Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Mason-Dixon Headache


On my way to Ali’s gorgeous wedding I was able to get the ‘foot’ of Birthday Sock Dos finished up. Knitting in the car used to make me really nauseated, but lately I’ve been grabbing a project for trips across town with no tummy troubles. I snagged some alone time on Sunday evening after dinner and got the toe done. Hooray! This is my fastest pair of socks to date and I have plenty of time to get them shipped.


And here's some personally exciting news. My friend Carlin (who flew in for L.A. for the wedding), who you may remember as the recipient of the Color Bar Blanket, is a knitter!! Hooray!! She's only knitted scarves so far, but I'm sure that soon she'll be on to bigger and better things.

Now to the headache. I started working on some Mason-Dixon washcloths – the hexagonal ones and have had nothing but trouble with this pattern. Maybe I can’t read, but my Bachelor’s Degree and minor in English would’ve been a lot harder to get. I had to cast on 3 times after completing the first few, apparently difficult, rows.

Once I got into the established pattern of decreases it went better, but I was still pretty burned by the first part. I’m afraid that I have the widely unpopular opinion that this book isn’t that great. No offense intended, I just don’t think it’s for me.



In weather news, Tropical Storm Ernesto is making it quite a rainy day here in Orlando today. I hope the power doesn’t go out. Fingers crossed.

You can tell that the powers that be don’t want to be accused of unpreparedness, all the schools are closed and shelters are open. All for a big thunderstorm.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Little Knittin' Chica

sight
lots of bubbles on the front porch
clean, clean truck - thanks baby
emails from old friends

smell
coffee
baby shampoo
clinique happy

touch
sweaty gym clothes
sore, sore muscles
smooth addi turbos

sound
'save a horse, ride a cowboy'
emily 'talking'
brewski barking at cats across the street

taste
more vanilla lattes
chicken lo mein
garlic bread

----

I've been wanting to teach Alison to knit, but every time I try we just end up frustrated with each other. It's not her fault, I think she's still too young. But thanks to the advice of Adrienne, today we discovered that she's not too young to finger knit. She made herself a bracelet and had a ball doing it.




And what should arrive in the mail today, but my gorgeous new labels from RohmCustom. They're are so nice and smell really good too. I opted for the cotton labels and ended up getting 54 for only $10, plus $.85 for shipping!! I can't wait to start putting them in finished stuff.


That is totally birthday sock 2 in the background. I'm speeding down the gusset and hope to get them close to finished this weekend. We're driving out to Tampa for my friend Alison's wedding so I should be able to knit quite a bit.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Jury Duty


Instead of taking several pictures today, I took one with all topics to be discussed - consider it a small tableau.

a) Isn't Emily cute?? She's 7 weeks old now. I still like her. :)

b) I finished Aileen's first birthday sock. I took a day "off" and just wound the second hank of yarn before casting on for sock #2. Almost 3 inches finished during SnB last night. Woo hoo.

c) In yesterday's mail I got summoned for Jury Duty!! I've only been summoned once before and I couldn't attend because I was leaving for college. I'm really excited! Wayne's even going to take the day off from work so I can go.

Last night, I think I hashed out my Christmas knitting list, which keeps getting put off for things like birthday socks and a newly commissioned Pinwheel Sweater for a friend's baby. But it's still early and I'm confident I can get it done.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

think, think, think

sight
eric carle art museum exhibit
that badass OK GO video with the treadmills
lower fat %

smell
yummy pf changs
strawberries - it seems like my fridge is full of them
lemon orbit gum

touch
Emily's soft skin
crappy sneaker blisters
new porch stucco

sound
Alison singing 'Video Killed the Radio Star'
new Fergie-Ferg
Aileen :)

taste
chocolate covered donuts - the cheap, waxy ones
iced half-caf, sugar-free vanilla lattes
yummy pf changs

---

I've worked my way all the way down the gusset on Aileen's Birthday Sock 1 and now just need to power my way through to the toe. I had to call her to get her exact foot measurement, but luckily she was a) home, and b) not to inquisitive about the request. Last weekend she and Jason made it to the summit of Long's Peak - their second 14er ever and their second mountain this summer. She's a little laid up from the journey but glad that they were able to finish what they started last summer when they didn't summit.

Her camera ran out of batteries their second morning on the mountain, so they couldn't take a picture when they reached the summit later that day. Luckily, there was a very nice stranger on the summit who not only took their picture (they use these for Christmas cards), but emailed it to her quickly so she didn't have to keep wondering if she would. Without further ado, Sewell's on Long's Peak:



In non-knitting news, I was cleared to go back to the gym on Tuesday at my Drs. appointment. So I dove back in with both feet and went every morning this week. Only problem is that my feet changed with this pregnancy and my sneakers are not my friend any longer. I've got blisters on my heels and yesterday my pinky toe was bleeding when I got home from being squished. I didn't realize how bad they were until the toe incident, I just knew they didn't fit great, but Sunday we're going to get me some new sneakers.

Has anyone ever considered/tried knitting on the treadmill?? It seems like such a waste of time that could be used to knit.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Birthday Socks!

After completing the French Market Bag earlier this week I was left with a decision to make about what to knit next. Now I know that there are several things on my progress bars that have 0% finished on them - you'd think I'd work up one of those. But I remembered that Aileen's birthday is coming up on Sept. 5th and since I have such great luck at gifting knitted items to her - or at least with her not being critical when things are huge, super huge - I'd knit her a little something.

