Movie Magic

New Haven is all abuzz because they started filming the next installment of the Indiana Jones movies here. We had a knitting meetup last night so I walked with a friend down to the filming area. They've changed so many things on Chapel Street to make it look like the 1950's. It was amazing!

We passed by a couple of people in costumes, a few food tents and some large trucks full of movie making crap.

Here's a few shots I took:

This tavern is really a Starbucks. If you look close, you can see on the right hand side a large white sign that says, "Starbucks Coffee" on it.

Below was an old Mack truck. I loved the doggy on the hood.

They gave us a "Woolworths"

Another store front. Everything was so detailed.

And the utility guys changing the lights over.

Alot of the townies were complaining of the traffic- both pedestrian and auto. I think it's good for the city to have news to report other than violence. Lately every time I turn on the TV someone's telling me about a teenager killing another teenager over drugs or guns. Or robberies or the war. Good news is just that- good. :)

Tanya, Skip This Post, Please.

I started a new sweater. Funny, I have a month and a half until the birthday that the sweater is intended for, and yet I want to finish this thing by Friday. This behavior is not normal, trust me...I know. I want to have 100% of my knitting mind on either Mystery Stole 3 or the surprise birthday cable sweater. I have the cables of the blue sweater memorized so it's pretty mindless at this point. And the MS3 will be my at home, don't even think of talking to me-I'm busy knitting, project.

I took a photo of the Kona Bay Cotton from Webs:

Yes, it's the same stuff in the sweater photo above. (Don't ask me why the color sucks so much on my camera.)

With all honesty, it is delicious to work with. Please don't buy all of it on me, ok?

Now, I've also done more work on the blue cabled surprise sweater. The sleeves are groovy, aren't they?

I also have to start thinking of Christmas stuff already. I *should* make my mom a sweater, but I have a feeling that I'm not going to have it in me.

Why can't I just make everyone hats and be happy with that??

When I Was Younger.

As a late teen and well into my twenties, I had no problem staying up to all hours of the night- drinking, flirting, laughing...Now, if I don't get atleast 6 hours straight, I'm a basket case.

Today is one of those days- again.

The Boy is going through a phase. It's the "I don't want to sleep in my own crib by myself so I'm going to scream bloody murder for 10 minutes til you can't stand it any longer and come and rescue me" phase.

De-light-ful.

He woke up at 1:30 this morning. Hubs went in and gave him the binkie back. As Hubs is walking out the door, The Boy gave this huge screech. This wakes me up. The Boy wouldn't go back to sleep. Finally at 1:45 I dumped him into the pack 'n play in our room, where he played, sang and intermittently cried on and off til about 2:45. Oh, and he woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning at 6:30.

I'm exhausted.

I know I have things to do around the house. It has to wait. I need to go back and get some sleep.

I long for the days when I was younger- I'd wake up at 7am, work 'til 6pm, go home, sleep for an hour, get up- shower, change, go out til 2:30 am, go home, sleep til 7...start all over again.

Those were the days.

I went to Webs on Saturday. Here's the new stash enhancement! (I'll take photos later, when I feel like I can actually hold a camera steady.)

12 skiens of Kona Bay Pima Cotton. Beautiful stuff. I got them for 3 dollars each!
1 extra skein of Valley Yarns for the Super Secret Cabled Sweater.
2 old Interweave mags. I love the old ones and hope to have all of them someday.

We also stopped at a used book store which had a decent craft section. I picked up a hard cover Rowan book for 10 bucks. I love Kim Hargreaves' patterns but refuse to pay her prices for the kits she sells. There's a bunch of her patterns in this book.

I love the time I get to spend with the New Haven SnB gang. They make me laugh, feel good and like I can be myself. Thanks for a great day, girls!

Super Secret Sleeves

The blue cabled sleeves are coming along beautifully. They are fun to do and they are going quick, or atleast as quick as I can do with the weight bugging my wrists.

