Yarngasmic

Graphic courtesy of a fellow knitter/blogger http://knitandtonic.typepad.com My sis will definitely think I've gone round the bend on this one, but any diehard knitter who looks at that picture and doesn't think to themselves, oh yeah, that's the stuff....isn't being honest and needs to reflect.

Alas, this self-proclaimed diehard never picked up the needles last night...I'm still stinging over the fact that seed stitch finally bit me in the ass again, creating a lovely little design flaw/feature about an inch long on one side of the border of the baby blanket, that I absolutely don't have the strength to frog back past, so I'm leaving it in. Of course, usually when I say that, it only takes another day or so for the self-pride to kick in, and since this is going to someone, it's in the denial/we'll see category.

So with no knitting to talk about, I give you a survey snitched from Lil Sis's LJ:

1. DO YOU SNORE?
Apparently like a buzz saw...the cats aren't safe near my mouth when I'm in REM.
2. ARE YOU A LOVER OR A FIGHTER?
Both, I think; hard to tell what's stronger
3. WHAT'S YOUR WORST FEAR?
Losing Les
4. AS A KID, WERE YOU A LEGO MANIAC?
Not a maniac, never needed a support group or anything. Loved building anal stuff with 'em, especially houses with the big flat green one as the base. I do love that they've just come out with Eggos that look like Legos!
5. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF "REALITY" TV?
Evil. Contributing to the downfall of TV in general. Lacking social redeeming value.
6. DO YOU CHEW ON YOUR STRAWS?
No. I do remember chewing on pencils when I had braces.
7. WERE YOU A CUTE BABY?
Well, I wouldn't throw me out of the crib. (oh, and Meara, for the record, even with your Above All scars, you could've won contests!)
8. IS THE SINGLE LIFE FOR YOU?
ROFLMAO! Um, no. The pirate's life's not for me either.
9. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR KEYBOARD?
Work: Black (brand-new Dell!:), home: beige
10. DO YOU SING IN THE SHOWER?
Umm, not really. When I sing without working at it, I can't carry a tune. Hum occasionally.
11. HAVE YOU EVER BUNGEE JUMPED?
Yeah, right. Afraid of heights and that "holy shit, I'm going to die" feeling that you get on rollercoasters. Not happening anytime soon.
12. ANY SECRET TALENTS?
This ain't me being humble, I just can't think of any...
13. WHAT'S YOUR IDEAL VACATION SPOT?
Tent camping someplace with Les, state park, ideal weather...
14. IS JAY LENO FUNNY?
Eh. I'm more a Letterman fan, but don't watch either with frequency; put myself to sleep at night with M*A*S*H*
15. Have you eaten sushi?
Not really.
16. HAVE YOU SEEN THE MOVIE "DONNIE DARKO"?
Yes. It freaked me out and baffled me and I'd like to watch it again to try to understand it better, but can't imagine being in a place in my head where that'd be acceptable. F*cked up movie!
17. DO YOU GIVE A DARN ABOUT THE OZONE?
Well, yeah, but more concerned with how we're destroying things right here on earth.
18. HOW MANY LICKS DOES IT TAKE TO GET TO THE CENTER OF A TOOTSIE POP?
Well, I don't bite my lollipops, so a damn sight more than 3.
19.CAN YOU SING THE ALPHABET BACKWARDS?
Um, no, but I can recite all 50 states in alphabetical order :) Hey wait, I've found my secret talent!
20. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON AN AIRPLANE?
Yeah, it's a blast!
23. WHAT'S YOUR STAND ON HUNTING?
I'm fairly against it across the board, unless you're actually hunting for food.
24. IS MARRIAGE IN YOUR FUTURE?
Heh. Yup. And Past. And Present. ::sigh::
25. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
When I work at it; thanks to computers, it's pretty messy. Oh wait, it's always been that way.
26. WHAT ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO?
Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
27. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAID, "I LOVE YOU"?
This morning as I was nuzzling husby goodbye to head to work
28. IS ELVIS STILL ALIVE?
Vacationing with God in Miami Beach
29. DO YOU CRY AT WEDDINGS?
Nah. I'm too busy getting drunk.
30. HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS?
In my ovaries. ::slaps leg, giggles:: Also omelet, scrambled, hard fried.
31. ARE BLONDES DUMB?
No worse than brunettes or redheads
32. WHERE DOES THE OTHER SOCK GO?
Fourth dimensional sock vacuum.
33. WHAT TIME IS IT?
10:41 a.m.
34. DO YOU HAVE A NICKNAME?
Ember. Big Sis. MJ. LMP (Long Mountain Princess--we lived on Long Mountain Road when I was little). Rosebud (that one's from when I was little too).
35. IS MCDONALD'S DISGUSTING?
Yes, and it puts me to sleep too, but I clog my arteries with the crap anyway.
36. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE IN A CAR?
This morning, driving into work.
37. DO YOU PREFER BATHS OR SHOWERS?
Showers, I guess; hard to find the patience for baths. Now if we had a tub like the gal in the graphic above...
38. IS SANTA CLAUS REAL?
Of course. Keeping those ideas alive is part of the magic of life.
39. DO YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR NECK KISSED?
It's definitely up there on the passion meter, though my ticklishness gets in the way sometimes.
40. ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?
Not really, anymore, though that fear didn't really leave until I was sharing my life with someone.
41. WHAT ARE YOU ADDICTED TO?
Chocolate, coffee, knitting, reading, The West Wing, L & O SVU and regular, M*A*S*H*, Panera's hazelnut cream cheese, and the list goes on........
42. CRUNCHY OR CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER?
Creamy JIF, crunchy for a treat
43. CAN YOU CRACK YOUR NECK?
No...Les can though, and it still wigs me out!
44. HAVE YOU EVER RIDDEN IN AN AMBULANCE?
In the front :( .....Dad was in back.
45. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BRUSHED YOUR TEETH TODAY?
::hides head:: I'll do it later, I swear!
46. IS DRUG FREE THE WAY TO BE?
We-ell, I have no problem personally with the occasional herb, but with our money problems, it's a non-issue.
48. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES?
Blue-grey, depending on the light and what I'm wearing
49. WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Indulged just the other day when I caught the end of Phenomenon on HBO
50. DO YOU LIKE YOUR LIFE?
Yes. I wouldn't mind more money, and teeth and a big dose of self-esteem for Les, but I'm patient. I look forward to kids, studying environmental science, working from home...these things/dreams make the present bearable.
51. WHO'S BETTER, FALL OUT BOY OR MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE?
::sigh:: I'm too old for this question :( Wouldn't know My Chemical Romance if the group set up and played at my work; but I heard Fall Out Boy on OTH once (One Tree Hill, for you people with lives that don't revolve around the idiot box) and they weren't bad, so yeah, them.
52. ARE YOU PSYCHIC?
Yup. Nothing honed or reliable yet; maybe in another two or three lives, it'll be sharper.
53. HAVE YOU READ CATCHER IN THE RYE?
Yeah, one of those books that I wasn't forced to read in high school, so I read it on my own.
54. DO YOU PLAY ANY INSTRUMENTS?
Still own two trumpets, I'll never pawn those. I have a small keyboard, drum, and recorder that I goof around on. I want to learn violin, six-string harp, and that wooden flute for potential Waldorf homeschool my kids in their secondary years.
55. HAVE U EVER STOLEN MONEY?
I invoke my 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.
56. CAN YOU SNOWBOARD?
Never tried. Did ski once, but that whole fear of heights thing kept me on the bunny slope the whole day.
57. DO YOU LIKE CAMPING?
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!! Wish I was doing it now. Honestly, only been twice, but it's lovely, in spite of the work involved.
58. DO U SNORT WHEN U LAUGH?
Rarely.....ok, occasionally.....
59. DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?
I'm a witch, what do you think?
60. ARE DOGS A MAN'S BEST FRIEND?
Yeah, though there's something to be said for when a cat wakes up enough to lower himself to pay attention to you too.
61. DO YOU BELIEVE IN DIVORCE?
Certainly. Doesn't mean I'll ever subscribe to it.
62. CAN YOU DO THE MOONWALK?
Half-assed
64. IS IT COLD OUTSIDE TODAY?
Nah, pleasant, getting up to almost 80
65. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Inhaled a Cinnamon Crunch Panera bagel with hazelnut cream cheese, aaaaaahhhhhh!
66. DO YOU WEAR NAIL POLISH?
Toes, absolutely, even though it's a pain in the tush to do. Clear on fingers.
67. DO YOU WEAR THONGS?
Just say NO to butt floss!
68. WHAT'S THE MOST ANNOYING TV COMMERCIAL?
Anything with Keith Pierson's kids, the Olsen twin wannabes
69. DO YOU SHOP AT AMERICAN EAGLE?
Um, no. Or anywhere inside a mall at present.
70. FAVORITE BAND AT THE MOMENT?
Beats me, haven't listened to the radio in a while. Enjoy Kelly Clarkson still, as well as angry chick music, Enya's new one, Linkin Park, and whomever's on Garrison Keillor's show.

Well, that's enough blogrific torture for one day :)

Wingnut :o

graphic from www.joshlyman.com

Nuff said.

Monday...

It's un-frickin'-real what you can find on the Web.

Since I mentioned this cartoon a couple of entries ago, thought I'd put up a pic...all I had to google was "sheepdog cartoons" and ta-da! You'd think since I work in the biz, I'd be used to just how infinitesimally significant something has to be to make it on the Web in some fashion. But since I kind of loathe my contribution to what I see as a problem with the gluttony of our capitalistic society, it's understandable I'd be in a little bit of denial. Anyway, I think the pic is from wikipedia.

Weekend was pretty ok, just not long enough. I don't know if it was daylight savings or the work I did outside, but I took a 3-hour nap yesterday afternoon, went to bed practically on time last night, and I'm still a little foggy. I'm about a day off of one of my meds too, though; will remedy that later today.

