Lots of things happened in the last couple of weeks. First, I have to tell y'all about a sale. (Yes, that's read as SALE!!!!) Connecticut Yarn and Wool in East Haddam. I got the email on Friday morning that they were getting rid of their old fall and winter stock because of the arrival of the new spring stock.
~~~~~
Fill a 30-gal bin for $300. Now, yes, $300 is a lot of money. But I'm facing surgery. (Yes, I picked a date. I have to call on Tuesday, but I'm shooting for April 23rd for some very strange reasons... /wry g/) So I'm going to be sitting on the couch for a couple weeks in recovery mode. That means time for knitting next year's Christmas projects as well as finally breaking the seal on all those DVDs I've bought last year and haven't had time to watch.
~~~~~
So I picked up my friend Linda and we descended on CT Yarn & Wool. Now, they always have a "remainder" room where you can get bargains. I can choose from that room and they had bin after bin on the porch. All kinds of colorways. Practically everything is hand-dyed. Yes, most of it is worsted weight and spun singles (think felting). I loaded up. At first, I was very careful to match things, but I lost that ability soon after. I dug into every bin so I could check everything. I unloaded some baskets so I could see what was on the bottom. (Yes, I was careful to put everything back so I didn't make a total mess of the place. /g/)
~~~~~
I picked up 14 skeins of this gorgeous silk/cotton/wool blend. I looked it up on the Internet later. $20 a skein. That's $280 right there and that was a small portion of what I'd stuffed in my bin. Then I found an absolute treasure. A cotton/rayon blend that they call "I'm Allergic to Wool". It's soft and cushie. A wonderful thick n thin that would make some gorgeous sweaters (and scarves and even another shawl). It runs $30 a skein and I've got about 50 skeins of this stuff. Okay, some of the skeins are pretty short, but others were full and fat. That alone is about $1500 worth of yarn.
~~~~~
Oh yeah, I easily stuffed at least $2000 worth of yarn into this bin. Believe it or not, the woman working at the shop suggested that we untwist the skeins and lay them flat. Worked well. We got more into the bin. Course, it really helped that when I thought the bin was pretty full, Linda looked at me and said, "Oh, no, we can fit more" and she sat in the bin... /wry g/
~~~~~
Okay, so I'm going to be laid up. Basically, I talked with the doctor and we agreed that the fibroid needs to go. It's a good size. We also agree that I'm at that age that the plumbing serves no purpose either, so she's going to remove the whole shebang. It's simply a matter of picking a date. Lots of things to consider and not that simple. I'll be laid up for approximately 6 weeks before returning to normal. And since I do a LOT of yardwork in the summer, I don't want to wait too long or we can just forget summer entirely and that's not an option. After all the work I did last year, there's no way I'm going to let my yard go to hell. Another thing to consider is I really can't do without the paycheck. So I looked and I have just shy of 3 weeks sick time accrued. Back up from my last week of work and that means April 23rd. I should be cleared for regular life by the first week in June and, since I never plant much before Memorial Day (danger of frost any time before that and don't let anyone tell you otherwise), the timing would work well.
~~~~~
And this all leads back to my shopping spree. I imagine I'll spend a mimimun of two weeks laying on the couch. Okay, maybe the first couple days I won't feel much like knitting (is that possible?!? /g/), but then I'll have lots of time and lots of boredom to fill. Hence, knitting. Now, all these yarns are in fall colorways. If I start Christmas presents now, all those colorways will be back in vogue by the time I give them away. Sure, it'll be weird to be knitting with oranges and yellows and browns (autumn leaves) in April and May when I'd rather be working with yellows and purples (think crocus). But I'll also have a huge jump on Christmas knitting. Purses and clogs for everyone! LOL!
~~~~~
Now I can finally move the the update seciton... Let's see. I finished the Diamonte socks. Okay, I call them "Cat Yak". The yarn is lovely. The pattern is lovely. Put the two together and it's definitely something the cat yakked up. I don't like it and they would NOT be a favorite pair of socks. But Younger Daughter likes them. So they now belong to her.
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Pi Are Sqaured Shawl is coming along. About 3 more rows and I can move to section four, which will double the number of stitches. I think I'll be up to about 1000 sts or so. Yup, a long-term project. Another one to keep handy when I get tired of extremely big knitting for felting.
~~~~~
I just turned the heel for the Widdershins sock last night. I got the increases for the gusset okay. That was fine. But I followed the directions for the heel and it was way off. Not the direction, mind you. I was way off. So I frogged back and did it again. Hmm... definitely something skewed here. I frogged it again. Then I sat down with my trusty pencil and worked out the math from an entirely new direction and it clicked. I turned the heel and I'm now working my way up the heel flap. Again, I looked at her directions and they didn't work for me, so I didn't even try. I read through about three times and got the overall concept, worked up my own math and it's working beautifully.
~~~~~
Okay, how to explain my math (for someone who doesn't understand her concept of math)? I put a stitch marker at the center of the heel. Now, you have to remember that you're coming toe up, so you've got to begin with the largest part of the heel first. So, as you work the short rows, you'll be decreasing the number of sts that you work with, rather than increasing like you do with a normal short row heel.
~~~~~
Wow, it just dawned on me what's wrong with the directions. She makes stitches as you add your short rows. You make a stitch before you wrap and turn to create the short rows. No wonder the heel looked weird when I was looking at it this morning. I haven't tried it on yet, but I think I'm going to have to frog again and decrease, rather than increase in the short rows. Hmm... have to check that out.
~~~~~
But anyway, I started with working 8 sts out from the center before the "m1, k1, w&t". Then I'd work 8 sts in the other direction from the center marker on the purl row. Then I'd work 6 sts from the center marker on the knit row, come back to center and work 6 sts on the other side of the stitch marker. Back and forth in decreasing numbers from the marker as I worked closer to the heel itself.
~~~~~
Bingo! Heel is turned. Now you have to work up the gusset and decrease all those stitches you'd added to make the gusset.
~~~~~
Again, it's really easy if you simply think of working a set number of stitches to each side of the center marker on the heel.
~~~~~
IOW, I like 60 sts overall and I work Magic Loop. So my heel should ultimately end up with 30 sts on that needle. At the beginning, I didn't count, but let's say I have 50 sts, so I want to decrease 20 to get back to 30. As I knit each row back and forth, I only have to remember to knit 15 to each side of the center marker. Then I ssk on my knit rows (pulling one stitch in from the gusset and decreasing on each row). As I purl back, I don't have to remember anything except to purl 15 on the other side of the marker and my last stitch is p2tog, again, pulling one guset stitch in and decreasing). I go back and forth in this manner, almost like working a short row heel, until I have no more to decrease at the end of the needle and then I can begin knitting all the way around again.
~~~~~
Hmm.... now I'm really curious if that heel turn is wrong. Well, not wrong for her or anyone who loves it, but I wonder if it's wrong for me. I think, rather than w&t, I should also be doing an ssk and a p2tog on the heel. It should be pulling in towards the end of the heel, not getting wider and adding more stitches.
~~~~~
Oh dear. I've already frogged it 3 times. Now, I not only have to frog it again, but also about 20 rows of heel flap.
~~~~~
Bat poop... /sigh/
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 01, 2008
I'll Be Back...
Let me say upfront that I'll be back later today to post pics of the sweater that's finally in my brother's possession. Yup, it's finished. It was washed and blocked (more on that later because it took me four days!!!! Yikes!!!!) and sent off via overnight mail, which of course took two days to get to him. It turned out even better than I thought it would.
