Hilarious Stuff

Yesterday we went for a little drive down to Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber. It's a beautiful Medieval town that is renowned for it's Christmas decorations and festivities. I've been dying to get there since I've heard it's a wonderful time. Here's the funny part: apparently Rachel went there yesterday too. Imagine that! Two bloggers in the same town taking the same pictures and we didn't even know it! Go check her post. Shots of the wall St. -Jacob-Kirche Rathaus and Franciscan Church Street performer part of the Reichsstadtmuseum overlooking the Tauber We hope to get back there for the Weinachtsmarkt for a good dose of Christmas cheer. Do I have some knitting content??? Why, yes, I do. FBS is off the needles and waiting in line for it's turn to be blocked. (snorts to self ) I loved knitting this up. I think that the lace bug may have bitten me. I just have to figure out whether I'm going to keep it, or give it away as a present. Originally I had started it for Royd's Nanny, but we know that that plan isn't anymore. Decisions, decisions... See? I casted on for the Hanging Vines Stole I got from Elann awhile back. I just can't decide if the yarn fits the pattern or not. Is it competing too much? BTW I'm able to get my pictures from the camera, but can't take any more. Darn thing needs to be sent for repair. Aargh.

Hey Y'all!

Nothing like spending a week and a half in Virginia to kick that southern accent into high gear. Actually I'm from Pennsylvania, but we'll blame three years in Georgia for that. Anyhow, I am back. Have been since Tuesday morning. I've been trying to post all week, but life kinda got in the way: four people with wicked jetlag, two sick children, some two million loads of laundry to do (not done yet), a lack of knitting to show and some major stressing over the state of our future here in Germany. To address the latter issue, here goes. Our division is slated to tentatively relocate back to the states sometime next spring/summer. The plan is to split the division up between Texas and Kansas. No offense to anyone, but those are two bases we haven't any desire to go to. So, we've been trying to figure a way out of it. Ideally we'd like to spend an additional year in Germany (we'll never get a chance to live here again!) to make it a full three years. Well, Royd works with someone who knows someone who may be able to help get him transfered. Whoopee! Uh, no. We have now gotten word that his unit may be disbanded (ceasing to exist) sometime in the near future. Great. Now what? Granted this could just be another rumor, but considering who it came from, it holds validity. Honestly we have no idea what's going on. People are getting orders to relocate left and right. People who shouldn't be getting them for another year or two. There's absolutely no security right now. Perhaps I'm stressing way too much. We've had "on the fly" moves before, it's sure to work out. I guess I'm just getting to a point where I'm over it. I want to decide where I'll live and for how long. Whispers to self: only five more years... That feels better now. Thanks. I also wanted to thank everyone for the nice sympathy thoughts. What began as a very sad occasion turned out to be an awesome "vacation". Royd and I got to have time away from the kids when there weren't family obligations. Pretty sad, but our first date in a year was a few hours drinking coffee at the Barnes and Nobles followed by a plate of appetizers at Chili's. I don't care, it was heaven! Of course I just happened to drop by a few yarn stores. I'm having all of my goodies mailed (along with the other five boxes of American goodies we couldn't live without) so once it gets here, I'll show it off. That is if I have a camera. Somethings wrong with it, and I can't get my pictures! I may have to find the old one. Okay, I'm tired. Hopefully I can get things to work tomorrow, 'cuz I've got things to show.

A Little Late

I do hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Sadly mine turned out to be not the best. We received a call early on that Royd's Nanny had passed away that morning. She'd been in and out of the hospital for awhile dealing with recurring bouts of pneumonia, so the news didn't come as a surprise. So, we'll be hoping on a plane Thursday morning to fly back to the states. We'll be gone for a week and a half. Until then, friends-I've got a million things to do.

A Case of Startitis

Okay, so I wasn't completely honest yesterday: I did cast on for my next projects. First, I started the Flower Basket Shawl. I'm using Knitpicks' Alpaca Cloud in Stream. I love this yarn, it's so soft and yummy. I managed to get through the upper chart but can't continue. I need to get pointier needles. All of my 5 mm's are pretty blunt and I'm having a dickens of a time catching all the stitches for the decreases. I guess a trip to the yarn store is in order. Shucks. I also wanted to have something to work on during the knitting group. I contemplated taking the Heart-Motif Sweater, but didn't feel like dragging all those different balls of yarn along. I figured I'd might as well start Connor's aran sweater. Yeah, I finished the back up this morning. I'm amazed at how quickly it works up. This is the Aran Pullover from Knitting for Baby and I'm using Woolease in Loden. I finally figured out the trick to cables; don't use the cable needle. I always tend to shy away from cables because they were tedious. Not anymore! I see many more cables in my near future. My first night at the knitting group was, well, interesting. The group consisted of me, the lady running it, and volunteer from the center that was just hanging out. Another lady stopped by to get some info but didn't stay. Then the lady running it left after 40 minutes. Since it was my first time alone without the boys I wasn't in a rush to go home, so I stayed and chatted with the vounteer. I do hope that word spreads and more people start coming. Hubby says that I'm not allowed to go anymore. Apparently his time with the kids was "trying". Welcome to my life, baby!

