"Mom, I had the strangest dream last night...."

Apparently, my daughter had this dream that she was trying on clothes all night long. Weird, huh? The fact that the child sleeps in a super-freaky high bunk bed and her mother would have had to clamber up on her tip-toes with one foot on a stool and one on the top back of a chair while leaning precariously over the edge of the bed and stuff the kids' arms into unyielding armholes held on cords from the denise interchangeables and one of the damn button ends popped off, so when the child finally got the sweater pulled off of her she had to be wiggled all around until the missing button thing was found so she wouldn't accidentally choke on it in her sleep..... yup, weird dream. Seriously, what kind of a mom would do that?

See what happens when you make a top-down raglan and don't have a spare 11 year old girl to try on the sweater so you can determine when to stop the decreases and make sleeves? It was either that or pay a neighborhood child to try on the thing and keep her mouth shut. I'm thinking that could end you up in jail, so that was a no-go. Knitting isn't pretty, people.

I'm making the Anthropologie inspired capelet out of Lamb's Pride bulky on sz 11's in a dark blue for Elizabeth. I'm adding long sleeves and was going to do a cable down them or use long ribbing, but she's been talking about wanting belled sleeves, so am not quite sure how to handle that one. We'll see when I get there. I'm hoping to put it under the tree along with her main present. Joey's wallaby sweater is all done and ready for wrapping as well.

Other misc. knitting going on around here is yet another pair of mountain colors barefoot socks for Jeff (if they fit since I forgot and used 1.5's instead of the 2's, otherwise they'll be for me). I ran out of yarn on the start of the 2nd toe. YES top down-people, I know that could be avoided, but where's the thrill? Being a knitter who has an absolute buttload of yarn more than she decently needs, I went digging and found another colorway that blends in so well you couldn't tell unless you REALLY looked close, and I think you might not even know then. I love a challenge. Can you guess which one was the patched up one with the different yarn?

I started two pair of birthday socks, one of smooooooshy from Teri and one from Jo Major in Claudia Handpaints. Yes, both for me as well.



I knit most of one fetching on the way home from the Lake of the Ozarks on Sunday. I am using up some leftover cascade 220 from Joey's sweater for a pair. I think I'll make another one with the same yarn and smaller needles for Elizabeth. They're unbelievably cute. Fetchingly, actually.


While at the Lake, Jeff got to play with big boy toys as he'd rented a big old machine with a 7 foot scoop thing to dig out the hill that was advancing on the lakehouse. I took the kids to my folks' lake house about 20 minutes away and spent the day indoors with heat and television and yummy goodies left over from the Thanksgiving meals. When I went over to see him the next day, I saw Jeff was working in a pair of my wool socks and wearing his boyfriend sweater! Action shots of the sweater below. Since I wasn't the one taking the pictures (his stepmom snapped these for me) the sweater wasn't the focal point of the picture. The older guy with Jeff is his Dad. It was a good weekend at the lake. I got to knit, he got to play, kids ran around with my folks, good times.

What can I say? The 80's were very good to me.

So, sitting outside my kids' elementary school, doing what I do, knitting away. I'm usually referred to as "the knitting mom". Where is Marcy supposed to meet her mom? Near the Knitting Mom. Where is Susie's Grandma picking her up? At the big tree just past the Knitting Mom. I was minding my own business, listening to a girl on her cell phone trying to figure out where her mom was in the parking lot. I overheard "no, mom, I'm over by the mom with the really big poufy hair." nice. I thought I'd had exceptionally good hair lately. I've now overheard three comments plus one from my daughter asking how do I make my hair "do that?" I guess once every 9 months isn't enough to keep this mane under control. All I can say is I rocked the 80's, people. I'm not giving up my hot rollers. You can't make me. I was born to have big hair. I just may need to move to the south. They still appreciate a good 'do, right?

I've been busy knitting lately too. The glee purple sweater still needs its hooks & eyes sewn on and I know I promised no more pitt shots, but come on. We all knew I wouldn't be learning how to use the damn timer button on the camera any time soon.

Joey's Wonderful Wallaby is done. I think I knit it in about a week. It's got a cute hood on there too, you'll just have to take my word for it. Without a model, this thing is really hard to photograph. It's going to be a present (along with something cool, I'm not THAT horrible of a mom now) so good photos will come later. I think this was the easiest, most fun sweater I've ever made. I'm going to have to make Elizbeth one as well. I did this one out of cascade 220, LOVE that yarn, on sz 6's for cuffs and 8's for sweater. The sleeves rocked along since you make them FIRST and they're just tubes. You don't have to be whannging the whole sweater around every row. I'm going to have to do more sweaters this way. I was going to post the pic of the sleeves since I was so proud that I actually MADE them (sleeves suck for me. I don't know why) but then I just kept knitting and all of a sudden, here was this whole finished sweater!



