Freak of Nature!!!

The baby shower at which my blanket is supposed to make it's debut is next Saturday. How did I miss this?? I'll refrain from posting a new picture because it would be depressing. If you're really interested in the progress, scroll down a few entries and look at the last picture of it. The only difference between then and now is that the blanket is currently balled up in an ice bucket that it was thrown in as we were bringing things in from the van. Shit. I'm off to knit.

I'm Baaaack

Yes, yes. I know it's been forever and a day since I last posted. Sorry. All I can say is that I'm one of those people for whom the more time there is to do stuff, the less stuff gets done. Conversely, if I'm super crazy busy, I go into frantic mode and manage to get absolutely everything I need done and then some. I'm still adjusting to not having such huge deadlines always looming over me and when given the spare time, I just kind of flit around trying to decide what it is that I'm really supposed to be doing. Anyhow, that kind of explains it.

Sooooooo.....I have lots and lots to share. My game plan to get myself back into the swing of blog maintenance is to post a little spread over a few days. Seeing as how I'm so all over the place, some of the stuff may be (severely) out of chronological order, but oh well. To start, I'll begin with the present.

Most of my sock club subscriptions have expired, which is a little sad. I had some massive issues with Paypal that kept me from being able to renew anything. Maybe that's for the best seeing as how my sock yarn stash has grown to legendary proportions. I think we all know where my heart really lies, and *that* sock club is still in full swing. Yes, I am referring to the 2008 Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock club. I don't really remember if I ever even posted my first shipment....I'll have to investigate that....but here's the second.

and a semi fugly close up of the yarn

The colors really don't show well at ALL in these pictures. My house s so dark and with the schedule I was keeping, sunlight and I were distant strangers. I really like the color, and am liking the pattern too. I wasn't sure about it when I first looked at it, but once I really saw the details of it I'm digging it a lot more. I'd really like to say that these socks were completed, but a little touch of masochism got in the way. It looks a little like this.....

It's a Modern Log Cabin Blanket! Excitement.

I recalled that my impregnator nephew and his fiancees baby is due quite soon. So, in my brilliance, I decided to make a large, multi-colored, smaller gauged blanket for them. Smart! It's actually coming along quite nicely......attractive, more complex looking than it really is, and yet still on the easy knit/semi-speedy side. The only issue I'm really having with it is that some of the joints are a little......icky.

I'm hoping that when I wash it and all that good finishing stuff, I can kind of conceal some of the messiness. If not, eh, it's really not all that noticeable unless you're really looking at it.

Well, that's about it for now. I have my camera charged and ready to go so hopefully I'll be spitting out some FO shots soon. Not that I'll actually be spitting out FO's. That's one of the joys of not blogging for a long time. I have a lot done already:)

What???

So the other day we were out and my mom said something about how messed up it was that she had a daughter who knits and she's the only person she knows who doesn't own a scarf or hat. This is from the woman who has specifically told me on several occasions not to knit anything for her because she wouldn't use it. From this experience, I opted to ignore her comment. Night before last, though, she called me to say that she had been feeling sorry for herself because she didn't have a scarf and gloves. I reminded her again today of her earlier comments, but it's been decided that I'll make her the scarf and gloves that she wants. She wanted some cashmere but for the set, that would be quite expensive. I ended up choosing Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky for the scarf and some DK for the gloves. I've never tried the stuff myself, but I've heard good things. Here's hoping.

Trick Weekend

Hmmm...now that I've typed that, the chosen title may give slightly the wrong impression of me. No, no....It was not that kind of weekend. In the typical way my life seems to go, even after checking, checking, confirming, and checking again that I had no obligations associated with the MSMTA conference this weekend, I still somehow ended up staying at the Marriott all weekend and playing driver girl. While this considerably cut into my planned ass-sitting time, I was able to make the most of my time by knitting and taking baths. I wish I had thought to take pictures of the shower head there because to me, it is a marvel. One of my favorite things to do in hotels is make use of their superior shower equipment and water pressure. However, I've found that the showers at various Marriott's across the nation are more suited to say.....the under 4'3 crowd. Trying to take a shower while bent over backwards in a bridge formation is not my idea of relaxation. The room service was fabulous though, so I was able to survive. And knit!

