I laid the "necktie" on my new knitting to do list. Only 4 items?! I'm forgetting something, I know it. I've been looking for a lace project worthy of the Misti Alpaca. I could make a few different lacy scarves or a shawl. According to fashion forcasts, lace is going to be in for fall (my husband works in the apparel industry). Also considering making the Gibson Girl pullover (2nd from top) from Interweave Summer 2004. This is a project I've wanted to make for a while, but I'm having the hardest time finding information about the freaking yarn they used! Is it worsted? DK? Fingering? The only blogger I found who is knitting it up is using Koigu (I wish!).
Kitty Pi is felting, better go check on it!

kids on mother's day

2006-05-14T19:25:00.000-04:00

kids on mother's day
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

We had an awesome Mother’s day here in Tampa. It all really began yesterday when I bought myself some yarn at Uncommon Threads. We drove up to Palm Harbour for a little change of yarn stores. I like this store a lot. She has some great organic cotton and she also has lots of spinning fiber (I didn’t even dare venture over to that side of the store). Anyway. I bought some Misti Alpaca. It. Is. Gorgeous. Oiy. I LUUUUURRRRVE it. I can’t get over how freakin soft it is! There was a good selection of colors but the browns and this white just stood out too much to me. I’ve wanted to do a shawl for some time now and I am helpless against the fuzzy softness of the Misti Alpaca. I plan on rifling through all my patterns to find something tonight!

Back to Mother’s Day. So this morning I woke up with a killer muscle tension headache but I was determined to have a good day. I did get to sleep in, but when I walked into the living room this is what I saw. (see above pic)

and this....

2006-05-14T19:24:00.001-04:00

husband on mother's day
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Happy Mother’s Day to me.

good morning sunshine

2006-05-14T19:24:00.000-04:00

good morning sunshine
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Again, I was determined to have a good day no matter what. So I ventured into the kitchen and started with this.

This is the other part of my yarn purchase from Uncommon Threads. Hand Painted Yarn , 100% Wensleydale Wool by Dicentra Designs.
I really like the colorway but it’s very close to some Lorna’s Laces sock yarn I bought a couple years ago.

Anyway, that and the ibuprofen definitely brightened up my morning.

At church the men sang to the women and all Mom’s got a small potted flower. I was then stopped by one of the missionaries who said he’d heard I was a really good crocheter (hmmm, I’m a legend with the mormon missionaries, creepy). Turns out he’s trying his hardest to crochet himself a tie, but it’s not coming out very well. He wanted to know if I could find a pattern for him online for free. Okay, lets not discuss the fact that an eighteen year old man is spending his free time crocheting a tie. Lets focus on the possibilities of converting him and his peers to the fiber arts. They’re such easy targets!! Like fish in a barrell!! No radio, no tv, nothing to do but sit, pray, read and knit/crochet. Ahhh yeahh. This is gonna be fun.
So back to the pattern hunt. Nothing. Zero. Zip. No crocheted necktie patterns (are we surprised? Yes! Have you seen what else is out there?!) Crazy there aren’t any because the concept is so darn simple! (My regards to you Mr. Missionary, I’m unsure of your understanding of crochet technique and terms). I’m working on one right now out of the leftover skeins of Jo Sharp tweed wool I used for Mom’s sweater. I’m almost feeling guilty about crocheting it up as a necktie (snob!) but I’ve boxed up all my yarn! Besides, all the craft stores and yarn stores are closed now.

kitty pi

2006-05-14T19:23:00.000-04:00

kitty pi
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

In other news. This is what I was supposed to be working on. Kitty Pi. I’m afraid this will come out as ugly as it looks now and Mom won’t like it. Sigh. I’m keeping on it though and if I don’t like it enough, I’ll give it to our neighbor who has eleventeen cats. She can throw it in the pit and let ‘em fight for it.
(Just kidding animal control, my neighbor is NOT a crazy cat lady with eleventeen cats who makes them fight for their comforts. She is a loving and responsible pet owner.)

Two kitties enter, one kitty leaves.....

