Anouk on the needles

My cousin's baby needs this dress. The pattern is quick and easy. I love the seed stitch sides. Adorable!

I'm going to work on it through tomorrow, then start the shrug.

I promised the hubs no more buying knitting goods. No patterns, no yarn, no needles. Ugh.

I should use what I have and be happy for it- trust me, no one on Earth is more blessed than I am. I know this. But when it comes to anything knit-related I feel like I need more...stuff. I feel if I was ever to lose everything in a fire I'd be most sad about losing my stash. That's sad. I'd miss my photos too, but those can be replaced.

I buy yarn from different places I go- Salem gave me Silky Wool, that handspun, hand dyed yarn from Florida, Boston gave me the yarn from hell, New York....oh New York....you gave me blisters and yarn that I'll never, ever remember it's name- but it's such stunning yarn!!!

Anyhow, I guess I'm officially on a (not even) yarn diet, but a knitter's (nightmare) diet.

Crap.

Maybe I should go through the stash and reorganize, that way the hubs might see how little I really have.

No, that won't work. He'll just point out what I do have. And how much I have. And what a mess my closet usually is.

No, that will never work.

Oh well. A yarn diet won't kill me.

I hope.

PS. Day 2 of no swift count up. Yesterday we did go over the parts he purchased for it and what their primary function is. Oh ya gotta love being married to an engineer. ;)

Sassy Socks Are Done!

Both of them are finito.

I'm happy with the way they came out. There's no holes. They fit perfectly.

Now if it wasn't 80 thousand degrees here I'd be able to wear them.

What's next?

Starting a shrug. And Anouk. I love that name. ;)

And although my husband went to Home Depot yesterday he hasn't started the swift. I think I'll do a count up. I'd call it a count down, but god knows how long he's going to take. lol. (Hi Honey, I love you.)

This is officially day 1 in the swift making process.

So Sachi,

She says in my last round of comments to make my own swift.

Ahhh, no.

But as I was looking (obsessing) on the internet at swifts this evening the hubs comes in and says, "Wait. Enlarge that photo. I can make that."

I chuckle and say, "No, I'll just buy one."

I stop, turn around and say, "Really? You can do this?"

He looks at me and says, "Yeah, I can do it. I have all the stuff in the basement, you just need to help me bring it upstairs."

(insert puzzled and slightly frightened facial expression here.)

Be afraid, people. Be very afraid.

Have skeins that need winding?

Send them to me! Heehee.

I got the ball winder the day before yesterday. And I can't stop winding balls!

Of yarn. Mind out of the gutter, people.

I did not buy a swift and judging by the 4 plus hours spent on one snarly knotted mess, I'm buying one this weekend. Know where I can get one cheap?

Sassy sock 2 will be done today. I'm mad at myself for taking so long to complete it.

But the ball winder!! What fun.

More later.

I left some behind, I swear.

And boy, was it hard.

That was the best birthday ever.

2 years ago we went skydiving in Vegas. Last year we were in Hawaii.

This beats both of those birthdays.

I have a problem. There. I said it.

The yarn sale was by far the best I've ever been to. I went in with the intention that only SOME yarns would be 45% off. I was so wrong. EVERY type of yarn was on sale!!

EEEEKKKK!

My favorites, you ask?? Handpainted silk/merino wool from Color Me Yarns. It's called "Silken". Yeah, those will be either socks or mittens.

Or how about the sparkly braided yarns in blue AND pink?? The Lana Gatto Arianna over in the top of the photo. Oh!!! I love this yarn!

Or the sock yarns?? Hello!?! It's all so FUN!

I did get one random yarn that I have no idea what the hell I'm going to do with it. It's not in the photo. (That's right, there's more in the bag- got something to say about it??) It's a sock yarn in all fall colors- yellows, wine, off whites, greens. Beautiful yarn, but they only had 1 skein so I'll have to do something about that.

I have to go back today- I was looking over my receipt and I saw that they overcharged me for some of the cottons.

Can you say "BALL WINDER"??

Anyhow, happy birthday yarn sale to me.

*And a special thanks to the husband for the balloons and card. And my mom who watched Jack so that I could get an uninterrupted hot meal without spitup on my shirt.

It's my birthday sale day!

Happy birthday to me! Happy yarn sale to me too! Yes, I'm still going. I just won't get as much. haha. Do I have you fooled as little as I have my husband fooled?

I decided to think of Christmas gifts I want to make and get the yarn I need at the sale. That way I'm still getting yarn AND I have a good excuse for purchases.

I know it's going to be the year of socks for everyone. I need to make my mother in law a sweater. I owe her one. I need to get the yarn for that too. Or I could use stash yarn.

I'm still working the second sassy sock. More photos later.

Funniest piece of mail I've ever received.

We get these packs of coupons for local businesses- usually they are for window replacements, home improvement companies, etc.

We got this in the mail yesterday. I almost peed myself.



How can you rent 150 people at such a savings??

Gone.

Ugh. It kills me to admit this.