~~~~~
Okay, here's the deal and I'll get to more knitting later. I actually finished it right on schedule. It was Feb 16th when I finished the last stitch. I took all day Sunday and steeked and sewed and did all those little finishing touches. 10PM when I ran downstairs to stick it in the sink so I could wash and block. A quick squirt of dishwashing detergent and this was a BIG sweater, so I didn't have a lot of room left in the sink for water. The sweater soaked up every last drip of liquid. So I did the best I could without having to resort to filling the bathtub and then I went into the basement and stuck it in the washer for a quick rinse, drain and spin. It rinsed. It drained. But I couldn't get the damn thing to spin. Yeah, yeah, a real slow spin, but that's not going to get the 42 lbs of water out of the sweater.
~~~~~
So I restarted the cycle again. It rinsed. It drained. But it wouldn't spin at a high speed. We're now getting upwards of 11PM and I get up at 5AM. So I grab a towel (or two), lift the 40 lb sweater out of the washer, roll it up and stomp on it a few times. Then I take it over to my handy drying rack and pull, yank and mold it into the shape I want. Yup, looks gorgeous.
~~~~~
I check on it Tuesday after work. Wednesday after work. Finally, I gave up and gave it the weekend to finish drying. I'm guessing that my basement isn't as warm as I thought it was and I can't put it anywhere else or the cats would have a nice white layer of fur all over the thing. Sunday night. YES!!!! It's dry. It's lovely. And tomorrow is my brother's birthday.
~~~~~
So I call him the next morning, sing him "Happy Birthday" and tell him that if Mom doesn't see this after work before I pop it in the mail, she'll die of disappointment. He says that's fine, he understands and it's okay to show it to her tonight and pop it in the mail on the next day.
~~~~~
That's what I did. He finally got the sweater on Feb 28th. He's thrilled. He hasn't mentioned if it fits, but he did say that he's going to wear it all weekend because he's also got a cold spell down South. Rather than turning up his heat, he'll just live in the sweater all weekend.
~~~~~
Now, during the last couple weeks while I've been waiting for that sweater to dry, I made socks and mittens. Remember those Thick Woodsman's Socks that I made for the Hubby? Well, I made him another pair and used reverse stockinette under the footbed. He doesn't like the first pair because the purl nubs under his feet are like wearing those Adidas sandals with the torture devices they call "foot massagers". Yeah, like walking on nails. So I reversed the purl nubs on the next pair. He says they're definitely more comfortable, but he can still feel the lines for the st st. So I'm making LOTS of mittens out of the yarn I'd bought for more socks. I'm going to have to break down and make him socks out of fingering weight.
~~~~~
But I also did a couple other things this week that I found are really neat little mental tricks. I'd started a pair of Jaywalkers in Lisa Souza's "Joseph's Coat" colorway. Now, those are on a size 1 needle (2.25mm) and I make the mittens on a size 8 (4.0mm?). So I'd work 10 rows on a sock and then 10 rows on a mitten. Go back and do another 10 rows on a sock, then another 10 rows on a mitten. Wow, time flew! In the past two weeks, I've finished the Jaywalkers and make about 3 or 4 pairs of mittens as well as finishing the socks for the DH.
~~~~~
Because I was never very long on any given project, they both kept my interest and I never got bored. Okay, after two weeks of nothing but mittens and socks, there was an overall boredom, but never on the individual projects. If anything, I felt this driving need to cast on even more projects... /g/
~~~~~
So I pulled out my Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around and I've been dying to make a Pi Are Squared shawl. I find myself wearing my shawls more and more. I do love them, but there's one thing that annoys me. This is just a personal opinion, but why do shawls have to be lace?!?!?! I live in the North. It's cold here. I don't want a shawl that has holes to let that cold air infiltrate. I like my shawls solid and warm! /g/
~~~~~
So yesterday, as soon as I got out of work, I buzzed off to my LYS and found the last two skeins of that wonderful Peruvian Tweed. It's 100% alpaca in all natural fleece. There's a light, medium and dark colorway. Each skein is plied with several different natural fleece colors to get that tweed effect. I'd used the dark colorway (think dark almost black, dark chocolate and a thin strand of med caramel) to make a basketweave stole which is my favorite and most often worn. So I picked up a skein of the light colorway, which has two plies of almost white/creamy and a very light, almost white caramel. I also picked up a skein of the medium colorway which has a thin ply of the natural cream, the light caramel and then a rich golden caramel is the heaviest strand. Hmm... really gorgeous and very "neutral" so I'll be able to wear this with anything.
~~~~~
Came home and pulled out the nearest Addi Turbo (I think it's a size 5 or 6... Does it matter? /g/) and cast on 20 sts to begin a Pi Are Squared. To keep it interesting, I looked over the instructions and there are 5 sections. So the first section is in the light tweed and I knit that in stockinette stitch. Then I did the increases for section 2 and changed to the medium tweed and knit that in garter stitch. Changed back to the light tweed for section 3 and have reverted back to stockinette stitch. Looking really pretty and this is where I left off, so I'll keep that pattern going. I should end in the light color in st st, so I think I'll do the "traditional" sawtooth border in the medium color in garter. But I can check again when I get that far.
~~~~~
While at the store, I found some Claudia Handpainted in the colorway Irises. What can I say? I have this driving need to keep my stash well stocked for socks... /g/ We'll ignore the point that I have enough yarn to make at least another half dozen pair of socks already.
~~~~~
The other great deal that I stumbled into was some Araucania Nature Wool. They had a table of mark downs and this was calling my name. I already have 5 or 6 red sweaters, but this was a different red. This is color 25 RO 12-0400. A gentle variation that goes from a med brick red down to a deep, rich brick. All my other reds tend to have a cool undertone, not a warm one. This is warm. And what can I say? I like red! /g/ It's 100% wool, 4 ply, and 242 yds per skein. There were 6 skeins and they were chanting, "Take me home! I'm yours!" LOL!
~~~~~
I've been watching and rewatching the Meg Swanson DVD called Cardigan Details so I didn't screw up my steeking and I could really use a couple new cardigans. Most of my sweaters are pullovers but there are times you want a nice cardigan. And I really like the simple design she adds to the top of the sweater. So I grabbed those 6 skeins and, lo and behold, there were 2 skeins of Nature Wool in a soft creamy white, color 01. It will be a perfect addition to the red. A sharp bright white would be too stark against the soft brick of the red, but that creamy off-white will be perfect. And they were marked down from $7.50 a skein to $5.50. Hmm... a Meg Swanson EPS cardigan in 100% wool for $44.00?
~~~~~
Uh, yeah. Duh! I'm SO there and it just naturally found its way into my arms... /g/
~~~~~
Oh, before I forget! New trick!
~~~~~
I'm now knitting the Diamonte sock pattern from Knitty.com in Araucania sock yarn. I'm knitting them top down instead of toe up, but that's besides the point. I wanted to mention something that I discovered yesterday while knitting along (and dreaming of yarn stores when I left work /g/). To do the increases, the designer uses the M1 and says to pick up the strand between stitches in the row below. Pick it up with your left needle from front to back and then knit through the back loop to twist the stitch and make it virtually invisible. Hmm... great idea except it's really hard work (at least for me) to get the right needle into the back of the stitch once I've picked it up with the left needle. I don't knit all that tight, but I tend to split the yarn with my right needle regardless of how careful I am when trying to wedge it between the stitch and the p-u.
~~~~~
So what I do is pick up the yarn with my right needle from the back to the front. And then I simply have to slide my left needle into the front of the loop. Because the yarn is on the front of the needle and the stitch is right in front of me, I can slide the left needle between the yarn that's picked up and the first stitch on the right needle much easier. It still has the same effect in twisting the stitch and, yes, it really is virtually invisible, but it's easier to pick up with the right needle and then insert the left needle.