Cuff attempt #1 and Home for sale

2006-05-12T21:04:00.000-04:00

Cuff attempt #1
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Well. We’ve been busy. Anyone interested in a nice home in Florida? New roof, new flooring, new water heater and air handler. Nice size lot….okay I could go on but I won’t. Never had to have my home up for sale before and it’s a little on the stressfull side. Let’s just say that I’m not the world’s best housekeeper so this keeping the house spotless thing is wearing thin real fast (and I’m not discussing the fact that I painted the exterior of the house BY MYSELF). Trying to resist counting the flyers in the tube at the end of each day to see if anyone has taken any is also difficult.
The Peace Fleece is wonderful! I actually got a comment today, Hey Leah! (Someone has laid eyes on my blog besides me?! Wow!) The stuff knits up like a dream and I really like it. As a matter of fact, once I started knitting with it I couldn’t stop. I finally came to a halt when I got to this point (see picture). Hmmmmm. Oh me of the notorious tight bind off. Maybe I should try binding off holding the yarn in my left hand. I’ve been considering learning how to knit that way for a while but I feel a strange loyalty to my right hand yarn holding ways. Besides, purling with the yarn in my left hand is damn near impossible. I fear it will take much too much time to get with all the knitting I’ve got lined up for myself.

lacey swatch

2006-05-12T21:03:00.000-04:00

lacey swatch
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

For Mother’s Day, I’m hoping to get in some knitting time with an exciting new project for myself. I’ve done a swatch. Yes, I swatched. It’s a miracle. Too bad I decided not to use this particular lace pattern and so have no need of this swatch now. Hmmmm. But I guess that the swatch did help me to decide that so it wasn’t completely useless. The yarn is too heavy a weight. I think this lace would look better on thinner yarn. I’m going to go for an openwork/eyelet type fabric. I’ll post that swatch when I’m done with it. Look at me with the swatching! Wow! I wanted to finish Maya’s and my shrugs by vacation time! Only like 2 weeks!! So I gotta get crackin’.

The yarn basket is half empty :(

2006-05-12T21:02:00.000-04:00

The yarn basket is half empty :(
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Also, well, my now obviously eternal quest for a knitting bag has led me to this. This is so me. I love it. But I’m wondering if I can get something similar for cheaper at like Target or something. Sorry, but $70 is a lot of dinero especially when you translate that to potential skeins.
Meanwhile, boxing up my stash has left me empty. Where has all the yarn gone? I feel lonely and frankly so is the sock yarn. I’m thinking of starting a pair of socks for Mike and taking it as my vacation knitting project to Orlando. You know what? I just got an idea my aunt is also a knitter. She has just learned and really likes scarves. I’m not sure though with her busy schedule if she’ll have enough time to pick a project for the vacation (we are all going together), maybe I should bring her a kit as a gift (read: don’t let me be the only knitter in this group on our vacation). Hey, don't look at it like that. It aint no vacation unless the wool goes too.

Not just yarn snobbery.....

2006-05-12T21:01:00.000-04:00

What the hell was I thinking? Knitting bag? This?
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Peace Fleece

2006-05-06T17:43:00.000-04:00

Peace Fleece
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

So nice to come home to a package of yarn on your doorstep. Especially when its Peace Fleece. The yarn is so much prettier than I expected. It is a bit itchier than I thought but I loooooooove it. I'm planning on working on a lot of new stuff that I hope to have pictures of soon. Anyway, I had to treat myself to some new wool seeing as another Maryland Sheep and Wool has passed me by. I'm trying not to be bitter, really I am.

New knitting bag

2006-05-06T16:39:00.000-04:00

knitting bag/shrug sleeve
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

So I gave in and bought a tote bag at Target. I figure it could be years before I see a finished Knitting Tote and I can scratch that sucker off my knitting to do list and stop beating myself up over it.
On top of it is the beginning sleeve for Maya's shrug. It was coming along beautifully until I realized that it looked a little small. There were eight sts/inch instead of 7. Again with the f-ing gauge! So the 5inches went to the frog pond and I started over. This one seems a little small too, but I tried it on and it fits just fine. I'm going to complete the inc's and then stick it on her arm and see how it looks. The arm length measurements on the pattern are like 2.5" smaller than her arm length. Hmmm. Maybe she makes up for it in the back length? I dunno. I'm tired. Our home is officially listed on the market so if anyone is interested in living in sunny Florida let me know! Meanwhile, I got my bag to carry around my knitting projects in Orlando. Oh Yeah.