Happy Cinco!

Well, the boys succeeded in their mission: get me sick. I spent the better part of three days with my butt planted on the couch. That is, in between cooking, cleaning and playing with the kids. I believe I heard my husband mutter something about it being his weekend and wanting to relax. Ha! When do I get a weekend to just sit around? Yes, what you witnessed last week was truly an exceptional event. I did manage to drag myself to the flea market across the street on Saturday. It's an annual event and huge. I couldn't not go! There was your usual crap, overpriced junk, antiques that would't last a day in my house and of course the beer tent. In between all this, I did manage to find something of interest: Look! Old yarn! I mean, just look at those labels: I also saw some really old and really decrepit spinning wheels. I thought about it for about half a second and then realized that it would probably cost a fortune to fix them up. There were just too many parts missing. Onto knitting progress... That would be two sleeves of the Basket Weave there. You know what that means-start something new! No, really I have to block these bad boys and have a little seaming party with myself. Ya'll know how I am about finishing, so we'll just leave it there. Yup, we also have one sleeve of the Heart-Motif Sweater. Which brings me to thoughts of finishing this up. Here's a question to anyone who's done this kind of stuff before: should I weave in the ends before or after blocking. I remember reading somewhere which way was best, but do not recall where. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Documentation for the Whole World to See

Perhaps I need to finish something. My WIP basket is running over. Actually it has run over, there's about six other projects in other places in the house. Note that on the left is a back and a front to the BWP. Only about three more inches on the first sleeve! Also in the picture, there's a box on top: my new swift. It is anxiously awaiting some yarn to test it out. Hurry up mail! Thanks for the nice comments on the Heart-Motif Sweater. I had to put it down for a few days since the cotton was starting to hurt my hands. I was kinda bummed out last night. The Arts and Crafts Studio on post just started a knitting group on Thursdays. I found out last week and promptly told my husband to expect me to be missing this coming week. Well, he tried his hardest to get home on time, but things always seem to "just happen". So, by the time he got here, there wasn't even enough time for me to run down and just say hi. But, I think that it was worth it in the end. Please witness: Yes! This is Royd cooking! A first in years except for when he makes Buffalo Wings(his rock). Funny, he used to cook at a restaurant and he wasn't half bad. Please excuse the obvious mess in the back. All three boys are sick and I'm a bit behind in the housework. *added later* to other blogger users: does it also drive you batty that what you see in "compose" isn't what you see in "preview" or even what is published?

Doing the Twist

This is what I've been up to this past week: This is the sweater I settled on for my new cousin, Sarah. It's the Heart-Motif Cardigan from Zoe Mellor's Adorable Knits for Tots. I would have been much farther along, but I had to frog the entire back. I had been tempted to try to carry the yarn at the color changes across the back. The result was puffy hearts, which I didn't like. So, this time I'm using a seperate ball of blue yarn between each heart. Lots of ends to weave in. I'm having a blast knitting this up. Who knew that insartia could be so much fun. Usually I run from complicated patterns, but I want to stop doing this. My knitting needs to be more exciting! The Basket Weave Pullover is making progress too. I've finished the back and am just about ready to start the neck shaping on the front. I'm trying to get as much of this done as I can. I have yarn on it's way to knit the Flower Basket Shawl and I know that once it's here, BWP is on indefinite hold. Yesterday we had a great day. No major tantrums; just happy kids all around. Here's the boys clowning around on the couch. These two are hilarious together. All Reilly has to do is look at Connor, and Connor's laughing his little butt off. I have a feeling that once he's mobile, I'm going to have my hands seriously full.

Can I Keep Them?

I mean really, look at them. I have to say that I'm impressed. Of course they're a present, so they had to come out perfect. Not one mistake (that I noticed) and they would fit me too. No, I guess I'll give them away as planned. Besides, they need to put in the mail this week so that she gets them in ample time. I think I may have found my next sock project though. I have been searching for just the right pattern to fit the latest batch of Kool Aid yarn. I found the Broken Cable Rib Socks on the Interweave Knits website this afternoon. I may be crazy though. The thought of all those little cables on 3 mm needles kinda makes me cringe, but I do believe the end result will be worth it. We'll see.