So you know how you have your "small" clothes and your "fat" clothes? You know, the ones that sit in the back of the closet- waiting for either you to be a size 6 or a size 14 again...just sitting back there...laughing at you...taunting you to either eat yet another salad or another piece of your mother in law's devinely rich chocolate cake...

Yeah, well. I had a bag or two of those types of clothes. Ok, maybe like a bag or 4. I swear at the time it seemed like I had no clothes. Little did I know that I was building this stash of clothing! I got a majority of it at second hand stores or hand me downs from friends. I swore to myself that I'd fit into the size 6 again-someday. And with all honesty, I was fearful of fitting into the 14's for the rest of my life.

Well, along came pregnancy and I knew that the closet would have to be cleaned out. So I set myself up for the task. It was early in my pregnancy- before I was too big to do anything heavy, but after maternity pants. I remember separating clothes into a few piles. I remember bagging the clothes. I remember asking the hubs to take clothes to the Salvation Army and I remember telling him 2 bags needed to go up into the attic.

I'm 6 months post baby weight and still losing. I've lost 50 plus pounds and I'm down below my prepregnancy weight. I've been wearing the same 3 jeans and I'm sick of them. Plus I know I have a ton of khaki's from working in an office about a year and a half ago. Those would be perfect for summer.

So, I decided to look into what clothes I saved. I checked the attic. Not there. Closet? Nope. Under the bed? Nope. (although I did find a random knitting needle and a small ball of yarn. What was I making with that?) Oh, I remember where the clothes are now- they're in the basement! Ah, no.

My house isn't that big.

My husband has the memory of an ant. Matter in fact I think the ant has him beat. He has no recollection of me bagging clothes or taking them anywhere.

So, I have to go shopping.

I guess my birthday yarn sale isn't happening.

Sassy sock DONE!

I know I've already posted today, but the boy finally decided to wake up and face the day. We've eaten, we've cleaned up, we've gotten dressed, and we're back to sleep again. Must be nice being 6 months old.



This is Sassy sock #1. Looks good. After the brain overthinking from a few days ago I'm happy with the way it came out. I've been trying it on intermittently, just to check that it hasn't grown or shrunk while I wasn't looking. It didn't.

Second sock goes on the needles today, then I get to start to obsess with my next project.

Socks? Sweater? Shrug??

I dunno, but I'm looking forward to them all.

Say it slowly...

Happy Birthday to me.....

No, no, no- it's not today.

And one of my lys is having a birthday sale- just for me! It's like a Sunflowerfairy's version of a wet dream!

Take a look!! It's a sale and it's on my birthday! Yippee!

(It beats Wendy's 40% off sale too. Beat that, 'Tonic. heehee.)


Ok, ok. I understand that they are having an anniversary sale for everyone, not just for me. Just let me dream for awhile, please??

1 Sassy sock is complete, but I have had such a numbing headache for the last 2 days that I haven't knit (or computered, btw) since I finished #1. Photos later...just waiting for the boy to wake so I can use the good lighting for the picture.

Today

Today is Mother's Day. I've always hated Mother's Day. For a long time I wasn't in a good place with my mom. That's all water under the bridge.

Now I'm a mom. Jack is the light of all lights in this world- atleast through my eyes. We took him to a NY Yankees game yesterday. He made new friends. And we got the ceremonial first year photo of the boy and his proud dad. We left during the third inning after the boy spit up about a gallon of yuck onto my crotch. It looked like I peed my pants. Not cool.

Back to today...I got gifts. Since I promised the hubs that I would never post photos of the boy on this blog (online predators, you know how they love the 6 month olds). I have taken a great shot of what Jack and daddy bought me for my first mother's day....



Oh yeah...

I also got flowers picked from my mil's garden and I allowed myself to eat carbs and sugar, namely pancakes and chocolate cover strawberries. (back on the yeast and sugar free diet tomorrow. God I'm dying for a glass of wine now that they are gone and the house is as quiet as it gets with a kid around.)

Life is blessed.
:)

Overthinking

I have a tendency to overthink things. Patterns, directions, recipes, you name it- I overthink it.

The gusset issue was solved after about 2 minutes on knittinghelp.com. If I wasn't such a dolt I would have just looked there and had it over and done with. But no. I have to obsess over the whole pattern. I've done 2 socks before- a tube sock and a toe up sock. I didn't have to pick up stitches on either so I was thrown for a loop when the directions said to pick up stitches. Pick them up from where?? Where should I start? How do I get to the other side???

(Yeah, that's what is going on inside my head. No wonder people think I don't pay attention- I'm too busy having full conversations with myself over nothing.)

Here's an updated photo for all to see. It looks good, no?


I should have it completed by tonight and have the second sock on the needles by tomorrow. That's assuming that the kid will keep his drooly, spit up-y, teething misery to himself.

Wish me luck.





PS. Yes, that is a radiator on the top of the photo. And yes, those are toys to the left. My baby's room has the best natural light in the house. Which is a joke for the last week and for the next week. We are expecting rain and more rain and more rain. If I hear one Noah's ark joke I'm smacking the person. lol

Happy spring!