New Yarn

2006-04-21T09:08:00.000-04:00

New Yarn
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Yesterday I had the chance to hit the LYS solo, so I went and picked out some yarn for the shrug's I've been wanting to make. For Maya's, although I wanted to use a wool yarn, I bought Stork. It really is a nice yarn that is machine washable in a beautiful cadet blue color. Maya likes it and thats all that matters. I worked up a gauge swatch there in the store and fortunately got the exact number of stitches necessary! When I got home to finish the swatch (ya, that's right, I'm gonna wash it and everything) I realized that while I got the right number of sts per inch, I was getting 3 extra rows/inch! Normally I would blow this off and think, I'll just have to knit a little longer. But this time I stopped. The Teen Top Tragedy has taught me a valueable lesson about gauge all around. I considered how row gauge figures into the sleeve shaping. 11rows vs 8rows per inch. Hmmmmm. I did some mental calculations and I think I'll be okay sticking with her instructions but I'm going to sit down with the knitting notebook and write it all out so I don't screw up another project.
For my shrug I bought Berrocco's Touche. Wow. I didn't realize how freakin soft this yarn was! I looked a little thicker than what I imagined the yarn should but I bought it anyway thinking if it didn't work I could return my unwound hanks. I knitted up right gauge on the first try (again) on size 7's. The yarn was even nicer feeling knit up. Plus, it is machine washable.
The last thing I needed was more yarn, but I think knitting these will take the edge off the excitement of the Disney trip a little bit. I've been x-ing days off the calendar and its a little like torture. Now I have some new projects to start on and the outside of a house to paint. Good luck to me. Maybe I should have that second cup of coffee....

yarn chaos

2006-04-18T18:51:00.001-04:00

yarn chaos
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

In other events…I decided to clean our room. Or, at least, clean up the yarn chaos that has been wreaking havoc on our lives lately. I piled up the majority of what was lying around my bedroom on shelves and dressers. This picture is only about 95%. I found a lot of stuff I had already forgotten about (I really love all my yarn babies, really I do!). Also notice the purse and basket on the dresser in the backgroung; both full. It also helped me figure out what projects I had going and what I should pick up next considering the Teen Top tragedy. I’ve also bought myself a notebook so I can start a project journal. Sound dorky? I thought so. But while I read Stephanie’s latest book I realized she was right about the project journal. I’ve made things that I now look back and wonder about yarns and gauges and such…
So I already have a few entries in it. I’m going to make Maya the Girlfriend Shrug out of another yarn. I frogged the one I had started so long ago. The yarn felt coarse and even itchy so I decided that if I choose a wool yarn, it will have to be a blend or something very soft. I’ve found a few good subs, but I’m torn between wanting to use cotton or using wool! So in my queue there is
1. Orangina
2. Openwork Shrug
3. Girlfriend shrug
4. Carroll bag
5. Knitting Tote
6. Kitty Pi
7. Aaron’s Sweater
Nope, never finished that Carroll bag I just had to have. Sigh….I’ve also bought the pattern for the felted sheep tote but I don’t have the yarn for it. Maybe I could look for something suitable in Orlando? Hmmmm.
Also on this list (because this is the list of the projects that have already been started) is Mon Petit Chou.

I don’t know if I’ll finish this one though. I think I’d rather knit the 1930 design. I fear I’ve lost my toothpick-like figure forever.

Teen top?

2006-04-18T18:51:00.000-04:00

Teen top?
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

The bad news is that I had to completely frog the Teen Top. I was looking at it and the measurements just were not right for the pieces that I had. The width was right, the length was not. I decided to do something I should have done when I was knitting the front piece the first time: check my gauge. The pattern called for a gauge of 5.75sts/7.75rows to 1”. I had 6sts/10rows=1”. Uh huh. The good news is that the beach party is on the 30th which is the Sunday after this one so there is an extra week. The question is, should I stick with this yarn? Or forget it and buy something closer to what is called for? Just when I was feeling hopelessly knitting-handicapped, I realized that I had woven my end in so well I couldn’t find it! It took me all afternoon to get that sucker! So now here it sits. Four small balls of yarn. What to do with all this Wick?

bedside basket

2006-04-18T18:50:00.000-04:00

bedside basket
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Continuing the documentation of the craziness, this is the basket that is on the floor next to my side of the bed. Notice the sheep. He likes to be close to the wool. His litte bro spends his time on the sock yarns. I have lots of good sock yarn to start socks for a very special person in my life…my husband. Poor guy. I’ve knit him nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. I did start that necktie for him but its taking for-e-ver to finish that sucker. It is lovely though. He has requested socks and socks he shall have. I just wish I knew how to do 2 at once, toe up. Then I could just bust ‘em out. Ya right. I’m thinking of first knitting a practice sock toe up to get it down. Then there is the mastering of the 2 at once on the magic loop deal. There are actually good free tutorials out there on all this I just have to take the time to do them.

