Frogging of MS3- Done!

Starting:Middle:
Done!

I realized that this is the second project that I failed to complete using this yarn. There's gotta be bad mojo with it, right?? Anyone know how to do a yarn exorcism?

Taking My Own Advice.

Today is the day that I'm going to do *something* with MS3.



I want to use the yarn for anything else, not sure exactly what- but I saw it in my fiber closet last night and drooled over the color.



As sad as I am to see this project fail, I'm glad that I'm finally making a decision about it. It's been staring at me whenever I open my Ravelry notebook or the stash closet, where it is safely enclosed in a ziploc bag, along with the beads and crochet hook. I love the beginning, I love the wing. It's just the center part that I'm "meh" about doing. (And the part where it joins together at the wing- but I've seen it on real people and I've decided that the whole project looks beautiful regardless.)

Today, it's coming to an end. I wish there was something I could do with this. It's too small lengthwise to be used as a scarf. Really, it's at an odd shape to do anything with it, except finish or frog.

So, if you hear the croakings of a particular knitting animal tonight, that's just me.

In the meantime, let's reminisce...



Swatch:


Starting:

Clue two:


Clue three:

Where I'm at today:

I think I have the clues correct. All apologies if I don't. It's been awhile since working on it.

Do Unto Others...

As I mentioned yesterday, Gale* over at She Shoots Sheep Shots is collecting hats for charity.


I looked in the stash and found a couple of skeins of chunky wool/acryllic blend. Soft, warm and washable. Perfect!

I "used the Ravelry" to find this pattern- Seaman's cap.

It's written for worsted, I used chunky. It will fit *someone*, right?

Quick, easy, and fun to knit. The pattern makes this cool swirly top. Love that!

So Gale, I'm donning my cape and coming to see you tonight!!

Yipee! I can totally see why people do this charity knitting thing all the time.

*Check it out- you can preorder Gale's new book, coming out in April, 2008. All you have to do is peek at her blog and you can tell the book is going to sell through the roof. Beautiful photos, warm stories, original designs- I love it. Can't wait to see it in person, Gale!

Edited to adjust the spelling of Gale's name. Sorry!

Working Hard

I took my first spinning class last night at the gym. Spinning class=almost barfing.

I finished a couple of things in the past few days.

First, Schaefer Yarn's vest pattern in Miss Priss. Beautiful. I can't wait for it to be up on their website. I hope they like it enough to send me more work.

Yes, this is one of the only photos I have of it. I forgot to take one before sending it back home. Damn.

Second, Log Cabin baby blanket for my kid brother's unborn son. Things are still up in the air about the baby, he's having such a difficult time in there. But he will know that his auntie loved him.

Things I'm working on:

Red cotton knock-around cardi for me. Sleeves are mostly done, back is completely finished. Moving fast....The color is a true blood red. This is the yarn here, but it's available in black only. (Please don't buy it all, I want more.)

Charity knitting. Gray hat for the homeless. (Thanks Gail for collecting these!)

And hey, if you're in the New Haven area want to knit for an amazing cause, please do. You can bring them to ABP on Weds. nights on the corner of Broadway and York or talk to Gail about other arrangements.

And as always- Hub's never-ending sweater of unfathomable doom.

Sh!t or Get Off the Pot

Valpuri was supposed to be for my best friend, Tanya. It is no longer.


Apologies for the awful photo. I guess I've now reached a new level of "suck" when it comes to photos too.

I decided to frog it. I made a mistake with decreases and couldn't think of a way to fix it without frogging about 9 inches anyways, so that settles that.

It's a pretty sweater. I may attempt to make it again some day, paying closer attention to the pattern and less on Derek Jeter's butt. (I'd sit and watch the Yankees play while knitting.)

ETA: Photos! I take back my "ef off" to blogger.

Two

The Boy turns two today.

2 years ago I was in the hospital, sick as you can be while pregnant, on 8 different medications, stuck in a bed, trying to stay calm and knit.

He was born by c-section at 4:45. He had a ton of hair and a pudgy face.

