Olympic Knitting Sweater .

It is done, just waiting on photos! It was done last night, at Jay Peak. Yay!!

More tomorrow, with stories. :)

Try, Try Again (?)

I'm up to the arms on Sahara. I've never liked knitting sleeves in the round, I have no idea why. I'm not the best dpn user in the world so I think that's part of it. I also like to knit sleeves at the same time, that way you know that they are the same length.

Decisions, decisions.

I decided to suck it up and knit them as the pattern states. Got out my 16" Denise cord.

That's not going to work.

I found another metal 16" needle to work with. The shoulders are formed by picking up stitches, then doing short rows, knitting back and forth. I picked up the correct number of stitches and it looked so sloppy.

So I decided to knit them flat. First of all, I could use my other Denise cord and the needles that I love, and secondly, I could avoid the DPN's at the end.

So far, so good. I have NO idea if this is going to work or if it's going to come back to bite me in the butt.

Either way, I'm proud of myself for trying something new, even if it failed.

I Got a Body!

Wow! I should knit under pressure more often. This morning (6:00 am...yuck), after a week of knitting, I was binding this bad boy off!

I did fewer decreases (also started them later than the pattern called for) and more increases. Post pregnancy, many-cookies-body isn't pretty...I think I've mentioned that before. :)

The bottom edging is pretty, but I think it may curl over time. I did the fancy-pants bind off that Rebecca showed more for more give. (After every 3 bound off stitches (keeping in mind that you could do it for every number of stitches...3 just gave me enough stretch for me), do a yarn over, treat it like a normal bound off stitch, then repeat the bind off 3, yo, bind off for the whole thing.)

It fits great. I'm pumped to get moving on the sleeves, but...I thought I had size 6 dpn's but I don't. So I guess I'm running to town tonight to get them somewhere...(good luck on that one).

In the meantime I'm going to start the neck edging with size 4 wooden. I had been using my Denise needles, which tend to be a bit easier on my wrist. The wooden one grabs the yarn and I think it makes me work at the knitting more.

That said, my wrist is tingling again. No idea if it's from the cortisone shot wearing off, too much knitting or what. After the Olympics I have a feeling that a break is going to be needed.

Today the Sun is Shining

Thanks for the comments from the post from the other day. I should have mentioned that I've done everything- calls, emails, trying to go through a third party (other family members), approaching her face to face- to try and figure out what was going on with her and I. She insists that nothing is wrong, that it's all in my head and "all my drama". She is in denial or just doesn't want to deal with what her issues are. I live a good life and think that having positive people around me is a big part of that good life. I'm at the point where I know I've done nothing wrong to her and that I need to accept her decision to not be a part of my life. Or my children's lives. It is sad and painful, but it is what it is.

And let me just say that no, I haven't been a perfect person. I understand, embrace and accept my humanity. I have skeletons in the closet just like everyone else, but they are MY skeletons, not hers and she has no right to judge me for them...or so I think. And even when I bring up said skeletons, she denies that these are the issues she's upset about.

Ok. On to Olympic Knitting, shall we?? Here's what I have so far, if not even more. I can't find my camera (gulp...where the heck is it?) so I can't take a more recent photo. I'm about to start the short rows and switch to the second color (RED!). I'm excited about this project still. It's even better because I know that it fits. Gotta love top down sweaters!

Also- Jessalu is having a contest. She's celebrating FIVE years with her blog and is giving away SWEET prizes. Leave a comment on her blog, but tell her I sent ya, ok? (I think it humorous that I want to win, but I'm telling others to go and comment, lowering my chances of winning. Part of me wants to tell everyone tomorrow to go and comment. Strange.)

Private

Yesterday and today have been difficult for me. I'm feeling heavy and I need to get it out somewhere, anywhere. I'm feeling really alone on this.

Some back story- I have a sister who is 2 years older than me. We are complete opposites. She recently told the world on Facebook that she got married. My family had no idea. His entire family was there to witness it. She said it wasn't planned, yet made favors, had a professional cake made and wore a wedding dress. I found out through Facebook that my sister got married. Sadly, that's not the worse that's happened over the last few weeks.

Yesterday I found out that she moved to Puerto Rico to be with her husband, a pilot who got a job down there.

How did I find out? Facebook.

She never said good bye, never called, never emailed. Nothing. Just left.

I'm so upset by this. I have no idea why. She hasn't really spoken to me in years, and for no reason that I know of.

But I still feel like an abandoned 10 year old. Seriously. This has dragged up so much harshness in me.

I want to eat every piece of chocolate in the world. I want to get drunk. I want to go somewhere by myself. I want to crawl back into bed and cry until next year. I want to call her and swear at her up and down. I don't want to deal with the kids, the husband, the housework, any of it. I want to steep myself into my 10 year old broken body and pout.

I unfriended her on Facebook. It was the only control I felt that I had. She doesn't want to be a part of my life? Well, I won't let her be.

I'm sad.

I'm pissed.

I want to know what I did that was so wrong in her eyes.

But most of all, I miss my sister.

Fronts and a Back

After a couple of false starts, I finally have something worthwhile going on with this Sahara. I'm not 100% sure that my post-pregnancy, all-the-time-cookie-eating body is going to love it though.

Here's the fronts and back in one piece.

I'm going to keep on trucking on this and we'll see where we end up.

Let the Games Begin!

Inspired by Yarn Harlot's post about the Knitting Olympics, I decided to join in.

At first I thought it would be a great opportunity to use some of my handspun. I was going to make Ditto.

Checked the yardage...no go. I'm short by about 200 yards. Sigh.

So I decided to use some yumminess, as if the cormo I've been knitting with wasn't tactile-sensory overload enough.

Nuna, by Marisol Project. Making Sahara. God, I hope this sweater fits me.

And I know...it should be child's play for me. I should be able to finish this thing lickety split.

I have a feeling it's going to take a miracle for me to find time throughout my day to knit. Toss in the fact that I've been going to bed every night by 9:30, which was prime knitting time, and you have barely any knitting.

Still working the cormo cardigan. I was able to stay awake during the Super Bowl last week and during The Boy's hockey practice. This is what I have to show for my 2 weeks of knitting this thing:

Did I mention that working with laceweight yarn takes FOREVER to make a row?

It's Like Knitting with Clouds

I've made the executive decision to start making more sweaters. For me, of course.

I love Foxhill Farms Cormo yarn. It's the mushiest, smooshiest, softest wool yarn ever. It's also kinda expensive.

I started picking up a skein of their lace yarn every time I went to a fiber fest. I finally have enough to make a sweater using smaller gauge needles.

This weekend I swatched.

I have some crystal beads that I got on sale that I thought I'd use in the design, but my crochet hook wouldn't fit through them. So I was forced to just knit.

I found what gauge I liked, had Hubs do some math, and cast on.
300 stitches, size 3 needles, laceweight yarn.

I'm about to go into non-stop stockinette land. This may take awhile.

But I'll be in heaven the whole time.