Progress? What progress?

One would think that since it's been four days since my last post, I'd have something fabulous to show off. Nope. Sorry. I have done some knitting, a bit of spinning and a whole lot of cleaning. The house never quite recovered from my last bout of sickness. Saturday I took one look at all of it and dove in. Since the hubster is expected any time now, I wanted to get it to look it's best. Don't get me wrong, he does not expect it clean. Quite the opposite-he loves a messy house. That means he can be messy and I can't nag. I don't think so deary, there'll be none of that. The apartment looks alot better now. Granted there are still some things to be done, but I'm not too stressed about it. I managed to finish the major knitting of the cowl sweater yesterday. I have to remember to block it tonight before bed. I'm not allowed to block during the day since Reilly seems to think it great fun to rearrange the pieces. I also have started the seaming of Connor's sweater. Key word is started. I really don't enjoy the finishing process all that much. I'd much rather knit. So, we'll see when it gets done. Another sweater has been started, but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it, so maybe we'll talk about that another day. Spinning has proven to be a challenge to squeeze into my day. I gave up trying to do it while Reilly's awake. Between him and the cats grabbing at it, I spent more time chasing and shooing than spinning. I did take the first yarn I spun off and set the twist. Ugh. Gastly. I spun it way too tight to be useful as a single. Live and learn. So now I'm practicing at a slightly looser twist and keeping the yarn consistent. Hopefully I'll have something usable out of this. Since I had nothing really to show except some boring pieces of stockinette, I'll leave you with the latest picture of Connor.

There Will Be No Knitting Today

Or tomorrow. Or maybe the day after that. What could possibly leave me to make this frightening statement? It's contained in this little tiny box: Ooh... What could be inside? Yummy! That's a pound each of Corriedale and Wildberry rovings from Copper Moose. A sexy shot of the Wildberry. Isn't she beautiful? My first ever attempt at spinning. Not too bad, eh? The spindle was a gift from my SP3, Pam. I know I haven't talked about this before, but it's been in the works for awhile now. Here's the story. This summer my mom showed me her Navajo spindle and got my brain thinking about it. So, when we moved here, I saw that the Arts and Crafts studio on post had a weaving and spinning class. We were only here about a month and a half before Royd left so there wasn't anyone to watch the kids on Friday nights. I had been holding out until he does get home, but I finally caved in. I'm so glad I did. It's so fascinating! I still plan on taking the class so that I can learn to use the wheel. On top of that, my mom has said that she's going to send me her spindle, fleece and carders. Woohoo! I'm giddy! I was hoping that the package would get delayed until Monday so that I could get some other projects knocked out. I've finished the knitting on Connor's sweater and it's busy blocking on my ironing board. Although, he won't be wearing until next year, I just want it done. I also had started working on the cowl sweater. I'm halfway through the second sleeve and then still need to do the front. Of course I finished my pink socks. As I was washing all of my wonderful socks yesterday I noticed something peculiar. All the socks I've made have been in varying shades of pinks and blues. It's weird because I almost never pick these two colors for sweaters or tops. But, almost all of my dresses and pretty unmentionables are these colors. Strange, huh?

I finished my scarf for February Fixing. I love how this turned out. It's now nice and wide and still long enough to wrap nicely. I used the Bias Lace Scarf pattern from the Pattern-a-Day Calendar. The closeup picture below better represents the true color. Don't judge me. It's become apparent to me that I go through kicks. You can call is obsessions or even a sickness if you wish to. Last year it was scarves and the year before it was afghans. I have this need to make each one better as I explore multiple techniques. Once I feel that I have made one truly awesome object, the craziness will start to pass-only to turn to something else. These are actually the fast pair I've made yet. I started last evening and have been sporadically working on them throughout the day. Plain stockinette stitch and a larger gauge than I'm used to really move things along.