~~~~~
Does that make sense? If not, let me know. But try it. Especially if you're a tight knitter. I think you'll find this is much easier for you.
~~~~~
Okay, enough talking. Time to get daughter up for her dentist appointment. I have a few errands I have to do while out, but then it's picture time when I get back. My goals today are to upload pics of projects, clean bathroom, do my taxes and then back to my Pi Are Squared shawl. Yeah, I think that's enough for today. A little bit of work and then lots of fun!
~~~~~
Okay, here's the deal and I'll get to more knitting later. I actually finished it right on schedule. It was Feb 16th when I finished the last stitch. I took all day Sunday and steeked and sewed and did all those little finishing touches. 10PM when I ran downstairs to stick it in the sink so I could wash and block. A quick squirt of dishwashing detergent and this was a BIG sweater, so I didn't have a lot of room left in the sink for water. The sweater soaked up every last drip of liquid. So I did the best I could without having to resort to filling the bathtub and then I went into the basement and stuck it in the washer for a quick rinse, drain and spin. It rinsed. It drained. But I couldn't get the damn thing to spin. Yeah, yeah, a real slow spin, but that's not going to get the 42 lbs of water out of the sweater.
~~~~~
So I restarted the cycle again. It rinsed. It drained. But it wouldn't spin at a high speed. We're now getting upwards of 11PM and I get up at 5AM. So I grab a towel (or two), lift the 40 lb sweater out of the washer, roll it up and stomp on it a few times. Then I take it over to my handy drying rack and pull, yank and mold it into the shape I want. Yup, looks gorgeous.
~~~~~
I check on it Tuesday after work. Wednesday after work. Finally, I gave up and gave it the weekend to finish drying. I'm guessing that my basement isn't as warm as I thought it was and I can't put it anywhere else or the cats would have a nice white layer of fur all over the thing. Sunday night. YES!!!! It's dry. It's lovely. And tomorrow is my brother's birthday.
~~~~~
So I call him the next morning, sing him "Happy Birthday" and tell him that if Mom doesn't see this after work before I pop it in the mail, she'll die of disappointment. He says that's fine, he understands and it's okay to show it to her tonight and pop it in the mail on the next day.
~~~~~
That's what I did. He finally got the sweater on Feb 28th. He's thrilled. He hasn't mentioned if it fits, but he did say that he's going to wear it all weekend because he's also got a cold spell down South. Rather than turning up his heat, he'll just live in the sweater all weekend.
~~~~~
Now, during the last couple weeks while I've been waiting for that sweater to dry, I made socks and mittens. Remember those Thick Woodsman's Socks that I made for the Hubby? Well, I made him another pair and used reverse stockinette under the footbed. He doesn't like the first pair because the purl nubs under his feet are like wearing those Adidas sandals with the torture devices they call "foot massagers". Yeah, like walking on nails. So I reversed the purl nubs on the next pair. He says they're definitely more comfortable, but he can still feel the lines for the st st. So I'm making LOTS of mittens out of the yarn I'd bought for more socks. I'm going to have to break down and make him socks out of fingering weight.
~~~~~
But I also did a couple other things this week that I found are really neat little mental tricks. I'd started a pair of Jaywalkers in Lisa Souza's "Joseph's Coat" colorway. Now, those are on a size 1 needle (2.25mm) and I make the mittens on a size 8 (4.0mm?). So I'd work 10 rows on a sock and then 10 rows on a mitten. Go back and do another 10 rows on a sock, then another 10 rows on a mitten. Wow, time flew! In the past two weeks, I've finished the Jaywalkers and make about 3 or 4 pairs of mittens as well as finishing the socks for the DH.
~~~~~
Because I was never very long on any given project, they both kept my interest and I never got bored. Okay, after two weeks of nothing but mittens and socks, there was an overall boredom, but never on the individual projects. If anything, I felt this driving need to cast on even more projects... /g/
~~~~~
So I pulled out my Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around and I've been dying to make a Pi Are Squared shawl. I find myself wearing my shawls more and more. I do love them, but there's one thing that annoys me. This is just a personal opinion, but why do shawls have to be lace?!?!?! I live in the North. It's cold here. I don't want a shawl that has holes to let that cold air infiltrate. I like my shawls solid and warm! /g/
~~~~~
So yesterday, as soon as I got out of work, I buzzed off to my LYS and found the last two skeins of that wonderful Peruvian Tweed. It's 100% alpaca in all natural fleece. There's a light, medium and dark colorway. Each skein is plied with several different natural fleece colors to get that tweed effect. I'd used the dark colorway (think dark almost black, dark chocolate and a thin strand of med caramel) to make a basketweave stole which is my favorite and most often worn. So I picked up a skein of the light colorway, which has two plies of almost white/creamy and a very light, almost white caramel. I also picked up a skein of the medium colorway which has a thin ply of the natural cream, the light caramel and then a rich golden caramel is the heaviest strand. Hmm... really gorgeous and very "neutral" so I'll be able to wear this with anything.
~~~~~
Came home and pulled out the nearest Addi Turbo (I think it's a size 5 or 6... Does it matter? /g/) and cast on 20 sts to begin a Pi Are Squared. To keep it interesting, I looked over the instructions and there are 5 sections. So the first section is in the light tweed and I knit that in stockinette stitch. Then I did the increases for section 2 and changed to the medium tweed and knit that in garter stitch. Changed back to the light tweed for section 3 and have reverted back to stockinette stitch. Looking really pretty and this is where I left off, so I'll keep that pattern going. I should end in the light color in st st, so I think I'll do the "traditional" sawtooth border in the medium color in garter. But I can check again when I get that far.
~~~~~
While at the store, I found some Claudia Handpainted in the colorway Irises. What can I say? I have this driving need to keep my stash well stocked for socks... /g/ We'll ignore the point that I have enough yarn to make at least another half dozen pair of socks already.
~~~~~
The other great deal that I stumbled into was some Araucania Nature Wool. They had a table of mark downs and this was calling my name. I already have 5 or 6 red sweaters, but this was a different red. This is color 25 RO 12-0400. A gentle variation that goes from a med brick red down to a deep, rich brick. All my other reds tend to have a cool undertone, not a warm one. This is warm. And what can I say? I like red! /g/ It's 100% wool, 4 ply, and 242 yds per skein. There were 6 skeins and they were chanting, "Take me home! I'm yours!" LOL!
~~~~~
I've been watching and rewatching the Meg Swanson DVD called Cardigan Details so I didn't screw up my steeking and I could really use a couple new cardigans. Most of my sweaters are pullovers but there are times you want a nice cardigan. And I really like the simple design she adds to the top of the sweater. So I grabbed those 6 skeins and, lo and behold, there were 2 skeins of Nature Wool in a soft creamy white, color 01. It will be a perfect addition to the red. A sharp bright white would be too stark against the soft brick of the red, but that creamy off-white will be perfect. And they were marked down from $7.50 a skein to $5.50. Hmm... a Meg Swanson EPS cardigan in 100% wool for $44.00?
~~~~~
Uh, yeah. Duh! I'm SO there and it just naturally found its way into my arms... /g/
~~~~~
Oh, before I forget! New trick!