Brian's sweater.....dubbed the "special" sweater. Right now one cannot truly witness its "specialness". I just looks like a little brown.....well, a large brown hat, really. That's because 1) I have yet to separate the arms from the body and 2) It won't have the giant red "B" that he demands be put on it until after it's finished. Hopefully the process of duplicate stitching a giant red "B" on my freshly knit sweater will induce such alcohol consumption that the letter will come out looking more like cool abstract art. Now, I'm not particularly old. I'm aged enough to know that I don't always understand all the lingo of the tiny aged people, but I like to think that I'm still pretty on top of fashion. I'd hate to think that wearing giant red initials, a la Alvin and the Chipmunks, had somehow gone into style and I completely missed it. I mean, the whole point of the Scarlet Letter was that it was going to be a noticeable label. As the book goes, people would notice the letter and go , "Oh my....that woman's a whore!!!". In my version of the story, The Scarlet "B", I see people taking notice of the letter and thinking, "Oh my....that boy's a reta-,uhhhh, I mean...BRAVE!!!". We'll see. As I should have learned many ties over from past endeavours, it's not always wise to confer with the giftee beforehand. Just make and give! Hopefully my sweater won't get mangled in a schoolyard brawl, or anything like that. That's my big concern. You know how certain "things" can happen to certain kids.....on a daily basis in the lunchroom by one group of kids, then again at recess by another....then again on the bus ride back home, only to start over again the next day when you wear a sweater with a giant red "B" on it.
Alright, time for dinner. Then maybe I'll feel like gambling and breaking off the arms of this bad boy. Not the kid, just the sweater. I'm not really THAT upset of the "B". My sisters family moving 45 minutes away has put a serious damper on my responsible plans of actually trying the thing on him. It's looking more and more like it's going to be more a game what I like to call "Wow, I sure hope this fits!!". I like to live on the edge.

Christmas Knitting in Review....plus some other stuff

FINALLY I found my friggin' camera cord so I was able to upload some pictures. My grand plan was to post one of those murals of all my 2007 knitting. As I went looking through my old pictures, I realized how haphazardly I've photographed a lot of stuff, how many things I haven't taken anything but baby progress shots of (helloooo...Lady Eleanor? And that's a kickass project, too), and finally, how many things I just haven't bothered to take pictures of at all. It's bad. So, I decided to scrap that project. I now have a new New Year's resolution to treat my projects right and give them the photoshoots they deserve. This is, of course, somewhat dependent on my developing some picture taking skills that don't blow. I'll work on that, too.
Ok, so since I'm not doing a year in review, I can at least cover Christmas.

First:

These technically weren't Christmas gifts, but they were knit right along side all the others and gifted......so I'm just going to throw them in here. This set was knit for Sara's baby. I still have to make another set in pink for my nephews daughter. I made a tiny mistake by mentioning that I was sending a gift and hoped it would get there by Christmas in their card. Oops. I better get that started soon. Here's the info-

Pattern: Suede Bootys and Suede Baby Hat by Candi Jenkins

*available on KnittyGritty site

Needles: US sizes 2 and 3 for boots, 6's for hat

Yarn: Berroco Suede in colorways I'm not sure of and Berroco Plush in Creme

Second:

A cashmere neckwarmer knit for my awful sister. I won't go into why exactly I would knit such a thing for someone like her, but those of you who know me well understand the motives behind such gifts This is not the best picture. I took it super last minute while ppl were gathering downstairs for Christmas Eve.