Finally, FINALLY, got outside and dealt with Sylvester, the aloe plant with the pituitary problem. All I can say is, hey, anybody want some aloe? Well, actually, I won't know for a week or three if my transplanting was a success, I figure; I haven't done much with plants yet in this life, beyond the basics, so even though aloe is a hearty plant that actually does grow in its own little sections, so that I didn't feel like I was cutting apart roots to separate them, I still won't trust my success until they're still alive a couple of weeks from now. Also downsized Jade, which isn't much more than a twig at this point, thanks to some demon neighborhood squirrels. And I cleaned out the dead stuff around Fred the fern, fed and watered everybody, and started some basil and lavendar. My God, it was nice outside yesterday! My porch catches shade until late afternoon, so I just threw on my bathing suit and some shorts, and got dirty :) Used an entire 40# bag of potting soil and assessed my supplies too—next step is a new bin for soil and some implements, like a leaf trimmer.

Knit just a bit last night, but again, my heart wasn't quite in it...will work the baby blanket tonight, I think. I put the payment in last week for the Knit Magic I bid on eBay, so that should come soon; no idea what I'll make with it, just knew I wanted one...I had one when I was a kid.

Definitely sluggish today...may have to spend some of our precious dough on sugar or caffeine later...

Miracle

Just had to sneak a piccie off of ruthee's blog of our knewest knitting bitch, Keelin. Visited this little angel last night and got to hold her ... I'm pretty sure she's the smallest human critter I've ever had the pleasure of holding. They weighed her while I was there and she'd dropped to 6#12--pretty normal for a newborn. My latest small person reference points, Hunter and Meara, were both over 8 pounds at birth, so having that little package in my arms last night was amazing!

I guess I really should take Meara out of the small person reference point area of my brain; she's frickin' 22! Just got offered an adjunct professor position for next Spring at UCF, and she's only half done with her Masters! I'm too proud to be jealous, but it does have me throwing myself into my textbooks again for my environmental science studies.

I must be learning patience too, because even though I can't wait to see Keelin again, I also didn't feel that ache that I get around really small people, that ache that tells me how ready I am to have one of my own. It felt completely natural to hold her, touch her, but it didn't hurt. That's a relief.

The nurse had her up on her shoulder last night and that critter was pushing back on it with her arms, holding up her head with eyes open...2 days old! Her cry is this clear, little sound complete with quivering chin; I was just knocked out watching her.

Mine!!!

So I cook a little. Really only a little, when you consider how we live, but I'm learning. I enjoy watching Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network and Lidia on PBS. I dream of not living out of a can or box quite so much. I dream of eating healthier. I've been told I make yummy round things (souffles, casseroles, pot pie, snicker doodles, etc.). Branched out into homemade bread this past holiday season with mixed success; my wheat bread kicks some ass, however I learned the hard way not to use self-rising flour in a yeast recipe on French bread. Had to shove it in the oven, just so it would stop growing!

So my mother-in-law, who never met a sale she didn't like and will likely have "Born to Shop" engraved on her tombstone, treated herself to the next size up of Kitchenaid stand-alone mixers after Christmas. Actually a justifiable purchase when you witness the number of quiches and pecan pies she ends up making in an average winter holiday. So what to do with the beauty pictured here, her original mixer (graphic courtesy of kitchenaid.com)? She has 2 daughters. She says they both turned it down; I wonder if she even asked them, but certainly wasn't going to look a gift mixer in the mouth when she offered it to me, so when they came down earlier this month for Les's dental appointments, they brought it with. Our galley kitchen is low on counter space, so I put it on my newfound worktable for now.

Last night I made shepherd's pie (round!) for dinner and 2 loaves of wheat bread afterward (one for the new mommy). Why not try the new mixer! Used it to make the mashed potatoes for the shepherd's pie, and then again to mix the heated milk mixture with the flour for the bread. So easy! Was able to do the whole bread mixing with it, just switched from the flat ceramic head to the dough hook once I started adding the 2nd batch of flour. Where have you been all my life, pretty black Kitchenaid mixer?! Where can I make room on the kitchen counter for you? Nowhere, really :( the one place where we do have space, it would kind of be in the way, and the other counters are packed (microwave, toaster, toaster oven, tea maker, coffee maker, unfortunately all of which get used with regularity). Hmm...for now, the worktable is awkward, but perfect; allows me to leave it out for use; which is cool because it's a heavy sucker, not something you want to be lugging out when you need it.

Remarkably, managed a couple of rows on the baby blanket last night; must've been in serious domestic goddess mode, though my heart wasn't really in the knitting yet. That's frustrating, but it's been a busy week. The baby shower is May 27, so I've got goals to set with regard to the baby stuff I'm knitting for Kara. Tonight I'll fix a basket for Terra and Keelin and go for a quick visit; can't wait for my baby fix!

Welcome to the world, Kielyn (sp?) Siobhan!!

I'm a surrogate aunt again!!! I have no idea how her first name is spelled yet, but she's here and healthy! Terra gave birth sometime this morning. The first name, pronounced Key-Lynn, I gave the "ie" because the pronounciation is similar to Kieran, but it could just as easily be Keelyn(n), I suppose. It means "gentle." Siobhan is pronounced "shi-vawn.

Delightfully distracting at work today, as if excitement about our newest Knitting Bitch wasn't enough to distract me, they're building new desks right behind me, which requires an electric drill, a modicum of banging, and 2 guys talking in Spanish. I'm on an upswing of sorts though, I can tell, and lemme tellya, it feels good. Patiently worked some SSS last night, but I think I've managed my first design flaws/features in the sucker, which I'm hoping to remedy with my crochet hook, because I'm damn sure not frogging or tinking. I think I'll work baby blanket tonight though; it's my solid TV night (NCIS, House, SVU) and I don't want to screw up SSS more than it's currently screwed. Just remembered I want to bake bread for Terra too, so knitting will have to occur between rises. She's one of those frightfully organized people who baked casseroles and other dishes to be put up/frozen for easy meals in the first weeks, but I figure you can always use some homemade bread to go with.

I hate shoes that make noise, always have, you know, like sandals that slap against your heel as you walk. Not sure why; was taught to turn my nose up at clogs and flip-flops at an early age, probably because they make it easier to trip over your own feet and a) I didn't need any help in that department growing up, and b) we weren't allowed to make mistakes, have accidents, etc. But alas, I needed something to wear with my wealth of capri pants now that the weather's warming. I have one pair of slides, but they don't offer enough support for my needy lack-of-arches to wear on any regular basis. So went to evil Wally world yesterday and sure enough, found an ultra-comfy, only slightly ugly pair of slides that curve the foot better for my needs and only cost $12. Must remember to send a thank-you note to the Dominican refugee that made them. Best yet, they have that big toe loop, which keeps the foot in the slide better; and that's fantastic for someone like me, who hasn't worn shoes like this her whole life and is quite the klutz besides. I mean, I also have a pair of black slides with a pretty butterfly on them, that I wear from time to time, but on stairs, driving, and other tasks—like walking—it's kind of hard not to come off looking like a cartoon character on roller skates. Fashion, unfortunately, also means knowing one's limitations.

Monday.................blahs.............

Meet Bloo. Full name Blooregard Q. Kazoo, he's main character Mac's imaginary friend; when Mac's mom decided he was too old for an imaginary friend, Bloo went to live at Foster's where Mac visits him now. Bloo's vacuous, but complex; just when you think he's a completely irredeemable little shit, he does something to show that he does know right from wrong--he just chooses not to acknowledge it most of the time, because it gets in the way of what he wants.

I'm sleepy...I've gotta stop napping on Sundays, it goofs up my sleep sched; I hit the sack late Sunday as a result and feel shredded on Monday morning. It was a good weekend; didn't get to Sylvester yet, but did buy the supplies, got plenty of relax time...but still...weather's cool and beuautiful out, and there's about a million things I'd rather be doing than sitting at this f*cking computer!

Didn't touch my knitting this weekend; got some books out of the library a while back that I'm finally reading--Mayo Clinic's latest stuff on how to lose a big ass (body, not spouse...well, the technical titles are like, Healthy Weight for Everyone and Fitness for Everyone). It's decent, all stuff I already know, but sometimes when you read it written differently, it makes better sense somehow. Or maybe I'm just ready for a change. Thought I might be pregnant for about a week there, and when it turned out I wasn't, it was such a mixture of sad and relief. I've got to put my impatience on a shelf somewhere. Once Les has teeth and is looking for work, then it's feasible, but until then, we're not nearly ready.

I just ache to be a mommy. Ostara lifted my heart this weekend; got to see Draken and a small pile of 4-year-old girls running in circles at the church. Triplet girls....remembering them oughta keep me from getting pregnant before we're ready! Beautiful kids, but my god, how do those parents hear themselves think!

In the meantime, the weather's clear and pretty, I'm finally hearing Canada geese (their call has a sweetness that always transports me straight to Above All--where I lived in CT from 11 to 15), and I'll get my hands in the dirt this week; separating Sylvester into several vessels, downsizing Jade, and starting some basil and lavender.

Yup, it's a rut...

Meet Wilt (graphic courtesy of wikipedia). Polite to a fault, this imaginary friend is the former buddy of a basketball fan. He's a sweetie; once missed an entire mall outing because he was too busy holding the door open for people and saying "you're welcome."

Got my hands in the yarn last night, but my heart wasn't quite in it. Cast on fresh for a baby hat and made it so tight by accident, that it had to be cut off. Vicky was impressed, I think. I don't get it, I wasn't tense last night; was feeling good, had just gotten my hair cut (nothing drastic, but quite a bit healthier and more manageable). So then gave up on the hat, did a round + of SSS, and when I got home, cast onto straights and transferred to the circular for the hat. I just suck at casting onto circulars, I guess.