Also, in new news…Stitchy has a new site and soon a new book!! What have we done to deserve such knitterly joys?!

Orangina

2006-04-17T09:18:00.000-04:00

Orangina
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

I’ve been furiously working on 3 projects: the Teen Top, Orangina and Kitty Pi. Okay, maybe not furiously but steadily for sure. Problem is, there hasn’t been too much progress on any one of them because I keep jumping around between them and swatching for this. The Teen Top front had to be ripped out after I realized I knitted too far on width and the left side was 4” instead of 7”. Hmmmm. That wasn’t too bad of a set-back considering the yarn is so fun to knit up and its so pretty. So I re-did it and I think it still came out off and I’m not too sure if I should re-rip it and try again. The beach party is this weekend so I’m unsure if I’ll have it done in time. Going back over the pattern, I would also have inserted some edge sts for seaming up. It’s gonna be really hard for me to get these edges to look neat when the piece is knitted diagonally. It also seems a bit short. Like showing your belly button short which is NOT what I wanted. The whole reason I chose these tops was because I thought it would cover my stomach. I’m sure I could knit an extra long border on the bottom…I’m tired of thinking about it.
Orangina has been coming along surprisingly well. I hated the yarn, did a sorry excuse for a gauge swatch and just cast on. I took the kids to the park and did a few rows there (mistake). I was sure I had screwed up the lace and shoved it down into my bag in disgust. When I got home and took it out, I realized I hadn’t screwed up at all. The yarn is still acrylic, and I’m wondering how well it will drape and wear but it’s looking okay so far. The 2” I have knitted are looking A-OK!! On the KAL site, I saw that one girl knit both front and back pieces simultaneously. I had briefly considered knitting the whole thing in the round (once again…..not liking the seaming) but ditched that idea because it required more brain power than I was willing to exert at the moment. Now however, I’m reconsidering. I’m only 2” in for crying out loud!!
Kitty Pi is coming along. I’m at the part where you knit your desired circumference. I am using Patons Classic Wool (I love it) and its gotten rave reviews for its feltability so here’s to hoping. I really hope that
1. The kitty likes it
2. My mom doesn’t think it’s too ugly to have in her house.

I’m holding 2 different color strands together. We’ll see. I’ve got a very strong itch to throw all this stuff down and begin something new!! But what? An old friend is expecting baby number 2 in July. Definite potential there. Meanwhile, gotta do about 12 home improvement projects and finish our homeschooling year. Only 2 more weeks, only 2 more weeks. I don’t know why I’m saying that. I plan on doing Five In a Row with BOTH of them through the summer including a lot of worksheets, readers, and science experiments. Sigh. I have to make sure she is at or ahead of what is expected for first grade public school. Aaron is so sweet. I was planning on doing pre-k here at home this fall with him, but if there is free pre-k I’m gonna have to really think about it. Anyway, That is my life lately. Hopefully there will be some fo’s for posting in the near future.