The Boy woke up screaming this morning at 1 am. I ended up sleeping on his floor, because whenever I left the room, he'd scream. I'm too old to sleep on anyone's floor. Ugh. My entire body feels like it was used as someone's punching bag. Not fun.

I did catch up on sleep by Hubs' generous offer of letting me rest while he played with Jack. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow and when I woke up 2 hours later I felt great.

I'm dragging now though.

We'll see how much knitting I get done tonight....I'm predicting not much.

Choices.

I'm in the process of trying to decide what to do about classes. It's almost time to register and there's decisions to be made. It's also the most frustrating thing in the world.

I want to take 3 courses. But 3 courses were too much last semester. I'm overwhelmed and trying my best to hang on to life as it is now, never mind throwing a bunch of schoolwork my way. It makes me mad at myself that I can't handle more emotionally.

That said, I also don't want to graduate when I'm 60. Ok, it would be 2010 if I only take 2 courses a semester, plus atleast 2 summer courses next year. It still seems like an eternity.

I have no idea what I should be taking. Why can't the collegecoursebookfairy come down and say, "Hey, you need to take this, this and this. No, don't take that. Take ___ instead." I guess if I can talk to one of the advisors, they would help me, but that would require me to go into school, with an 18 month old. I can't get anything done around the house with him home, how am I going to have a meeting about my future? And my advisor isn't returning my emails...yes, repeated emails, so how can I expect her to help me face to face?

I want to take algebra. I hate math. Math scares the hell out of me. But I'm going to college for that very reason. (I don't want to be afraid of anything that a 7th grader can do without a calculator. lol) That said, I can't sign up for algebra online, for some reason. With the advisor not emailing me back I can't do anything further. Should I teach her a lesson and just show up with my whirlwind of a kid?

I also promised myself not to put The Boy into daycare, but it's becoming increasingly difficult for Hubs to be home in time for me to get to night class, not to mention that I want to fall asleep by 8pm. So if I was to put him in daycare two mornings a week, I'd be able to go to classes, not have the stress of Hubs getting home on time, not have to worry about my head drooping during class and I'd still be able to go out sometimes during the week without guilt.

But I promised myself. What if he got hurt? What if he got molested? What if he was kidnapped? What if he really likes it and doesn't want to come home? How can I put my kid in daycare?? He's my kid, I brought him into this world and I should be taking care of him, right?

I don't know what the answers are to any of my questions. They are all valid- ok, maybe a few at the end were silly, but these are the things that fly through my head constantly when I think of next semester.

It makes me want to say screw it and quit.

Long Goodbye, The Easy Way.

I've been contemplating changes lately. After going through the stash and seeing a couple of unfinished things, I've decided to say goodbye to one in particular. Hubs' sweater.


It started out as Durrow. I couldn't get the cables to look remotely correct. (I still am enamored by this sweater and I even told Jodi, the designer, how much I loved it and that it kicked my ass.) So I decided to alter the sleeves. I made no other changes. It didn't fit. Not remotely. My husband is a big guy- thin and tall, with a long torso and wide shoulders. But it should have fit! I was so pissed off at the thing that I threw it aside and let it stew in it's own alone-ness. I wouldn't even put it in the new stash closet.

Tonight, we say a long goodbye, the easy way.

Magners, the sweater and a ball winder.

I still haven't located the missing circular needles needed for the special birthday sweater so I have to use straights instead. Damn it. Anyhow, I've been missing this project and I think I've taken a long enough break on it. Tomorrow I'll pick it up again.

I'm off to bed early. The Boy had me up at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. this morning after going to bed at midnight. No one knows how much I need my beauty sleep better than me.

**Crap! I just rejected 2 comments instead of approving them. Sh!t! Sorry Tina and Patty. Crap. That's what I get for trying to blog at 7am. Yeah, after being woken up by Hubs at midnight AND 2am. Grr. So much for the extra sleep. Sorry girls.

Patty said, "Your Saturday post? Too, too funny! The sweater looks so scrumptious! So sad that it didn't work out. I feel your pain. Hopefully, it will turn into something again some day."