So tonight, I'll plunk along on a little bit of everything. Thank the gods it's Friday! Tomorrow's Ostara, but I'm not making myself nuts over it; I doubt many people are going to show for the class that early anyway, and it's not like I'll get points taken off for reading straight from Turning the Wheel. Definitely crediting ruthee and Terra with the bulk of my material--that Ostara article from 2004 was a gold mine. Then I need to buy tires for the car, and the rest of the weekend is mine! Absolutely buying potting soil this weekend and dealing with Sylvester (aka the aloe that ate the porch); he's not looking so hot.

New Foster's tonight, 7 p.m., Cartoon Network. Sweet god, I need a life!

Yarn withdrawal and other random stuff...

Meet Eduardo (pic courtesy of http://imaginary-friends.net/). He's an imaginary friend looking for a home. He's about 3 years old and a very lovable fraidy cat of a monster. To get to know him, check out Foster's Home of Imaginary Friends (one of the more warm, fuzzy, positive cartoons out there today, having nothing to do with superheroes, guns, aliens, mutants, trading card games, ninjas, or any of the other fertilizer so common in today's cartoons) on Cartoon Network. The almost-35-year-old man-child I live with watches quite a bit of Cartoon Network, and Foster's rubbed off on me...especially Bloo, whose arrogance is only matched by his sarcasm.

Haven't knit since Monday.....definitely startin' to get twitchy..... canya tell?

Monday's knitting can barely be called knitting since I ripped it all out :( Then Tuesday, I did the taxes (still getting $ back! Whew!), and started prep for the class I'm giving Saturday morning on Ostara. Spent last night finishing the outline for the class and creating some visual aids (yes, folks, there will be props!), but by the time I got that stuff done (and dinner--I actually pulled together crock pot roast midweek!), it was like 10:30 and I wasn't about to pick something up just to knit one row.

At least the class stuff is done, so I can relax Friday night and concentrate on other stuff like what to accomplish this weekend, if anything, and whether or not to bring anything to the potluck besides that box of Girl Scout cookies we don't want...

So, if your LYS has a swift and ball winder in shop and you buy say, a skein of Lorna's Laces or something, will they wind it for you for free if you don't have your own swift? Silly question, probably, since even if our wonderful Judge K (LYS owner) couldn't do it for some reason, I could always schlep over to miss ruthee's and bribe her with wheat bread or something for the use of her swift...but stuff flies through my random head and I gotta ask...

Seriously though, back on my cartoon rant, whatever happened to cartoons being about regular roles in life, a little moral, a little lesson, the Roadrunner outsmarting the Coyote rather than dismembering him? If the Coyote got dismembered, it was his own fault, and that's what the kid watching it took away from it. I mean, when Elmer Fudd used to blow Daffy's beak off, I recognized it for what it was. It certainly wasn't instilling any kind of "violence is acceptable" message, like the family-values groups seem to think it was. If you're being raised right, you're going to look at it the same way Daffy did, with a "you're despicable" and move on. There is such a thing as taking something too seriously. One of my faves from the Roadrunner days didn't even have Roadrunner in it; it was the one with Wile E. Coyote and the sheepdog taking their rightful places in the grand scheme on a daily basis with the help of a timeclock and a lunch whistle. Coyote hatches elaborate scheme to steal sheep, sheep bleats, Sam the sheepdog comes running, beats the crap out of the Coyote, the lunch whistle blows, they stop, eat under their respective trees, the whistle blows again, and Sam goes back to beating the crap out of Wile E.
Call me tweaked, but that cartoon's hysterical.

Anyway, that's why I like Foster's, its simplicity. There's antagonists in Mr. Harriman, the head of the house in his mind, and Terrance, Mac's pesky big brother, but most of the show is small lessons and humor that almost any age can appreciate. And it doesn't try too hard; you know, how the Muppet movies made more recently seem to try too hard for the adult laugh...since the imaginary friends never grow older than their most recent human, there's this terrific intelligence and innocence in each one of them. Yes, folks, 36 years old and writing a frickin' essay expounding on a frickin' cartoon...sigh...

No news is good news

Feels like my knitting's hitting a dry spell...but I'm plunking along on several things so that really isn't the case. The dry spell thing is only because I spent time last night starting a baby hat only to rip out everything I'd worked because I'd calculated incorrectly. So nothing got accomplished except laundry last night. Well, that's definitely a good thing; been having a helluva time feeling comfortable in the tops I currently own, so the good ones go quickly.

I did do one bootie this weekend, quite nicely too, since I figured out I didn't do slip 1 purlwise correctly on the last batch I did. Haven't stitched it up yet; really should put some time into the SSS and the B4...I tend to do a row here, a row there on the B4, and well, that just ain't gonna fly if I expect to get the sucker done by May or July (baby shower sometime in May).

Supposed to get hot today (mid-80s) but there's this fantastic breeze. No baby yet in our KB group; eviction notice for said infant is the 28th.

My clan got news that a family friend passed away, so please put the widow and kids in your thoughts today. Marty Darby passed away from lymphoma on Valentine's Day. His wife Dini and my mom met in a Caldor (Yankee department store) about oh, 35 ish years ago, when they noticed the kids in their baskets were roughly the same age (me and her son Ted). We kids haven't kept in touch, but the memories are fond of hanging out together and playing when the grownups got together. Dini and the boys live in Aiken, SC, so I'm looking forward to paying them a visit the next time we're up visiting Les's fam.

Back to work (blah!)...should've brought SSS today...

Life is...

Graphic courtesy of www.shamrock.org
...pokin' along...

Slow progress on the knitting this week. House is a little cluttered. They installed fresh drywall in the closet, so the next move is the city inspectors, which could happen sometime between now and when we move out, so...the complex has nothing to do with that, it's all the city, so no one to bitch to. Spent $25 freakin' dollars to get a taillight replaced on the car, but FHP's been saturating my commute of late, so there really was no way around that expense.

Weather's turned rather glorious, and since we're staying in Florida (again), I'm determined to embrace it...work outdoors this weekend, get a little (only a little!) color. We'll see how gung-ho I am about the weather come July, but right now, I can definitely handle some sunshine and high-70s.

Knitting bitches are anxiously awaiting a new arrival :) Terra's doc/midwife/etc. talked about inducing at 39 weeks, which was yesterday, so today's appointment could mark a birthday for a little girl! She told us the name last night, and the first name promptly left my brain--I think it's Kylia Siobhan; I know that middle name is correct. ruthee's a little fit to be tied that the kid could be born on St. Patty's Day, and after reading up on it on the History Channel website, not sure I blame her, but I know Terra's ready for the small one to make an appearance.

I love that I'm learning stuff like the truth about St. Patrick's Day before I have kids; it'll allow me to teach 'em both sides without confusing them. I mean, given that I was raised Christian, it only makes sense that my community would take St. Patrick's Day on its face as a good thing. I mean, when I was a little kid, we went to church almost every Sunday. It wasn't until I was in junior high that we moved to the sticks, and my folks slowed down at putting forth the effort--and even then, we went to the Protestant church in town with frequency because the pastor could sermonize without putting you to sleep, and it was all of 3 miles from the house. Cyril and I joined the choir and remained in Christian circles, so how would we know any different? Especially me, since the folks pushed to get me confirmed but slacked on my bro and sis--now there's irony for ya...I had the most formal Christian education, Meara had the least. I'm pagan, Cyril's probably agnostic, and Meara's born-again. Probably a lesson there.

Gotta get to work; I am SO freakin' glad it's Friday!!!!!

Tired

Tired, tired, tired.....

Did I mention tired?

You have no idea how sedentary you are until you're forced to socialize on a school night. It's pathetic. I've had family stuff for 3 nights now, and I'm about ready to crawl under something for hibernation. We're in the home stretch, but it's still daunting.

It started with Dad noticing the bald front tires on our car the SECOND I pulled into their driveway Saturday night, and was capped off by Grandmother and Mom J going at it before dinner last night. I fell off the wagon a bit, and that helped. We won't even discuss how I feel about that.

I've been poking along on SSS for the most part, but we found out Kara's having a girl, so I'm going to dig through the stash for appropriate yarn colors for a set of baby Uggs, as well as start the sweater, hat, booty set from that mag (the basketweave stuff), mostly in white, 'cause that's what I've got.

And we got cell phones! His folks got 'em for us :) Graphic (and activation) courtesy of Virgin Mobile™. Can't wait to figure out how to work the damn thing...

Quickie...

No, not that kind of quickie...tho' we did break a going-on-2-years dry spell on our anniversary Monday >:) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

Added another Snoopy dancer; he's a fav pal of mine. I used to have a t-shirt with these two on it that said something like, "It's a Security Thing." Funny that Linus is my fave next to Snoopy, and I ended up marrying a woobie addict :)

Added a Yahoo Avatar too, just for grins. The dragon is Les. The Avatar's me channeling a bit of Abby from NCIS. My God, I need a life!

Put Tasha aside, she was vexing me; concentrating on B4 and SSS this week and the heck with the rest. Won't have enough time this weekend to work on 'em anyway, need to picnic with my folks Saturday, clean house Sunday, for Les's folks coming into town for his dentist appointments. ACK! At least I can bring one (or both) of them to my folks' house for something to do if things get weird--Cyril's living at home is starting to wear on them big time. Yeesh, both sets of parents in one week; I'm gonna need a vacation after this!

I FOUND MY DINING ROOM!!!

Damnedest thing . . . hung a left at the living room and there it was! And I didn't have to destroy the neatness of the closet to do it!

Saturday was a wash after work, and Sunday found me, after a leisurely time with the paper, pondering whether I wanted to putter or nap. Life without kids is rough, lemme tellya. I only hope the shock isn't too rough when we finally get our shit together and procreate.