2006-04-07T09:18:00.000-04:00

Well, once again, a day went by without much knitting. But there was knitting excitement had. After a grueling week at home with the kids (I keep telling myself only 4 more weeks of homeschool, only four more weeks of homeschool…..) I figured I deserved a little sit and knit at the LYS. By a little, I mean a little. Approximately 30 minutes to be exact. Mike didn’t get home until 7:30pm. Takes me half an hour to get there, and it ends at nine. Anyhoo. It was well worth the trip! Her spring yarns are amazing!! There were some incredible handdyed cottons that I came very close to snatching up for no other reason than they were the most beautiful cotton I’d ever seen in my life. She had Elsbeth Lavold’s Hempathy which is what I originally went to see. There were only four colors: pink, turquoise, white and brown. I didn’t like any of them so I bought only 2 skeins of white to play with. The nice guy who works there (yes, a man – a very nice young man!) showed me some interesting bamboo which I briefly considered for the Mason-Dixon after Dark Robe. But it wasn’t machine washable. There was all the mercerized cottons ever (I think) and I spent a lot of time comparing sheen, yardage and price for another project I want to make: Joseph’s Blankie of Many Colors also from the Mason-Dixon book. (Really cool book) I figured I should get out before I lost self control and left with only the 2 balls of Hempathy. I’m saving my yarn $$$ for our vacation. We are going to spend 4 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando. There is a yarn store not to far from there I found called Sip and Knit. Since family is coming in for this and there won’t be any time for yarn store side trips, my plan is to leave very early and cruise by there before we hit the Lodge. Our meetup time is noon. It takes us roughly 2 hours (less on a weekday morning I hope) to get to Orlando. If we leave at 8am, that gives us plenty of time to get to the Yarn store, shop then drive to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Since my vacations are usually more work than vacation, I figure we can indulge mommy and let her shop some Koigu and Brown Sheep before we hit the Disney parks. The clincher here is that my aunt is coming who is a new knitter and I know she would LOVE to get away and hit this store. Maybe if the knitting goddess smiles upon us, we may get to take a field trip. Here’s to hoping.

You know you're mindless hours of surfing pay off when...

2006-04-05T14:25:00.000-04:00

WebTurquoiseShrugntube
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

you stumble upon this little gem. Un-freaking-real! This woman is a crocheting genius!!
I didn't get to knit at all yesterday. Gasp!
I've ammended my knitting to-do list a little bit to include some easter knitting for the kids and one of my mom's cats. In the "planning for" project list, I added 4 projects from the Mason Dixon book and a sweater for Maya from the latest Family Circle Easy Knitting mag.
Meanwhile, I think I'll go sit down for a minute. I'm in a daze after looking at those designs.

Christmas in April

2006-04-03T19:29:00.000-04:00

Christmas in April
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Oh Yay! Christmas in April! Once I read Stephanie's review of the Mason Dixon book I HAD to have it. Of course I've been waiting for weeks for hers to come out. They are both brilliant from what I've seen so far. First thing I saw when I opened Knitting Rules was the page about how to identify a yarn by how it burns!! HA! Brilliant I tell you! Now if only I could get that reading and knitting simultaneously thing down...
I've been working between the teen top back and Orangina which I cast on for on Sunday. I'm not thrilled with the yarn choice but it seems to be working out okay so far.

Orangina week 1

2006-04-03T19:24:00.000-04:00

Orangina week 1
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Well, I....er...ended up buying some Red Heart Luster Sheen (shudder) for my Orangina. Oiy. Hopefully, this doesn't offend Stefanie. The yarn is actually kinda pretty and easy to knit with. I may just have to avoid open flame while wearing this top. I'm frustrated that I didn't look harder (like at my kitchen shelf for my Patternworks catalogue) for a better substitute yarn. Since the KAL started on Saturday, I felt pressured to start that day too even though there is no time limit or anything. As fun as yarn shopping is, the trip to Joann's was a little deflating considering they didn't have a copy of Interweave's newest Crochet mag and I left with 100% acrylic yarn. Ugg.

They're done!

2006-03-29T16:24:00.000-05:00

Mom's socks
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Yay! I'll wash em and maybe block 'em (does one block machine washable knitted items?) and tommorrow they'll be on they're way to Mom. I really like them. The yarn is Regia Silk and its muy delicioso! In this picture, the socks are posing next to the rather large pile of unfolded laundry. Priorities, right?

More Yarn (hemp!)

2006-03-29T09:21:00.000-05:00

kpixie order
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

There's never too much yarn. I ordered this for the Sexy Knitter's Club Orangina along from Kpixie.com. Lovely online store and look at the little treasure that came in the mail! Its Hemp for knitting Hemp/cotton blend at a fingering weight. On second thought though, I think this is a finer fingering weight than the 4ply cotton called for in the pattern. I may have jumped the gun a little, but I have wanted to order Hemp for Knitting for a while now. The yarn is AWESOME and soon I'll have to work up a gauge swatch. The KAL officially begins on Apr 1st so I should be ready by then. I'm kinda excited because I sat out on the Club's first KAL. I've noticed a lot of the other sexy knitters are using Knit picks Shine for their yarn choice but I just can't....I don't really like ANY of the Shine colors. I mean, I like bright colors and it is spring and all, but I don't wear very many bright colors. This basic undyed yarn is about as bright and neutral as I like to get.