He's grown so much in these last couple of years. On the cusp between being a baby and being a big boy, he's learning things so quickly.

The past month has been hard on him. He's learned lessons and seen things that no child should know. But he's a trooper. And he hasn't let it get him down.

Happy Birthday, Jack Henry. Momma and Dada love you so much. We are proud of you. Keep growing and exploring. It's a joy to watch.

I Don't Even Know...

I don't even know what to do to with myself.

I have a head cold. My nose is running nonstop. Ew.

My head hurts. All I want is hot tea with lots of honey and some chicken noodle soup. And maybe some ice cream.

More later, if I can sit up long enough.

(I'm so jealous of those who can knit while sick. I can't. I get nauseous whenever I'm sick and there's no knitting while I constantly feel vaguely seasick.)

First Sweaters, Revisted.

The cooler weather has finally hit the Northeast. So last week I dragged the sweaters out from under all the summer shorts in the closet. What a trip down memory lane!

I wore my first handknit sweater on Thursday- the blue and white cotton pullover seen below.

I forget how long it took me to make. I want to say maybe 2 months. I was a sllloooow knitter back then. The pattern was free, off the rack at Michaels Craft Store. It's huge on me. I had no idea what size I'd be. I had no experience with gauge. All I knew was that I wanted to make a sweater and I was going to do it.

And I did. It's the perfect bumming, comforting for the soul sweater.

My next sweater was Rogue.

It was my first major cable project and my first project in the round. Sure I had made hats before that, but a sweater of this proportion was challenging.

I worked on it for four months. Daily. I did no other projects while knitting this one sweater. I ripped back so many time I can't even tell you. (No, I had no idea how to tink. It was rip or nothing!)

I love this sweater. LOOOOOVVVE IT!

It was looking a little worn. It needed a bath. Today I had the guts to do it. I washed the sweater with a bit of baby shampoo in the bathroom sink and spread it out over 2 sweater racks. It also needed a slight repair around the lower cast on edge- which was taken care of before the bath.

And funny, as I was spreading it out, I noticed not one but TWO wrongly twisted cables. I never noticed them before. Ha!

(No, I don't have the balls (or the yarn) to fix it.)

I don't have many photos of the Rogue. Here's one of the sleeve. I thought I had others, but I know they all are awful quality. Maybe someone at SnB Weds. night will do a photo shoot of me in it.

In other life news, The Boy is doing very well. No more bandages!! Yay! I'm feeling better too. :)

It helps that my hands smell like sheepies. I love sheepies. (It's the best part of block, in my opinion.)

Vesting.

Today The Boy went to his final doctor's appt. He still has to wear a bandage on his forearm, but he can finally (finally!) bathe on Sunday. He is a funky monkey, let me tell you.

This is the Women's Pique Vest that I'm working on for Schaefer Yarn. Great yarn, great pattern. I'm up to the decreases for the back.

I'm really sick of my Denise Interchangeables. On Weds night at SnB one of the cables snapped. I lost 4 or 5 stitches. I had to tink back, pick them up, put them on another needle that someone let me borrow, then count the whole row again. Now I have a pile- yes, a pile of cables that I need to return to them. Grrr.

The only cable I haven't snapped is the 12". Give me time though, give me time.

I know it's my own fault. I tend to yank on the end of the needle part- you know, where it joins by the cap, and that's where it's breaking every time. Annoying.

As for school, I think I'm going to go back to 2 nights a week. Hubs hates having to watch the kid 3 nights a week, but oh well. (2 nights for class, one for SnB.) I need to get this school crap over and done with.

And thanks for reminding me to breathe. I need to, sometimes.

Creeping.

Thanks to everyone who had a kind word about The Boy and his accident.

We've gone to the doctors both yesterday and today. His arm is healing so well. I can't believe how quickly the blisters have popped or settled down. He's taking it all in stride.We go back tomorrow for another bandage change and cleaning. It's so tough because I know it hurts.

Today he wouldn't get out of the elevator at the office. He gave me that kid look- like to say, "No way, Jose." I scooped him up and reassured him. Once he saw the toys in the office he was fine.