Yarn: Artyarns Cashmere 5, unknown colorway

Pattern: Neckwarmer from Pretending Sanity

Needles: US 8's

Third:

The super secret super project. This is one the Colinette Ab Fab Throw kits in a colorway that's called Santa Fe something. Needle size 11. Making this makes me want to go buy one for myself REALLY. BAD. Maybe even 2 of them. I already have one that I made about 5 yrs ago but its just the vertical stripes. Not too interesting. I'd like to make this pattern and one with the mitred squares.

Fourth:

This is the scarf and hat set that I knit for one of my other sisters. I have yet to give it to her because she didn't show up for the family party and I really don't see her. I'll have to mail it, I guess. I really like the hat and am eager to make one for myself.

Pattern: Scarf-basic seed stitch, Hat-Monk Hat over at RedThreadsUntangling

Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande and Eros Glitz...don't know colors

Needles: Scarf, 15?? Hat, 10

If I did this again, I would have used a larger needle on the hat. I had to do it fast and I the 16" tens were what had sitting near me. It is QUITE dense, but still very nice.

Okay, there it is. Soon, b/c I'm really, really going to work on this, I'll have some pics of what all I'm working on now. Till then......Happy New Year everybody:)

Losing Mojo

I haven't been knitting much lately. Mainly, probably, to the fact that I have my online game back and I've been engulfed in my own super dork-fest. Also, I've run into another one of those stages where nothing I do seems to turn out right. I have all this sock yarn, and I mean A.L.O.T. of sock yarn, so I feel this need to knit socks. the past two pairs I've made though have really let me down. I did a Coriolis sock from the new book by Cat Bordhi and really was pumped about it. I finished the first sock and the bind off was awful. I ripped it out and tried another, supposedly more elastic bind off. No go. I tried again. Better, but no cigar. Now sock number one is sitting matchless in a basket while the second sock is stalled on the needles. I had actually forgotten why it was that I didn't feel like working on them, but someone gave me a tip today on Ravelry that reminded me. Then there was another pair of Regia socks that I was so excited about and I was working on teeny-tiny needles to get a super cushy fabric. Turns out the needles were just a bit too teeny-tiny and they hardly go over my foot. Bah.
And then there's the issue of gift knitting. I'm just never satisfied with it. Everything is the wrong shade of purple, or the wrong color all together.....or too wide/narrow. I must have ripped out one scarf 8 times before coming up with something I deemed acceptable. But I still think the shade is a bit off. Anyhow, I gotta get my groove back. I'm heading to Vegas in two weeks and that will be the perfect opportunity to knock some of the half done socks off my list. Good for transport and all :)
Alright, I'm out. Just didn't want to leave the blog stagnant for too long.

Redemption

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been loving my DVR and was very excited by my new found ability to watch Knitty Gritty. That post received a comment that basically said that Knitty Gritty didn't have too much to offer as far as new stuff for the more advanced knitter. Unfortunately, I've found this to be very, very true. I think I've watched all the episodes I've recorded, but really saw nothing thrilling and, truth be old, I usually haven't even really been "watching" as mush as having it on as background noise while I knit something completely unrelated. This week things seemed to take a turn for the better though! There was one episode with Lily Chin that covered a lot of different techniques like bobbles and something else that I can't recall, although it interested me at the time. Then came today's show. Today's show actually made me pause my TV and come downstairs to order yarn. I wasn't able to get a good picture of these so you can just follow the links. This has to be one of the cutest baby things I've ever seen in my life. This hat and these booties. I love, love, love them. I immediately ordered some Berroco Suede and Plush from Yarnmarket. I'm changing up the color scheme a little since they're for a little girl, so I'm doing the main color in Annie Oakley and using a darker rose for the soles of the feet. Then I'm using the cream colored Plush for the fleece part. I'm totally in love with these and am so happy that my nephew knocked up his girlfriend, thereby providing me with the opportunity to knit such things. Thankfully, they live many hours away so I can knit the cute things, mail them, and not have to risk touching a baby. I can't wait until the yarn comes in.