Necessary Distractions

Here's my pathetic progress on the BWP (Basket Weave Pullover). I'm about an inch from the armhole shaping and can't seem to get there. I'd like to. I know that once I bind off a few inches, it'll start to go quicker. Yet, I can't. See, the thing is that I'm bored. The thrill of the pattern has worn off and I am no longer amused by it. What to do, what to do. I tell you what I did: casted on for Branching Out. Yup, you can see it right there, laying on top of BWP. Almost as if saying "Nyah nyah. She likes me better than you." The truth be told, I'm falling out of enchantment with this too. Sure, it's beautiful, but a bit repetive. I will finish her and move on back to the grey blob. That is, until I get bored again and find something else to occupy my mind. In other news, I did a little bit more dyeing on Friday. I absolutely, positively love how this yarn turned out. It may just be me, but I adore how variegated yarn looks all wrapped up like this. The colors pop out and you can get a good sense of how well they work (or not) together. It's already been wound into ball, though, waiting patiently for me to turn it into a wonderful pair of socks. It may not have to wait long.

Stripes

I finally found some time (I kinda stole it) to experiment with dyeing. I know that in order to do stripes, they say to wind an extremely long skein. Well, I don't have that kind of room in my house! So, I thought up of another way to do it. First, I wound the yarn in thirds. I wrapped the yarn around the back of each chair in increments of six(plus or minus one or a few). I kept the yarn going in the same order each time, but there's no rules. Next, I dipped each third in the dye pot separetly for each color. Note: colors will not appear "right" if using a black pot. I will mix the dye in a clear bowl prior to putting it in the pot next time. This is what I ended up with. Three different colors, albeit much darker that what I was hoping for. Here you can see the color joins are a bit messy. The green did not run as much as I thought it would and the purple ran too much. I haven't rewound the yarn yet, so I have no idea what it looks like knit up. I'll be doing this technique again, with some lessons learned. Yesterday I picked up varying shades of pinks Kool Aid. I'm going to try to do some yellow, pink and orange variegated this time.

Knit Faster!

Do you ever feel like there's so much to knit and not enough time? Of course, we all do. Perhaps I'm overextending myself lately. Lots of projects in various states of doneness are laying around. Okay, I'll admit it-I'm not a finisher; I have a problem with following through. There, I said it. This is what I need to do: green and blue raglan-cut neck opening and reknit blue sweater-seam, knit collar and weave ends maroon mittens-knit the thumbs black cowl neck-undo an inch of cowl and redo Estivale-block, seam and do collar Pretty Petals socks-knit its' friend Sarah Ann's sweater-waiting for yarn Basketweave Pullover-get knittin' Then there's what I haven't started yet and really want to Flower Basket Shawl for Royd's Nanny-need to find yarn Royd's mittens and scarf Aran sweater for Connor-yarn ordered hooded pullover for Connor Harvard Square for Connor a cabled pullover for Reilly red cabled turtleneck for myself Branching Out This is only a partial list, I could go on forever. And forever and ever... Notice I'm planning alot of things for Connor? Well, cute little boys need cute little sweaters.

5910 Yards

Well, it certainly isn't Camilla's train. It's what I got in the mail today. 30 balls of grey and black Woolease from Discount Yarn Sale. The grey's for the Basketweave Pullover with plenty left over for a sweater for Reilly. The black is for a hat and mittens for Royd. Yes, I'm aware that there'll be tons left over, but I know it will get used in the future. I may be able to get a wrap out of it. Hmmm... That reminds me, I just love the new issue of Knitty. I Do and Susan's Branching Out scream "KNIT ME!" I Do would be a perfect cover-up for a Ball I may be attending next month. We're waiting to see if someone can babysit or not. My lonely skein of Silky Wool has just found it's home. Thanks Susan! Since I'm not in the mood for seaming, I started a pair of socks for Mother's Day. I think the color is fabulous and the pattern, Pretty Petals from the Townsend Sock Knit Along, is a breeze to knit up. I sure hope she likes lace socks! I'm also aware that this is the second post in two days. No, aliens did not take my children or husband. I realize I've been quite slacking in updating lately, not for a lack of things to say, just a bit of laziness and apparent time vortexes.