~~~~~
I'm now knitting the Diamonte sock pattern from Knitty.com in Araucania sock yarn. I'm knitting them top down instead of toe up, but that's besides the point. I wanted to mention something that I discovered yesterday while knitting along (and dreaming of yarn stores when I left work /g/). To do the increases, the designer uses the M1 and says to pick up the strand between stitches in the row below. Pick it up with your left needle from front to back and then knit through the back loop to twist the stitch and make it virtually invisible. Hmm... great idea except it's really hard work (at least for me) to get the right needle into the back of the stitch once I've picked it up with the left needle. I don't knit all that tight, but I tend to split the yarn with my right needle regardless of how careful I am when trying to wedge it between the stitch and the p-u.
~~~~~
So what I do is pick up the yarn with my right needle from the back to the front. And then I simply have to slide my left needle into the front of the loop. Because the yarn is on the front of the needle and the stitch is right in front of me, I can slide the left needle between the yarn that's picked up and the first stitch on the right needle much easier. It still has the same effect in twisting the stitch and, yes, it really is virtually invisible, but it's easier to pick up with the right needle and then insert the left needle.
~~~~~
Does that make sense? If not, let me know. But try it. Especially if you're a tight knitter. I think you'll find this is much easier for you.
~~~~~
Okay, enough talking. Time to get daughter up for her dentist appointment. I have a few errands I have to do while out, but then it's picture time when I get back. My goals today are to upload pics of projects, clean bathroom, do my taxes and then back to my Pi Are Squared shawl. Yeah, I think that's enough for today. A little bit of work and then lots of fun!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Dragons be here...or should I say alien babies?
First, thanks to everyone who left comments on my sweater pics. It's so wonderful to know that people actually stop by. I've been trying to wrangle youngest daughter for pics of the sweater for my brother, but it's like trying to capture the wind. She's a teenager. I'm not. That means we live on totally different schedules. She's still on the phone at midnight and I'm up at the crack of dawn. (I have no idea what time I'll be done, so let's just say that my computer clock says it's 8:21AM and I just put my last load of laundry in the dryer. I was up a bit after 5AM.) My daughter? I think she's breathing, but I don't want to check. It gets ugly if you disturb her "before her time". She's like a fine wine. Too early and you get grape juice. Too late and you get vinegar. I guess that means there's never a good time to wake her...
~~
If her presence floats through before I'm done typing, I'll see if I can get a pic. But she's like smoke in the breeze. Here now and gone before you can even blink.
~~
Oh well....
~~
So what are the dragons? Be warned anyone of the male persuasion. I'm gonna talk about female stuff for a few minutes, so you might want to make like my daughter and disappear until the next post... /g/
~~
I do listen to Lime & Violet. Yes, they're a secret obsession. Definitely gets me some very strange looks from the students as they pass my security booth and hear wild cackling and lots of giggling. And, yes, I follow the Boob Rock discussion. I'm curious. What can I say? I'm female and Violet is going through every woman's fear of discovering the Boob Rock. But I'll trade her Boob Rock for the Perimenopausal Basketball...
~~
About two years ago, my gyn found a fibroid tumor on my ovary. No big deal. Not unusual for women who are staring down menopause. Yes, I'm a bit on the young side, but is there really a young side? I mean, c'mon, is there an age when menopause starts? I've heard everything from 45 - 60, so let's just say there are no hard and fast rules as to when this stage is supposed to start or (God forbid) how long it'll take. I hear through the grapevine that my ex-sister-in-law is deep in the throes of menopause and she's two years younger than me. So I wasn't surprised for the doc to say, "gee, honey, you're on the edge"...
~~
Let's be real. I've been on the edge ever since giving birth, right? /g/
~~
So anyway, I've been living with the tumor ever since. It actually took me a whole year to get up the nerve to ask the doc just how big this tumor was. She tells me it's the size of a grapefruit. Hmm... come to think of it, maybe THAT explains my obsession with fruit. (If you've followed, as I paint my rooms, my Hubby says I have a fruit theme going on in the house. My hallways are lemon colored. My living room is the color of a honeydew melon. And I've threatened to do my dining room in a strawberry.... LOL!)
~~
Okay, back to grapefruit. Fine. I can live with it since she assures me that this sucker will start shrinking once I hit the official menopause. This was last year.
~~
Fast forward to this year. I go for my annual and she discovers the damn thing is getting bigger. Rather than shrinking like the nice little PITA it is, it's growing. Again, maybe this explains another strange recent obsession. I've been watching Alien and Aliens (yup, parts I and II) with strange fascination lately.
~~
You know the scene from part II where she's dreaming in the hospital and wakes to have an alien almost burst from her bellybutton? Well, this past week, my alien baby was trying to scoop me out from the inside with a very dull spoon. Argh!!!! Very weird because it was certainly centered right below my bellybutton. Pain sharp and dull at the same time. Luckily, it was just one day. Period from hell. And, of course, that was the day that my boss at work felt it necessary to flex his non-existent muscles. He gave me a letter of suspension for reasons I won't go into. Let's just say he threw a tantrum and, like any good two-year-old, I really wanted to spank him. I could, but I won't. I'm a better person than he is. Let him have his tantrum and maybe he'll leave me alone for a while.
~~
Back to alien baby... I have an appointment with the doc next month. We'll "discuss our options then". Hmm. I have a feeling they'll want to remove this baby before it explodes on its own. That's okay with me. Think I can get them to remove the ovaries while she's in there? What do you think of the chance that I can get a tummy tuck tossed in for my trouble? /g/
~~
Course, I have to tell the joke of this whole new episode. She sent me for an ultrasound. I'm watching the screen while the technician is moving the thingie around. Yup, there's my left ovary. Tiny little peanut on the screen. Pretty little spot. Yup, that's it. Looking good and she turns on the sound to show that it has good blood movement. (Why? I don't know, but they feel this is important.) Then she moves the thingie over to the right side. This large mass fills the screen, looking like I've sprouted a new brain in the wrong place. Yup, alien baby. Big mass that even I can see with no training whatsoever.
~~
So I say something to the effect of, gee, it's no wonder all those ab crunches weren't flattening anything. She kind of laughs and says that they'd have to remove my intestines for my belly to be flat. Again.... Hmm.
~~
So Violet? I'll trade your Boob Rock for my Alien Baby.
~~
And now I'll apologize for such a crass and rude comment. I've gotten it off my chest.... er, well, not the correct anatomical location, but you get the drift. I just had to say it. I don't mean it and I wouldn't trade with her. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I'm not worried. My doc is tops in her field and I trust her judgement. If she says remove it, we'll remove it. I just wanted the opportunity to kvetch for a minute and sorry you had to listen. Now that I've had my moment of panic, I'm not worried at all. I've been lucky in that I've always been healthy and never had to worry about anything. I'm not worried now. If my doc was worried and wanted me back in the office immediately, then I'd be worried. But she's waiting until next month and that means this is not a problem.
~~
So now I'll get back to knitting on my brother's sweater. The sleeves are done and, in about 7 rows, I'll be at the midway point on the body. If I knit my little fingers to the bone this week at work, I'm hoping to finish this thing and be able to steek and sew and wash and block and my goal is to get it in the mail to him by 2/20.
~~
If you want to send prayers, pray that I can get the sweater done. In the meantime, I love having the excuse for not holding in my stomach every time I stand up. I have a reason it sticks out more than I'd like. The bad thing is that I might look heavier than I'd like, but you would too if you were about to give birth. At least I don't look as pregnant as I feel...
~~
/g/
~~
If her presence floats through before I'm done typing, I'll see if I can get a pic. But she's like smoke in the breeze. Here now and gone before you can even blink.
~~
Oh well....