Hmmm. People keep asking me how I'm holding up. Honestly, I'm a wreck. I have no better way to say it. I have no attention span. I have about 70 pages to get through for algebra class by Friday and I can't seem to focus on any of it. All I want to do is sleep or knit. My house is trashed, I have no clean towels or workout clothes.

I went to the gym today for the first time in about 4 days and I left after a half hour. Didn't do cardio or lift... I did abs and stretched then I just walked out.

Hubs and I have been at each other's back since Friday. I'm disconnecting, he's disconnecting...escapism at it's finest.

We need to get back to normal, but I feel like I have no idea what normal is or how to get there.

I've also picked this time to get back into the healthy eating. My body is craving sugar. I actually had dreams last night that I was eating white sugar right out of the bag with a spoon. I feel like I could eat Hershey Park out of chocolate. Yeah, it's that bad.

Anyways, I'm getting knitting done, but today was rainy and I forgot to take photos of the vest that I've been working on.

Tomorrow will be better.

I hope.

With A Little Help From My Friends.

The Boy is healing. The arm still hurts, but he survived the bandage change yesterday. Codine and tylenol are gifts from the heavens. He's sleeping comfortably when he goes down. When he's awake, he favors his uninjured arm, but not much. He's holding up well.

Hubs and I are another story. I knew that I wouldn't be able to do the change myself and Hubs never saw the damage and I had a feeling that he'd freak when he did.

I couldn't sleep Friday night so I knit, read and emailed my friend Sami, who is a nurse at Yale Hospital, begging her to help with the change. She was more than happy to change the bandage and assess the situation for us. She came in, changed the bandage with sympathy and kindness, and left with a smile and a hug.

Friends like Sami are just one more thing that I'm thankful for. The other girls at the New Haven SnB enrich my life in so many ways.

I'm blessed.

And because of the wonderful time change, The Boy got up at 5:45. That's AM, folks. Luckily I went to be at 9:15pm last night and I'm well rested.

Burned

So as I was writting this morning's post the phone rang.

I had just talked to my mother in law (she was the one who told me The Boy was sick) and it was her calling again.

She was hysterical. I could hear the baby wimpering in the background. He spent the night at her house because I had school Thursday night and another class this morning.

Anyways, she had poured a cup of tea, turned her back to hang up the phone with me and when she turned back she saw a teabag on the floor and then The Boy let out a blood curdling scream.

Yeah, he reached the tea cup, knocking it over onto his right arm. My mother in law had the smarts to immediately rip his shirt off of him and run his arm under cold water.

When she called me she said that it had slightly blistered, but he was ok and that I should still go to class. I told her I'd be there as soon as I could. I finished the "More Later" of the post and got into the shower.

As I walked into her house the boy still had his arm under the water. It was almost 2 hours after I hung up with her. His arm was blistered and bright red. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. Being a mother changes your heart, people. I've always tried to be pretty compassionate, but seeing your child in pain tears you in ways I can't even write about.

We needed to go to the emergency room. We hate the er. Instead she called her doctor- I live an hour away. There was no way that I was going to get him home to see his pediatrician. Her doctor allowed him to come in. We gently brought him into the car, drove him there and then had to wait. But it wasn't the emergency room. He cheered up a bit, talking and looking at the books. Everyone in the waiting room gave me dirty looks. It was obivious that his arm was burned and that he was in pain. What a bad mom....

Another thing about having your kid hurt- it doesn't matter how much it costs, you'd pay anything to have him be better. The doctor didn't take our insurance. I said to see him anyways and we'd figure out how to pay it.

The doctor checked him out, gave us a prescription burn cream, reassured me that he would heal and not scar. She gave me tylenol with codine so he'd sleep. This was all during her lunch break.

She also said that kids will be kids. Accidents happen.

Somehow, it doesn't change the whole reason why he was there in the first place. If I didn't have school, he would have been home, where he should be.

I'm *this* close to dropping this semester. Just walking away....

I feel like it's not just The Boy who got burned today.

Bulleting

• The Boy is sick. Again. Going to the drs.
• Computer is also at the Drs.
• More later.