Koolaid Mis-Adventures

I finished these socks a few days ago from some sock yarn I had dyed with Koolaid last fall. It was my second attempt with it and wanted to see how it knitted up. I have now learned the importance of equal skein lengths. As you can see, one pooled and one striped. I find both attractive and will wear then regardless of their mismatchedness. A few weeks ago I tried to paint some yarn. Ick! I hated how the colors turned out. So I dumped the entire thing into some purple and overdyed it. I've got alot of ides about color combinations for other sock yarns flying around in my head. All week I've been attempting to dye some large stripes of colors. I just need a good whole hour to wind the yarn appropriately and do the dyeing. An hour of alone time has not been happening lately. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband, but he really requires ALOT of attention! In other knitting news, I am still making children's sweater for charity. The pink striped sweater's sleeves have been lengthened and looks much better now. I finished the green and brown raglan too. Almost. The neck opening turned out a bit on the small side. Since this is the cast on edge, I see cutting in my near future. That is, when I get the nerves to take a scissor out. While I'm avoiding doing this, I started another sweater...

Pink Is In

The charity knitting is going very well. I haven't strayed as of yet. Not to say I haven't been tempted at all, I'm just sticking to my guns for now. First up is the afghan (aka the Pink Monster) I made for Afghans for Afghans. Finally!!! All that needed to be done was the light pink border around each panel and then the burgandy final border. It may seem like not much but it took three days. I hadn't thought through how I was going to finish it off, so I ended up frogging the borders a few times until I got something that I liked. So glad to be done with this one. Next up are two sweaters that I'm making for the Dulaan Project. The light pink was done using a modified drop from the Knitters Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. This only took two days thanks to a 30" chest and 3 spi. The striped sweater was done using a top down seamless yoke pattern. I loved that there weren't any seams, but I didn't like the way the increases pucker. I also am not sure that the sleeves are long enough. My measurements add up, they just seem a bit short so I'm thinking that I'll probably undo the ribbing and add another inch or so. Next up is a top down raglan in green and brown. I'm still fudging with it, so no pictures today. In other news I forgot to mention that my sock pal got her socks and reports that she liked them. I knitted for Angela, who is coincidentally only about two to three hours from me. That was part of the reason I had such a hard time finding sock yarn for her. The selection of yarn over here isn't vast like it is in the States and many stores carry the same stuff. I had wanted to make her something she wouldn't have had LYS access to. I'm just glad that she liked them and that they fit. Now that the anticipation is over, I can say that it was alot of fun to knit for another knitter.

It's a Girl!!!

Congratulations to my Uncle Rich and his wife Lorrie. They just adopted this beautiful girl. I am so thrilled for them; they've been wanting children for years. I don't know all the specifics, but I pretty sure that they've been trying since I was a kid. So, now, what to make for her? I've been having a blast the past week pouring over hundreds of patterns. Since I've only had the pleasure to knit for little boys as of yet, knitting for a girl gets me very excited. I'm allowed to use pink, purple and peach! Woot! Other than a pair of socks that I'm currently knitting myself, I've deemed that the next two weeks will be committed to finishing and charity knitting. My knitting basket, which now consumes the entire table it's on, needs a serious emptying. Let's just hope that I do not get distracted by some other "urgent" knit.

I Got Them!

And I love them!!! These gorgeous socks were waiting for me last night at the Post Office. They come from North Carolina made by Wendi. They're Denmark from Knitting on the Road. The colors awesome, I need more purple in my life. Wendi's so sweet, she also included some matchbox cars and a mini See and Say for the boys. Thank you, thank you! I just want to know what yarn she used, it's like butter. In other news, I finished the scarf from Hell. The stinkin' thing took two weeks to do! I guess what matters is that he loves it. So much that he has asked for another one in black. Ha! We'll have to find a different pattern this time. I went ahead and ordered the yarn for it from Discount Yarn Sale. He also wants black gloves for work, so I figure I'll use part of the bag. The rest will be sure to get used up sooner or later. I also got two bags of grey Woolease for his Basketweave Pullover. At $2.25 a ball, you can't beat the price. I was contemplating getting the Patons Merino that was used originally, but that won't work. My husband is worse with his clothes that Reilly is. I wouldn't dream of making him a sweater that couldn't go into the wash to remove all those food stains.

Striped Sweater

I finally finished Connor's sweater. Who knew that such a small and easy project would take over two months to complete. The neckband gave me some trouble. Originally I did a 2x2 rib with a kitchener b.o. It was too sloppy looking. Next I did a folded and hemmed 2x2. The ribbing ended up being too stretched out. I then settled on a 1x1 that was folded over. Much better even though it doesn't match the other ribbing. I don't care. I figure that it'll end up getting stretched as I put over his head so this is the best option. I made this hat for Royd last week in an afternoon. He picked out the pattern and the yarn. He loves it and has wore it every day(except when in his uniform). I got the pattern from the 2004 issue of Knit It. I think it's called Cool Caps-it's somewhere in here. I used Encore Worsted in Blue and Grey. Just so you know, this is his spot in the house. At any given time you can find him here--sitting in front of the tv, either watching it or playing PS2. The carpet underneath shows it too.