I pulled some stash yarn out (Colinette Cadenza, similar to Koigu Kersti but superwash) and thought I'd make a pair of gloves for my dad. I'm using Ann Budd's basic glove pattern from her Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and love it. I was guessing at the size and think I guessed wrong. Of course, even though the hand felt too big, I just kept knitting. Fingers 1 and 2 felt big, but kept on knitting. After finger #4, I had Jeff try it on for me and then REALIZED hey, it's still too damn big. Huh. Who'd of thunk it? damn. I'll be frogging this one and doing it in a smaller size. Of course I sewed in the ends on the tips of each damn finger. I did that KNOWING it was working up too big. cripes almightly.


And because now my kids are all growing up and cool and all, we just don't get creations like this very often. I leave you with SuperTurkey, from my daughter Elizabeth long, long ago. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Absolutely Stunning

What else can I say? I met my dear friend Chery for lunch and she gave me this piece of SOFT LUSCIOUS BEAUTIFUL heaven. She knit this for my wedding. How amazing is this woman? I promise better pictures and action shots on the boat in February! I just had to take a few shots to show you how stunning this is! I'm planning to wear this over a sundress, probably a spaghetti strap number with an a-line look. I'm not sure of the fabric yet, but I'm thinking blue. (yes, I did have to edit away the whole quote of the day about the bride wearing black and carrying a scotch & soda down the aisle that's been residing in my sidebar for the last year or so.) I'm probably going to make Jeff a pair of wedding socks in colors of the ocean. I'm thinking he'll probably not wear them at the time, but I can give them to him and he'll remember our special day whenever he pulls them out of the drawer.

Chery's not posting lately, but go check out her FO photo albums. I love her work. Also, she's got a great 2 socks on 2 circs pattern posted that takes the THINKING out of the whole sock thing. You just count gauge and circle the right numbers and you're off and knitting. I'm still a die hard top down dpn girl, but I'm surrounded by these toe-uppers and am glad I know how should a pattern call for it. I still favor the whole "will I run out of yarn?" drama combined with the ability to use the spare dpn to poke anyone that gets on my nerves.

Best Mom & Daughter Double Sleepover Birthday Party EVER!

My birthday girl is at the end of the table. The girls were painting bobble head dogs and singing along to music on the boom box.

The weekend started Friday afternoon with an after-school skating party where BOTH of my children are no longer wall-grabbers. They are skating in the middle with the rest of the kids. Joey's even developed a unique "this is my too-cool-for-dance-tunes" expression he uses as he dances/skates around the floor. I think it makes him look contstipated, but who am I to say? Constipated could be cool. Jeff took me out on the town to the Capitol Grille where I ate a BIG ol steak and tater and we just had a great time. My cousin watched the kids, so we had the whole house to ourselves. Very nice. He then ran away drove to the farm to work on cattle instead of hanging out for the slumber party. Joey spent the night doing manly things with my brother, so it was just us girls and the dog.



Thank god for Knitters and friends. And even better is FRIENDS WHO KNIT!! Teri offered to come by to help out with my daughter's sleepover party so I wouldn't be outnumbered. Then a few more friends said they could come too. Before you knew it, we had a full scale double party going on. My daugher turned 11 and had a blast. I turned 39 and also had a blast. Let me tell you, though, 4am comes a lot HARDER on this old body than it used to. We ate, watched movies, ate, knit, ate and then they GAVE ME YARN GOODNESS and even wound up a buttload of yarn from the stash for me to boot. THANKS guys! I got Smooooooshy sock yarn from Teri in a beautiful blue, some Tofutsies in pretty purpley teal and very cool "yarn snob and proud of it!" stitch markers from Zephyr knit from Jo Minor, some Claudia hand painted sockyarn in Argyle Socks colorway from Jo Major, and a beautiful sock bag/small project knitting bag and set of stitch markers from Carmen. Aunt Carmen even brought a Hello Kitty bag full of HK stuff for Elizabeth and some cute puzzles for Joey so he didn't feel left out.







