6 Steps to a Productive Weekend

1. Prepare all of the meals for the weekend on Friday afternoon. A flank steak, hot dogs, wurst, and chicken breasts thrown on the grill makes plenty of food for an entire weekend. A nice potato salad, macaroni salad, deviled eggs and grilled veggies rounds it all out. Three hours spent in the kitchen now, makes for less time later. 2. Spend a few hours on Friday doing all of the housework that has to be done. 3. Frozen coffee drinks make for a nice sipping treat. Caffeine also fuels fast knitting. 4. Give husband his list of chores on Saturday morning and let him run with it. Don't stress too much if he isn't doing it. Nagging only slows you down. 5. Occasionally give husband and children love and attention when needed. When they get completely bored, go for walk and get ice cream and toys. Then quickly come home. 6. When you think you cannot possibly knit another stitch, go get a sponge and cleaning solution. Go to ________ (insert word of choice: bathroom, oven, child's room, fridge drawers) and spend twenty minutes there. You'll quickly find renewed desire to go back to knitting. Following said steps will guarantee a very efficient and goal oriented weekend. In this time you can: Complete an entire child's sweater, Finish a front and back of another child's sweater* Knit about a 1/3 of a scarf** You can also get some much needed blocking done: A Branching Out, A Twelve Little Leaves doily, And a Egeblad doily. * I got about two inches into the vest for Reilly and realized that the yarn was much too busy. So I pulled out some random balls of Woolease in Terracotta and knit them together. I'm very pleased with the resulting color. **Same went for Connor's vest, but did not have another yarn that looked good with it. So, I found this scarf in Lavish Lace for A World Lit Only by Fire. I've renamed it The Candlelight Scarf for simplicity.

Crash the Stash

The past few weeks or so I've been feeling very uninspired towards my knitting. That's when I turn to socks since they're always exciting (at least to me) and it keep me going. So, in record time I was able to finish these in less than a week: Now what? I had no idea; my mind was blank. So I pulled out some of Knitpicks Color Your Own and some Wilton dye. I found Juniper Green a few weeks ago and wanted to see if I could get a green that wasn't bright or pukey. I really like what I ended up with and now I have a Dublin Bay Sock going on. Oh, you came here looking for finished pictures of my sock pal's pair? Hmph! Let's just say that there is some major surgery going on here right now and I'm not in the mood. Anyway, back to the uncreative brain functions. I spent the past two days sitting in my craft room, pulling almost every skein, hank, ball and tangled mess out of their nice, neat containers and threw them around. Sure I've got everthing cataloged on my computer and pretty columned paper, but I needed to touch and caress them. I need inspiration!!! Swatches were casted on, tore off the needles and bad words were said. Nothing. Okay, I don't have the largest stash around, nor the most extensive pattern collection, but it's decent and I thought I should come up with anything. I walked away last evening feeling defeated and torn-up. It's just yarn, I know. This morning I had a brilliant idea: have a stash sale! I could sell what I am not excited about and get some stuff I really need. No. Who wants one ball of this and one ball of that? Plus I'm not ready to part with most of my pets quite yet. Last alternative: charity knitting. Work with what I have and need to get rid of and do some good at the same time. Yes, it IS that bright Then it comes to me that I need to make the boys vests. What better way to use up the yarn that isn't enough for a sweater and too much for a hat and glove set. Wait! They do need those too! Okay, I'm wasting time typing, must go knit some cute kid stuff... Fall colors for Reilly, jewels for Connor and green if I run out for the ribbing

Time For Another Storage Bin

Yeah! I finally got all the stuff that I bought while we were back in the States. Here's the haul. Trekking XXL color 105, Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock in Glenwood, and Koigu in P800 Crystal Palace Kid Merino, Patons Grace for swatching, and Mode Dea Ticker Tape From the sale bin of AC Moore: Woolease Sportweight for some Aran socks and TLC Cara Mia Anyone spot the oddity of the bunch??? The novelty yarn it is! This just is really soft and I just had to try it out. I'm also excited about the Cara Mia. It seems like a great substitute for Cottonease, only more expensive. I figure it's on account of the 13% angora. So soft! Anyone know if it's discontinued? I can't find anyone who is selling it anymore. Just as well.