I had purchased some beautiful ArtYarns Supermerino from Destash a few weeks ago with Christmas-y Aileen socks in mind, so I just pushed up the timetable. Tonight I made it to and started the heel flap.


I'm using this really great pattern from Cherry Tree Hill yarns. It's great for the not-so-thin sock yarn you may have hidden away in your stash. And it's wicked easy, great for a first-time socker.

Monday, August 14, 2006

French Market Bagged

This weekend was very busy, but I still ended up with a FO. On Saturday Wayne and Dave worked on enclosing the front porch and painting the house and I wrangled the children and cleaned like a maniac. Why clean?? 'Cause all my lovely knitting friends from NYGK were coming over for our Summer Yarn Swap party. It was great.

I tried to pawn off the leftover yarn from the Color Bar Blanket, but no one wanted my half-used skeins of Wool-Ease - suprise, suprise. I did manage to move a little unwanted yarn onto happier homes though. And I didn't want to take any yarn, but once my living room was full of it, I couldn't help myself. Here are a few of the treasures I acquired:



A bag of brightly colored Cascade 220 - 'cause I couldn't pass up wool. Some green verigated Regia sock yarn - woo hoo sock yarn. And a gigantic ball of homespun cotton - this picture does not do the size of this thing any justice, it's big.

Sunday we visited my grandfather and then my great aunt - they live near each other on the west coast of Florida so they're easy to visit both on the same day. We had a lovely day of old people full of hugs and food and picture taking and the 2-hour drive gave me time to work on my FMB. I got 3 of the straps finished and did the last one this morning.

Luckily I got to felt this bag because my Kitchner stitching of the handles was jacked up - but now you can't tell. Thanks to Maggie for the advice on making the straps longer, I did and they still seem on the shortish side so I can't imagine how little they would be if I'd knit the pattern. Anyway, it's finished and currently blocking. Woo hoo!

Pre-felting/silliness/blocking with 2-liters:

Friday, August 11, 2006

My Senses Return

sight
emily's smile
new porch wall
maps of brunswick, ga

smell
lots of wayne sweat (see new wall)
baby formula
cinderella strawberry chapstick

touch
hot, hot heat
scratchy wool
cool metal knitting needles

sound
Alison's tap class
Wayne's guitar playing
Em's late night crying

taste
icky diet 7-up
yummy cheesy tortellini
kix cereal

I've made my way up to the handles on my French Market Bag. I've been in a bit of a lull - post sweater trauma - so I'm taking my time with it. Hopefully it'll be finished by the end of the weekend, but I'm not making any promises.

Wayne is painting the house and finishing our screened-in porch this weekend. We're going with a lemony yellow color that's kind of cheery and bound to be better than the orange that the previous owner slapped on last time. And the porch is going to be lovely. My plan is to just stay out of his way and bring out lots of water.

Coming soon: Alison's pillowcase invitations for her 4th Birthday Pretend Sleepover Party. I just need to make the finishing touches.

And since I hate to post without photos, here's a picture of the girlies.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Pinwheel Sweater: FINISHED!

Hip, hip hooray! I finished Emily's Pinwheel sweater this morning. It took just over a week. But I can talk about that in a minute, first here are the pictures:


I started the sweater on Saturday morning. On Monday night I completed the body. On Wednesday night I completed the edging. Sleeve 1 took about a day and a half, sleeve 2 took a little longer. Mostly because I was making an effort to not be a delinquent parent (I took Ali to the art museum and to some other fun stuff that wasn't knitting friendly) and we had a lot of social demands this weekend.

I know it looks gigantic on her - she disappears under it in the photo of the back - but she's just 1 month old, so it shouldn't fit for 5 months. And in 5 months it just might be under 80 degrees here. :)

A cutie sweater in just over a week, that's a damn good project if you ask me. I have tons of yarn left over though - maybe I'll make a matching hat. I don't think I'm going to start Alison's immediately, I have to refigure the pattern some since she's so tall.

Back to work on my French Market bag. And I may start some Christmas presents to try to stay ahead of the game.

At one of the aforementioned social events this weekend, Emily received a really great blanket from an old family friend. It was cute and crafty, so I can't not post a photo right?


I picked up Mason-Dixon knitting at the library about a week ago and have been slowly looking through it. I really like the washclothes, felted boxes and baby bibs. I've got a mountain of cotton and some wool, maybe I'll be knitting up some gifts to have on hand soon.

Friday, August 04, 2006

It wasn't me, it was the one-armed man



Or sweater as it were. I'm currently on Day 6 of Emily's Pinwheel Sweater and I am down to the last sleeve. I had some trouble with picking up the sleeve and right now the 'contrasting color yarn' is still in place. I'm too nervous about it all falling apart 'cause I missed one stitch to take it out. Luckily, you can't really see it.


I've had Alison try the sweater on and I would recommend making it larger if you're making it for a toddler. She'll be 4 in Sept. and this is a somewhat-snug bolero on her. When I finish this up, I'm going to tally up how long it all took me (piece-by-piece).

I've added some progress bars to the site which will hopefully keep my honest about what is in progress and how that's going. Thanks to Lesley for posting instructions here.

And now that my Summer Sock Party sock is finished, it's time to look forward to new swaps. So I joined the KnitFlix swap - this is a totally me thing, movies, knitting, what could be better? Do you do your best knitting while watching a flick?? Maybe you should join too.

Back to the sleeves. :)