Heel Help? SOLVED!

Heels. We all have them. My sock however is lacking. Ok, maybe it has a heel but it doesn't have a gusset. I have no clue what I'm doing. Sound familiar?

So far the sock looks good. I just have no idea what the directions mean. Do I email Cat, the author? Do I spend 4 hours on the net looking it up? Do I post on Craftster again? I really don't want to go to the yarn store. That place it sucking me dry.

It looks like it's going to rain.

And I'd have to get out of my pajamas. Ok, let's face it, that's the real reason.

Happy knitting.


UPDATE! I FIGURED IT OUT! MORE LATER...

These socks are soarin'

Which is good because I'm really having trouble getting past the shoulder straps (still) on the not silk cami. I want to do it one way, try it and hate it. Then I try another way, hate it and rip again. I finally put it down after 4 different attempts. Maybe the socks will be for the person who was supposed to get the cami.

The "socks on 2 circulars" method is so easy. I think anyone can do it. I suggest going to a yarn store to get the basic principles taught to you, but after that- it's simple and super fast.

I'm working it with size 3 needles. They are the smallest needles I've ever used. The yarn is Moda Dea's Sassy Stripes. It acrylic. And cheap. I have no idea how they are going to wear and tear- but I love the self striping!

In other news, I couldn't knit for almost a day and a half due to my own stupidity. I make the baby's bottles usually 5 or 6 at a time. I heat up water in an electric kettle then mix it with the formula. I grabbed one of the bottles and poured the water in and I was only half paying attention. Boiling water poured all down the side of the bottle and on my fingers. OUCH! It was red and stiff. Knitting was out. It feels fine now. And I no long A)hold onto the bottle while pouring the water in and B)no longer let the water get that *&$@# hot. Motherhood is a learning experience.

Well, now what?

Let me just start by saying that I just polished off a great bar of chocolate. That was in preparation for what I'm going to write. If it was any other time of day I would have opened a Magners.

This is a mosaic of the silk cami from Last Minute Gifts.

Red cami mosaic.

I've been knitting for a few years and there's still some directions that make me scratch my head and say, "Hunh?"

This is one of those patterns. I didn't get it. I tried repeatedly to follow the directions and they didn't make sense to me.

First of all, I did a swatch. I hate swatching. I'm one of those people who think that if I make something and it doesn't come out as I planned then it wasn't destined for the person and I move it along to someone else. I can't do that with this. Like I said before, I swatched and it came out perfect. But as I started to go along, the piece seemed really big. Really, really big. *GULP* It should be a small. "Should be" won't work for a cami. I'm hanging out of this thing.

(Ok, the fact that it fits me is a sign that I didn't make a small. Not that I'm big, but I'm carring a bit of a middle area 'cause of the baby. My waist is not a small. lol)

I ripped out most of the front because it was coming out weird, plus I had 2 extra stitches.

The directions for the back made no sense. None.

Ugh!

They also don't show a photo of the back. That would help. I'm a visual kind girl and I can usually tell what the -f- is going on with it from a photo.

So, do I scrap it and make her something small and quick??

I hate to waste the project, but I don't think in my heart I can give it to her.

Let me think on this. I'm going to post a message on Craftster. Maybe someone on there will have an idea.

When a knitting goddess leaves a comment in your blog about a project that you are about to start and it's not necessarily the most positive of comments(about the project, not you)

LISTEN TO HER!

I'm almost done on the not silk silk cami and weeeeelll, let's just say that the birthday was last weekend and I avoided the person so that I didn't have to give it to them.

And I guess I'm doing a matching shrug to go with it.

Send me the cleaning fairies!

Friends of ours eloped back in February. They had a party for family and friends on Saturday in Brooklyn, NY.

We saw friends that we haven't seen a years, traded stories of our babies, showing photos of how big Jack has grown (if I heard "he's going to be tall like his father" once more I was going to shoot myself) and talked about life in general. We had a hotel room (always a sign of trouble) for the night nearby.

The party started at 12:30pm. It was really alot of fun. A few of us moved on to another establishment around 3:30, then to another place around 6...I'm guessing here 'cause it all seems fuzzy. At some point the DH said that he was done. We said our goodbyes and left. Now normal people would ask for a cab or atleast in what direction we should be heading...no, not us.

We knew where the hotel was (sort of) and started to walk that way. After about 10 blocks we found it.

It was around 11 and we hadn't eaten since 5 so we ordered room service. I think I ate 2 bites of my hamburger and maybe 4 fries. We passed out around midnight.

I get hangovers. DH does not. Ok, maybe he does but not like me.

I'm still feeling it. It's MONDAY. I stopped drinking 30 some-odd hours ago! I still have a bit of a stomach lurch, a headache...oh, the headache.

I have a knitting circle coming over in 31 hours and my house is trashed. Not to mention the fact that I have family coming over on Wednesday for my mom's birthday.

Someone send me the cleaning fairies, please??