Anyhoo...
I've been working on Mom's socks and will finish them this morning then I can ship them off. I hope she likes them. I do. The leg cuff isn't as long as I usually like but they are so soft and warm...
My only consolation is the new skeins I bought at the sale for myself. I think I'm going to try Wendy's basic toe up pattern. That way I can knit till the yarn runs out and have a long cuff. But first things first! I have to finish Mom's socks, work on the back of the teen/swim/beach top and then get my gauge swatch worked out for the Orangina. I'm thinking that will take a while. The last couple of projects I started took lots of swatching work. :(
I hate that.

YARN SALE!!!!!

2006-03-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

yarn sale
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

I was SOOO excited when the LYS sent out emails for the sale. Of course I had a print out of the sale items and a plan. That went all to hell them moment I walked in. I know, I know. This isn't much of a haul for a end-of-season yarn sale. The only thing that was actually on sale in this picture was the Inca Alpaca. I bought four skeins (2 of each color) I'm going to knit together for a scarf. There is the glorious Regia Silk ( I LOVE that stuff) that I couldn't pass up. Then the 3 balls Cascade fixation and 6 balls of Knit 1, Crochet Too's Wick. I saw this the previous trip to the store and thought it looked soo interesting. Then the night before the sale, after my trillionth swatch for the damned beach/suit top I was so depressed that I told myself I wouldn't even go to the sale. (I guess I was thinking my knitting skills were so in the toilet that I didn't deserve discounted wool) When I saw Wick at the store I decided to go ahead and buy enough to make the top. Brave I know. Nothing I bought that day is refundable.
I cast on the gauge swatch right when I got home and lo and behold: The correct gauge!!! YEAH!!!! I've been working on only that and in my other spare moments I've been looking at this. It gives me the palpitations (in a good way).

front of "teen top"

2006-03-23T10:41:00.000-05:00

front of "teen top"
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

It only took me about 3 days to finish this front piece. I really had no idea where the pattern was taking me for about the first 10". The yarn is SOOOOOO pretty. I don't really have anything blue in my wardrobe and these hues are magnificent. The yarn is spongey and a little stretchy and soft. The only thing that concerns me is the fact that I had blue swirls on my finger from where it was wrapped around as I knit. When I blocked my swatch there was no bleeding though. The label says machine wash and dryable, but after the wash it was almost dry so I let it air dry.
I haven't cast on for the back yet because I've started Mom's socks (again). There are looking pretty good 3.5" in. I think she'll really like them.
Also, I've just ordered some yarn from Kpixie for Orangina. The Sexy Knitters Club has voted for this and the Somewhat Cowl to be the next KAL. Too bad I don't have more of a chest. I fear the Somewhat Cowl won't look so hip on such a small chest. Sigh. Oh well. I liked Orangina best anyway and it shouldn't be a long knit.

roxie

2006-03-23T10:33:00.000-05:00

roxie
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Roxie is excited for me to finish this top for the beach.

Summer dreams

2006-03-17T11:31:00.000-05:00

For the last 2 days I've been working gauge swatches for some ideas for a bathing suit. I was never a bikini type girl, but I no longer find any one-pieces that I like. Throw in the stretch marks and I've got problems. Its difficult for me to buy something I LIKE let alone something I'm unsure I'll look good in. The idea I have in my head actually began when I first learned how to knit. I'm starting with some boy short bottoms. I don't like showing my butt cheeks off and frankly, bikini waxes frighten me. The top will have to come down and completely cover my stomach. For this, I have my eye on some tops from SR Kertzer. Melding these 2 ideas into one matching ensemble is my goal. I have some Sock it to Me from Elann that I think will work gauge wise, but I doubt there is enough. Should I try for the top first? Or the shorts? There is a company beach party at the end of April. Thats my deadline.

Finally!

2006-03-13T10:18:00.000-05:00

Minisweater!
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

There was a lot of fiber arts success in our house this weekend. It took me 3.75 skeins of Peruvian Highland wool to make this baby on size 11's. The needles were so big, I really had to pay attention to the length as I knit it. I only got about 1/2 way through the raglan inc before I had to stop and seperate the sleeves from the body. Then I had to subtract some ST rows from the sleeves so they wouldn't be too long. It came out good, but the sleeve puffiness is a bit too much for me and I don't think it looks as good on me as some of the other pictures I've seen because my chest is so small. It needs to be blocked and buttoned and then we'll see about wearing it out.