~~
So what are the dragons? Be warned anyone of the male persuasion. I'm gonna talk about female stuff for a few minutes, so you might want to make like my daughter and disappear until the next post... /g/
~~
I do listen to Lime & Violet. Yes, they're a secret obsession. Definitely gets me some very strange looks from the students as they pass my security booth and hear wild cackling and lots of giggling. And, yes, I follow the Boob Rock discussion. I'm curious. What can I say? I'm female and Violet is going through every woman's fear of discovering the Boob Rock. But I'll trade her Boob Rock for the Perimenopausal Basketball...
~~
About two years ago, my gyn found a fibroid tumor on my ovary. No big deal. Not unusual for women who are staring down menopause. Yes, I'm a bit on the young side, but is there really a young side? I mean, c'mon, is there an age when menopause starts? I've heard everything from 45 - 60, so let's just say there are no hard and fast rules as to when this stage is supposed to start or (God forbid) how long it'll take. I hear through the grapevine that my ex-sister-in-law is deep in the throes of menopause and she's two years younger than me. So I wasn't surprised for the doc to say, "gee, honey, you're on the edge"...
~~
Let's be real. I've been on the edge ever since giving birth, right? /g/
~~
So anyway, I've been living with the tumor ever since. It actually took me a whole year to get up the nerve to ask the doc just how big this tumor was. She tells me it's the size of a grapefruit. Hmm... come to think of it, maybe THAT explains my obsession with fruit. (If you've followed, as I paint my rooms, my Hubby says I have a fruit theme going on in the house. My hallways are lemon colored. My living room is the color of a honeydew melon. And I've threatened to do my dining room in a strawberry.... LOL!)
~~
Okay, back to grapefruit. Fine. I can live with it since she assures me that this sucker will start shrinking once I hit the official menopause. This was last year.
~~
Fast forward to this year. I go for my annual and she discovers the damn thing is getting bigger. Rather than shrinking like the nice little PITA it is, it's growing. Again, maybe this explains another strange recent obsession. I've been watching Alien and Aliens (yup, parts I and II) with strange fascination lately.
~~
You know the scene from part II where she's dreaming in the hospital and wakes to have an alien almost burst from her bellybutton? Well, this past week, my alien baby was trying to scoop me out from the inside with a very dull spoon. Argh!!!! Very weird because it was certainly centered right below my bellybutton. Pain sharp and dull at the same time. Luckily, it was just one day. Period from hell. And, of course, that was the day that my boss at work felt it necessary to flex his non-existent muscles. He gave me a letter of suspension for reasons I won't go into. Let's just say he threw a tantrum and, like any good two-year-old, I really wanted to spank him. I could, but I won't. I'm a better person than he is. Let him have his tantrum and maybe he'll leave me alone for a while.
~~
Back to alien baby... I have an appointment with the doc next month. We'll "discuss our options then". Hmm. I have a feeling they'll want to remove this baby before it explodes on its own. That's okay with me. Think I can get them to remove the ovaries while she's in there? What do you think of the chance that I can get a tummy tuck tossed in for my trouble? /g/
~~
Course, I have to tell the joke of this whole new episode. She sent me for an ultrasound. I'm watching the screen while the technician is moving the thingie around. Yup, there's my left ovary. Tiny little peanut on the screen. Pretty little spot. Yup, that's it. Looking good and she turns on the sound to show that it has good blood movement. (Why? I don't know, but they feel this is important.) Then she moves the thingie over to the right side. This large mass fills the screen, looking like I've sprouted a new brain in the wrong place. Yup, alien baby. Big mass that even I can see with no training whatsoever.
~~
So I say something to the effect of, gee, it's no wonder all those ab crunches weren't flattening anything. She kind of laughs and says that they'd have to remove my intestines for my belly to be flat. Again.... Hmm.
~~
So Violet? I'll trade your Boob Rock for my Alien Baby.
~~
And now I'll apologize for such a crass and rude comment. I've gotten it off my chest.... er, well, not the correct anatomical location, but you get the drift. I just had to say it. I don't mean it and I wouldn't trade with her. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I'm not worried. My doc is tops in her field and I trust her judgement. If she says remove it, we'll remove it. I just wanted the opportunity to kvetch for a minute and sorry you had to listen. Now that I've had my moment of panic, I'm not worried at all. I've been lucky in that I've always been healthy and never had to worry about anything. I'm not worried now. If my doc was worried and wanted me back in the office immediately, then I'd be worried. But she's waiting until next month and that means this is not a problem.
~~
So now I'll get back to knitting on my brother's sweater. The sleeves are done and, in about 7 rows, I'll be at the midway point on the body. If I knit my little fingers to the bone this week at work, I'm hoping to finish this thing and be able to steek and sew and wash and block and my goal is to get it in the mail to him by 2/20.
~~
If you want to send prayers, pray that I can get the sweater done. In the meantime, I love having the excuse for not holding in my stomach every time I stand up. I have a reason it sticks out more than I'd like. The bad thing is that I might look heavier than I'd like, but you would too if you were about to give birth. At least I don't look as pregnant as I feel...
~~
/g/
Saturday, January 26, 2008
I did it!!!!
I did it! I sewed and cut and put all the pieces together blending a variety of techniques, and above is the finished product. I actually finished the knitting itself on Friday night, Jan 18th and took Saturday to sew and cut and piece together. Then I had to work on Sunday and couldn't wait to get home so I could toss it into the sink, spin out the excess and block it to dry so I could wear it Monday night when I went to the other job.
~
The nice thing is that I was going to call youngest daughter on my drive home so she could take pics, but I didn't have to. When I walked in the door, she immediately asked me if this was my newly steeked sweater and went for her camera. I can't blame her for the delay this week. She was great. She took the pics and uploaded them to the computer as soon as she got home from school on Tuesday. I was the one who dropped the ball on this one.
~
I've been a bit sick with a cold. A bit of stuffiness in the head, but I've got the voice of a 12-year-old boy who's in the throes of his voice changing. We're on day 9 now and getting better, but it's still a bit froggy. Anyway, I spent non-working hours this week in bed.
~
But back to the sweater!!! I've learned a LOT! Mostly, I will never be scared to steek again. Yup, I made a big fuss over not a lot. But I think I'll take a few more precautions on the new sweater I've started. I only gave myself one extra stitch for steeking on my own sweater. Not that this is a big deal. I know how to sew and sewing down the edges before cutting wasn't a big deal. But I'm dying to try Meg Swanson's crocheted steek on the new sweater and I need a minimum of 3 steeking sts for that.
~
Also, remember my question about the weaving in and out of the ends and how I was going to cut that one side in the steek? Well, on the new sweater, I'm not as worried about making those ends as long. After all, they only have to hold until I steek, so what's the big deal? I not only cut the side that had the weaving in and out, but also the other side that had no weaving whatsoever, so I tossed that question out of my mind entirely. I was going to cut the side with no weaving, so why was I worried about the side that had the extra yarn woven in? Yea, I know. A duh moment...
~
Second, remember all the calculations I was sweating over on this sweater? For the most part, they all worked perfectly. The sleeves themselves are a bit tight on my forearms. Not enough to keep my from wearing my sweater (I wore it to last night's hockey game and I was nice and warm!!!), but enough that I'll increase right after the cuff next time. I didn't add any immediate increases on my sweater, so I don't need a lot of additional, but I will add a few to loosen that up. In fact, I've already changed that calculation on my brother's sweater. (Pics in next post to show what I've done and how I'm recalculating that one.)