Playtime

Thanks for everyone's comments to my last post and the "problem". I'm glad to see that I wasn't overreacting; sometimes I do that. The past few days have been long, to say the least. Royd is trying to go to the promotion board next week and has been doing performance evals on all of his guys. What this means for me is that he isn't getting home until late (8:00 last night) and I haven't received my usual break in a few days. To top it off, he has Staff Duty tonight. This is a 24 hour shift for those not in the military. Now I'm just tired. So instead of doing the laundry and other much needed housework, I'm taking the day off. Other than making lasagna (yum) and some picking up of toys, nothing will get done. I gotta take it easy, right? I finished up the cabled socks yesterday morning. I'll show them off once they're done blocking. In celebration, I started a pair for myself. This is some of the yarn I picked up in Nurnberg. I've been dying to see how it works up, but had to wait for my 2.5mms to be free. Need to purchase another pair or two next time at store. Fun stuff-I'm not usually a huge fan of the self-patterning yarns, but this one's a keeper. There's been some spinning this morning too. I finished the olive roving and I figure I've got about 300-350 yards in all. I've been pretty anxious to try out the light weight spindle, but made myself wait until the latter was finished. All I can say is "WOW!" It spins great, goes forever and makes spinning a fine yarn so much easier. Sorry it's not the best picture, but it shows what it needs to. That's a length of Jaggerspun next to it for comparison. It's going to take forever to spin an ounce of two-ply. Okay, I'm going to the mailroom to see if I got anything fun.

What's Wrong With People?

This past weekend was a doozy; filled with upset and frustration. Saturday we went to a picnic and I got to meet the worst mother ever. Okay, maybe not the worst, but really, really bad. To sum up a complicated twist of events in a manageable sized post, I'll give you the highlights. Her son brought a toy along and when Reilly tried to play with it, she informed me that he wasn't allowed to because it wasn't ours. So, as I was trying to pry him away from it, her son proceeded to kick and hit Reilly. All the while she just stood there and waited. At this point, I just tried to brush it off. Well, once we had decided to leave and were talking in the car, some other things came up. Apparently when Royd had been watching Reilly there'd been another incident involving the toy. There was more hitting along with some choking and biting. Royd didn't know who the mother was so he just separated the boys and led Reilly away. I really wish he had told me this before we had left, because there would have been words said. Don't get me wrong, I do NOT live in a fantasy world and think kids get along all the time. I know that my son is bad about sharing too and can be quite rough with other kids at times. The problem is with the parenting. She never told him "no" or showed any concern that her child is a bully. Yikes! Too bad for her kids, they'll be poorly prepared and will just have more problems later on. So, that's where it started. I think that this incident really distracted me. See I was here on the socks: Now I am here: The rest of the weekend was about the same, but not really worth blogging about. Just your average blah stuff. I guess I was just in a funk, but am feeling much better. I managed to pick the Snowdrop Shawl back up after a three or four week hiatus. I finished the last two repeats and am now working on the edging, which is quite pretty. I'm off to try to get a few repeats done before the little one wakes up.

Ready... Set... Crawl!

And we're off! Wow, I sure did get a whole lot busier lately! I forgot how much time is devoted to keeping tabs on a mobile baby. He's been pushing himself around the carpet for a few weeks ago, but yesterday everything clicked. Such a happy baby! Okay, it's not all cute pictures today. I've been avoiding starting the sleeves for the cardigan for about a week. Two days ago, I figured I might as well do them. Once I sat down and casted on, they flew by. Now I just need to find a zipper and then I can agonize over that process. Oh, yeah, I decided to leave the cuffs as ribbing rather than the drop stitch. In the end I didn't like how big and airy they were.

Too Sick to Knit

It started out with a tickle in my throat Thursday night. By Friday night I knew it wasn't just an itch. Yuck! I'm sick! Saturday I alternated laying on the couch and the bed. Thankfully Royd stepped up to the plate without even whining once. He took Reilly out for a few hours so that Connor and I could have some quiet time together. Yeah, he was blessed with it too. By Sunday I was feeling at about 90% strength. To thank the Hubster, I made him pancakes and eggs; something I rarely do anymore. Since I was feeling better, but still trying to take it easy, I got to knitting. I finished one of the socks for my Sock Pal, and immediately casted on for the second. I also thought I'd try out one of my new spindles and the olive roving I just got. It's a bit more green in person, I just couldn't get an accurate shot no matter what I tried. But all those other colors are there, making it not so olive. The wool is a bit course too. As far as my spindle goes, I'm not hugely impressed. For one, I don't like the bottom whorl. Even after I got used to it and developed a rhythm, it was still cumbersome. Luckily I dropped it and the whorl came unglued, so I made it into a top whorl. Second, the hook isn't screwed in straight so it wobbled. Third, it doesn't hold all that much yarn. I could return it, but it's too much bother and I'll use it as a backup. Now I just need to test the other one. I started a block for the sampler afghan. I'll probably be donating this one to charity. I discovered that I don't have enough yarn to make it full sized and I'd rather not use this yarn for myself. For some reason I was under the impression that the skeins were 7 ounces, not 5. I'll be watching the sales for another yarn to use for me. And while we're talking about my "stupidity", for a lack of a better word... The French mohair that I got that I thought I would use for Kiri won't work. Well, KSH comes in 25 gm balls, and this comes in 50 gm. Duh! That's a big difference in yardage. But it will work for the two sweater that are on my wish list. I just need four more balls. Or I could just make a scarf...