And Tina said, "LOL Oh no... what sweet sorrow! Great idea with the ball winder there, but I'm so sorry you were thwarted in the first place. Damned sweater, may it suffer the agonies of hell for the sorrow it unleashed!"

Lit

I like wine.

'Nough said.

There's OCD And Then There's Crazy.

So I sat down this morning, gung-ho to restart the Moonlight Sonata Shawl. I was again reassured by the nice lady at Elann.com that the pattern was correct and I should have no problem.

I casted on 45 stitches (no way in hell was I going to do all 100 stitches...no way), enough for 2- 12 stitch repeats, plus extras required for the pattern. I get to row 8 with no problem. My stitch count works, I was so excited to get to row 9. I get through the first 12 stitch repeat fine...second repeat- not so much. Same issue, same spot. What the F^CK?

I may be OCD but I'm not crazy.

So, I ripped out my swatch, threw out the pattern (again) and picked up the needles for a swatch for my Mystery Stole 3 knitalong.

Beautiful. Bought the beads and the obnoxiously tiny crochet hook. The swatch is perfect and I'm ready to go.

Reassurance

I emailed Elann last night and was asked about the pattern this morning. The customer service person was very nice and professional. I explained where I had my issue.

In the next email she reassured me that she had no problem with the pattern at that point, that I must have added a stitch by increasing instead of decreasing.

Um, no. How did I have the right number of stitches?

She mentioned that there was one mistake- a knit stitch that should have been purled, but that doesn't make a stitch pattern totally wrong.

She reiterated that she had no problem with the stitch count or with the decreases being in the wrong area. So now it's war. Me vs. this damn shawl. Oh, I'm sooo making it now. Go ahead, laugh. (I can hear the NH SnB girls laughing from here. They know how truly ocd I can be.)

Breathing Deep

The pattern for Moonlight Sonata is wrong, horribly wrong. It goes along fine until row 9. Things go downhill quickly from there. I spent all afternoon trying to fix it- rip, knit, mistake, check pattern, rip, knit, mistake, check pattern, repeat. I finally gave up, opened a Magner's hard cider and went to SnB. I brought everything with me, showed the master knitter/designer extradinare and she agreed that the pattern was wrong.

So, what do I do? Do I email Elann? Do I email the designer? This is supposed to be from a Barbara Walker book, shouldn't be clean of errata? It seems like no one else has knit this- I can't find anyone who blogged about making it, only about people who've oohhed and aaahhhed over it.

Breathing deep.

I also started seeing my therapist (again) after a long break. Tomorrow is another meeting and I have to cancel last minute because I don't have a baby sitter. I know there's people I can call, I just can't do it. Hubs is calling his mother in the morning to see if she can take him.

Breathing deep.


And as a side note for those who've asked: inside the Tiffany's box was a crystal bowl.

Note To Self:

Stop giving your child your much needed items.


First the keys and now The Boy has hidden my knitting needles. No, not all of them, just the ones I need right now. Yes, the ones for the super secret cabled sweater. I started the sleeves and I need to go up a couple of needle sizes...So, on the the next project we go!


I started a new shawl. It's a free pattern from Elann.com. Pretty. I'm doing it in Zephyr, which I love. I have a feeling I'm going to want to sleep with this thing. Honestly.

Mesilla is done. Ew.Mesilla? What Mesilla? Anyone who mentions this sweater will be shot on sight. I love the design, love the colors. Hate the fit and the neckline. I have no idea who this is going to. Anyone know a 12 year old short, skinny girl who loves purple?

And hey- look at this!Why it's Hubs' sweater! I unearthed it from the bottom of a large pile of fiber in the office. Since trying to organize my Ravelry account I've pulled the entire stash closet apart and started over, re-documenting everything. I found this sweater on the bottom of the pile and I swear that I'm going to finish it or rip it. Hubs still likes it and it fits better now than before. Who knows what I'm going to do.

Oof, that was a long post. And I thought I had nothing to say!

Looking Forward To The Weekend.