So shovel in hand (just kidding, but it was definitely close to that), I created more floor space in the bedroom first, and then heartened by this success, I moved onto the dining area and tucked in to work. Threw things out, boxed things up, and added more to the Hubbard House pile. Moved stuff back into the walk-in closet without sacrificing space to move in there, and putting stuff in there that'll be easy to move back out when/if they get around to gracing us with fresh drywall and a stackable washer/dryer.

And I did what I mentioned, stacked boxes and crates and pillows to create a flat enough space to lay my old corkboard on top of it. It's sweet, and by some miracle the cats are only using it for a nap spot and not a scratching board yet. Probably still too bewildered by all the shit that got moved--I took away one of Fig's nap spots on purpose, because the books underneath her spot were nasty with fur and litter crumbs. Right now, it's just a workspace, but I love it! Les vacuumed afterward, and the place is feeling downright livable and not nearly so overwhelming. Next weekend, the other two corners of the living room--his folks are coming down for dental powwows, so say some prayers that we don't have to twist Grandma's arm too hard to get Les into teeth.

Thanks so much to my KB ladies who've been thinking about me and about ways to help with my living sitch. Rest assured I did get your phone calls, I just suck at returning them. Y'all are making it a lot easier to stay in Jax :)

graphic courtesy of darkharbor.com

If at first you don't succeed, frog, frog, again...

So I started Big Bad Baby Blanket over again. Using the actual pattern.

Feel free to laugh at me, I get quite a chuckle out of it myself.

I'm having delusions of aptitude of a philanthropic nature. There's blogs out there begging for blankets for the hurricane victims (http://purlsofhope.com), and it got me thinking about the 2 bags of stash I have. When I first started this knitting gig/sickness/obsession, Steph and Ginny unloaded a monster bag of mostly acrylic on me, that they had inherited from someone. We're talking stuff with $.35 cent pricetags on it, in colors that must've been in style, oh, during the Summer of Love. But before I learned to turn my nose up at acrylic, I certainly wasn't going to look a gift yarn in the mouth, so I sorted it, 86d the saddest stuff in the bunch, and was still left with 2 BIG Panera bags of yarn.

So I've been poring over the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns this week, and while avoiding work this morning, I think to myself, hey, self, what if you taught yourself those patterns by knitting swatches of each, and then knitting those squares into blankets? At the rate the government's taking care of things down there, I could actually have a blanket or two made before things stop being so dire.

I could bring a bag of the yarn to KB if other folks want to do a swatch or two with me, whaddaya think?

Helping with this burst of energy was the idea I got yesterday--stacking all the boxes that we don't normally dig into, in a formation on the left side of the dining room, and placing my old corkboard on top of them as a table. I could lay out projects, set up my sewing machine, etc. Not sure it's feasible yet, but I'm definitely digging into the dining room this weekend to find out.

Well, since I went to the trouble to go to work on a Saturday, guess I should edit a coupla more sites :(

Knitting in circles

The sucky part of knitting is when you have an armload (or roomful) of unfinished projects and it feels like you're accomplishing absolutely nothing. Yarn Harlot commented about the focus that came from working only one project for a set amount of time during the Knitting Olympics. That's what the SSS is for me right now, it's definitely the primary project; but there's also these other little bastards in the wings raising their hands for attention. Tasha...the baby blanket...the White Buffalo in its boxes quiet in the corner...the purple poncho I haven't put a stitch on in 6 months...mr. sock. For the most part I don't mind working that way; at KB, I usually have 2 or 3 projects on hand so that when I get bored with one, I have another one at the ready. But it definitely requires a level of patience with yourself. Anyone who says knitting isn't a character-building exercise must've had too much character to begin with.

This thread comes from last night, when I frogged Kara's baby blanket in favor of trying my hand at Trinity stitch (see pic, courtesy of About.com). I've really got to stop reading Wendy Knits and thinking I can emulate her work on sight. Granted, it didn't take long to master the concept of knitting 3 stitches in 1; I'm about 90% confident with myself that I had an understanding of it and that it reflected in the finished product. But that (im)patience thing got the better of me. If I try bordering the baby blanket in Trinity stitch, it'll be done around the time the kid starts school (She's due in July). It's a truly methodical stitch and I look forward to trying it out on other projects, but for this sucker, no way. However, as past entries attest, I wasn't sure seed/moss stitch was the way to go either, so I dragged out the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns and decided to garter stitch the border and put a nice diamond pattern in the body. We'll see how far I get on that tonight, how many times I change my mind, etc.

The ole self pride's coming to the fore again, this time on the fiasco that is the cable braid on Tasha's trim. Definitely gonna frog down to the latest screwup and give it the old college try again. Weird how it takes me a day or two to realize that my laziness just won't do. Why can't that translate to the apartment?

Well, it will this weekend, gonna plow into the dining room and get it back to snuff, and if the money comes through, I'm gonna play in the dirt. We have an aloe plant of epic proportions that we just transplanted in the last year into a LARGE pot. It responded by growing into the sucker with a vengance, so it's definitely time to gently separate him from himselves, break him down into several vessels. Also transplanting my jade into a smaller pot, because unfortunately he's on death's door thanks to the bastard squirrels in our complex; gonna try to nurse him back to health. Fred the fern is doing ok on his own.

Why are my plants all boys? Weird...

Knitting Olympics Honorable Mention

Everything looks better in the morning. We'll stay in our current abode for another year, with the possibility out there of course, of bailing on the lease prior to its end. We're tearing into our ridiculous amount of material possessions in the coming months and organizing everything. I'm gonna recover that sofa. We're gonna need a storage space. It'll all happen in time.

Was reading Yarn Harlot today and feeling left out, until I remembered that I did create my first cable during the Knitting Olympics. Certainly not anything to take the gold medal for when you measure it against sweaters and shawls, but a personal achievement nonetheless.

The pic is Tasha, courtesy of Knitty™. That cabling across the top of the bag is what I accomplished, in a pretty dark pink, I think it's called Heather Rose (Lion Brand Wool-Ease). Now of course, ever since I goofed up said cable last week, I can't for the f*ing life of me get it set right. I've frogged back more times than I care to count, but I think I'm going to have to garter stitch the last inch or so, and pick up and knit garter stitch on the other end to make it even. This is only going to be trim for a bag for me, so I'm certainly allowed to cave to laziness if I want.

Knit an inch or so on the body last night (Wool Ease Blue Mist, kind of close to what you see here), and all I can say is knitting this sucker together is gonna be interesting. This is the one that I actually knit the gauge swatch for before starting, and it's already looking like the body's coming out wider than the bottom. So much for swatching.

Also did a row or three on the B4, before tucking into the SSS. Didn't want to put it away to hit the sack EON; I'm really loving that shawl.

If anybody has boxes they don't want/need, bring 'em to KB; I'm packing up my house anyway for organizational purposes. We just don't have the room to have stuff out, so I'm gonna shift into old Melanie mode, box and catalog our belongings, and find a way to decorate around 'em!

At loose ends

Never even picked up a needle last night. That was frustrating, could've used the distraction. Made dinner, did 4 loads of laundry (which is labor-intensive when you live in an apartment complex with no washer/dryer connections, and one dryer craps out on you so you waste a $1.50), and obsessed about the news I'd gotten from the complex office. I'd gone in to put money on the laundry card and I asked nonchalantly about if they still accept short leases. They said yes, but that then the rent would go up to market value and as of next month, they measure market value by what it'll be AFTER the renovations. That's a jump in rent of $115. Never mind that that place ain't worth it, we plain can't afford it. I just asked what rent would be if we renew for a full year and was told it would only increase $25. How can they get away with a $90 difference like that? I don't want to stay in that pit for another entire year, but we may have to. I'm not planning on kicking Les into the work force until at least May, and that's assuming we get his surgery scheduled in mid-April. I wonder if that kind of rent raise is even legal, and I'm looking into it today; kind of figuring though, that we don't have a leg to stand on.

The thing that makes me livid, is that we wouldn't know any of this if we hadn't almost gotten evicted last week. In normal circumstances, we'd have told them oh, maybe a month in advance that we planned to renew--it's what we were planning--and we'd have had no clue they were going to slap that rent raise on us. When the hell were they going to get around to telling the tenants about the renovations? When they start complaining about the noise? The lease requires 60-days' notice if you're moving out. Technically, that's today; our lease runs out end of April. I was thinking we're going to have to take an extra month probably, and pay through the nose for it, because there's no way I can make that decision in 24 hours. But if the raise for a year is only up to $610...dammit, I don't want to stay there! The place is old enough to have asbestos and lead paint clauses in the lease, and it's falling apart around us! They talk about refacing the cabinets; they have no clue how bad the cabinet interiors are obviously, because they're gonna practically have to gut the place to bring it up to snuff for the Southside. My God, I hate being in a box like this! We've dicked around on the finances way too long and painted ourselves into one helluva corner.

Sorry about the vent, gang :)

And the cat said MOOOOO!

How about a picture, courtesy of the Chinese press...I have 2 cats, Jordan and Figaro. Jordan is a brown and white Siamese mix, age 10; Fig is a black and white short hair demon, age 2. I've been captioning this one: If Jordan Ate Figaro...

Another good one might be: Evidence the Cat's Been Eating Straight from the Bag...

Knitting's poking along...if anyone read the stuff I deleted, please relax--I'm fine. Everything looks better in the morning :)

Need my LAAAAAAACCCCEEEE!!!!

I've been hesitant to bring the lace to work to work on during lunch and my breaks, for the simple reason that it still looks like it's supposed to, and the easiest way to screw that up is to try and squeeze knitting into 15-minute increments and still keep track of where you are when you start and stop.

Could use it today though...barely 10 a.m. and I'm in a snit. For details, check out My LJ blog.

