Saturday Sky

I'm cheating and I don't care. Go ahead and tell on me.

This is yesterday's sky as a nasty, but fast moving thunderstorm came blowing through. Someday I'm going to have a house on top of a big hill so I can really watch them come in.

Today is way too hot, even if it is just to open the door and take a photo.

Enjoy.

Eris Is Coming Along.

This is one of the raglan sleeves. Looks good. Or atleast I think.

This is how far I've gotten.
(Add an extra 2 inches- I've been knitting most of the afternoon. Laundry? Clean house? Who needs those things, anyways??)

And the hole. It's about half an inch under the stitches picked up for the neckline. I know how it happened. And no, I'm not going to fix it with duct tape. Although it was a mighty fine idea. I think I can take up the slack and make it look like a normal stitch. If that doesn't work, I can add a stitch from behind and blend it in. If that doesn't work, then I'll crack out the tape.

Blogger's having issues.

More later.

Sorry.

Update: Now it's back up, but so is the baby. Crap.

More later.

Dear Size 5 Circular Needle,

You have no idea how relieved I am now that you are home safe in your pouch in your knitting mommy's basket. Please don't do that again. I'm sure you can tell all your needle buddies stories of your trials and tribulations from under the couch, but please don't. Just what I need is to spend another few weeks looking for another long lost needle.

Welcome home. I'll start my Bitchin' Mittens soon after I'm done with Eris. If I don't kill myself first.

Hole? What hole??? Oh, that?? Ummm, yeah.

Never mind.

And We're Back.

We are back from vacation. I realized a few things while away and just after our return.

First, taking a break from knitting doesn't stop the ache in the wrist (although it made if feel somewhat better, the pain hasn't gone fully away). It didn't stop me from having thoughts and dreams of Eris either. It also didn't stop me from looking for a yarn shop in the tiny town we were in. And yes, I googled up before we left. I was just hoping one opened magically somewhere.

Second, the world goes on without us just fine. My kid pretended like I didn't just leave him for almost 3 days at grandma's house. He didn't reach out for me or really seem to care that I walked through the door. He smiled at me, but continued sitting on her lap like nothing happened.

Third, people die. Suddenly. A pseudo relative passed suddenly while we were gone. She was in her 70's and died peacefully in her sleep. She will be missed. She was always good to my son, buying him gifts here and there.

Fourth, while visiting what I always thought of as my dream hometown I realized that it wasn't for me. Well, not 100%. There were spiders the size of small dogs walking around everywhere! Ok, like the size of dimes- but to someone who is deathly afraid of them- that's big. They were everywhere. In the outside of the screens, in the stores, OVER OUR BED!! Eeeek! Thankfully Hubs is a good hunter and has no problemo disposing of certain creepies. Ew.

Fifth, Hubs' grandpa is getting old quick. He's in his early 80's and is having trouble like he's never had before. Everyone always said he'd live to be 100, but he's going downhill quickly and it's painful to watch. Can ya say a prayer for him. Not that he'll get better necessarily, but just think of him. OK?

And how come it always is sunny on the day you come home??

Photos of Eris tomorrow.

:)

On Fire.

Not my knitting, but my left wrist.

Circular needles are supposed to take pressure off your wrist. For me, it makes mine burn after a few days of heavy knitting.

Ah well, I needed a break anyways.

Headed out of town with Hubs in tow. Be back in a couple, hopefully with a few dollars won at the casino and a belly full of cake.

Revamp

I redid my sidebar. I added some blogs that I read (and sometimes comment on) daily. I decided to take a few down, mostly those that I still read, but you all know who they are. Their blogs are popular (and I fully understand that they deserve their readership) but everyone links to their blogs. What blog doesn't have Eunny or Harlot on their sidebar? When I started this blog a huge piece of me wanted a documentation of what I've done and the progress I made on this journey of knitting. I think a piece of me wanted also to be heard.

Do me a favor? If you see a blog and if you read it daily, please comment on it. Add it to your side bar. Tell people about it. I would love to see every "little" blog that I read have 30+ comments. Harlot the other day had almost 600 comments! 600!!! Can you imagine??

You know the feeling of being in the 9th grade and all the popular girls are getting all the compliments while you stand there wishing just one of them would talk to you? That's how I feel about some blogs. Not just my own either. There's some really freakin' funny people out there. There's some talented knitters out there. Go check them out!!