~
Second learning curve is that the sweater is a bit shorter than I'd like. Yup, I can compensate for that through blocking. Not a problem. But I'll recalculate length better on this new (and all future) sweaters. Add 10% or 20% to be lost in initial wash and the fact that I really hate pulling and yanking on wet sweaters. I like to wash and simply toss it down to dry without having to worry about what shape to give it. Luckily, this sweater (again) isn't too short so I won't wear it. It's just a bit shorter than I'd initially wanted, but add another 3 or 4 inches to length next time.
~
OTOH, I do believe that if I'd gone with the original dimensions suggested on the Pbilosopher's Wool pattern, I'd have ended up with a sweater that was big enough to tuck one of my kids inside it with me. So I'm glad I recalculated in the long run.
~
And the nice part is that I have enough leftover yellow yarn from my own PW kit that I can add single rows of yellow into my brother's sweater. I'm making him the Timber-Framed, also in the Fire colorway. His kit wasn't offered with the "Fire with Yellow" and I really like the zing of adding a bit of yellow to the fire. So what I'm doing is playing with the background color changes in his sweater. The timbers themselves are black. It's the background that changes every so often. I have 5 colors to work with so I'm doing bands of 6 rows, 5 rows, 4 rows, etc right down to 1 row and that's where I'm adding single rows of the leftover yellow from my kit. After I reach the yellow band, I repeat the colors in reverse (2 rows, 3 rows, 4 rows, etc). I keep the colors the same that I did in descending order, but once I reach back to the 6 rows, I change up the color sequence. So it goes: 6-5-4-3-2-1--2-3-4-5-6-5-etc. The only color that will remain constant is the single row will always be yellow. The others will vary so I can use the colors at the same rate. So the colors I use in band 2 and 3 rows will become 4, 5 or 6 in the next.
~
I surely hope that's all making sense.... LOL!
~
Anyway, it looked kinda weird at first, but the more I get into the sleeve, it's really coming together and looking nice. I liked the suggestion of using dice to determine how many rows of color I used, but I also don't want to be TOO random in what I'm doing. So I could either vary the colors or I could vary the number of rows. I'm choosing to vary the colors so I have a static number of rows to the overall pattern.... Er, not that anyone is going to look at Tom's sweater and see what I did or even notice that there's a rhyme and a reason to how everything comes together. But I like some sense of symmetry or it'll drive me nuts. It's my way of making things much harder than they have to be....
~
Deadline for this new sweater is Feb 25th. That's Tom's birthday and this is going to be a big one. He turns 50 this year and I need his gift to be something special. He tends to take things like a new decade very hard. I can guarantee that this one will bother him. Hence, a sweater made by his baby sister. I'm just hoping I can get it done in time. I've determined that at least 4 hours every day at work will give me a minimum of 20 hours a week. I have another 4 weeks to finish this thing and get it to him. I figure, if I'm really cruising on the sweater and enjoying the process, I'll work more than 4 hours, but if I make sure to get at least the 4 hours 5 days a week, I should make good progress.
~
Other projects OTN are socks in Happy Feet. Gorgeous, gorgeous yarn. I almost gave up because I'd tried about 3 or 4 different patterns, trying to do justice to this colorway. I forget the colorway. Don't ask. I'm too lazy to go look for the ballband. It's got olive green and navy and burgundy and a fantastic peach. Anyway, I almost gave up after frogging for the 3rd or 4th time. Regardless of what pattern I did, none of them looked right. So I finally just did 10 rows of ribbing and the rest of the sock is straight stockinette. Bingo! This is a yarn that needs to shine without any frills. So this is also in my bag at work for those times when I've had enough sweater and need some "mindless" knitting for a change.
~
Also OTN.... er, not technically, though, because the first is completed, is another pair of socks for the DH. I'm doing another pair of the Woodman's Thick Socks in Knit Picks' Shamrock, which is a heavy worsted weight yarn, but I'm putting reverse st st under his foot. He likes the socks I gave him for Christmas, but the purl nubs under the ball of his foot annoy and actually begin to hurt after a while. So the second pair look weird because the purl nubs are on the outside and under the foot, but they'll be much more comfortable to wear. First sock is done and the fit is good if he'd stop trying to stuff his toes outside the front.
~
After years and years of tube socks, he tends to pull the sock really tight against his toe so he can yank it up his calf and practically to his knee. He's trying to do this with his handknit socks and I keep telling him to stop. The sock should fit comfortably and not squish his toes. He's just not used to it yet. The funny thing is that he always wears holes in the toes of his socks and can't figure out why I don't. Er... honey? Because I don't try to squish my toes to the point where they'd be outside the sock....
~
I have faith that I can retrain him.
~
Let me see... anything else? I did up a quick pair of mittens for my Mom. She has a really nice brown Aran sweater coat and I got some of the KP Shamrock in a rust color. So I knitted her a pair of mittens that compliment her coat. Considering winter finally decided to appear here in the Northeast, I figured she'd like them. She does.
~
I think that's it for now. I have TONS of laundry to get through today before tonight's hockey game. We got WHOMPED by Niagara last night so tonight should be... er, interesting. I hope we have different referees. When the penalty judge is skating ahead of the players down the ice, that doesn't bode well for anyone. And, not for nothing, but one call was beyond abyssmal. A Niagara player had Marshall by the shoulders, holding him, and after the whistle was called (because their goalie put his shoulders under the net and knocked it loose deliberately so the ref would wave off the goal), the guy throws Marshall to the ice. Yes, Marshall gets up and the two start a scuffle. But the ref calls two penalites on Marshall and not the Niagara player!!! Scuse me?!?!
~
Just bad calls. Bad reffing. So I expect tonight to be a grudge match that isn't gonna be pretty.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Ready to Steek...
Yup, you read that right. I'm ready to steek my sweater. I went back to work on Thursday, which means I now have eight hours a day of practically uninterrupted knitting. I was just past the beginning of the place where I figured the sleeve holes would be when I went back. Thursday passed and Friday was yesterday and I'm ready to steek. I've got everything knitted up to the shoulders.
I added one purl stitch at the side seam for the sleeve steeks (this is what PW tells you to do) and then measured carefully about three times for how wide that needs to be. Measured again because I wanted to repeat the first pattern band at the top of the shoulders and it all worked out beautifully. I did add two more rows of plain black knit at the top of the sleeves (hey, I can always roll back the cuff on my sleeve if it's too long) and CO the sleeves with a purl st (a la Meg Swanson on her Cardigan Details DVD).
I divided the top of the body into three sections, putting each section onto a lifeline. This way, I can grab each side section after cutting the steek and knit those together (I think I'll join those a la MS also with a 3-needle bind off). The actual steek stitch on each side is on a pin marker, ready for scissors. And the middle third of the top is ready for the neck band. I have those on lifelines for now, but the back will blend right into the neckband and the front has been pinned so I can also cut that away once I sew the steek seam and pick up the stitches to complete the neckband. I'm going to use another EZ & MS suggestion and tack down the neckband using "live" stitches to keep the stretchiness rather than cast off the stitches before tacking down.
I do have to attend a women's basketball game this afternoon, so I better get to work if I want to get this done today. I really want to check the sweater for size, etc before I CO for my brother's sweater. Course, if push comes to shove, I can try it on with all the lifelines intact. I really want to get the yarn for his sweater all balled up and ready to go because I have to work tomorrow and would kill myself if I had to face a whole day without something on my needles.
Er.... not that this is a problem. I have a hat on the needles (Midwinter Warmers from KnitPicks) and two pairs of socks also on the needles. But, but, but.... I don't want to work on those.... (she says in her best whiny voice)... I want to work on sweaters!
LOL!