I know my limitations though, too; have had raging PMS this week so last night, didn't even touch the lace, instead tried to make some headway on B4 (Big Bad Baby Blanket). Not crazy about how Sand Stitch looks different front to back, but I think I'm going to keep going to the blocks before I decide if it's worth it to frog.

A new abbreviation for SSS

Seed Stitch Sucks!

Inherited a pile o' Encore from ruthee and decided to put it to baby stuff...I have a niece or nephew making an appearance around July, goddess willing. So I start the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch n' Bitch in a nice sage green (perfect camouflage for poop and puke, I figure), and discover something rather quickly. The above commment.

Embarrassing, but true. I mean, c'mon, Melanie, we're talking about seed stitch...k1, p1, repeat to end or until you pass out from boredom. It ain't brain surgery. But alas, I can't seem to keep them straight, even after checking in the SnB book for the cute little smiley-faced drawings that tell you what's a knit stitch and what's a purl (scarf vs. noose). So I rip it out, try again, rip it out, and consult my Big Book of Knitting Stitches for a cheat. Decide on Sand Stitch, which seems to be working better, but it looks like the blanket will have a definitive front and back now. ::sigh::

Will table Tasha for a bit now, so I can make some progress on this blanket, and will probably start the layette set in the white this week, because the hat and booties are easy, and a nice distraction. Also need to price 2 more skeins of Encore, I think, so I can make Kara's potential critter some baby Uggs--boy or girl, I just know she'd go apeshit over those :)

Made some nice headway on the real SSS last night, almost up to where the chart stops. Gonna let it grow quite a bit more though, before I switch to the 24s. I don't understand why knitting the lace is more relaxing than some of the other projects, but I'm sure grateful for it. I slept too much Sunday, worked Saturday, and thus, got nothing accomplished on the weekend, which usually puts me in a nice dark mood come Sunday night. But I poked along at the lace and didn't want to put it down, it was so much fun, and it actually lifted my spirits. Hope it continues to do that as the stitch numbers climb.

Some of us were tweaked at being called couch spuds in Time Magazine, in that blurb about the Knitting Olympics, but I tellya, when knitting actually helps my depression, I don't give a crap what that makes me, because I know it's doing something much more powerful than the knitting itself. That so means something to me, because while I was always the creative one in our fam, I was also least likely to shine at it, least overt at showcasing any talent. To know in my soul that something is doing me good--can it get any better than that?

Teeny, tiny whine

It is unnatural to break a sweat sitting outside having lunch in February. I don't care how beautiful it feels. I should be able to sit outside and enjoy my lunch without contracting odor.

Florida sucks.

Two comments...

So I popped over to Wendy Knits today and realized two things...

1) Her blog is not for the faint of heart. If you're currently feeling especially worthless about your ability to start, finish, or create knitting projects; if you spend time staring at your UFOs thinking, "damn, when DID I start this sucker?"; if the idea of knitting with more than one color at a time sends you into a corner in the fetal position, begging for chocolate or wine; then don't abuse yourself by reading her blog. It's unintentionally intimidating. Her subway commute notwithstanding and the fact that she's probably been knitting a helluva lot longer than I have, her projects exude a level of speed and professionalism that I aspire to oh, maybe when I'm around 50 years old.

2) That sweater that I recommended you look at, at the end of a recent entry, the black and white fair isle named Rose.....it took her......wait for it.....less than a month to knit.

We now pause so the smelling salts may take affect.

WAAAAYYYY down upon the Suwannee RIBBIT!

Muppet Show. Steve Martin guesting. Yeah, you had to be there.

Anyway, frogged the ole SSS again. If I'd continued with it in that fashion, I'd have been blocking a shawl x months from now with a big nipple in the middle. Great for Zoe. Not so great for me :)

Three rows in. So far so good. Definitely wasn't concentrating on that last one, I think I was screwing up already by row 3. Doesn't take much these days for the blonde moments to kick in.

Gonna go Dick Cheneying later for a katcha-katcha (that's where you go hunting for something, but you try to keep it a secret >:)

Dreaming of a world where I can do my job on a voice-activated computer so it frees up my hands to knit.

Feeling a little better today, thank the goddess!

the return of mr. sock!

Well, not really...but I took him out and we had a chat last night. And I turned his heel. But then I knit a couple of rows beyond the heel that definitely need to be ripped out, so it's hard to call the work a success.

This has been kind of a sucky winter. I really can't remember the last time I experienced the delicious oppression of a depressed psyche, which is why my present mood really blows. It's a tricky business, because I'm on all my prescribed doses of medication at present, so it begs the scary questions: has the Paxil's usefulness begun to wane? Do I need to decrease the lithium? Is it just SAD coupled with a horrifically cluttered apartment? Will these feelings abate if I a) get laid, b) rent a storage space and put the entire contents of my dining room in it, c) rob a bank to get Les's teeth done faster, so he can find work that much faster, d) go off my self-imposed, 2-week-old fiber diet, e) shoehorn Les off the couch and make him dig into our closet belongings and make piles......I think it's just winter blahs. Thank goodness I'm physically healthy, haven't caught the flu like everyone else I know this winter, because it's hard enough for me to get outta bed in the mornings of late...

I think I'm ripping out SSS again. It was forming this cone shape (because I still don't own a counter and seem to think that I can keep track of it because I have the pattern memorized) that might look great now, but I'm thinking will cause me problems come blocking time :(

P.S. Check out the February 13, 2006 blog entry for Wendy Knits (her link is at the left)...she finished Rose, a fair isle? of her own pattern making, and it is so completely f*cking beautiful! I want this pattern!!!

Never say never!

I frogged it.

36 rows. Around and around.

And something weird happened.

I didn't mind.

I'll never forget the time ruthee frogged my sock sock back to the heel turn. It was painful, I remember reaching for it once or twice and saying, no, really, you can stop there.

This time, nothing but determination. I started unknitting, but within 2 or 3 sections, I could see the futility. I'm just not skilled enough to unknit that much lace and think it's going to come out ok. There were 3 sections out of 8 that needed work, and I've been knitting exactly what, a year and some change? I've yet to pick up a crochet hook to grab a stray loop, and I barely believe in gauge. I looked at it and thought of the finished product and said to myself, don't you want it to look right? This isn't like a garter stitch scarf in Homespun, where if you make a mistake, no one will ever notice; this is a deliberate pattern and you have strayed rather succinctly. Well, that sounds like me but I doubt I actually had that whole conversation in my head. Heh, well, then again...

So I frogged and after 2 false starts, I have something back on the needles. I can't wait to go home and work on it some more. The weather's perfect, a cool drizzly rain, nothin' to do but clean house, do laundry, and knit once I get done with this blasted half day of work.

To frog or not to unknit...

Yeah, right. We're talking lace here. There's no frickin' way I'm frogging.

Unknitting might be another story however. I was poking along at my buddy Mr. Lace last night. At home because the car was outta gas and the account was outta cash, so I had to bail on KB :( I'm poking along and I realize I can recognize when the K2tog occurs, so I can stop counting every little stitch. Yeah, well, gave myself a wee bit too much credit because to look at it a couple of rows later, it's obvious there are some f*ckups. Great, now what? I was thinking of letting it go, since this is my first lace project and is only getting worn by me, but my knitting pride seems to have been getting the better of me after I sleep on these issues, because I'm pondering it this morning and thinking I have some unknitting ahead of me.

This is good though. This isn't me being a perfectionist (which I always fear, since I was one for a long time); it's, like I said, pride. This yarn color is pretty, the pattern is neat, and I'm enjoying this project immensely; why shouldn't I want it to come out right? Now I just wish I didn't have 7 hours of real work (website editing) ahead of me, because I'd love to jump in on the unknitting. I think it'll only be 4 rows tops. What sucks is I know some sections are perfect while others aren't, so I hate having to unknit the correct sections in order to fix the incorrect ones, but I know I'll be happier with the finished product, so there's that to look forward to. I may go at this slower than some of the other gals in the group, but the finished product is definitely something I'll be proud of. :)

More pondering

Much as I'd like to learn to spin, I just can't see that it's something that I would derive satisfaction from. Thanks to my meds, I've learned a wealth about patience in recent years. I can spend an hour in traffic singing to myself; used to want to rip the steering wheel off its column when I hit gridlock. But the first time the roving pulls apart, I just know I'd be ready to send a spinning wheel clear across the room.

Not giving myself enough credit? Probably. I did ok with the White Buffalo, and that stuff seems to pull apart out of spite, right when you are cruising at a decent clip.

Still, I'm more curious about looms. Of course, any acquisition of materials would have to occur after we've moved into a house, because even a table loom would be too much for our current busting-at-the-seams abode. But they're interesting to me. Yet another thing to take me outside of my head, which right now wouldn't be a bad thing. It's been a bad week, but the calm that comes from working the lace is different than regular knitting somehow. I spent yesterday recovering from a particularly low point, and I knew better than to work the body of Tasha, because it's standard stockinette and would have me bored within seconds. The lace requires counting and accuracy, and working in the round is calming somehow. ruthee, or whomever, picked a good pattern, because I know that's not the case with all lace--ruthee can't even mention the Pi shawl without adding an expletive to the statement :) But the not-quite-repetitive nature of the SSS is giving me rewards when it's still in toddler stage (I only just hit row 36). And right now that's something I need, so I'm grateful.

Accomplishment on 2 levels

Meet Alexa and Maria, the only living proof willing to admit that Melanie can knit!

Well, not entirely true, I suppose...my mom just got a shawl for her birthday...whether she's worn it or not though, ...