Add It To the Stash

Goodies awaited me today at the mail box: I got the Sampler Afghans pamphlet to make, well, ya know. It's an attempt to use some burgundy acrylic that just sits and takes up space in my stash. The rovings and spindles came from Annie May's (thanks Rachel for the link). The olive green is some colonial wool and the small balls came with the spindles. I needed a new one and saw this package deal and couldn't resist. Plus the samples are silk blends. Yum. I think it's safe to say that I now have a spinning stash. This is the Kool Aid dyeing I did last week. I'm almost done spinning it and then will start a sock. I'm interested to see how it knits up. I finally settled on a yarn and pattern for my sock pal's socks. I'm using Regia Loop Color and the Rib and Cable Socks from the latest issue of Interweave Knits. I had to add six stitches into the ribbing to adjust for the smaller gauge and all is going well. Then there's this problem: I am on the sleeves of the Drop Stitch Cardigan. I dropped and pulled and tugged. I then held it up to admire my sleeve. Ugh! Do you see it? The edge is all flimsy and undone. I didn't even think about this before, I mean, I've done Clapotis twice and all... So all afternoon I played around with different cast-on edges and I'm not satisfied. They're either too firm or also the same way. I think that I may just leave it as a ribbed cuff. If any one has any ideas to a better (elusive) cast on, let me know.

A Knitterly Weekend

Saturday I drove out to Nurnberg to go yarn shopping with Kathleen. Altogether we visited three shops and one craft store. By far the best was the first in Erlangen. She had a wall of mohair! I am so kicking myself for not snapping a picture. The haul, quite modest if I say so myself, is below. Glorious sock yarn French mohair-perhaps Kiri? 400 gms of roving Sunday we drove back out to Kathleen's for a little cookout and got to meet up with Jean as well. I had a wonderful time ladies! We have to get together more often! Perhaps an invasion of the Phildar in Wurzburg? That is if I can hold out past this weekend...

Gotta Have It

Last weekend didn't yield much knitting time. You'd think that with a four hour drive there'd be some, but not so. The hubster doesn't like to drive and is quite horrible at it so I ended up doing most of it. On my hour break, I did manage to get about 6 repeats on the Irish Hiking Scarf and that's it for the whole four days! Wednesday I got my new Interweave Knits in the mail. Wanna see what I had to have? That's the completed back of the Drop Stitch Cardigan. That would also be my new Silky yarn. A perfect match! I'm so glad I didn't forge ahead on the other sweater I was thinking about. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough of the yarn, since the yardage and weight is a bit off so I tried to hurry up and finish the back. I used 140 gms out of a total of 700. I think I'll be just fine. I also want to make the Greek Pullover (without ruffles) and the Union Square Market Pullover. One small problem with the latter. The largest size measures 44". I do believe that I'll need more than 1 1/2 inches of ease. Perhaps I'll wait on this one to see how my body settles down once Connor goes on cow's milk. It's only 5 more months. I guess I could wait. There's been a bit of spinning going on too. I finished some more singles of the wildberry and then tried my hand at some thicker singles. Once I get around to setting the twist, I'll see how I did. In the meantime, I finally got around to dyeing some roving. Here's a pretty good picture of the colors. I dyed just enough for a pair of socks. I'm trying to get half of it spun and plyed before next Thursday. The newbie knitter in my knitting group wants to make socks, so I thought it'd be fun to start a pair with her and help her along. I also swatched some yarns for my sockpal. I'm not sure if I like what i have. There are these or this: Maybe I'll find some tomorrow in Nuremburg...

Bavarian Getaway

Hi! Question: why is it that whenever one goes away, that when one gets home one needs a vacation just to relax? We were gone for four days, so where did all this stinkin' laundry come from? And we won't even mention what the interior of the car looks like... Anyway, we had a pretty good time. Got to Edelweiss on Friday afternoon, but didn't have time to do anything that night, being that we had a "class" and all. Saturday there was some more class, but on our five hour break we headed into downtown Garmisch and poked around. Nothing like two cranky kids to spoil a beautiful day. Sunday morning and afternoon was all ours so we drove out to see Neuschwanstein Castle. The first is that and the other is Hohenschwangau Castle, right across the ravine. Monday after we were released, we stopped at Oberammergau to check out the goodies there. The town is famous for their woodcarvings. Not really my thing, but worth looking at. Sorry, I had a wonderful post in my head, but having a really hard time recalling it at the moment. Need. More. Coffee. I'll leave you with various pictures I snapped along the way. Painted house Charming architecture Gorgeous Mountains I love the houses here! Fibery reports later...

Splurge!

I did it! I got the camera I wanted. Well, not really, but the one we were looking at. What I really wanted wasn't even close to my price range. Can we just say that the military isn't exactly compensated the greatest. Okay, that's another whole subject that we won't even get into. Anyway, I ended up picking up the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 this morning. I ran to the local PX to check to see if they had it in stock because I really didn't feel like driving back to Wurzburg. It wasn't on display, but since they're having a Panasonic promotion this weekend, I thought that they might have it in the back. Sure enough. The sales guy had to ask me if I was sure, on account of the price. I guess I looked poor this morning. No makeup, hair in a haphazard ponytail and wrinkled clothes. It's been one of those days so far, I'm not usually so bad about leaving the house in unacceptable attire. Two hours of charging the battery and then I can start playing!

Cast On and On

I can't quite focus on anything the past few days. I'm feeling a bit uninspired and blah about my current projects. The Snowdrop Shawl is progressing slowly-only three more repeats. Then I pick up the 436 stitches for the edging. Yikes! I think I might be able to get one row done a day once I get there. Speaking of lace, I casted on for doily I talked about last post. I'm on round 58 of 76ish. Can't find the last page right now, so I'm guessing that's about right. Now that I moved it to the circulars, I can really see the pattern emerging. I also think that I bought enough of the yarn to make 20 of 'em. Once I got the thrill out of this one, I rummaged through my stash for a little mindless knit. I pulled some brown tweed and casted on for the Irish Hiking Scarf. It's going to be a Xmas present for someone, I just don't know who yet. It's never too early to start thinking about these things. Next, I'm swatching the Silky yarn I got on Saturday. I got suggested gauge right on and it also corresponds with the pattern I'm thinking of doing. The fabric isn't as drapey as I'd hoped, but when I moved up to a larger needle, it didn't look good. I'm going to have to sit on this one for a few days. I'm so sorry about the crappy photo quality. I still haven't sent the camera to be fixed. Royd and I had a serious talk about the camera and agreed that we're going to get a new one. We'll send the broken one to be fixed, but we need another one that can do more. With all of the traveling that we're doing this summer, I'd really hate to take crap pictures, only to kick myself later. What we're looking at is the Panasonic DMC-LZ2 or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20K. The two cameras are very different in what they can do and portability. Oh, the decision! Speaking of travel, we're off to spend the weekend at Edelweiss on Friday. The hubby signed us up for a marraige retreat sponsered by one of the chapels. We get free rooms, meals and child care and the only catch is that we have to attend a few classes each day. No problem. Hopefully three days will be long enough. One more thing: if you've emailed me, have faith, I'm not ignoring you! The computer was acting up Sunday and Monday and I've got a mountain of emails to get through.

I am Weak

It all started so innocently enough. See, there's this doily I want to make, named Egeblad from Yarn Over. I didn't have the yarn and didn't want to go to the yarn store. So, we drove to the PX in Wurzburg yesterday. I had a slight problem: the pattern didn't say how much yarn was needed. I picked up five of these: I figure I'll have lots left over (there's 1000 yds in each!) to make another down the road. When I got home and started rummaging through my needles I remembered something. None of my smaller needles match up. All the dpns are in standard metric sizes and the circulars are in US. Yes, a 1/4 mm is a big problem for me. Hmmm. I guess a trip to the yarn store IS in order. Here in Germany, all the yarn stores put baskets of various yarns in the front. I guess to tempt you to wander inside to see the other goodies. Well, this one happened to have a TON of sock yarn sitting there calling out to me to dive through them. I did. These two were attached to me when I came up for air. In my defense, they're not for me. See, I kinda got that pair of socks to make for my sock pal. (S)he happened to say green is a favorite color. I'll see how these knit up and see. I make my way into the store, get my needles (I thought three various sizes would be good-just in case) and head to the buttons. Ten minutes later I find some that look like they'll work with Connor's Aran sweater. So, I then mosey on up to pay. Whack. There it is. A basket I've missed. A basket that I've seen before and had forgotten about. I stop to pet the yummy, yummy yarn and something catches my eye. SALE 2 EUROS Uh oh. Um, this yarn used to be 7,95 or something like that. Ladies, we're talking 55% silk and 45% viscous. Slubby singles with a very light tweed effect. Pretty spring colors in blues, greens, pinks, and purples. How could I not??? I got seven. I might need more. There's tons more. As I was piling these onto the counter, Royd appears at the door and asks, "What the heck do you think you're doing? That doesn't look like needles!" He so does not get it.