All the girls were very well behaved except one. Let's just say that after dealing with her most of the night, when I was woken up at 6am (after going to bed about 4:30am) I wasn't too keen on her. Here's a hint...if your kid's sleepover bag is not just on the front step outside, but at the end of the driveway outdoors and your kid is outside also, your kid is probably not going to be sleeping over at my house any time soon. I did at least have the girls all playing outdoors for the last 30 minutes waiting for that mom. I'm not totally heartless. But whooooooooo I'm pretty damn heartless on one and a half hours of sleep.

I'll leave you with something that made me very happy. Remember the ruffled shrug I made for my daughter last year? She wore it once because I asked her to and then it disappeared into her closet. She pulled it out the other day and wore it to school every day for a week. Here she is bringing cookies to school last Friday for her birthday WEARING MY SHRUG I knitted. I love that!

Man, I love the smell of vinegar and wool in the morning!

The yarn is actually darker, murkier and lovlier in person. And that little blast of vinegary yarny goodness that hits you when you open the plastic bag from the Socks that Rock Sock Club? mmmmmmmmm I love it. It's aired out a bit so you have to bury your nose in it to get the whiff now, but it's a great way to start the day. Though I've loved the sock club, I'm not going to sign up again. I think once is good for me. The fun, the wondering the smooshiness, they were all good. I've just got to start knitting up this stuff before acquiring any more. Plus OH the horror, I'm having to BUDGET myself now and yarn is way, way, WAY low on the family budget. Sucks, huh? Ah well. I've got enough to keep me busy for years to come. I did get to add that VACATION YARN DOESN'T COUNT DAMMIT so there's extra $$ added into that part of the budget. Wonder if they have any sock yarn in the bahamas? I'm going to do some research and if there's a yarn shop on one of those islands, we're going to have to take a little ride over to see. I am going to Vegas in December with Jeff for a business trip, and I KNOW there's some yarn shops there. hmmmmmmmm



From almost completed sweater back to balls. Poor little cascade 220 heathery purple yarn. What will you become now? It didn't quite work out as a scooped neck vest from Fitted Knits, it just last night became balls again and is no longer a cardigan in the making for my daughter. *sigh* Poor little yarn. I'll find something for you to become. If you were just one or two skeins more (I've only got 4 of this dye lot) you could beome almost anything. I don't want to waste you on knitting you into hats, no, I hear your voice. You want to be a sweater. I'll have to do some more thinking and wandering around on ravelry to get some ideas.

My daughter saw me working on the sleeves yesterday afternoon and said, "Mom, that's really looking like an old lady sweater, you need something prettier than that for yourself." I held it up and showed the cool amazingness of it and realized it did resemble something old and safe and boring. If an almost 11 yr old girl thinks it's old lady for her MOM to wear, I'm guessing she'd not be real excited about wearing it herself. This morning before school I did what I should have done long ago and ASKED her opinion on "if I were to make you a sweater, what would you like it to look like?" Duh.

Laundry Day

I always get such a happy feeling seeing all those socks out drying. *sigh* Warm feet this winter, huh?

You now, snack sized hershey bars and m&m's and 3 muskateers really CAN get old for breakfast. This year it's only 2 days after Halloween and I'm about chocolated out. Good times were had by all. The kids tried to dress Miles in a pirate costume, but he ate the hat and Beth about had to tackle the dog just to slip this over his head. The costume lasted all of 3 minutes. I think it's a new record. Mine are the two on the left. Jeff's are the two on the right. We've got candy coming out of our ears.




Been knitting away at the Glee sweater and picked up Elizabeth's cardigan to try to force myself to make her sleeves. WHAT is it about sleeves that I just can't do? You'd think a woman who cranks out the damn socks right and left could handle a few tubes, wouldn't you? They make me insane. I'm trying to get her sweater finished up and maybe will add a few felted flowers around the neckline if it doesn't make it look too girly. I've casted on for the sleeves for Joey's wallably hooded sweater. I'm doing it in blue cascade 220 and will probably make a stripe of black or grey or something also. I'm thinking the bottom up thing may be a good idea. I'll do both sleeves FIRST, then the body and hopefully they'll both be done in time to put under the tree.

I apologize for all the armpit shots. Aren't you glad I shaved?

I didn't realize it was getting so bad until I started organizing my finished objects pics on my flickr account. Holy crap. One or two shots from that angle look artsy. Two or three could be flattering and even make me look like I have a chest. But, seriously, after clicking through about 12 shots of my pits at the center of various knitted objects is enough to make anyone sick! I swear by all that is knitterly that I WILL find out how to use my damn timer on the digital camera. sheesh.