What are you still doing here?? GO!!




PS If I missed you on my sidebar please tell me and I'll add it. :)

It's Biggering.

After realizing that I'm mathematically and instructionally challenged, Eris is moving along. It's growing slowly. I'm up to about 300 stitches per round. Jenna's instructions are easy to follow. She was also nice enough to email me back quickly regarding a stitch that I missed (hubs missed it too) and that made up for the one I was off. I ripped it back and started the neckline over. It looks more ragged than it did before, which is irritating. I'm hoping that it's atleast ragged on both sides so it looks like I meant to do it. Oh- like you don't do that??

I also received a small crack enhancement, via Elann.com.

6 skeins of Endless Summer Connemara (one of my favs) in color cedar, a couple skeins of Sonata (for Bitchin' Mittens) and one of Gedifra Beauty Cotton. I was hoping this would replace Korfu, but unfortunately it's not gonna cut it. It's much stringier. It's going to split a lot on the needles, I can feel it. I already packed it away or I'd take a photo of the lot. The boy is sleeping and I'm afraid that I'd wake him up opening the door to his room to get to the closet to get to the yarn.

You understand, I know.

The socks have been put on the back burner for now. I'm a monogamous knitter, what can I say??

Dear Miz Mother Nature

It's 1 a.m. Why are you showing off so much tonight??

You can stop the noise now. And the flashing lights.

Thank you.

Sunflowerfairy

Am I An Idiot?

I'm thinking yes.

So I'm doing Eris. And I'm working on it longer than previously stated. Like 6+ hours a day, or so it seems. Not that I'm hating it, no-I'm loving it. That's why I can not put this thing down. I even dreamt about it last night. That's not normal.

The cable along the neck is finished and looks great, except for that damn mistake I did back on row 9 or so.

I picked up stitches along the neck edge. The pattern said I should have 1 more than what I have. I read directions again. I count again. I read again. I count again. I'm still off. I emailed the designer.

I don't get it.

So I keep knitting anyways. One stitch isn't going to be disasterous. Right?

Well. Now I'm ahead by 3 stitches.

Say it with me....


RRRRRRIIIIIPPPPP.

It's only about 1.5 inches that I'm ripping, so I'm not going to cry over it. But I will wait for The Girl to email me back.

And if my freaking power doesn't stop blinking on and off every 15 minutes I'm going to go insane. Reset the clocks, power goes out, reset the clocks, power goes out, reset the computer, power goes out.

Welcome to the housewife's version of "someone's having a case of the Mondays." lol

What about you??

Emergency Day

Yesterday I helped the Yarn Harlot with her quest to take some of Lee Ann's possible negative karma.

I noticed this. Oh crap.

And my kid spit up into my $78 Jordana Paige knitting bag.

No knitting was damaged. My new leather wallet is, but I got it on sale for $7 bucks. I'll just go and buy a new one. I'm still holding out that I can clean out the bag a bit more. Yeah, it's not good.

I still don't have my period, 4 weeks late (tmi, I'm sure) but hubs and I are supposed to spend next weekend doing some private time together. And if don't get it NOW, guess what- no private time later. And as an added bonus, I feel so bloated and cranky I want eat a tub of Oreo ice cream to help with the discomfort.

I hope that helps both women. I'm just doing my part.

Tempting- Done!

Tempting, from Knitty.com, is a great pattern. I had trouble with the sleeves (twice) and had to rip back about 5 hours of work to correct it the first time, then I just made do with it second time. I still have no idea what I did wrong, I just know that the sleeves didn't match up.

I love the color. The intended recipient has a birthday coming up next month. I have no idea how I'm ever going to be able to hold onto this thing and not wear it myself. It's the kind of sweater that fits to your body. I tried it on and with a gleam in his eyes my husband said, "You're keeping that one, right?"

I did it on a size 7 circular using Gedifra Korfu that I got cheap at Elann.com. I recommend this yarn. It's soft cotton. They are sold out of it, but if they ever have it again I'm jumping on it. The ribbon is from Joann's Fabric. I know it's too long, I'm need to get something to stop it from fraying.

The sweater took me about a week to make. It was something I could do while chasing after the baby, talking on the phone and watching Rescue Me. (my new obsession...actually not so new, I go through this every season it's on and really miss it when it's off the air.)