Flat bottom bag

2006-03-13T10:14:00.000-05:00

Flat bottom bag
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

This was fun to make and I finished it in 2 days. I went all the way to the Joann's to get the right size hook and, not only did I buy the wrong size, but I already had one that size! So now I have 2 size F hooks and I needed a size I. I ended up using a size H hook (shoulda jumped up to J) for this bag and the end result was a bit smaller than I liked. I'll most likely end up making another one in a dark brown. I just need more handles. I used one skein of Paton's Classic Merino. The fabric is soft but not saggy (like knit would be) with the the crocheted stitches.

Lists and new books

2006-03-10T10:10:00.000-05:00

projects
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

I couldn't wait. I had to go buy the "Happy Hooker". Since going to El Paso, I've wanted to crochet something but haven't found anything besides amiguri. This book was exactly what I needed. It has all the how to and finishing stuff I lack in crochet. There are a few projects I'm really interested in making in here. I was honestly surprised that I liked so many of them. I find myself turning down crochet projects a lot because I just don't like the way the sts look. Lots of the patterns in here have changed my opinion.
Beside the book is my knitting list. I decided I had to sit down and make one because there were so many freaking projects swirling around in my head and I didn't want to lose any of them. There are 2 columns: Started and In Mind
There are 7 and 12 respectively. Hmmmmmmm. 3 of the "in mind" category are from the Happy Hooker. Go figure.

minisweater day one

2006-03-10T10:05:00.000-05:00

minisweater day one
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

So I got some yarn from Elann. I bought the Highland Wool Chunky in what I thought was a red. To my delight, it seems much more like a rust color which is exactly what I was originally looking for.
Third times the charm? I hope so. I haven't yet frogged my second minisweater attempt. This one does seem to be going better, but its much easier to make inc with one strand than with 2 and this is the 3rd go round. I love this little sweater design and I'm hoping I can finish it this weekend at the latest!

Another finished tubey picture

2006-03-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

IM001486
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Finally, here is a picture of my finished Tubey ON (I swear I don't always stand at attention). I really like this sweater, but I'm not sure when I'm going to get to wear it! I got some yarn in the mail on Friday from Theresa at Little Turtle Knits. The colorway was pretty cool even though those aren't colors I would usually go for. I really like the wool; it's soft and springy and strong. I made a pair of retarded baby booties which I'm too embarrased to post pictures of, so instead I cast on for yet another go at the Boobholder/Minisweater. I'm using a nice oatmeal color of Patons classic Merino. We'll see how this one turns out. If it doesn't I'll probably try some lamb's pride in another month or so.
Oh! There's new yarns at Knit Picks!
Gotta Go!

Inspiration and sad, sad knitting.

2006-03-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

minisweater?
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

It is a testament to the power of yarn that I am still knitting like a mad woman. I am the first one to admit that I am a lazy person. It is (what I consider to be) my biggest character flaw. Don't get me wrong, I don't live in a pile of crap and I do my best at everything I do, but I fight off the urge to sit and veg and take the easy route A LOT. The fact that I am (and still want to) knitting like crazy like the knitting olympics have not ended stands as a frightening, er inspirational example of how much I LOVE this thing called knitting. It requires patience, attention to detail and most of all, stick-to-itiveness. Even more so when all your current WIP's are turning into projects from hell! AH! This isn't stopping me.
I began this friggin' minisweater with the only yarn possibility in the house: Patons classic Merino (double stranded to acheive gauge, HA!). It all went downhill from there. I got about 1/4 of the way through it before I realized I'd messed up the border garter st. Easy to fix! Right? Drop down and fix the sts, they're on the end, how hard could that be? That border mistake ended in me frogging the whole thing after I further crapped on the border with my inexperienced attempts at dropping down and fixing skills wherein I tangled the yarn and made the whole thing unmanageable.
No problem. I'll start over. I've got plenty of yarn and it's a quick knit. Everythings gone fine so far with this one as long as you overlook the fact that a double strand of ww merino is thick the fabric is heavy. Too thick and too heavy to wear outside in Florida.
Sigh.
I'll shed my crocodile tear as it visits the frog pond and then we are off to buy yarn.