Anyway, I pulled out this chickami that had been victim to bad colorpooling and frogged it back to the end of the purple stripe (about 5 inches), did some fancy schmancy reworking of the yarn and now have a finished object that I will actually WEAR. Ok, so probably not any time soon since it's getting chilly and winter's on its way, but it's done! So instead of doing a round from each ball of yarn or something else that you're supposed to do to avoid bad colorpooling, I just MADE it stay purple long enough to cover the girls by hacking off any and all purple from the ends of each ball of leftover yarn and then let it go all colorwonky like it wanted to. The back totally doesn't match and I don't even care. It's artsy. Just like the pit shot.

Specs:
Pattern: Chicakmi
Yarn: Ty Dy from Knit One Crochet Too
Needles: 3's and 6's

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all your excitedness for me on the whole getting married thing! I'm still just happy as heck. Also how sweet is my dear friend Chery? She's making me a wedding shawl to wear over a sundress for the wedding. We're doing a very simple ceremony without a lot of fuss, so that made me feel so good to know I'll have this special, beautiful thing to wear. Then, every time I look at it in the future, I'll remember both the day and the sweet woman who made it for me.

The neatest thing happened while I was in MisKnits on Saturday to show my knitting friends the new ring! Tracey came up and introduced herself and her very sweet family. It turns out she's a knitter that bought a bunch of my noro kureyon yarn back on the destash blog. She was shopping with her husband and adorable daughter and HAD a felted bag that she made from that very yarn WITH HER!! How cool is that?


Since I've not posted much lately, here's the pics from the Bed & Breakfast weekend with Jeff. We went to Council Grove, KS and stayed at the Cottage House Bed & Breakfast in their anniversary suite. It was such an amazing weekend. We saw every one of the 23 historical sites and even went out south of town to go hike around the wilderness on a beautiful Kansa tribe trail being created. We also took every backroad we found on the way there and back, so really saw some beautiful country. On the last shot, you really need the audio. I was running through this grass that was up around my knees and shouting "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME SNAKES!! PLEASE DON'T EAT ME SNAKES!!" as we'd disturbed one sunning itself earlier on the hike and since the man I'm now marrying doesn't seem to be able to keep on any trails as marked to save his life, we go through the scenic route everywhere we go. No snakes got me, no ticks either *whew* and I survived the hour and a half hike and even peed outdoors without any unpleasantness. It was a good day for me in the outdoors.






Of course I'm starting more sweaters than I can possibly complete, but I can't help it. The fall weather gets in my blood and I have to start knitting sweaters. More and more sweaters! I cast on and went to town on the start of Glee with some knitpicks Andean Treasure 100% Baby Alpaca lilac yarn that I am recycling from my frogged somewhat cowl that turned out with freakishly long armholes (I must have lost my mind in the middle of the raglan increases and just never stopped). I've already gotten about 2 inches below the sleeve stitches and am excited to see how it turns out. I won't post a picture as it looks like every other just-started raglan sweater.

I'm off to hide from reality a while and knit away for an hour while listening to some Harry Potter on CD. I'm now working my way through listening to the audio books and have just started book 6. Too many people wanting too much from me today...work, schools, laundry, gardening, work, phone calls to return, etc. I'm gonna hide and knit for an hour.

Boyfriend sweater curse THIS!

No, I'm not actually married already, but the boy got on his knees, asked me to marry him and put the ring on my finger. *sigh* How great is that? I'm going to be an actual wife with an actual husband and a house full of kids. The plan is we're going to get married on a boat in Bimini (somewhere in the Bahamas) by his uncle, who's a ship captain of a small charter sailboat/yacht thing, sometime in February. OK, so I'm a total goof and I just love saying the word MARRIED! I keep flashing back to the whole bit from that movie 16 Candles....."she's getting mallied" "married?" "Yes, MALLIED!" Who'd of thunk it? Jeff got us each simple bands of titanium. At one point in the proposal as he was explaining the metal is so strong it can't be cut even to be sized, he explained that the strength of the metal represents our strong bond for each other. *sigh* OK, so I asked him later if the reason for the titanium wasn't also because that way I couldn't break or warp the rings as I have a tendancy to break almost everything I touch eventually and he admitted that was a perk too.