Close call

I just got back from Chicago last night and had to be at a birthday party for my mom and one of my nephews at 7:30. This party was also to be my unveiling/presentation of my Lil' Devil Pants. This would have been all fine and well except for the fact that, well, I didn't have them done. By the time we got to the hotel on our first night of driving, I just didn't feel like knitting and instead entertained myself by marvelling at how strange Criss Angel is. He's one weird dude. That's about all I can say about that. Then, when I finally got settled at our hotel in Chicago I came to the awful realization that I had much more to do on the pants than I had thought. I did end up getting it all knit, but then I didn't have the tools for finishing. This was remedied by my trip The Fold (drool), but that's a tale for another day. Let me just say that I spent far, far less than I thought I would. Shocking, I know. So now, with tools in hand, I had to sew the damn thing up. I found this so confounding that I decided to put it off until I got home, thinking that I'd have plenty of time to make a few little stitches before party time. Oh how stupid I can be sometimes. I got home absolutely exhausted, still had to go gift shopping for my nephew, and still didn't know how to sew for crap. After much bitching and whining, I prevailed.

My favorite detail.

I had to use my imagination to get the drawstring through, but it came out pretty well. Also,I amazed myself with the evenness of my seaming.

My mom suggested to me that I not seam the leg cuffs. I don't particularly care for it undone, but I was already like an hour late for the party so I said f-it.

Perhaps the untrained eye won't even notice that this obviously was supposed to be sewn up.

So, onto the specs.

Pattern: Lil' Devil Pants from Stitch n'Bitch Nation

Yarn: Patons Grace in Cherry Red, 4 skeins

Needles: Size 2 Circulars and size 3 DPN's

Started: late July '07

Finished: August 4 '07

I predominantly followed the pattern exactly. I think I must have an early and error ridden edition of the book because I had to leave a row off of the buttonhole shaping. Also, as stated, I didn't sew the leg cuffs. Everyone seemed to love them, so mission accomplished. Hooray for FO's an meeting deadlines!

Gift Knitting

****WARNING: IF YOU ARE PART OF MY FAMILY IN OHIO, GO LOOK AT SOMETHING ELSE ON THE INTERNET NOW, AND DON'T COME BACK HERE UNTIL AFTER YOUR VISIT HERE!!!!********

Sorry about that. I'm not clever enough to manipulate those little pop up links to help conceal photos of gift items. So I'm gift knitting. I don't exactly know what possessed me to do such a thing, but I started it and now I have to finish. Blah.

I guess it could be worse......a lot worse, if any of you remember the fiasco with that piece of crap blanket my niece was having me make for her. No offense, Nikki, if you should happen to read this. On the bright side, I came up with a fabulous plan to rework the blanket and make it wonderful. I hope. Anyhow, on to the project at hand. I decided to make the Lil' Devil Pants from Stitch n' Bitch Nation to gift to my nephew's daughter Grace. Nothing says loving like dressing an infant like Satan! I think the pattern is really cute, but I want to hunt down whoever decided to write a baby pattern for such small, small needles and teeny tiny yarn. I wouldn't mind so much except that it goes against my notion of baby knits being extraordinarily quick and I'm on a deadline. There were other factors involved, too, which somewhat hindered my knitting.

When this photo was taken, I don't know that I realized yet that the width of the leg was going to keep getting wider and wider, as opposed to thinning out as I had planned. That wasn't a fun moment of clarity, let me tell you. Harry Potter got finished, and soon enough I was able to devote a little more time to the pants of evil. Here's where I'm at now.

One leg down and the bitchy, lengthy, time consuming part to go on the other. I'm having to divey up my time a little now, because I've become completely enamoured with another project. I'm going to hold off on mentioning it for the moment because I'm not 100% certain that I can actually pull it off. Some of you may already know what it is. If I can do it, it will be a truly spectacular feat, at least for me. I'm also waiting on my Knitpicks order to come in with the fixings for my ginormous spider wen shawl. Someone needs to shoot me.

Okay, I'm off to plot and plan.