Now That's Romance.

What, you ask, did hubs and I do for our anniversary??

The Dropkicks.

Ah, romance.

Nothing like a hot, sweaty, crowded punk show to let your signifigant other know how much you love them.

And yes, it was my idea.

It Was A Day Full Of Magic

Today is my third wedding anniversary. I never thought that I'd get married, never thought I'd find "the right guy". Part of me thought that I didn't deserve the stablity marriage and healthy relationships bring. Well, I do and we found each other.

Someone once said it's not about the wedding, it's about the marriage. So many people get wrapped up in the wedding, they forget that there's eternity to think of.

I looked through my wedding album today, trying to pick a few for this post. It's the first time in a long time that I've looked at it. There's photos of my uncle who was killed suddenly last year in a motorcycle accident. There's photos of hubs and I dancing, photos of my grandma and I, photos of the whole day. But you can't photograph how much I love this one man. How safe I feel when he's home. How he provides for our little family. How only this man can make me feel the way he does. He can infuriate me, make me grin and giggle and still totally makes my toes curl when he kisses me.

Yeah, the day was full of magic. But my life is full of love.













PS. Some of you may be interested in more photos. I'll see what I can do. :)

Breaking The Monogamy

When I started to knit I got so excited that I started 4 projects, all at the same time. It seemed like it took years before I finished even 1 of them. During the process of the 4 projects, I'd be crazy enough to sometimes cast on even more things. Keep in mind that I was knitting 2 things at this point- baby blankets and scarves. Borrrring, I know.

After a few months I realized that I could not keep casting on and not finishing. So I finished up what I had, only casted on 2 things at a time and it only seemed like I'd finished a project every 3 months or so.

Now I am a one project girl. Not that my projects are mindblowingly difficult but I like to remember patterns and if I'm doing more than one project I have a tough time doing that. I also like projects to flow from my hands. It's hard to do with 3 projects going on at once.

Well, two days ago I broke monogamy. I started Eris, even though I'm in the middle of a sock.


After ripping Eris back 12,000 times (or so it felt) I decided to work on it only for 1 to 3 hours a day. I have to go slow through the cables with all of Girl From Auntie's patterns. They take time to build. It's artwork, I swear. These 3 inches of cable took me 2 days. TWO DAYS! This sweater will be a gift for my mother in law. I was hoping for Christmas, but it might turn into Mother's Day.

It still doesn't look right. *SIGH*

If you are interested in an Eris knitalong, check out this post.

Here's a shot of the sock in progress, coming along nicely.

Isabeau Shrug- DONE!

Let me start by saying that this project was a pleasure to do. The lace is an easy pattern to remember, it's easy to find and fix errors you may make. (trust me, I made a few in the beginning.) First of all, I don't love lace. Well, I love how others do it and have a very deep appreciation for those who have the ability. I don't have it in me. But this made the wheels in my head turn. I'm almost ready to try other lace projects. (Eeeek!)

Secondly, I did not use the recommended yarn. Nor did I swatch. The fact that it shows arm fat is entirely my own fault. The pattern is written for a certain gauge and I did not check it, therefore it's small on me. I take responsibility for that fact. I'm a tight knitter too, which doesn't help matters.

I've said this before, if I make something and it doesn't me or the intended, it goes to someone else. Sometimes fate has it's own ideas on who gets gifted with what and it's out of my control.

And I'm ok with that.

Like I need it.

I swear, to me- in my eyes, yarn is crack. I take a hit, then yearn for more. Crave, crave, crave until I can't stand it any longer. Then I squelch the beast by purchasing more. The yearning always comes back. Yarn stores are crack pushers. I try so hard to avoid them. But they seem to be on every corner. Books pertaining to knitting I consider to be like cocaine- it gets me high but once I read it then I get sad and need more.

Knitting magazines. Like an 8 ball waiting to explode.

I'm now a paying subscriber to Interweave Knits. I can't tell you how excited I am that I did this one tiny thing for myself. I've been asking everyone for a subscription since 2004. Sooo excited. I might just start camping out in front of the mailbox til the next issue comes out. So what if it's not until mid-August??

7.8.06 Saturday Sky

Boring. This entire day has been boring. It's hot here. That lends itself to not wanting to do much. Plus I have the crankiest baby on the planet right now. I dare you to try and tell me otherwise.

