updates

Well, since the holiday knitting is done I have lost any sense of discipline. I have two active projects, one sock for DH and a scarf for my niece. Both projects are made of sock yarn. I will post wip photos when I can get my hands on the laptop.I have a bunch of stuff I want to start but will try to keep the number of projects on the neddles down to 3. Meanwhile Dh was back in the hospital while traveling for work (luckily he was dc'ed and able to come home on his own).

I had my first mammogram, which was followed by my first mammogram scare. Good news though, what they saw was determined to be just nodular breast tissue. I have to get the left breast mammogram repeated in 6 months, they don't want to see the right one again till next year. I am flabberghasted that they cannot find a less painful and humiliating way to screen for cancer. If they had to crush your head to visualize your brain I promise they would find a better way. The real issue is that you have some stranger handling your boobs, smashing them between the hard plastic. For mercy sake, can't they at least crush your boobs between something soft? Happy, healthy new year to all!

new stuff

I seem to always find room for a few new skiens of sock yarn, I'm just a girl who can't say no. The 4 balls of luna park by orgnaghi came from Yarn4socks from mass., but I originally saw it on a post from Mason Dixon . The opal regenbogen (which I just learned means rainbow) I ordered from MartinasBastel and it arrived in record time. Looks like mamma's going to make new socks for her girls! The colors are making me so happy!

washcloths

One down FIVE to go. If I can learn to knit while I sleep I am sure I can get this all done. I used Peaches and Creme yarn and the pattern from Knitty Gritty for the modular coaster. Its a little small for a washcloth but its cute. I am experimenting with making the next one larger. The problem is that I have to pay attention to what I am doing or I screw up the pattern. Do you know how hard it is to pay attention to knitting with three kids running around? Especially since they are all hopped up on Hannukah, very excited about prezzies and latkes. Gotta get back to grating potatoes and frying.

holiday update

So I finished the christmas stocking. It came out well and was really appreciated, but the fact that I had to rework the pattern to get it to make sense was a bummer. I did ask my friend to let me have it back after the holiday so that I can add some more embroidery to the tree. Now ALL I have to is knit all the washcloths to go with the soap I made for the teachers. Tick Tock!

I am also trying to get used to knitting with reading glasses. I decided to start wearing my contacts because my glasses did a poor job of correcting my distance vision. The contacts do an awesome job of correcting my distance vision, but I realized I need reading specs. Oh, well I am living some version of age before beauty, except in my case it means that I need to attend to my age related needs before my beauty related needs. As Bette Davis said, "Ageing is not for sissies".

Interesting

I saw this on someone's blog, and am kind of surprised. Some times you have that feeling that you are not alone! On the knitting from I have almost finished the intarsia part of the christmas stocking, and I hope it looks better blocked!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 295 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

starts with s

The first "S" is for soap. My friend Eleni (who I won't link to due to her lack of recent posts) and I got together and made soap for teachers' gifts. It's a shame you can't smell them - these are lemon verbena and we did a lot of lavander as well, yummm. I ran out to the craft store this morning and bought fondant cuters so we could spell out seasonally appropriate words.

The second "S" is the socks I finished like two weeks ago but didn't post. They from Trekking XXL, don't know the color number off hand. The pattern I made up as I went along. Its my fave picot edge, but this time I did an afterthought heel. I didn't like it much in progress cause the endless knit tube bored me, but I like the fit of the heel, so I will probably do it again.

problem solved

Well, after much thought I finally figured out how to solve the wonky chart problem. I am surprised I didn't get it earlier but I'll chalk that up to major tooth pain. I am going to restart the whole thing and do a provisional cast on. Then I will do the dreaded chart, pick up the ankle stiches on dpns and do the foot. Problem solved, and tomorrow I get my root canal and the tooth problem will be solved. Whoo hoo!

random thoughts

• How did I spend Thanksgiving with my family and assorted knitting projects without getting an effing thing done?
• The pattern for my Christmas stocking is making me nuts. The chart reads in a way that is inducing nausea in me. The chart reads from the upper rows to the ankle, then the foot is done on dpns. It makes it hard to look at the picture and tell if its right, or maybe its my brain that has a problem. I am just used to charts that work up, and I may have to reverse the pattern so it doesn't make my brain hurt.
• Joe Lieberman has hired some dude as his chief of staff or some such title who hails from Christian "family" oriented causes. Are we supposed to see Lieberman as a democrat? I think he might be trying to run for one of the 4 horsemen of the apocolypse. I still wished I could have voted against him more than once. On the plus side, my impulse control seems to be intact - I didn't leave a foul mouthed message at Lieberman's office.
• Did any one see the "Rhymes with Orange" cartoon in the paper sunday? It was a snake looking at a book titled Anyone Can Knit. The caption was to the effect that the snake remained optimistic.

helloooo.....

Well, let's see. Despite maintaining my silence I have in fact been knitting. I even finished a pair of socks for me, wore them and washed them twice. I swear I will post a pic. What has stopped me from doing so? A toothache to end the genre, which left half of my face numb from my eye to my chin (but only after causing horrible pain). I am on antibiotics and waiting for root canal on the 30th. Whoo who!

Then I stupidly invited my parents and sister to celebrate my son's brithday and my 10 year old daughter for having chanted the havdalah (end of Shabbat) service all by herself on Saturday. Then I thought, why not have a brunch and invited about 40 people over. So I thought I could clean the house and buy the food and all that stuff during the week. I did not plan for the number of hours I would spend at the dentist or sleeping off percocet on the couch. By Friday I was in a state of panic, but I pulled it off (mostly). Instead of the expense of ordering trays, I went to costco and bought lox and fixings. Cleaning was boiled down to the bare minimum and there were things that didn't actually get cleaned (some knitting stuff got hidden under the sofa and in closets). I did get 14 bags of clothes to Good Will, and wrote down the contents so they could be used to offset taxes. I also gave away three bags of really nice hardly worn clothes to friends. No sooner than I get some shit out of the house, people start showing up with gifts for the kids. Arghh! Some days I think I will never get out from under it. Did I mention that my temporary filling fell out? I hear the couch and the percocet calling me again. Hopefully my friend the dentist will have time to fix that before I drive myself and the kids to Phildelphia for thanksgiving (tomorrow afternoon).

mitten kit swap questionaire

Are you allergic to any fibers? No!
What are your favorite colors? Leafy green, burnt orange, mustard yellow, rich browns
Are you a new mitt knitter? Nope
How long have you been knitting mittens? I have been knitting since I was seven and am now 43. I don't remember my first mittens but would guess they were in the last 10 years.
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? I like solids if there is some variation in the depth of color other wise multi.
What fibers do you prefer in mitten yarn? Wool
Where do you usually knit mittens? Every where I like socks and mitten because they are portable and I can always have something to do with me.
How do you usually carry/store small projects? in ziplock bags in my big bag
What are your favorite mitten patterns? A fairilse mitten from interweave knits that I did a few years ago. The colors were great.
What are your favorite mitten knitting techniques? I use eith dpns or 2 circs, I got tired of all the fiddling around with magic loop
What new techniques would you like to try? I don't know
What are your favorite needles for knitting mittens? