Behind

What a week! It's just been one of those, a million things to do and just not enough time to complete everything. If I owe you an email, I'm sorry, I'll get to it. Eventually. My sister comes to visit on Sunday. So on top of it being a hectic, I've got massive amounts of cleaning to do. There are things that I haven't gotten around to since Royd deployed so I'm using this as an opportunity to get them done. It's amazing how far behind I've gotten. Those few hours that he would be home a day really help! I do, however, have something to show you: Pattern: Asymmetrical Cable Hat from One Skein Yarn: Knitpicks Sierra in Cranberry This lonely skein was bought to swatch and test durability. I'm thinking of using it in a sweater for myself and needed to see if it would be a good choice. You just can't beat those prices, but sometimes I'm not quite happy with the yarn itself. Anyway, I saw the hat in the book and knew it would be perfect. He needed a new hat as it is. I had to make a few modifications based on that I refused to use the needles that I got gauge on. My only 8 mms are plastic and I hate them. So I opted to use the bamboo 7.5s instead. I casted on three extra stitches for his size and then did a 10 row repeat instead of a 8 so that the cables weren't all smooshed. What should have been a nice one day project took me two day and that's all I worked on. I haven't touched the stole or any of the other poor neglected projects. I don't see much progress until next week either. Okay, back to cleaning and errands. Have a wonderful weekend!

21 Done

Current state of the stole is at 21.5 repeats. Originally I hadn't planned on doing the full number since my gauge should be larger, but i'm rethinking that. At this point, it is still quite small. I did a test dry block and it didn't get as huge as I thought it would be so I do believe I'm going to keep going. I'd much rather run the risk of it being bigger than smaller. In anticipation of Socktoberfest, I pulled out this Cherry Tree Hill yarn and started a toe up sock. Honestly, I have no idea about what to put on the leg. Feather and Fan jumps into mind, but I'm not sure. Any ideas? I plan on using October as the time to get those gift socks done along with the Manly socks. I'm almost done with one except for toe shaping, but there isn't a rush on those, yet. The other pair that I need to do will be these in some Swish Superwash that has still not arrived. I'll admit that it's been hard to stay focused when new things keep showing up: Seven skeins each. I'm thinking that the green would make a great Rogue and the purple as a West End Raglan. I'm of course free to change my mind at any time. :) I belong to that craft book club and when they offered me books for 9.99 each, I couldn't pass it up. I'm quite happy with the purchases except for one. The Yarn Girls new one wasn't as good as their first kids book. I just didn't feel that it was very inspiring and the models looked like they were drowning in the sweaters. Maybe I just don't like chunky that much. In a personal note, Royd and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on Friday. It was alittle sad knowing that this our third in a row that we haven't been together for. Hopefully this will be the last deployment for us and we won't have to worry about him missing important events anymore.

Weirdness In the Eye of the Beholder

When Keri tagged me, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. Heck, Royd is constantly telling me that I'm weird. Then I sat down to write this post and was stumped. Suddenly things that seemed weird before, seemed a little mundane and some a bit more neurotic. How much of my craziness was I going to let be aired in cyberspace for everyone to see? Well, after some deliberation here's my five things: 1. I must have chocolate every night. I used to think it was just something sweet, but realized that after I stopped buying the stuff that it must be part of my dessert. I really don't care in what form (pudding, cookies, bar, cake, brownies) but it has to overpower whatever its in. Yum. 2. I cannot stand to be licked. I have two cats that just love to hop into bed everynight with me. Inevitably one of them will start in and it sends the heebie jeebies all over my skin. It's worse on the face. 3. I hate calling people on the phone. I would rather go without knitting for a day than pick up the phone and talk to a stranger. Unfortunately I can't do everything on the internet, so it's something I have to suck up. Seriously, it takes me about a half hour before I'll actually dial the number just to make a stupid checkup for one of the kids and Royd always calls the pizzaman. 4. I stash more than yarn. Favorite styles of t-shirts, bandaids and cleaning supplies are a few. The worst is my pantry. I really don't know where I get it from, but I keep enough food in the house to feed the family for at least a month. It's not just regular day to day food either, I've got the makings for a party or two as well. Stashing IS a sickness people. 5. I cannot stand to have dirt on my feet. Of course when I'm outside it doesn't bother me, but inside it drives me bonkers. Well, with two kids that breed crumbs, it's hard to keep the floors nice and clean. That's why I vacuum every day, if not twice, and I use it on everything. Sweeping always leaves dirt that I'll feel afterwards. A day that I don't means I really don't feel good. So there you have it, my little piece of craziness. I'd love to see what everyone else has to say about themselves. You're all it!

New Knits on the Needles

What's the best way to celebrate the casting off of an extremely large sweater? Why, casting on for some extremely large socks, of course! The yarn is a lovely mouline with three strands of different blues and one grey that I had bought last summer. I'm just getting around to knitting them up. That purple shriveled mess is The Print O' The Wave Stole. When the pattern first became available, I printed it out and put it into the stack of possible knits. There it sat languishing while other things were casted on for. Well, Keri announced that her and Angelika were knitting it and said that I just HAD to do it too. :) So, what you see is nine repeats. I'm using Alpaca Cloud from Knitpicks in the Iris colorway and I'm double stranding it. Initially I had started with a single strand but it was just too airy for me. I'm sure that I'll have to take out a few repeats so it isn't too big, but I'll worry about those numbers in a few days. Also, I'm not going to do it in two pieces. That seam line just looks too funky for me. I think that maybe I shouldn't even be posting today. I'd had a great post in my head yesterday, but now I can't recall a thing I wanted to say. Between an average of five hours of sleep for the past three nights, the gloomy sunless day and three cranky boys, I think that I need either a pot of coffee or a babysitter so that I can sleep. I can not wake up! Well, I hope everyone else has an energy filled day!

Whew!

I think this says "I love you" !

Saturday Randomness

Okay I know I usually don't post on Saturdays, but I'm bored. It's a beautiful day outside and we should be outside enjoying. Instead Reilly is sick. As an added bonus, he woke up at 5am and promtly woke everyone else up. We're all off schedule and cranky. Especially me. Last weekend I visited with Kathleen and this is some of what I came home with. Knowing that I don't get to the yarn stores much, she picks me up cool yarn when she sees it. I in turn get her stuff from the States. We've got a good thing going on between us. Since I had the camera out, I figured I'd show the latest indulgences. Claudia Hand Painted, Socks That Rock and J. Knits I'm looking for opinions on some yarn from everyone. I want to know about 1. SWTC Bamboo--softness, stretching, overall opinion 2. SWTC Phoenix--softness-would it be comfortable for next to skin wear? Any thoughts would be appreciated very much. I don't have a sweater to show you so I'll leave you with a picture of the kids the other night right before bedtime. Have a great weekend!

One Down

Pattern: Embossed Leaves from Interweave Knits (I think Winter '05) Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock in Peaches and Cream What can I say, it's a great pattern. I did make a few modifications though. First, I didn't do the cast on method as written. I tried it and it was just too tight even after doing it again with a larger needle. I reverted back to the long tail cast on and although it doesn't look as pretty, it's got enough stretch. Second, I did the heel just a bit different. I didn't read the pattern right and messed up, but it was an easy modification that resulted in the same look. Since these are to be gifted away, they will be blocked later on for a prettier presentation. I'm still mulling over my choices for the rest of the socks to be made for gifts. Surely there will be another pair going on very soon. That is, as soon as I finish knitting Scoop. I'm on the last sleeve and expect to start the finishing details tomorrow. I ordered some buttons and they just shipped yesterday so it'll be another week or so until I can get that far. In sadder news, we lost two soldiers over the weekend and it's been a bit sad around here. Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

Sifting the Stash

I hope ya'll didn't come here expecting a finished knit, cause it ain't happening! Instead of just sitting down and picking up those previously mentioned projects, something new landed on the needles. This is quickly becoming Scoop in the Gedifra Wellness I got for a steal a few months ago. So far I love working with the yarn; it's soft and squishy. It does split easily so I had to switch to my Susan Bates which have a nice blunt tip and scoop the stitches perfectly. I can make no promises as to when I'll return to the other sweaters. Probably when I'm bored with this one. I refuse to have more than three sweaters on the needles at a time, so eventually one of them will get finished. I also came to the conclusion that it's a good thing no one has answered my desperate plea for coupon codes to Kpixie. See, Keri asked that her readers do a little stash flashing. I had already pulled out a few tubs in anticipation of a organization of sorts and thought why not. Lords, I scared myself! I only took two pictures and had to stop. This is most of the sock yarn and below is most of the sweater projects. I've also have enough for three adult sweaters hidden somewhere within the other four bins. Within those are the random single skeins, the lace yarns, the handspun and enough for quite a few kids sized sweaters. Yikes! Time to get those needles flying. Confronted with this, I made a promise to myself that 1.) I must finish what's on the needles and 2.) start another sweater with some of the stash before I'm allowed to order anymore. Boy, this going to be hard. I really, really want to knit this: I got the pattern last week and have been on a search for an acceptable substitute. There's no way I can spend that much on one sweater! So, in the meantime, I'll knit with what I have and watch the knitalong to see what other people have success with. Any guess until how long I can be faithful?

Help! Please!

Does anyone know the current coupon for Kpixie? I saw one a bit ago, but forgot to write it down. Duh. I'd really appreciate it!

I'm Working On It

I've been having a hard time focusing on any of my current projects lately. I'll pick up one and knit on it for a day and then shift my attention to another for another. Although this means there is progress on each, it feels like none is being made. The three that are getting the most are the Manly Sweater (still!), Hero, and Embossed Leaves. I think that part of the problem is that I received my fall magazines two weeks ago. I just love this issue of Interweave Knits! There is so much that I want to make: Gatsby Girl, Equinox, Swallowtail Shawl, Coral Crossing, Weekend Pullover and the Sienna Cardigan. Then there some great socks in Vogue. Of course, there aren't any appropriate yarns in my stash for any of them. Another shopping spree? No, I need to be good. I've got yarn for seven sweaters so I really need to work with some of those first. Another thing I'm stressing about is Christmas. Yikes, it's coming up fast this year. Pretty much everyone on my list will be getting a pair of socks this year. I figure that I love making socks, but have plenty of pairs. So the next best thing is to introduce everyone to the joy of handknit socks. As much as I love these, they will be given away. Things are going well here. We've settled into a new routine and are taking things a day at a time. Royd has internet in his room so we can IM whenever he has time, which is really nice. He's already been given a tentative R&R date of January and that gives all of us something to look forward to. Well, it's time to start moving and get cleaning! Have a great week!

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Evolution of a Spinner

When I bought my wheel I had opted to buy the complete package that is offered with the Lendrum. This set up gave me room to grow by including a fast flyer and a bulky head. I'd used the bulky head for plying but hadn't needed to use the fast flyer for anything. I'd been able to get the yarn to the desired twist without requiring faster ratios. Recently I became enamored with the long draw in an attempt to speed up my knitting. I found an ebay seller carrying Spinning for Softness and Speed and ordered it. Though, the technique described in the book is a little bit different than a traditional long draw, I read through it and applied some of the basic principles. One of te first things I noticed that I needed the fast flyer and may need to invest in the very fast flyer. My first attempt. Meh. Progressively as I spun it became easier and better. Only direction to go is towards success! Next I pulled out some merino/mohair that I had gotten a few months ago. I figured this was a good roving to continue practicing long draw since I really didn't like the colors in the roving. The picture I had bought from showed beautiful, soft muted colors, what I got where garish and loud. Not only were the colors pissing me off, but the roving had been felted in the process. Drafting was a complete nightmare despite predrafting to the point of the roving nearly falling apart. What to do, what to do. I pulled out the hand cards that I had just received in the mail last week and got to work. I seperated the colors out and put the blue, yellow and green in pile and the purple, gold and orange in another. After a about an hour I had these fluffy, gorgeous rolags from the first color group. The spinning? Wonderful!!! Long draw is made for carded fiber. Granted, I still need practice, but it just keeps getting better. I guess it's a good thing I have a fleece on it's way. In the interest of full disclosure, I've been bad. Royd's last week here and first week gone I was a bit depressed about the whole thing. So, I did a little internet shopping. Let me tell ya, Paypal is evil! No reaching for your wallet to make you think for another minute about what you're doing. there's more on the way...

For Now

It's been pretty overcast and I can't get good pictures so this will have to do... 01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink 02. Swam with wild dolphins 03. Climbed a mountain 04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive 05. Been inside the Great Pyramid 06. Held a tarantula 07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone 08. Said 'I love you' and meant it 09. Hugged a tree 10. Bungee jumped 11. Visited Paris 12. Watched a lightning storm at sea 13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise 14. Seen the Northern Lights 15. Gone to a huge sports game 16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa 17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables 18. Touched an iceberg 19. Slept under the stars 20. Changed a baby's diaper 21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon 22. Watched a meteor shower 23. Gotten drunk on champagne 24. Given more than you can afford to charity 25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope 26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment 27. Had a food fight 28. Bet on a winning horse 29. Asked out a stranger 30. Had a snowball fight 31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can 32. Held a lamb 33. Seen a total eclipse 34. Ridden a roller coaster 35. Hit a home run 36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking 37. Adopted an accent for an entire day 38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment 39. Had two hard drives for your computer 40. Visited all 50 states 41. Taken care of someone who was drunk 42. Had amazing friends 43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country 44. Watched wild whales 45. Stolen a sign 46. Backpacked in Europe 47. Taken a road-trip 48. Gone rock climbing 49. Midnight walk on the beach 50. Gone sky diving 51. Visited Ireland 52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love 53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them 54. Visited Japan 55. Milked a cow 56. Alphabetized your cd's 57. Pretended to be a superhero 58. Sung karaoke 59. Lounged around in bed all day 60. Posed nude in front of strangers 61. Gone scuba diving 62. Kissed in the rain 63. Played in the mud 64. Played in the rain 65. Gone to a drive-in theater 66. Visited the Great Wall of China 67. Started a business 68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken 69. Toured ancient sites 70. Taken a martial arts class 71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight 72. Gotten married 73. Been in a movie 74. Crashed a party 75. Gotten divorced 76. Gone without food for 5 days 77. Made cookies from scratch 78. Won first prize in a costume contest 79. Ridden a gondola in Venice 80. Gotten a tattoo 81. Rafted the Snake River 82. Been on television news programs as an "expert" 83. Got flowers for no reason 84. Performed on stage 85. Been to Las Vegas 86. Recorded music 87. Eaten shark 88. Had a one-night stand 89. Gone to Thailand 90. Bought a house 91. Been in a combat zone 92. Buried one of your parents 93. Been on a cruise ship 94. Spoken more than one language fluently 95. Performed in Rocky Horror. 96. Raised children 97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour 98. Created and named your own constellation of stars 99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country 100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over 101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge 102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking 103. Had plastic surgery 104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived 105. Wrote articles for a large publication 106. Lost over 100 pounds 107. Held someone while they were having a flashback 108. Piloted an airplane 109. Petted a stingray 110. Broken someone's heart 111. Helped an animal give birth 112. Won money on a T.V. game show 113. Broken a bone 114. Gone on an African photo safari 115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced 116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol 117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild 118. Ridden a horse 119. Had major surgery 120. Had a snake as a pet 121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon 122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours 123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states 124. Visited all 7 continents 125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days 126. Eaten kangaroo meat 127. Eaten sushi 128. Had your picture in the newspaper 129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about 130. Gone back to school 131. Parasailed 132. Petted a cockroach 133. Eaten fried green tomatoes 134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey 135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read 136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 137. Skipped all your school reunions 138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language 139. Been elected to public office 140. Written your own computer language 141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream 142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care 143. Built your own PC from parts 144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you 145. Had a booth at a street fair 146: Dyed your hair 147: Been a DJ 148: Shaved your head 149: Caused a car accident 150: Saved someone's life

Finished Frenzy

I've got alot to show you, both knitting and spinning. For today, I'll stick to the knitting to keep it more manageable. As the title suggests, I finished a few things. I bought the yarn for this hat last winter when Reilly wanted a new one. I kinda waited to cast on until it was way too warm and kinda tossed everything aside. Of course, the needles were snatched and then the yarn was a mess. Only thing to do was to start over. I didn't use a pattern per se, I kinda used the idea of a skull cap I had made for Royd before. I was way too lazy to go find the pattern, so the top's a bit wonky. He loves it, so that's all that matters! Pattern: Here There Be Dragons Yarn: Knitpicks Memories, Geranium What can I say? Great pattern, I didn't change a thing. Oh, except I used my usual no-wrap method instead of the short rows suggested. For whatever reason, Nancy Bush's method gives me holes no matter what I do. The yarn is nice and soft and finally out of the stash. I've tried to use it several times and never liked what the yarn was doing. This pattern made great use of the pooling and broke it up. Below is a much better representation of the color. For some reason the color combination confuses the heck out of my camera! Long time readers may recall that I went through a bit of a lace obsession last summer. (Very temporary. My lifestyle just doesn't do lace well.) Well, I've had one project that needed to blocked, I just never got around to it. I mean, why block it if it's never going to get worn? Well, I need it for tomorrow. Someone's getting married!!! Pattern: Snowdrop Shawl Yarn: JaggerSpun Another great pattern. Not too challenging, but with enough interest to keep me knitting. Nevermind that the edging took foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever. Blocking didn't go as well as it could have. I ran out of room on the carpet and little ones were getting tired of me saying "one more minute!" I think that I need to invest in a set of blocking wires so that when I do have things to block, it goes much nicer. My, it's huge!!!

And It Begins...

Have any idea how hard it was to get a picture with all of them facing (somewhat) the camera and no one screaming? Horrible. Well, Royd left us Sunday for another year. We said our goodbyes on Saturday night and sent him off. We did have a chance to go see him one more time on Sunday morning, but Royd asked me not to bring the kids up. He just thought it would be easier on everybody. So far we're doing okay. Reilly understands that he's gone, but still keeps asking for him. I think it'll take awhile before he really comprehends the full depth of what's going on. There isn't much to say except that I'm glad it's finally here and we can get it over and done with. I'll be back later this week with some knitting and spinning content!

My Random Life

** We didn't get to go on vacation as planned. Here's the rundown of why. First we all got sick. Just when we were feeling better, all the boys came down with hand-foot-mouth disease. Since Marc's mouth hurt, he wasn't eating very well. I got a blocked duct that lead to mastitis. Ouch! The antibiotics I'm on killed everything and now Marc and I both have thrush. Oy. I cannot wait until I don't have administer medication. Thankfully, we still got to see my in-laws since they headed up here instead. Plus Royd didn't have to miss out on time with his dad. ** I finished another pair of socks for a belated birthday Yarn: Regia Strato Pattern: top down on 64 stitches, band heel and round toe ** I started another pair for myself Here There Be Dragons ** Thanks to some cooler weather the past few days, I've been working on the Manly Sweater again. Two sleeves down and now onto the enormous body. ** Remember Picovoli? Well, I lost about ten pounds since then and it's too big! Yay for a skinnier me. Boo for all that work. ** I've got two babies to knit for that are due in December. The great news is that they're both girls and I can finally knit something cute and pretty. ** Royd should be gone by next week. We're just waiting. It stinks. That's it for now. Sorry about the choppy post. I've got screaming children here and can't think straight.

Real Quick

I finished up a few more socks this week. Here's the details: Reillys--Lion Brand Magic Stripes, top down on 48 stitches with a band heel Mine--Koigu, toe up with short row heel and a sewn bind off That's all I've able to work on. Between the heat and the various sick people in the house, I haven't had alot of time or inclination to knit. I tried spinning but the wool is sticking to my hands resulting in some pretty lumpy singles. I'm heading off on vacation next week so I probably won't post until I get back. Royd's dad is on leave from Iraq, so me and the boys are heading to South Germany to meet up with him and his wife. Royd's probably working that weekend, so he won't get to join us. I've got a ton of things left to do before the trip ! On a sader note, we got official word Sunday that Royd will be deploying in the next month or so. Due to security reasons, we won't know until the last minute when. Well, the boys are getting into all sorts of mischief, see you in a bit!

Too Dang Hot to Knit

Ugh. Stitches sticking to the needles plus no shade at the playground equals two bored little boys and one cranky mama. So we got a little crafty. Chop or shave old crayons, sprinkle between layers of wax paper, iron on low "Stained Glass" for your windows! And since they were still bored, we made playdough. And I started a new sock... (notice no needles)

Soft and Squishy

Yarn: my own handspun Pattern: top down, 48 stitches on leg and 44 on foot As the title implies, this is how these socks turned out. I used my first three ply for these and love how the yarn (and the socks) turned out. Needless to say, I'm beyond tickled with myself that I dyed the wool, spun the yarn and knit the socks. Funny though, the yarn took two weeks to spin and a total of four non-consecutive days to knit. A labor of love. Because I'm so enamored, here's two more shots. I started a new webring, for all those that are attached to the military, just for kicks. You can go here to sign up or here for the blog.

A Post in Pictures

Chickami, handspun sock and more handspun 12 balls for only one euro each for Scoop I swear I only went looking for a dress. I didn't find one. Mmmm. Fingers sure are yummy!