Granted, there are those who look upon us Florida knitters as needing our heads examined, which is why Alexa and Maria are the perfect models. Hailing from Salem, Massachusetts, where if the snow doesn't kick your ass, then the wind off the water will, this getup may still look a little funny, but I'll bet it keeps Maria snug in her sling. This was a standard rectangular poncho with Vneck in White Buffalo Straw and Persimmon; I cribbed ideas from about 3 different patterns, because it was my first time working with White Buffalo so I was inexperienced at shaping with that type of yarn, and in retrospect, I'll use larger needles next time.

Hey A, would it be warmer if you stitched the sides together and left armholes? The thing already feels like one of those Xray capes, but, just pondering...

The second level of accomplishment I'm referring to is the SSS. Had Imbolc stuff Saturday and Saturday night, worked a couple of hours Sunday morning, and did some baking after a nap Sunday afternoon. Once the Super Bowl started, I finally sat down with the ole SSS and studied/counted whether any damage I'd done was irreparable. Nope, looked ok, only one section off a stitch. Hole in the middle's a little big, but it's nothing I can't fiddle with later. I decided to transfer it to the 16" 7s, even though I was only about 12 rows in, because I really didn't trust myself too well with the dpns--even the 8s have you feeling like you've acquired at least 3 extra thumbs. Transferred and started knitting and something wonderful happened: I started to see the pattern in the yarn! Such relief! I mean, seriously, my first attempt was so funny, it would've been one of those ruthee moments of "here, let me just frog this for you to oh, row 6!" Since I'm knitting this for me, I don't mind if there's some fudgy spots, but I certainly don't want it laughable. But there's actual curves occurring. The tough part is the pattern's so easy to remember, I was forgetting to count my rows--I'd think I was at 13 when I was actually already up to 17--and I never bought a katcha-katcha, so it meant some careful counting once or twice, but I'm not confused by it anymore! ::snoopy dance::

Oh my...I'm a website editor and just came across a slogan that's begging to be shared.

For an old-fashioned soda fountain and ice cream shop:
Friends don't let friends lick alone.

Please forward comments to Robbie & Michelle at www..... :)

SSS Started!!!

I did it!
Totally cheated, but it's started, and already ready for the 16" circs. Too bad I don't have 'em.

I say I cheated because I did the first 4 rows straight, then joined it and weaved it together using the tail. It'll probably look like crap, and the center hole's a little big right now, but I'm sure I can fix it when the time comes. It's not going to look like anything until I get it on the circulars anyway.

Now just gotta find the 16s, they don't carry 'em in size 8 at JoAnn's @ St. Johns TC, and I don't think my Michael's even carries Clover yet, which I'd prefer. May have to go to AC Moore, because I'm looking for a place that'll exchange an extra set of 13s for the 8s.

Ok, it's official, I'm a bonehead...I have 16" size 7s, I'm almost positive, bought 'em when I made the grey hat. Why don't I just downsize? Slightly smaller stitches will help me recognize the pattern better as it develops anyway. Will investigate further tonight.

Perspective

Things always look a little better on the downslope of a day. Which makes no sense when you consider I'm going home to the clutterpile that is my home and the source of such frustration. Still...

Saw two good ones on blogs today...the first one was the term "procrastinatrix." Oh. My. God. So. Me.

The other one's a joke...hear the one about the argument between the masochist and the sadist?
The masochist kept saying, "beat me, beat me!"
The sadist said, "no."

::grin::

That one reminds me of one I heard in college...
How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?




Fish.




"No, she's not a Picasso. If she was a Picasso, she'd have 3 tits."
Billy Crystal, City Slickers

Yup, definitely feeling better. If I can't get the cast-on tonight, then darn it, I'm going to try a different pattern. I've never been one to follow the herd, well, not on my current medication anyway, so maybe I should try a different shawl. The book A Gathering of Lace is just gorgeous and offers a lot of options for all levels of expertise.

CAUTION: Coffee hasn't kicked in yet.....

Warning: this post contains whine. Do not drive a car or operate heavy machinery after consuming this post.

My name is Melanie. I'm in a rut.

Hi, Melanie...

It's only partly of my own making at present. The apartment complex I live in decided to give us washer/dryer connections about 6 months ago. About 2 months ago, they got down to brass tacks and sent independent contractors in to tear up drywall and rewire the joint. This meant taking 7 years worth of detritus from our bedroom closet and placing it elsewhere. We live in 800 square feet with an above-average amount of furniture and 2 cats. Needless to say, it's feeling a little cluttered.

Now, apparently, the rewiring was done incorrectly and needs to be redone before the city inspectors come to give the go-ahead for placement of said washer/dryer. The complex keeps sending us letters warning us that the contractors will be coming to work, and then they don't show. Meanwhile, we're supposed to keep the closet reasonably empty so they can work.

I've already done one Goodwill run, well, Hubbard House, and it's obvious that another purging and reorganization needs to occur soon. I dabbled with the idea of getting rid of some of the furniture, but it's all good stuff that just needs a replacement cushion here, some recovering there...Quite simply, before this closet mess occurred, we were already outgrowing the apartment. We have a couch, a loveseat, 2 upholstered chairs of sorts, 3 bookcases, the dining room with computer table, 4 end tables (2 of which I loathe because they're nothing but dust catchers), 3 coffee tables (because Les and I are dumpster divers), and various other sundries. We received a king-size bed last year from his folks, and now with the way the closet clothes have spilled into the bedroom, it's no wonder I feel like I can barely move in there.

And it doesn't help that Les and I have turned into a couple of lazy slobs.

What brought on this rant? This week I've been reading other people's blogs. Exciting, interesting tales of busy lives replete with kids, spinning, knitting, working with a loom, raising bunnies for the fur, graduate theses, law school, and starting seeds for gardening, and it's brought home full-force how much I want to do in this life, and how much I'm allowing this rut to take the place of those dreams. It leaves me restless and ornery, but doesn't leave me energized enough to do anything about it at the end of a mind-numbing day of website editing. I got home last night a little later than normal, made dinner, contemplated baking some bread, came to my senses, pulled out the knitting to try casting on for SSS again, gave up after 2 tries and switched to Tasha, did a handful of rows and moved onto starting Tasha's cable edging in Heather Rose, which required working from both ends of the skein because I'm double-stranding it, which resulted in a hellish tangle that I spent the better part of an hour trying to remedy while watching "Lackawanna Blues," only to have it frustrate me to the point of cutting it and giving a ball of knots to the cat to play with.

I feel so spent sometimes, and I don't even have kids. Part of it may be my body still rebounding from 2½ days without one of my meds last week, and we won't even go into how much more energy I'd have if I'd just get out and walk every day...

So when you're this cluttered in your home life, it stands to reason that you're going to feel cluttered elsewhere in your life too. And it's not like I'm overextending myself. I go out exactly 1 night a week, and my weekends are usually clear. But I don't make good use of the time I have, and I'm losing patience with the fact that I need to hang onto my patience just a little while longer. I completely understand that Les is afraid to look for work; if I had his teeth, it would pain me to leave the house. And with a little luck and a lot of Grandma's money, we only have to stand on our heads, as my dad would say, for another 2 months or so. I can certainly handle that. Just need to remind myself of that a little more often, I guess. And knit up a storm in the meantime, to keep from eating my frustration.

So...
Knitting tonight
Personal ritual for Imbolc tomorrow night
CUUPs ritual and potluck Saturday night
Super Bowl Sunday

If I can steer clear of OT at work, Saturday day is clear except for throwing together something in the casserole department for that night. And Sunday's wide open til 6ish and even after; it's not like I need undivided attention on the game. Time to stop whining and get a little work done.

Asshatin' slightly OT

That's what we call "dicking around" here in my little coffee and fiber cloche in Jax...and it's what I did for most of work today. Found a blog at http://www.woolflowers.net that has a L...O...N...G...list of neighbor blogs, so I just started snurfing. Surprisingly my productivity numbers at work were better than they have been in a long time.

Found the drinking one courtesy of knotology's blog, and I'm cringing because I can't remember where the skywatcher one came from! I promise to give you the kudos you deserve as soon as I find you again.

In the meantime, bought the size 8s, will try to cast on SSS again tonight, and if not successful, am planning to rip out Cozy and use those needles to do the front and back of Tasha, because as it turns out, Cozy can't be right because I've been YOing incorrectly since I started knitting. Considering I've been knitting for more than a year now, that was quite the pissy revelation, lemme tell you!

Found a blog with a girl who was showing off Fair Isle in one entry and celebrating taking the SATs in another.....am I wrong to want to beat her to death with her spinning wheel?

Monday, Part 2

Yay! Had trouble uploading it earlier...

I've discovered I'm an honorary member...I say honorary because I'm still not planning to actually torture myself by participating in the Knitting Olympics. But since I like sheep, LOVE daffodils, think their flag is EXCELLENT, would like to visit Wales and am reasonably sure of its location, it would appear I'm eligible, even though I'm more a Mc than a Mac.

Seeing my pal Patches McSmacky's new couch has my wheels turning about recovering my loveseat, which has been brutalized by the cats on both sides and was never a great pattern to begin with. I'd buy the slipcover for the body, but I'd like to recover the seat cushions and 5 pillows myself. Might stall on lace tonight and do some measurements....

Got the White Buffalo in on Saturday! Frickin' gorgeous!!!

T-minus 40 minutes til knitting!

Lace--an exercise in patience

I really didn't expect to screw up this fast.

A bunch of us had the lovely and talented ruthee cast on our Super Spirals on Saturday. I'd like to know how the writer of this pattern manages to start a circular beginning on size 10 dpns without shoving a needle through her own eye in frustration. So ruthee gets me started, I knit a bit on Saturday afternoon, but when I take it out on Sunday and compare the hash marks I've made (to count rows) to the knitting, something doesn't feel right. I count stitches on one section and then another, and sure enough, there's a discrepancy. Crap. Because it's lace knitting, I can't quite tell yet what I've done wrong, there's no pattern in the knitting to speak of yet, to the untrained eye. So for grins, I count each section and in true Melanie fashion, the sections range from 9 to 14 stitches. WTF!!! After staring at it for quite a bit of time in bafflement as to how this could've happened and wondering what the hell I'm going to do, I decide to get 'em all back to even--I increase and decrease until I'm back to 10 stitches per section. Then I bury it deep in my bag and do a couple of rows of Tasha.