Jeff was amazing. He had a sweet, goofy grin on his face and it was just wonderful. I wish I could remember exactly what he said, but I was so happy and teary and goofy myself. One of my favorite bits was that he told me later that night that he'd carried both rings around the entire weekend we spent at the Bed & Breakfast and just didn't find the right moment. I laughed and said there were at least 42 perfect moments where we were being quiet and happy and romantic and all. His perfect moment at home really was the perfect moment. Just before bed, I was sleepily knitting just one more row and set my yarn aside. He looked at me, told me he had a suprise for me, went and pulled something out of the closet, brought it behind his back and came and got on his knees next to the bed. It's funny as most of our evenings are spent with the two of us getting sleepy, me knitting, him reading or watching tv and snuggled up next together for a little bit before we turn out the lights. It really was the perfect moment.

WEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm just still giddy as heck. Jeff didn't want to wait for February and we're both wearing our rings now. Kids are all happy and we presented it as just one more bond that makes our family strong and nothing changes, we're still all one big ol' family.

How cool is that?

Yarn Sale & Swap tonight (Monday 10/15)

Howdy all! I've got some pics and stories of my fabulous weekend, but my laptop is being posessed and pissy so that'll have to wait for another day. I didn't get to wear the newly lengthened sleeveless tneck as it turned out that Sunday was a lovely, beautiful WARM freaking day. damn nice fall days. I'm ready to wear my wool dammit! Ah well. Back to the good stuff....

Sunflower Guild Yarn Shop & Swap
TONIGHT, Monday, October 15th
5:30pm Setup
6:30pm Guild Meeting
7:00pm SHOPPING and SWAPPING!!!

AT Waddell & Reed (first floor west cafeteria training room)
6301 Glenwood Street
Mission, KS 66202

You don't have to be a guild member to shop, you do need to be one to set up a table and sell or swap. I'll have part of a table. Mine will have some sockyarn (even one skein of Socks that Rock) and other goodies and even a bag of free stuff. There's a silent auction for some of the good stuff that members donate to earn money for the guild too. I think it should be a great time.

Remember! Only YOU can prevent KPB (Knitter's Plumber Butt)

KPB, just say no. I pulled out the lovely tank, knitted another four inches of it and it still is just past the waist, but in a comforting, fitting way. I freaking LOVE this sweater now. I'm wearing it on Sunday to Jeff's grandpa's big family birthday party with my hair up and some seriously dangly silver earrings and a bangle or two. LOVING this with jeans. I'd knit it up originally in April 07, used every ounce of the 2 balls of cascade I'd had and it just almost came to my waist. It looked very sexy as long as I stayed STANDING UP. From now on I'm doing the sit down KPB test on every stinking sweater I make. I stand, measure, admire, then SIT MY ASS DOWN and in a normal fashion, not sitting primly upright like I never do in real life, just when I'm trying on a sweater to see if I can stop knitting it yet. Having a small waist and not so small lower body makes for the lovely extra bagginess at the back of the jeans. Not a problem unless you are wearing a top that stops just ABOVE the gap. One little slump or lean in any direction and it was seriously not a good look for a 39 yr old woman. Now I can sit and wiggle around and slump and slouch and LIVE in this thing.

Specs: Pattern from Stephanie Japel's fabulous book Fitted Knits, Perfect Periwinkle Turtleneck Tube Vest, size XS (I got a little smaller gauge on sz 6 & 9 needles with Cascade 220 and went ahead and knit it up to get a smaller than the S size. (no boobies means a lot less yarn is used, who'd of thought there was a perk to having a size half A cup chest?) Total of 2.25 balls of cascade for a sweater? (not having sleeves also helps!)

I've unraveled SIX INCHES from each of my sleeves on the simple knitted bodice and am hoping to add the leftover yarn on the waistline to AGAIN make the waist a bit longer. Anyone see a pattern here? Cripes. I figure as soon as I think I'm done knitting something I will just automatically knit 4 inches more. It is looking good and should be wearable by the weekend also. I'm getting ready for the cool weather! Bring it on, baby!


Also, I finished my aunt Dot's socks and got them in the mail! WOO HOO! Now both ends of her will be cozy in knitted loverliness. I had SO MUCH yarn left over. MAN those crafty in a good way skeins have a buttload of yarn. I could've made full length legs on them. Ah well. I'll probably make a baby hat out of the rest of it. Regular old 3X1 ribbing with my traditional slip stitch heel and kitchenered toe.