This is the back of the super secret sweater blocking. I really haven't worked as hard as I could have with this, but I will admit that it kills my wrist if I become engrossed in it- which is entirely too easy to do.

Tomorrow is another big sale at a LYS near me. I have no idea if I'll go or not, which means I'll be there early. I just finished adding all of my yarn stash into Ravelry, why shouldn't I add more? Seriously though, it's 49% off cascade yarns. I love cascade 220 and must have more!

There's A HUGE Tiffany & Co. Box In My Home.

I drove just under an hour to purchase a gift for someone who is getting married in a few months. Her swanky shower is in a couple of days. I hemmed and hawed over this gift for longer than I should have. I know she's going to love it! I've always wanted something, anything from this store. It seems extremely opulent and pretentious to write that out loud. But I don't care.

I've been spinning my butt off:

And I have 2 other partly full bobbins somewhere around here. So far, I've been getting in about an hour every other day. I've seen a clear difference in my spinning, even from these last few times of sitting at the wheel. I find my hands are no longer thinking of what to do, they just do it naturally. I can also correct more of my mistakes easier than a couple of months ago- I'm also making less of them. Yay for spinning! Now if I could just make *something* out of yarn I make. lol.

Bullets

• Mesilla is done. Well, sort of. I don't like it, I'm happy that it's not going on my body, I'm ripping it back to the beginning of the neckline today.
• Hand In Hand sweater is coming along. I'm up to the decreases for the arms. This sweater may get *eek* boring.
• I have a hankering to do lace. I've seriously been bit by the bug. I daydream of lace, I dream of knitting lace at night, I wake up wondering what lace I'm knitting today. I'm not doing lace, I'm doing cables. And when I remember that, I get sad. Frankly, that's not normal.
• I have the largest zit on my chin ever. You'd think at age 33 I wouldn't have to worry about these things, but I do every once in a blue moon. Any ideas of how to get rid of it by Saturday would be appreciated. I've tried toothpaste, witch hazel, popping it, anticeptic cream...you name it. Go away zit!
• I also have a la-dee-da bridal shower coming up on Saturday. I will know no one but the bride. My zit and I will probably throw my (yet unpurchased) gift at the bride, sit in the corner and knit. Fun times.
• So what lace pattern should I knit next?
• NH SnB'ers I'll see you tonight. Or, you'll see me and my zit tonight.

What No One Shows.

Sachi asked me to show my cables up close. She said she always had holes. Sachi, that's the whole idea! Most cables have holes, even if they are machine made. No matter how tight you knit (and trust me, I knit tight) there's no way to switch stitches back and forth and not have holes.

I suck at colorwork. I'm not afraid to admit it. My picot edging looks good, but when you get to the color change...not so good. From the outside, it looks ok. Not great, but ok.

I just don't lift up my arms when I wear my sweaters, that's all.

I Have No Idea Who Frecklegirl Is...

But I love her anyways.

I've been reading about Ravelry for ages now...or so it seems. I was afraid that it was going to be another "Friday Night Knitting Club" scenerio- everyone had an early copy, but me. Thankfully today I got my invite to sign into Ravelry! Yippee!

And no, I still haven't read FNKC.

The Boy is at Grammie's house tonight (cue 70's porn music). I highly doubt there'll be any knitting content to show off tomorrow. Sorry.

Half Way

I'm past the halfway mark on the back of the sweater. I'm starting to panic, as I always do, that it's not going to fit. I have gauge and I'm doing her size...we'll see.

Here's the count for today:

I took a shorter route, but with more sidewalks...and hills. My hips ache. My heel has a blister. I'm so not athletic. lol. I'm off to the grocery store so I should be able to hit 10,000.

Anyone else wake up at 2am this morning to the lovely sounds of thunder and lightning?? It was beautiful up until it got too close and the horrible crackling thunder started. (Yeah, I thought of you Eklectika.) I jumped everytime it hit. The Boy woke up too. Only, instead of crying (which he did do a little, because he couldn't find his binkie in the dark) he clapped and hooted everytime the lightning flashed. Silly kid.