Isabeau is as done as she's gonna get. It is too tight around the shoulders (can you say upper arm fat? (Arm fat being the distant cousin to back fat, of course.) Not attractive.) I'll post photos soon. And I haven't forgetten Tempting too. I'll get photos of it up one of these days too.

This was my one big excitement for the day. I started a pair of socks.


I love this yarn. It's amazing what a difference there is between cheap yarn, regular yarn and expensive yarn. It's just lovely.

Behold...

Well, well, well.

This is the swift.
THE swift. It works pretty good, considering it's my hubs first time trying and he had no idea what a swift was, never mind how to make it once he figured out what I was talking about. It needs a larger washer because it squeaks every time one of the arms passes over the base. And it's a smidge small for a 60" skein.

I love it. I'm so proud of my husband. He even painted it!

Note the perfectly rolled ball of yarn. That's the next project, waiting patiently for me to finish Isabeau. (weaving in ends, sewing arms, doing the picot edge, light blocking...that's all it needs)

It will be a pair of socks. Probably a Christmas gift. If I do one gift a month from now until Dec. I'll have all the gifts I need for people. Of course, I have hubs birthday (promised him a pair of socks) and my grandmother's birthday in between. Better get grooving on those gifts....

Stitches East...

So I got the mail yesterday. In with the bills, junk mail (postcard claiming that another house in our neighborhood was sold) and advertisements for new cars was a booklet about this...

Stitches East

I flipped through the catalogue. I read some of the classes. The more I read the more I want to go.

I left it on the desk in the office. I did not leave it out on purpose, I swear. My husband finds it, reads it and says that I should go! Eeek! Really???? Can this be true??

Maryland is an awfully long way to drive by myself. 3 or 4 days away from the boy will kill my heart.

Think Turn The Page bookstore is on the way??

Nora Roberts and knitting heaven all in the same weekend. I feel weak.

And Hubs is saying that I'll be able to use my swift this evening. Like, today this evening- not next week, not next month. Tonight..... More later.

Cupcakes In My Mailbox

Ysolda sent me the cupcake stitch markers I won in the mail. One was broken during shipping. Bummer. These things are adorable. And since she wrapped the wire so well they won't snag on the yarn. Sweet!

Isabeau Shrug is coming along nicely. I'm going to shorten the sleeves so they are 3/4 sleeves, I think. I'm also a little worried that it won't fit around my shoulders, but if it doesn't fit then I'll pass it on to someone come holiday season. Here's the boy helping mommy take a photo of her work.

Look at his little foot. I love it! It's not so little either. He's grown out of 3 pairs of shoes already!

I'm looking into starting a christmas gift for my mother in law. I have enough yarn for a pretty cabled sweater, but it's the wrong color for her. Not that this color would make her look like death, but she typically wears greens and blues and this is a pink. So I ask you, would you just make the sweater in the color you have or would you go and buy new yarn for it?

If...

If the a$$es up the street wake my kid up from their illegal fireworks that are going off at 10 o'clock at night they are going to wish they never bought them.

Seriously.

Saturday Sky...

Brought to you by Hawaii Dreaming...


Yeah, I admit it. This is a photo of Hawaii. And since I'm sitting in my husband's office, in my house, in my hometown of NOTHAWAII, you can venture to say that I ripped this from last year's vacation photos and it was not taken today. I did a ton of running around. I broke the strap of my favorite sandals had to go shoe shopping. (I basically have square Fred Flintstone feet. Shoe shopping isn't the fun, happy time that it is for most women. I hate shoe shopping. If I find a pair of shoes that fit well then I buy all the colors they have.) Then I went to the fireworks with the family.

Anyways, I didn't take my Saturday Sky photo. So I'm cheating.

Sue me.

Spinning

I want to learn how to spin. I've wanted to know since first learning how to knit. The woman who sat next to me during my first ever knitting class 4 years ago was spinning. I was fastinated and she offered to show me what she was doing, but I wanted to focus on one thing at a time. Now I regret it. I have no idea where to start. Logically, I should go to my lys. I've been looking online and on ebay for months at different wheels. I have NO idea what makes a good wheel, or for that matter how to even get started. I checked around for a spinning guild in my area and it doesn't meet again until the fall. Bummer. Anyone know someone who's looking to sell a gently-used wheel?

It's a creative dream.

I love hearing myself write that.