Fur Mein Socke Pal

Yes, the socks are done. Finally! All I have to say is, I hope that she likes them. I have never been soooo stressed out about a project before. The first sock's heel was knit three times and the toe twice. I'm still not 100% satisfied, but there's nothing wrong with them. I just wanted them to be perfect. The pattern is the Pretty Comfy sock and I did it in Elann's Esprit. I made these for myself last year and they remain one of my favorites. After sneaking around my pal's blog, I noticed that she didn't have any in this yarn and she said she was open to anything. So, it seemed like a good choice. Aahhhh! I've been sucked into the land of neverending ribbing! Send help! Royd vetoed the Irish Hiking Scarf. Although he loves cables, he felt it wasn't "masculine" for a scarf. Whatever. He wanted something that looked identical from the same side. So, here we are in 2x2. I hate doing scarves in this. It seems to take forever. Perhaps it's because I don't purl correctly and keep having to change hand positions. Maybe someday I'll figure it out and maybe someday I'll finish the blasted thing. No, I didn't forget about the gummies. We seem to be missing one of the packages. So, I put a normal sized bag in for comparison. The large ones are 1kg each and the small is 250gms. Please note that I do not eat gummies. I like the flavor but not the texture. Give me chocolate or a cookie any day.

My Feet Hurt

The hubster was granted a three day weekend after finishing his reintegration. So, with a little bit of money burning a hole in the debit card, we ended up doing some shopping. A lot of shopping. Saturday we ventured downtown to see if we couldn't find some yarn for his sweater. No luck there, but I did find some more sock yarn. After walking around for nearly two hours, we got hungry and headed to the E-Center (grocery store) to see what kind of goodies we could find. Let's just say that there was alot of chocolate bought. Sunday was clean-up day. I took the kids for a walk while Royd "attempted" to clean and organize his stuff. I'll have to finish up tomorrow while he's at work. Today we drove down to Wurzburg to explore some of the palaces and cathedrals. First stop was suppose to be the Residenz, a Baroque palace. We turned the wrong way and ended up on Alte Mainbrucke (Old Bridge) instead. This is a shot off of the bridge of Festung Marienberg (fortress). Too bad it was closed today. This is the actual bridge itself. There are statues of saints across the entire span. After we turned around to head back to the Residenz, we found the Marktplatz. This is the Marktplatz with a beautiful cathedral towering over it. At the bottom of the picture you can see the different vendors. They sell anything and everything to include kitchenware, pottery, clothing, and baskets to name a few. I happened upon a particular vendor that was selling handmade socks, felted slippers and hats. As I was admiring his work, a basket caught my eye. I just had to indulge: That's 400 yards of handspun blue and white sockenwolle. It's fate is to be a scarf for Royd and I'm thinking the maybe the Irish Hiking Scarf. Needless to say, we never quite got to the Residenz today. Next time. We ended up walking around and exploring the downtown. It's easily five times the size as ours. After five hours, and twenty five dollars worth of Gummi candies, we called it quits for the day. Oh, you want to see what twenty five dollars of Gummi's looks like? I'll indulge you next time.

Welcome Home

After several no-go's, Royd finally arrived last Friday at about 8pm. I of course, being the bad blogger that I am, forgot to take the camera with me. So, I snapped some pictures once we got home. The reason Connor's in his diaper is because Royd wanted to see how fat he had gotten. Connor is now know as "Pork Chop". Reilly is thrilled that his daddy is home. I think he's a bit worried that he will leave again, as he hangs onto him constantly. I'm also not allowed to do anything for him. I don't mind-it gives me a break! Obviously knitting has taken a back seat this past week. I have managed to finish the knitting on another sweater. It just needs a major blocking before seaming. I still haven't blocked the black cowl neck sweater-I keep forgetting. I also started the socks for my sock pal. They should be done in a few days. The good news is that Royd had finally agreed to let me knit him a sweater. After my first (scary) attempt to knit him one, he kept telling me that he didn't want one. I showed him what I've made since he's been gone and saw that I've improved greatly. So, this weekend we're going to go see if we can find a color that he likes. He picked that Basket Weave Pullover from Interweave Knits Fall 2004. He made my day when he said that he doesn't want the zipper. I'm dreading doing that because it requires sewing needles and thread. Hopefully now that things have started to settle around here, I can actually finish something and show it off!