Grace Elizabeth

My nephews girlfriend had her baby on.....some night this week. I'll say Wednesday. That sounds accurate enough. Luckily, I had finished the baby blanket. I didn't exactly wash it or do any pf the nice wrapping bits that I had thought I might do, but hey, the thing gor finished. For me that's pretty good. I still was able to box it up in tissue paper with a book and letter congratulating the girlfriend on surviving such a horrifying event. As I was leaving for the post office, three things occured to me.

1) My box wasn't securely closed.
2) I had forgotten to photograph the blanket.
3) I did not have their address.

Oops.

After some time of making calls, finding and looking through books, unpacking and repacking,an impromptu photo session and a short trip to my grandpa's house the box was ready to go.
Here it is, in fairly bad positioning on my grandpa's office chair.

Here is my crappy attempt to show the colors. It's not too bad of a representation, but it could be better.

In the letter I descibed it as an "all purpose blanket that can be stretched out to fit over big things or balled up to throw into something small, like a car seat." That's a loose cover up of my previous thoughts of " Ooops! This blanket has some super funky measurements now that I have it off the needles! What do I do??"

Anyhow, it's done and shipped. Yay for baby Grace being born safe and healthy. In a related story, I was emailed pictues of the baby yesterday. I literally recoiled when I saw them and it took me a moment to realize,"Oh. It's just a human baby." God bless all those who can look at babies all crusty faced and peely skinned and be proud. I think I'd have to give it a week or two before touching.

FO and knitting I just don't feel like doing

I finally finished up my grandpa's birthday socks this past weekend and delivered them to him only two days late. That has to be some sort of record for me. In the past, it's sometimes been literally years before I get my gift projects all finished up. At least for grown-ups. Anyhow, here they are.

No matter how I took the picture, it kept coming out looking more or the black and white side than in color. I'm curious to see how the colors appear online. Here's my attempt at getting a close up of the pattern...although clearly my attempt was not that great.

These socks took me a surprisingly long time to knit up. I used a thick alpaca blend (Chunky Al by Elsebeth Lavold) and size 5 needles doing a twin rib pattern. I used to be able to knit a big sock like this up in a day. I'd like to think that these took longer because I was knitting them for a big man's foot, but in reality I think I'm just getting slower. Oh well. They came out well and I think he was quite impressed with them. I rate the project as highly successful.

Now that the socks are done with, I have bigger fish to fry.....or knit. One of my nephews girlfriends is due to give birth in early March. Way, way early March, like the 1st or 2nd. When they were down for my dad's funeral I found out all the details as far as baby sex (that sounds really dirty when I think that sentence in my head, even though it's obvious what I'm referring to) and room colors. I ran right out to get yarn and a new pattern, excitedly digging in once I got back home. I knit away at that thing for quite some time, then left it because, Hey!, I had plenty of time. This was in November. I think once between then and now I've actually picked the thing up, maybe knitting a total of 3 rows on it. Now not only is the pressure on, but I'm finding all the little errors I've made. Not so much errors in knitting, per say, bit errors in knitting judgement. For instance, I decided to cast on for the larger or the given blanket sizes even though I'm using 2 strands of worsted weight held together on 13's rather than a dk or something on a size 8. It's now more that apparent that I could have gotten away with a much, much smaller size. Also, I'm getting peeved at the thought of how long I'm going to have to make this sucker. I think this was one of the main factors in my putting it down to begin with. I kept thinking I had made huge progress but then I'd spread it out and see the true width of it and that made any length gain seem negligible. Not too much I can do about it now. I've knit way too far into it to fuss with ripping anything out. I'll take a picture of it when I get a chance.

In closing, here are the dogs celebrating the fact that it snowed. They were very pleased that I got to stay home and watch them frolic. They also found it really amusing to stand at my porch door and watch me screaming obscenities and throwing things like snow shovels and empty containers of ice melt for hours on end while I slaved to try and get my f*cker car shoveled out of the road. After 3 days of working now, it's still stuck on an ice shelf at the bottom of my driveway and I don't foresee it going anywhere soon.