Artwork from our refrigerator

I guess it's a move up from "Hello Crazy Butthead" that we've been sporting for the last month or so. I'm guessing this one is also courtesy of the two 10 yr olds as when I opened the freezer and said "what the heck?" much giggling was heard by David and Elizabeth around the corner and then they were so proud of their work. "Did you see it? *giggle* about the cows? *giggle* *snort* *giggle* Can you believe it?" (snorts were my daughter. I'm afraid she's inherited that ladylike gesture from her momma.)

The ONLY thing I knitted this weekend was my Aunt Dot's socks. She's the one I made the Shedir hat for and is having mostly good days fighting her breast cancer. I thought I could just whip out some socks for her to boot. I mean, if your head AND feet are both cozy the rest of you has to feel better, right? Well, I got the foot and toe done on one pair and just turned the heel on the second one. I forgot that you just don't "whip out" a pair of size 11's. Dang. I know that's not a big size, don't get your dander up people, it's just that I'm not used to knitting that long of a foot. I think I should have enough yarn, weeeee! We'll see. I do love Crafty in a Good Way sock yarn. Gorgeous colors, good feel, good wear and a buttload of yardage. I'm going to keep going on these puppies until they get done and try not get distracted by any other projects. Wish me luck.


The kids have been busy bees picking up bags and bags of acorns. Yes, acorns. Jeff's paying a penny per acorn. The kids are amassing gallon ziplock bags full of them. We've got tons of old oak trees in our front yard and the ground was literally covered with at least 1-2 acorns per square inch. So far he's forked out over $40, which comes to 4000 acorns. It boggles my mind. Then I thought, hey, a couple bags of acorns could get me some new sock yarn! I may have to get picking myself. I think the idea was to give the kids a way to NOT be bored and to earn their own money as well as clearing out the soil a bit for Jeff's fall fertilization/aeration and whatever else he does to the yard. He takes them to his friend's farm and they plant them and throw some out for the deer. Anyone got any ideas of what to do with all these acorns? I've heard of recipes for making acorn pancakes but that's probably not going to happen around here. OK, how weird is it that the recipe page for the acorn pancakes has SQUIRREL recipes on the bottom of hte page? very, very weird. Yes, Jeff has grilled a few squirrels, but I draw the line at cracking and pounding out thousands of acorns when I can buy flour at the damn store. I'm not living off the land yet, dammit. That country shack is still just a shack. I don't go country until it has running water, electricity, air conditioning and "those innnernets" as the local folk call it. Seriously, I'm not making fun. The guy up the road was all excited because he was getting his woman "those innernets" to make her happy.


This was waiting for me this morning from Joey. My favorite flower, a sunflower, done up in iron-beads. The kids spend hours placing these little beads just so on a spiked template and then have an adult iron and fuse them all together. He had told me he was making it for his teacher, could I iron it for him? Turns out it was for his momma. Good kids, huh?


Now that I've finished watching my EZ dvd's I really REALLY want to redo Jeff's neckline on his sweater and add short rows in the back of neck and then decrease in like they say to do. That would be insane, right? I should just leave well enough alone, right? Put down the needles and back away from the sweater, Christine. It's done. Leave it alone. right?

Help! I've cabled and I can't get up!

OK, so I could get up, I just don't seem to be able to walk away from this new project. YES another project. It's fall, my prime time a.d.d. startitis time. It doesn't look like much yet, but I knit almost an entire ball of calmer last night. YES more freaking cotton yarn. This isn't as bad as 100% cotton yarn, but it's still cotton. Damn. I HATE weaving ends on cotton. I don't know why, but it makes me crazy. Pattern is the start of Fifi. There's not that many cables, it's mostly ribbing with some CF4 twisty things every so often. It's absolutely a pattern you have to pay attention to survive, so since the whole gang is here tonight, poor little Fifi will have to wait until next week to get much more done on her. She's being modeled upside down on my feet, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but she's a pretty, pretty little thing. Can't wait to see how this one turns out.

OK, the sign that maybe I need to get out a bit more....I dreamed I was complaining about not knowing how to sew in ends of my calmer so it didn't show so badly (I had to do Jeff's sweater's ends under his arms or on the back and you can SO SO SO see exactly where I did it. rrrrr) to Elizabeth Zimmerman. She pushed her reading glasses down on her nose and took my Fifi and told me "That's why I knit with WOOL, dear." She was just threading a blunt needle to show me how and I woke up. DAMN! Yes, Jeff was traveling last night so I must have fallen asleep while knitting and watching my EZ Knitting Workshop dvd. Too bad I didn't sleep just a few minutes longer, huh?