But I know this won't do. I'm frogging it tonight and buying size 8s. Just don't know if I'll be able to start the darn thing over again without help, which would mean waiting til KB on Thursday or begging ruthee for a smidgen of quality time after work between now and then. I know having the smaller needles will help a bit, but it's definitely going to be that exercise in patience mentioned above.

Tasha is a nice looking bag from Knitty, I just started her ribbed bottom this past weekend. I'm knitting the body in a double strand of Blue Mist Wool Ease, and as the yarn depletes I'll decide where to put the Heather Rose trim; probably at least in the strap and top cable on the body. I have plenty of both, so I think I'll do the whole body in the blue. I'm glad I started it; it's nice to have a new, easy project on the side for when the lace makes me want to stab something with my needles.

I'm a bad, bad, bad, bad, girl.........

If there was one New Year's resolution that the Knitting Bitches came up with for 2006, it was a fiber diet. A bunch of the gang had recently gone through their stashes and experienced a significant "holy crap, where'd all this yarn come from?!" moment. Not having that problem to a great extent yet, I chose not to deprive myself, also because our funds are so sparse that usually whether or not I should buy yarn isn't an issue. Plus we have the Knitalong about to start.

Then I was blog surfing yesterday for Wool-Ease ideas per usual (I'd love to dive into some of that and get it outta the stash), when I come upon Mind of Winter, curse her fuzzy little heart:
5 pucks of Seal Beige Heather for $22 (shipping included). What is it that makes women's brains glaze over at the sight of a good deal? Be it yarn, shoes, purses, we fall victim to the "i deserve this" mindset and whip out the debit card. I haven't even decided yet exactly what I'm doing with the first 5 pucks of White Buffalo that I have (4 turquoise, 1 slate), but my brain immediately rationalizes it--hey, more choices on what to make now! I need a support group.

KB is a support group, big time, they're the best friends I have in this yucky town, but since it perpetuates the addiction, I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and go on a fiber diet now too. It's for my own good. Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Just because White Buffalo has gone out of business doesn't mean you're justified in lurking on eBay. There's a helluva lot of yarn out there. Next time I feel the need, and actually have the dough, to buy yarn, I'll put it in a fund for the trip to Kentucky this summer or the trip to Charlotte in October. There's plenty in the stash to knit in the meantime. Be a grownup.

Wah.

On the upside, I think I'm going to knit Tasha from Knitty with my Blue Mist Wool-Ease, using my Rose Heather for the trim.

Couldn't resist...

Much as I would love to participate in the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics, there's a little thing called "knowing your own limitations." Starting any minute now, the Knitting Bitches of Jax are partaking in a Shawl Knitalong, pulling the pattern for the Super Spiral from "A Gathering of Lace" and driving ourselves insane over it. I've only played with lace up until now, so I know this is a project that's going to need some concentration from me. So I'll be a good little nutjob and confine my projects to light stuff besides the shawl for now (put Cozy away, tackle the occasional bootie...).

So the above button, courtesy of JenLa at http://knottygirls.com/jenlablog/index.php is my way of tipping my cap to the Olympians and wishing them the best. And who knows? Maybe I'll enjoy the occasional adult refreshment while working the lace. My knitting with a buzz on has thus far been perfect, and I've never been one to leave well enough alone. However, the horror stories I'm hearing from the crowd about just casting on this sucker will probably keep the knitting to a minimum during beer o'clock.

Asshatin'

No knitting occurred at all this weekend. No A/C in my apartment. 80 degrees in January. I f*cking hate Florida. I'm ready to move to Canada now.

So I changed one or two things here. I like my papasan, but it doesn't really describe me. However, I've had a thing about lighthouses for some time now, so changing the whole title/URL to accommodate the design layout seemed like a neat idea.

Then there's my name. I'm a witch, and some witches choose to take pagan names. I chose one name when I initiated myself, but it didn't feel enough like me, didn't say enough about who I am. Truthfully, my first name (Brynja Beryl Akwesasne) was partly a link to my past; Akwesasne is Mohican for "land where the partridge drum." It was a reminder for me of a childhood home, Above All. We'd hear this basketball sound, and it wasn't Cyril; it was the partridge taking off in the woods. And while that place has been idealized in my head as a good memory, I wasn't comfortable having so much of my past in a name representing my present and future. So I changed it. Still love the name Brynja though...

I am Ember Grace Madrone. Ember because I love the idea of fire still strong enough to stay alive in ashes. Grace in honor of my Nanie; it's her maiden name. She's 94½. Madrone's reason is twofold. She's the heroine in one of my favorite books: Starhawk's The Fifth Sacred Thing. And I love the idea of a tree encompasses more than one type/species. The Pacific Madrone is what's known as a broad-leaf evergreen tree, and when I read up on it, I'd never heard of such a thing—that a tree can be deciduous and coniferous at the same time (well, sort of). I like the multifacetedness of it, like to think it describes me in a way, with my wackiness and my lithium deficiency, and my cravings for knowledge.

I'm a solitary, so the ole name thing doesn't mean much outside of my head. I'm still plain old Melanie J. to the Jax crowd. But blogging allows you to let people in without truly letting them in, if you know what I mean. It's as personal as a journal entry, but as anonymous as you want it to be too. So since there was no knitting this weekend, I give you a little piece of me.

Soft! Soft!

I got to pet KnitPicks Shadow in my color last night at KB: Jewels

Sweet!

Worked on 1 project last night! That's right folks, 1! Though I oughta be working on Cozy for the lace practice...

Need to buy needles, stitch markers, and katcha-katcha this weekend for the KAL.

20 minutes left to work...can't go by fast enough!

Logos abound

Okay...that sort of worked the way I wanted to...

Just trying out the old graphics options. I was adding links and redesigning the ole blog this morning, just for something to do, but even with the nifty lighthouse at top left, I know that graphics make all the difference (see Kimberli's blog for case in point). And since I don't have a digicam, a scanner, or a decent computer system at home, this'll have to do for now.

So please check out my links at the left at your leisure, there's some really interesting stuff. They're places I visit on a fairly regular basis. I'm giving myself til February to start wondering where the hell the $2,000 for the Avon Walk is coming from, so enjoy my nonpushiness while it lasts :)

stop...start....stop....start...start...

It's been a week of false and true knitting starts, as the title would suggest. Waiting for the KAL to start has me at loose ends as to what to work on. We ordered the yarn and books this week and will get them next week. In the meantime there's 5,700 yards of Wool Ease staring me in the face, whispering "knit me..."

To be fair, a third of that's already allotted to Cozy from Knitty; I'm doing it in Heather Rose and the first 8 rows seemed to go ok, which usually means I'm doing something wrong. Then I started a slot scarf in the Wool Ease Thick & Quick, one of those scarves that has a slot for sliding one end through.

I tried to start a potato chip scarf twice with no luck; THAt was frustrating. It's supposed to be with LB Homespun on size 10 circulars. The pattern is something like K1, yo, * on 1 row, and then purl the next row. The first time I was purling the yarnovers and the tension got ridiculous. The 2nd time I dropped the yarnovers and realized that couldn't be right because you'd be keeping the same number of stitches, not doubling them as the pattern suggests. It got frogged again last night, until I can find different needles to work with.

So I started baby stuff in the interim. Given my knitting limitations still, I can't be worried too much about how everybody until the KB sun is going to be knitting baby blankets for Terra. Besides, I haven't tried one yet and I found a really pretty pattern. I also started a fresh baby hat and will do at least booties to match. Thought about trying the sweater in that pattern batch, but I don't have the right size needles for it, and I've got enough dough going toward knitting already this month. I ordered the book "A Gathering of Lace" and 4 skeins of Knit Picks Shadow for the Super Spiral Shawl we're doing for the KAL. Can't wait to get the book; I want to study up on the necessary stitches so that if I come across something when I'm knitting at home, I don't end up doing it wrong and frogging painfully come Thursdays.

Looking forward to KB tonight...

Scatty knitting

Can't decide on projects lately...thank goodness the KBers are doing it for me on one project. We're doing a shawl knitalong from one of the patterns in A Gathering of Lace...VERY pretty shawl, should be interesting. My other projects though, feel kind of hodge-podgy. Haven't touched Cozy. Pulled out Red Heart shawl UFO and been hitting 4 rows a night on it. Started a super easy scarf, one of those ones with the slot for putting one end through, with the Wool Ease Thick & Quick that Dana gave me. Frogged the alpaca. Needles were too small, it was bothering me. Thinking of starting something with that teal mohairy stuff that Teresa gave me a while back, just no idea what. Ought to start a baby blanket.

Definitely at loose ends this week.

And I forget, what does POT mean?

Buried in acrylic

I need to stop nagging ruthee about her non-blogging...i'm only managing once a week at present. Silly holidays got me behind.

Why do I choose projects with yarn that I hate? The White Buffalo was a delightful exception, but now I'm trying to plow through 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun for a shawl for my mom's birthday, and while I love the feel of Homespun and its wash-and-wear durability, I am SO friggin' sick of knitting on it. Could also be because for time-saving sake, I went with straight garter stitch--you can SO get away with that with Homespun--so I'm bored out of my skull.