I Caved

Yup, that's right. I did it. I broke my promise to myself. It happened so quickly I didn't even know it was happening. Before I knew it, I was printing out a confirmation of sale. So, you may ask, what prompted me to do it? Well, there's this little place on the internet that's called Elann. Need I say more? I look at it this way-yarn sells out so quickly that it might not be there when I do get through my ten projects. Then what would I do? I mean, it's happened before. I'll divulge my new lovies when they arrive. Honestly there hasn't been too much knitting going on. Between getting sick last week and paying for it all this week, and trying to get stuff done around the house, time has been a little lacking. I did manage to do these earlier this week: These are just your basic toe-up sock. Nothing special, but the stripes match within twelve stitches. Not bad for an afterthought. Thanks for the concern about my sockpal's socks. I do have a few tricks left up my sleeve. I finally realized two days ago that I was stressing too much. I had it in my head that they had to be the most beautiful socks that had ever been knit. I know what my pal likes and doesn't-just go from there. I'm feeling much better about it and have faith that she'll like what I do make her. Oh, one more thing. I finally updated my Finished Objects page with all the info on my projects. On the home front I have good and worriesome news. First, Royd is in Kuwait! We still don't know exactly when he'll be leaving but that's okay. I'm just glad he's out of Iraq. Second, my FIL has accepted a job in Baghdad as a contractor. Honestly, I worry more about him than my husband-he won't be carrying around a M-16! I guess the worrying will never stop. Last year it was a cousin's husband over there. Who knows what the following year will hold. Hopefully not my husband again.

Gung Hey Fat Choy

Sockapalooza and Other Woes

Sockapalooza I have been having the worst time trying to settle on a pattern and yarn for my sock buddy. I had said that I would wait until Royd got home and I could get to the yarn shops. I knew that once there, I'd find a perfect yarn. Well, his date for arrival has been pushed back twice now(to the last week of the month, or possibly March), so I can't count on that. I then turned to KnitPicks. I wanted to try out their sock yarn and here was a good chance to. So, I ordered some and two books as well. I am not happy with the colors of this yarn. It's called Morning Glory. This picture doesn't do it justice, even with alot of photo editing. In person, it's very bright-kinda reminds me of kids colors. It will probably end up as kids socks too. Argh. February Fixing Here's the scarf that I'm fixing. I tried to get a picture of it laid out, but I couldn't get it all in the shot. It was about eight feet-way too long for me. Although I still like the way the original stitch I did, I thought I would do something different. No luck so far. side note: The reason I have to wait to get to the yarn store, is that the double stroller will NOT fit into them. Seriously-they're that tiny! Just trying to get Reilly's umbrella stroller in there was pushing it. Besides, it's so much easier to look with out them.

Charity Knitting, Part II

Red scarf was just taken off the needles. Now to weave in those pesky ends. I love how on the one side, it looks almost as if it's one continous pattern, and not broken by the ribbing. I may have to make one for myself. Maybe not. I see lace scarves in my future. May I present to you, four knitted hats: Two are sized for baby/toddler and the other are for older children. All were done in Lion Brand Homespun at about 4sts per inch. That's as tight as I could get it. I chose this yarn because although it's not the warmest out there(say like wool), it is very soft and it's what I got. I could get another four hats at least out of what's left. Though, as I was doing the first one, I remembered why I hadn't done anything with it before. I can't stand knitting with it! No particular reason, it just drives me batty. Oh, yes one more item to share with you. This is what we were NOT discussing last week: It's the Bell Cloche from the Pattern A Day Calendar. I chose Cascade Yarns Quattro for it. It took three attempts at blocking before I got the right shaped bowl to do it on. Have I worn it? No, it has decided to act like spring since I casted off. Stupid weather. This brings me to another thing. I have worn a sweater for maybe a total of 5 hours this winter. After about just a half hour, it's been torn off as I seek the nearest window for fresh, cold air. I suppose it has something to do with nursing? I can't really say how I was with Reilly because we were in Georgia. I never wore sweaters there. So, I've been re-evaluating my wishlists of projects. Perhaps I will take the sweaters off of it for now. I certainly have plenty if I do get cold.

Charity Knitting

I found another worthy charity to knit for: Found this while reading Mossy Cottage Knits. As far as the red scarf goes, I'm halfway through and am taking a one day break from it. It's starting to get monotonous. So, I casted on for a hat. I promised myself that I'll make at least four hats for the Dulaan Project. If I get really inspired, maybe I'll throw in a pair of socks too.