Wish me best of luck as I head for the finish line. Rather than being all discombombulated and worried and tearing my hair out, I'm actually excited to do this. Watching the DVDs of Meg Swanson and Elizabeth Zimmerman and reading their books has given me confidence from their nonchalance that I'd never achieve on my own. If this works as beautifully as they indicate, I have a strange feeling that I'm about to take up residence in SweaterLand.
I only have two feet and I already have a dozen or more pairs of socks. But I don't have any sweaters (er... yet! /g/) that I've made myself. I have a lot of sweater knitting to catch up to my feet. Just think! I could match my sweaters to the colors in my socks. Would that be a hoot or what? I doubt that will happen, but I'm finding that I absolutely adore knitting colorwork and what better way to utilize 8 hours a day than treating myself to some interesting patterns and colors and being able to wear the finished product?
The part of knitting sweaters that I always hated was the shaping around the sleeves and shoulders and the putting together. Steeking will solve that. I'll no longer hate any part of a sweater and the putting together should go together so fast that it'll take no time at all. And I have fairly wide shoulders for my frame, so a dropped shoulder actually looks great on me. Many problems solved if I can get my @ss in gear.
Shower, sewing machine, finishing touches. Yup, I'm ready, excited and anxious.
Stay tuned. If daughter doesn't take pics of the finished product, she'll cease to breathe...
LOL!
I added one purl stitch at the side seam for the sleeve steeks (this is what PW tells you to do) and then measured carefully about three times for how wide that needs to be. Measured again because I wanted to repeat the first pattern band at the top of the shoulders and it all worked out beautifully. I did add two more rows of plain black knit at the top of the sleeves (hey, I can always roll back the cuff on my sleeve if it's too long) and CO the sleeves with a purl st (a la Meg Swanson on her Cardigan Details DVD).
I divided the top of the body into three sections, putting each section onto a lifeline. This way, I can grab each side section after cutting the steek and knit those together (I think I'll join those a la MS also with a 3-needle bind off). The actual steek stitch on each side is on a pin marker, ready for scissors. And the middle third of the top is ready for the neck band. I have those on lifelines for now, but the back will blend right into the neckband and the front has been pinned so I can also cut that away once I sew the steek seam and pick up the stitches to complete the neckband. I'm going to use another EZ & MS suggestion and tack down the neckband using "live" stitches to keep the stretchiness rather than cast off the stitches before tacking down.
I do have to attend a women's basketball game this afternoon, so I better get to work if I want to get this done today. I really want to check the sweater for size, etc before I CO for my brother's sweater. Course, if push comes to shove, I can try it on with all the lifelines intact. I really want to get the yarn for his sweater all balled up and ready to go because I have to work tomorrow and would kill myself if I had to face a whole day without something on my needles.
Er.... not that this is a problem. I have a hat on the needles (Midwinter Warmers from KnitPicks) and two pairs of socks also on the needles. But, but, but.... I don't want to work on those.... (she says in her best whiny voice)... I want to work on sweaters!
LOL!
Wish me best of luck as I head for the finish line. Rather than being all discombombulated and worried and tearing my hair out, I'm actually excited to do this. Watching the DVDs of Meg Swanson and Elizabeth Zimmerman and reading their books has given me confidence from their nonchalance that I'd never achieve on my own. If this works as beautifully as they indicate, I have a strange feeling that I'm about to take up residence in SweaterLand.
I only have two feet and I already have a dozen or more pairs of socks. But I don't have any sweaters (er... yet! /g/) that I've made myself. I have a lot of sweater knitting to catch up to my feet. Just think! I could match my sweaters to the colors in my socks. Would that be a hoot or what? I doubt that will happen, but I'm finding that I absolutely adore knitting colorwork and what better way to utilize 8 hours a day than treating myself to some interesting patterns and colors and being able to wear the finished product?
The part of knitting sweaters that I always hated was the shaping around the sleeves and shoulders and the putting together. Steeking will solve that. I'll no longer hate any part of a sweater and the putting together should go together so fast that it'll take no time at all. And I have fairly wide shoulders for my frame, so a dropped shoulder actually looks great on me. Many problems solved if I can get my @ss in gear.
Shower, sewing machine, finishing touches. Yup, I'm ready, excited and anxious.
Stay tuned. If daughter doesn't take pics of the finished product, she'll cease to breathe...
LOL!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Ravelry, etc.
I got my invite and I'm now over on Ravelry. My name is -- here's a real surprise -- bonneewolf. And I've gotten sucked into the discussions on the message boards over there. Emailing and looking for projects so I'm not spending enough time doing my own projects or updating over here.
Okay, so let's start with projects. Where am I and how far along? Yeah, yeah, pics would help. I am overdue for some pics on the various projects I have planned. But the important thing is that I got my Color Your Own kit from Mom for Christmas. I started it shortly before Christmas (so I had something to work on that day... er, not that I did because we sat around and chatted for hours...) Anyway, the sleeves are done and I'm almost at the halfway point on the pattern graph of the body. I guess that's about halfway (or a bit more) on the whole sweater. Good progress for someone who doesn't knit as much when she's off from work compared to the hours I've got when I am at work.
Geez.... I surely hope the boss never sees my blog. /wry g/
I have three technical days left before I go back. New students are moving in for orientation over the weekend, so I go back on Thursday. Part of me looks forward to it because I get a lot more knitting done. Part of me hates it because I spend 40 hrs a week sitting in a little aluminum and glass box. But the part of me that looks forward to it is bigger than the part of me that hates it, so I guess that's a good thing... /g/
I also have the Timber Framed kit for my brother's sweater here. It's waiting for me to finish the Color Your Own so I have an idea of what I'm doing. I'll never be comfortable until I get that first steek under my belt, so I'm anticipating and dreading at the same time.
Course, something dawned on me this week. I'm doing all the color changes at one of the side seams. Great for the sleeves since there won't be any steeking involved. But the sweater will involve cutting open the holes to insert the sleeves. This means I'll be cutting right through my color changes. Hmm.... maybe I should write an email to Ann and/or Eugene to ask about this. Should I move my color changes to another part of the sweater? Should I not worry about it and simply keep going? I mean, I weave in the new color before it begins and then weave out the old before I cut it. Now those woven pieces will be meaningless since I'll be cutting them effectively right at the beginning and end of the row. (Does that make sense or did I just type in babble? /g/)
Now, I have other good knitterly stuff. I have a huge order from KnitPicks due sometime this week. Lots of yarn and some EZ DVDs. We're talking over $150 worth of goodness. But I have to make some minor adjustments to the socks I made for Hubby. He likes them, but I need to make some minor fitting stuff for them to be a bit more comfortable. (He doesn't like the purl nubs under his feet, so reverse st st under the foot. And a bit of shaping so they don't sag over his ankles. Minor stuff.) The point is that he likes them!! Woo hoo! I also have some sport wt yarn coming so I can make another pair with smaller needles. (Yup, that negates that purl nub under the foot problem, but I'll work him down slowly.) More of the same heavy worsted wt yarn for more mittens. More needles for Magic Loop... Lots of goodies in this shipment.
And, now, where was it?!? Whitknits.com? They have a sale on Noro yarns. 20% off until, I think, the end of the month. I got a couple skeins for socks and they had a delicious silk lace wt for like $8 for 1100 yds. I've been looking at the box shawl design from Cheryle Oberle's Folk Shawls and I think I could make that one with like 3 skeins. So I ordered.