Finishing my ass off here!

It fits. It freaking fits. Can you believe it? Survived the boyfriend sweater. So far. The picture sucks because the weather around here has been cloudy and rainy whenever we've had the time to take the picture. Jeff wanted to wait and take an artsy photo with trees and leaves in the background, I got tired of waiting and wanted a damn picture. Hence in the dark on the back porch. Ah well. Artsy will follow later.
Specs:
Pattern...Manly Maze from No Sheep for You
Yarn: Rowan Calmer 2 1/2 balls more than yardage calculated originally. (Thank God for yarn shops and knitters on Ravelry)
Needles: sz 7's and 5's circs and dpns
Started: May 2007, knit away until the sleeves, got bored, quit knitting until the first cooler weather arrived, started again, realized I was running out of yarn, freaked out, begged, borrowed and bought more yarn in the same dye lot, finished the motherbugger.
I think it may even be a sweater worn in public and not just an around-the-house kind of sweater. It rocks. After I danced the holy-shit-I-finished-it dance (much thrusting and jazz hands may or may not have been involved here) I got such a feeling of accomplishment that I felt like the best knitter in the world. I highly recommend fininishing a fitting sweater. It's a good thing.

I sat down and finished Joey's blue toed socks, which turned out so cool they had to be renamed. They're now the Sk8er Boy socks.
Specs:
Pattern: my own derived from bits from about 5 other patterns I like. CO 60 stitches on 3X1 ribbing with slip stitch heel.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces one ball of Pioneer and one half ball of denim
Needles: sz 1.5 dpns
Started and Finished: September 2007


I haven't actually finished this one yet, but I have cranked out a lot of knitting on it. It's actually got almost one sleeve done from yesterday and today but I didn't want to take another picture since it's not too exciting yet. I'm hoping to finish it soon and put it away for my daughter's birthday. Cascade 220 rocks.

Eenie, Meenie, Miney Mo. Catch a Knitter by the toe!

So, driving through the parking lot last night after dropping the kids off for an activity I saw this Trekking covered TOE sticking out the window of a minivan. I thought, hmmmmmm. That's either a knitter or someone well loved by a knitter. After stifling the urge to go running up and actually grab the woman by her knitted toe, I approached calmly and saw a woman enjoying the beautiful weather and KNITTING God love her. I'm usually "the knitting mom." Everyone around here is used to it and not only are my kids always told "your mom's over there" before they even get near me but I think people are starting to use me as a reference point. I heard one kid talking on her cell phone to her mom, "Yeah mom, I'm on the side of the school next to the knitting mom. Ok, see you soon." Seriously. I'm like a fixture of the sidewalk or something. Most kids meet up with their parents by the tree, the playground swings, or the side gate. Nope, this girl meets up at the Knitting Mom.

ANYWAY, one would think that this would pull any closet knitters out of the woodwork, wouldn't it? I never, ever see knitters around town except at knitting shops. I was just thinking it was cool as hell to run into an actual knitting mom right there in my own neighborhood. After comparing notes on sock yarns I squooshed the offered poncho in progress, handed over my son's blue toed socks for her to pet and we went on our way. What could be a better evening? Beautiful weather, full moon rising up gloriously in the sky and KNITTERS. Love that shit.

I finished Jeff's boyfriend sweater last night around midnight and finished sewing in the 27 ends. TWENTY SEVEN ENDS. Damn. And they're cotton. (well Calmer cotton blend anyway) The man is an "I don't want a WOOL sweater" kind of a guy. I told him not to worry, his next sweater would be "a blend." Yes, it'll be a blend of THIS SHEEP and THAT SHEEP'S wool. Spit splicing? Oh yeah. Or at least sewing in a couple of ends of Cascade 220 versus all those damn cotton thick crappy 50 gram balls and some even had 3 or 4 knots in them too! rrrrrrrrr

OH, yeah. After the thrill of finishing the thing I of course tried it on myself. (Jeff was traveling and not home last night) Starting to admire it in the mirror I notice a glaring, eye-popping, freak show of an error. The damn raglan perfect pretty accented raglan seam on the left front has a serious WONK in it. funky, damn wrong diagonal wonk. Also the collar rolls a bit. Not panicking I calmly take it off and pull like hell to straighten out the wonk. It makes a tiny bit of difference, but then wonks back its own way. rrrrrrrrrrr I'm taking it in to the guru's that hang out at Knit Wits in Olathe for help. I'm sure I can fix it up with a darning needle and yarn, but I'm getting more irritated and don't trust myself to get it right yet. I'm going to present it to Jeff on Saturday if I get it all fixed up. damn boyfriend sweaters anyway. At least I broke the boy in well by making socks first. He loves them and wears them all the time and is very appreciative of how well they feel and look. Hopefully the big BRIGHT RED sweater will work out and he'll actually wear it. It's not like I was smart and made a neutral sweater for the boy first. Nope. Let's make it bright freaking red with black colorwork. Yeah. Let's do that and then any little mistake will SCREAM out for all to see. Nice. If I can fix the wonk, I'd even wear it myself. Pictures once the boy tries it on. I promise. (Oh and I ended up with almost an entire ball of Calmer left.)

It's my party and I'll frog if I want to, frog if I want to, froooooggggg if I waaaaant to....You would frog too if it happened to you....

Ah well, another one bites the dust. Try as I could, this sweater just didn't work for me. It looks fabulous as long as I stand in a strange leaning fashion. If I actually WEAR it and sit down or stand normally, the baggly lines at the back just drove me nuts. I either needed to knit a smaller size overall or make some more damn adjustments in the waistline. I have a teeny tiny waist. That's a nice thing, except it helps to accentute the NOT so teeny hips & thighs. Ah well. I just need to REMEMBER that fact and make adjustments on my patterns. Duh. Ah well.

My big quest to finish the first boyfriend sweater is a decision not to cast on for anything else until it gets done. Yeah. Some of you knitters are good with that, it just doesn't work for me. I do now have two sleeves, although one turned out about 2 inches longer than the other, so I need to frog back to the last decrease round and reknit the ends. I'll cast on for the neckline hopefully tonight while watching some tv.



So, of course I wouldn't have cast on for two more projects, no. That would be bad. Yeah, right. After realizing the sleeve error, I figured I'd done enough to earn a cast on for another project. Knitting Pure & Simple's Neckdown V Neck Shaped Cardigan #241 (scroll down to the green one with the tie on the lower left). I'm knitting it up in a purple Cascade 220 heather yarn for my daughter and want to make one for me in a blue also.


I also swatched, didn't get gauge and had to go smaller needles on an acrylic yarn I'd bought on sale for a Wonderful Wallaby hooded sweater for Joey. The gauge at the bigger size was feeling a titch tight, but on the smaller needles and sleeve I started to check gauge, it felt like iron. Plasticky iron. I think I could even hear it squeeench when I rubbed it. I think that may have been yarn snobbery guilt at clothing the rest of the family in natural fibers. I mean, what if he wandered too close to a campfire? He'd melt in a horrible puddle and the rest of the family would stop smouldering as soon as the flame was removed. Yeah. I'm gonna go look at some cascade 220 superwash and try again. I found a very cool Wonderful Wallaby FAQ site and am going to cast on for this probably tonight too if I find the yarn. The whole campfire thing? Over-imagination? Not really. Jeff is a LARGE bonfire making man. We don't do the little start with twigs and dry grasses, slowly adding bigger twigs until a nice, safe fire is going. Nope, there's usually a bit of gasoline and a large "WHOOOOOSHH", then flames to the sky and people for miles around come and gather together whenever we camp out. Yup, my boy's gonna get some good ol' flame resistant natural fiber wool. I'll use the acrylic for an afghan.

Also worked a little on Joey's blue-toed socks. I had one ball of Lorna's Laces in the same colorway I used to make his first pair of socks last year. Wow. Have I really only been making socks for a year? No, my first pair were for Jeff for Valentine's day in 2006, so I guess that's about a year and a half. HOW did I survive drive thru's, red lights, waiting at doctor's offices and the like without my car-sock projects? Anyway, these are turning out less fugly than I thought. He thinks they look good, so I guess that's all that matters. I'm not really sure if the one ball of yarn will last even with adding in blue toes and heels. Yes, I KNOW that dividing up the ball and knitting toe-up would allow me to then stripe blue at the top should I need it, but that would just be too damn easy and make too much sense. Yes, this is probably the same thinking that enables me to make entire sweaters and weave in ends and wear it for a while before deciding I need to frog it. Ah well. That's just one of my quirks. I've learned to live with it and even enjoy the suspense......will I have enough yarn......will I make it? Boy, I need to get more excitement in my life.


Don't you just dig the funky 70's bathroom counter we've got?