And I'm completely (FINALLY, the Knitting Bitches would say) over working with yarns that are majority acrylic, or some other manmade, petroleum-based fur. Too stretchy, you work it too much and it squeaks, and did I mention too stretchy? I'm trying to start the Cozy pattern with the Heather Rose Wool Ease, and I can already see I'm going to be frogging it and looking for a better lace pattern. Cozy's easy enough to get the hang of, but it's an involved pattern and a real bitch to look at and tell if you're doing it right, for a beginner. I must be ornery today too, damn moon being in Aries, because I think I want to switch to the dark blue because it's winter (in normal states) and the Rose is irritating me, but I chose the Rose so that I'd actually be able to see the lace pattern once I got going...there's no pleasing me.

Encore's nice too, used that on the hat and booties, and I'm glad I have some more to play with for the baby blankets and whatnot. Starting in February, the KBers are doing a Shawl Knitalong, ordering yarn from Knit Picks and working off a common pattern from the book "A Gathering of Lace." It's a really beautiful, spiral patterned shawl, and I decided I'm going to go in on that. It'll be nice to create something pretty and have instant help along the way.

And off topic, I've officially started planning and training (well, in my way) for the Avon Walk! I got the 2006 handbook and T-shirt this week, have been watching what I eat, doing yoga in the evenings to get to know my body, and making lists to prepare. I won't start fundraising hardcore til at least February, because it feels kind of funny when I just got done begging for Autism, but I'm not scared about my money goal yet. Ask me again around August :)

Warm fuzzies

Knitting for other people can be trying if you're not a deadline person. But I just got a nice dose of gratitude from a non-knitter and boy, did it feel good! My coworker Shawna is about 5 weeks away from her first daughter. I've always had a thing for this girl; she's a luminous beauty with a smile that lights up a room. So I decide to try my hand at something new, a simple hat and booties from an old Creative Knitting magazine. These projects work up really fast, and I'm delighted by that instant gratification feel that you just don't get from a poncho or a throw. I mean, a booty with concentration is a 2-evening job, and once you get decreasing on the hat, it's like, holy crap, it's a hat! I got her some onesies from her registry too, wrapped everything and gave it to her today. She was so delighted! Showed the hat and booties off to everyone around us. Makes me glad I have 2 more babies to knit for, because I can't wait to tackle some more booties. I want to find that Zoe Mellor book that has like, 50 variations on a bootie pattern...maybe I'll check ILL for it.

Finally got moving again on Mom's shawl, and just started (like 1 row in) on Cozy from Knitty. Also thinking of doing the shawl knit-a-long, now that I've seen a better pic...it's a beautiful nautilus pattern from the book, A Gathering of Lace.

Resolutions

I do love a good holiday as much as the next gal, but with Christmas, it's SUCH a relief when it's past. Even though I'm back at the snore that we call work and the house is an ever-loving mess, it's a relief to be back to normal.

Decided to do Mom's shawl in 2 or 3 panels because I just don't have it in me to rip out an entire skein's worth of work, which is what I'd have to do if I decided to fix it and follow the pattern. It'll probably come out a little wonky, but it'll work up rather fast. I also want to start Cozy by Knitty in that rose-colored Wool Ease, a baby blanket with the off-white Encore, and more baby booties for the potential critters in my life. Finished the hat and booties for Shawna's baby; I'll buy a little something from her Target registry to round out the gift, and then I can focus on Terra and Kara.

Alexa got the poncho and claims to like it :) Still deciding what to do with the White Buffalo I purchased...I have 4 pucks of turquoise (gorgeous!!) and one puck of slate that'll make a nice border on something. I'm thinking Cape May from Knitty, but I don't like or trust the ribbon closure at the neck; would want to create something sturdier.

Knitting? What knitting?

Well, that's not entirely accurate, I did finish that one bootie. Already talked about it though, didn't I?

Well, the silly holiday season has me hopping. Not sure I picked up needles all weekend, we were too busy figuring out holiday purchases and such. I'm looking forward to driving up there Thursday, may actually get some needle time in.

Haven't heard from Alexa, which means a) mr. poncho hasn't arrived yet thanks to the good ole holiday postal backups, b) it has arrived and she's as crazed as I am with the holiday and family excrement to email, I mean, heck, a toddler and a baby are hard enough to juggle without the biggest honkin' holiday of the year staring us in the face, or c) it's arrived, it's far uglier than she expected, and she needs to purchase a new thesaurus before writing to spare my feelings. Not too paranoid, am I?

I'm such a dolt sometimes. I increased the needle size on Mom's shawl, because I just couldn't deal with the concept of working on 10½s after months of working on 13s, but do I decrease the number of cast-on stitches to compensate? Of course not, which explains why the first skein's worth looks so honkin' big! I'm thinking of binding off and knitting it in panels instead. We'll see.....

Baby stuff's cool!

So I think I've mentioned this before, but anyone who whines about how long and drawn out knitting can be, hasn't tried baby stuff.

I've made a hat and one bootie from this fairly simple pattern from an old issue of Creative Knitting, and it's got me so jazzed, I may have to make the sweater in the pattern too. I can't make it to Shawna's baby shower, because I'll be at a follow-up dental appointment with Les, but my guilt doesn't stick around because this first batch of baby stuff is for her critter, Baylee.

I'm so tickled that I pulled off that bootie. It almost has the shape of a mini Ugg, except there's basketweave at the top of the little shaft. And they turn out so quickly! The bootie was only a little more than a 2-evening knit for me, and the same thing for the hat--once you start decreasing, it's a snap! I want to buy that 50 Booties to Knit book by Zoe Mellor... the delusions of aptitude again.

It's not cold enough down here yet. It'll go 60s/40s H/L for a week, and then it'll rain and the humidity will shoot up and make me grumpy. They got ice in Atlanta, but I'm not getting my hopes up that our area of SC will see anything substantial over Christmas. Wouldn't mind wearing my wool tho', haven't had to yet this season, which makes me quite glad I got that fleece coat from my cousin Niki. If you're into vintage and vintagesque clothing, check out her selection at http://www.classiccloset.com.

Ahhh...new projects.....

The poncho is safely in the mail, well, hopefully, considering it's the holiday season, and thoughts can then turn to all the other crap I'd love to be knitting...

Anyone who thinks that crocheting is better because it's faster, needs to try their hand at knitting a baby hat. Those little suckers should be in the dictionary under "instant gratification." Granted I think the brim was tricky at first, because it was my first try at a basketweave not looking like crap, but once I hit the point of decrease and got my hands on some DPNs, it was finished in like, 1 hour tops!

And that's sweet, because now I have 3 babies to knit stuff for...my coworker Shawna, my knitting pal Terra, and my sis-in-law Kara! That one took some time to wrap my head around...I was out of my head with jealousy, and it's hard to work through those emotions when the 1-more-year-moratorium-on-procreation is entirely your own doing. I want to be healthy, we're in lousy shape financially, so I figured signing up for the Avon walk was a good way to fundraise for an excellent cause and getting into baby shape at the same time. I ache to have a child, but I know we'll be better off and happier for the wait.

Soo...plunge into knitting projects! Try to knit Mom's shawl in the next 2 weeks. Start a baby blanket for Shawna (she's first in line) and maybe some booties, if I can figure out what I'm doing wrong on knitting in the front and back of a stitch. I want to teach myself some lacework too, maybe that diamond pattern shawl that Lion Brand has, but without the Homespun, just seems to me that knitting lace in Homespun would be an exercise in frustration. Knock off some of the Wool Ease Sportweight projects I've been wanting to do too.

And then next week.....::grin::

Done!

As in mailed! Sent it off yesterday via USPS parcel post with $100 worth of insurance just for grins, and some prayers that it arrives at Alexa's unscathed. The holiday season at the U.S. Postal Service tends to fetch up images like the commercial with the kid who bagging groceries by slam-dunking the watermelon on top of the eggs, and then bubblewrapping the coffee. While I sort of agree with that notion, it still makes me nervous, like not being able to personally deliver the stuff to A., while at the same time certainly not wanting to be there when she opens it...I mean, what if it's completely not what she had in mind? ACK! No thank you, I'll be over in this corner playing with the girls while simultaneously keeping my hands over my ears and singing LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!!!

So I busy myself with new projects, like Mom's shawl, which I really don't know if I can get done by Christmas, and the 3 babies I get to knit for now. Shawna, a coworker, is such a luminous beauty, I have a crush on her. She's due to have a girl in February. Terra follows with her girl in March. And then there's Kara, my unmarried sister-in-law, who I'm insanely jealous of and have no right to be because I know by waiting, Les and I'll be better prepared and happier in the long run. She, on the other hand, will be lucky to still have her partner around by the time she gives birth. He has 2 of his own from Marriage #1 that he can't afford. Still, finding out she was pregnant has stirred such blackness inside me, that I just have to recognize it and move on, move closer to my goals of better financial stability and physical fitness.

Seriously though, DAMMIT!

Done!

It's a poncho! Well, honestly, it has the look of a serape, but it's all stitched together. The Vneck is still a little big, so I cinched it at the bottom just a bit, but just with a bit of White Buffalo, no knots, so it could be undone in a snap. She could always put a ribbon there to cinch it a bit, but since it's an honest Vneck, too much cinching would look funny. I'm still planning to make a triangle for her to block into the Vneck if desired.

The stitching together of it was interesting, and I remembered very quickly why I'd originally wanted to do it all in one piece. Was trying to sew it together with the White Buffalo, and the blasted stuff kept pulling apart! So I dug into my stash and stitched it together with a double strand of a really light beige (I think it was one Wool Ease and one Encore), and was very happy with the result, because it felt much more secure. Then naturally you could see the beige in spots, and while it probably blended fine, that wasn't good enough for me, so I went over it the next night with the White Buffalo. So it looks a bit hodge-podge to the critical eye, but you certainly can't notice the difference when looking at the wearer.

I'm going to try my darnedest to mail it Saturday, but I'm not sure I have a box big enough for everything...may have to scour the hallways here at work.