Yeah, my credit card companies are in love with me. I didn't use them before Christmas, but I've been liberal in the after holiday sale madness... /sigh/
Oh, and I found a terrific buy! Stopped at The Yarn Barn over in Amity and found Happy Feet in the most wonderful colorway for $6 a skein. Kewl! I'm so used to paying double that price for wonderful yarn and now I can get a pair of socks for about $12. Is that kewl or what? Biggest problem was finding the right pattern. I tried Jaywalker. Nope. Wasn't working for me. Tried the Garden Trellis that came out so gorgeous in the Stone Barn Fibers colorway Ice Cream Sundae. Nope. Looked like cat yak. I finally decided to rib the top and simply not bother with any pattern whatsoever. So this is my mindless knitting when I want to get away from the sweater.
I figure, if I get to work on my sweater, I should have the Color Your Own done by the end of the month. Get to work on my brother's and, if I knit my little fingers off, I might actually have it done by his birthday on Feb 25th. I'm not counting on it, but that's my goal.
Then I can finally start my Dale of Norway Albertville '92 Olympic design. I'm going to try that one in KnitPicks' Palette yarns and can do the sweater for about $35 or $40. Yup, I like that pricetag. I doubt I'll finish it before warm weather starts, but I should have a good beginning and be able to pick it back up in the fall and wear it before it gets downright cold. Course, having that done before the end of Sept when the Durham Fair occurs (and I can submit it in the knitting contest) would be fantastic, but we'll see about that. I have 8 months to figure it out... /g/
Other news? I never talk about my health because I've always been very lucky. If you happen to listen to the Lime n Violet podcast, let's just say that I know where the alien baby went. My doc has determined that I'm perimenopausal (think: semi-homicial) and I have a fibriod that isn't shrinking like it's supposed to. We might have to c-section that baby outa there. I'll know more when I go back during the spring break in March. Right now, I'm just uncomfortable and dreaming of new ways to hide the bodies of those I have to sacrifice for the greater good of humanity... LOL!
Now, I have to get to work. Yesterday, I did cleaning. Geez, what was I thinking!?!?!? Washed every dirty dish and utensil in the house. Emptied and washed out the litter box. Laundry. Even washed the outside of my trash can. Yikes! I must've found some crack someplace because I abhor cleaning and organizing and whatever. I've been bribing my kids for years. And, yes, I've figured that once the girls move out, I'll have free money that I can pay someone to do it for me then. But something came over me.... Oh, that's right. Alien baby. Don't let my husband read this or he'll tell me we're not only going to keep it, we're adopting so it can stay...
LOL!
Okay, so let's start with projects. Where am I and how far along? Yeah, yeah, pics would help. I am overdue for some pics on the various projects I have planned. But the important thing is that I got my Color Your Own kit from Mom for Christmas. I started it shortly before Christmas (so I had something to work on that day... er, not that I did because we sat around and chatted for hours...
Geez.... I surely hope the boss never sees my blog. /wry g/
I have three technical days left before I go back. New students are moving in for orientation over the weekend, so I go back on Thursday. Part of me looks forward to it because I get a lot more knitting done. Part of me hates it because I spend 40 hrs a week sitting in a little aluminum and glass box. But the part of me that looks forward to it is bigger than the part of me that hates it, so I guess that's a good thing... /g/
I also have the Timber Framed kit for my brother's sweater here. It's waiting for me to finish the Color Your Own so I have an idea of what I'm doing. I'll never be comfortable until I get that first steek under my belt, so I'm anticipating and dreading at the same time.
Course, something dawned on me this week. I'm doing all the color changes at one of the side seams. Great for the sleeves since there won't be any steeking involved. But the sweater will involve cutting open the holes to insert the sleeves. This means I'll be cutting right through my color changes. Hmm.... maybe I should write an email to Ann and/or Eugene to ask about this. Should I move my color changes to another part of the sweater? Should I not worry about it and simply keep going? I mean, I weave in the new color before it begins and then weave out the old before I cut it. Now those woven pieces will be meaningless since I'll be cutting them effectively right at the beginning and end of the row. (Does that make sense or did I just type in babble? /g/)
Now, I have other good knitterly stuff. I have a huge order from KnitPicks due sometime this week. Lots of yarn and some EZ DVDs. We're talking over $150 worth of goodness. But I have to make some minor adjustments to the socks I made for Hubby. He likes them, but I need to make some minor fitting stuff for them to be a bit more comfortable. (He doesn't like the purl nubs under his feet, so reverse st st under the foot. And a bit of shaping so they don't sag over his ankles. Minor stuff.) The point is that he likes them!! Woo hoo! I also have some sport wt yarn coming so I can make another pair with smaller needles. (Yup, that negates that purl nub under the foot problem, but I'll work him down slowly.) More of the same heavy worsted wt yarn for more mittens. More needles for Magic Loop... Lots of goodies in this shipment.
And, now, where was it?!? Whitknits.com? They have a sale on Noro yarns. 20% off until, I think, the end of the month. I got a couple skeins for socks and they had a delicious silk lace wt for like $8 for 1100 yds. I've been looking at the box shawl design from Cheryle Oberle's Folk Shawls and I think I could make that one with like 3 skeins. So I ordered.
Yeah, my credit card companies are in love with me. I didn't use them before Christmas, but I've been liberal in the after holiday sale madness... /sigh/
Oh, and I found a terrific buy! Stopped at The Yarn Barn over in Amity and found Happy Feet in the most wonderful colorway for $6 a skein. Kewl! I'm so used to paying double that price for wonderful yarn and now I can get a pair of socks for about $12. Is that kewl or what? Biggest problem was finding the right pattern. I tried Jaywalker. Nope. Wasn't working for me. Tried the Garden Trellis that came out so gorgeous in the Stone Barn Fibers colorway Ice Cream Sundae. Nope. Looked like cat yak. I finally decided to rib the top and simply not bother with any pattern whatsoever. So this is my mindless knitting when I want to get away from the sweater.
I figure, if I get to work on my sweater, I should have the Color Your Own done by the end of the month. Get to work on my brother's and, if I knit my little fingers off, I might actually have it done by his birthday on Feb 25th. I'm not counting on it, but that's my goal.
Then I can finally start my Dale of Norway Albertville '92 Olympic design. I'm going to try that one in KnitPicks' Palette yarns and can do the sweater for about $35 or $40. Yup, I like that pricetag. I doubt I'll finish it before warm weather starts, but I should have a good beginning and be able to pick it back up in the fall and wear it before it gets downright cold. Course, having that done before the end of Sept when the Durham Fair occurs (and I can submit it in the knitting contest) would be fantastic, but we'll see about that. I have 8 months to figure it out... /g/
Other news? I never talk about my health because I've always been very lucky. If you happen to listen to the Lime n Violet podcast, let's just say that I know where the alien baby went. My doc has determined that I'm perimenopausal (think: semi-homicial) and I have a fibriod that isn't shrinking like it's supposed to. We might have to c-section that baby outa there. I'll know more when I go back during the spring break in March. Right now, I'm just uncomfortable and dreaming of new ways to hide the bodies of those I have to sacrifice for the greater good of humanity... LOL!
Now, I have to get to work. Yesterday, I did cleaning. Geez, what was I thinking!?!?!? Washed every dirty dish and utensil in the house. Emptied and washed out the litter box. Laundry. Even washed the outside of my trash can. Yikes! I must've found some crack someplace because I abhor cleaning and organizing and whatever. I've been bribing my kids for years. And, yes, I've figured that once the girls move out, I'll have free money that I can pay someone to do it for me then. But something came over me.... Oh, that's right. Alien baby. Don't let my husband read this or he'll tell me we're not only going to keep it, we're adopting so it can stay...
LOL!
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