2006-03-03T09:48:00.000-05:00

baby sock
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Do newborns have almost 5" long feet? This is the total sum of my knitting yesterday. This is how it went:

Morning
Me: Hmm, Afghans for Afghans sent me an email. They need newborn size booties/socks and hats. No problem! I have lots of yarn perfect for this.

I walk over to get my Almanac baby sweater and proceed to frog it so I can make as many socks and hats as I can out of 2 skeins Cascade 220 as possible. I think this angered the yarn.

Afternoon:
finally picked up the house enough so I didn't suffer guilt about knitting. I cast on and knit an entire baby sock in about 45 minutes (allowing for story telling with Maya throughout). The thing is, well, it looked like the picture. I sigh and spend another hour surfing for more free patterns for infant socks.

Evening:
I cast on again while making dinner (dangerous multi-tasking I know. Yarn + food preparation= disaster) and knit without feeding myself, stopping only when I realize that I've been so intent on finishing I forgot the heel-turning part. Hmmmm. So eventually I finish and this is what I get. An exact replica of what I knitted before. Granted, I used the same size needle, but it IS the right gauge and they were different needles (dpn's vs circular addi's).
I plan on trying booties later. Tonight maybe. Maybe.

Priceless

2006-02-28T17:17:00.000-05:00

Priceless
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Single serve coffee maker: $15
Shipping: $5

The smell of coffee brewing in your house: priceless.

Gold medal

2006-02-28T17:15:00.000-05:00

Gold medal
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Wow! How cool is this?! Definitely a thing of beauty. I'm going to make a t-shirt iron on and wear this out. That aughta get a few good stares. It was nice to come inside from a day of yardwork to find this on Steph's website. I've been eyeballing the minisweater I've got on the needles ALL day but haven't had the opportunity to pick it up yet. As I type, I'm still covered in dirt and decorative bark debris. Shower? Hell no! The kids are hungry NOW!

Knitting Gold

2006-02-27T16:52:00.000-05:00

Knitting Gold
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Here she is. Blocked and everything. After coming home from the store this afternoon, I saw she was still wet. So I threw her in the dryer. What? Don't look at me like that! I wanted a freakin photo of my finished sweater. No harm done. I did try it on and I think it looks pretty good. Since there is no one else here to take a picture I'll post another one later.
I've already started knitting on the Carroll bag and am looking around for something to knit up the Minisweater with. Worsted weight and 13sts/4" gauge? hmmmmm.....
The knitting olympics were a blast and I can hardly believe Steph finished her sweater. That is in-freaking-credible. You go girl. Yay for knitting!

2006-02-26T18:32:00.000-05:00

Well, as you can see, I f#*@ed up my photos for the blog. I was trying to organize them into "sets" so that maybe I could link to a gallery of FO's. Anyway, obviously I've lost some of my photos.
Tubey is DONE. She is blocking on the bed and, um, well, seems a little stretched. I'm wondering if I threw it in the dryer for a minute if that would be okay or if I should just leave it be until its totally dry. The fact that I finished it is about the only good thing going on today. I seem to have a bad case of the pms's and I'm sick of being sick! Anywhoo. As soon as she's dry I'm going to get a good picture of her on. I think it came out pretty good for being knit in 16 days. I can't believe that I finished a whole sweater in only 16 days! Yay for me! Now I'm going to finish Aaron's sweater, my Carroll bag and then a poncho for Maya.

the patient

2006-02-23T13:56:00.000-05:00

Well, here she is. She wedged herself were the kids can't miss her in case they want to throw her scraps or she won't miss anything they accidentally drop. I was going to get her running to the window to bark at the Fed Ex guy but I wasn't fast enough. Thats right: RUNNING. She has soreness and is uncomforterable but there is nothing seriously wrong with her. She is going to be okay and she's improved about 100% since we got her home, but she won't go in the backyard. ?? Maybe a snake bit her? Hmmmm. Maybe there's a baby gator back there. Racoon? Squirrel? Feral Cat? Opposum? Buzzard? Snapping turtle? Who knows. Incidentally, I've seen all these critters in my yard. Ahhh, Florida. Swampy livin at its finest. Also, today; 77 degrees. Will this tubey even get worn?!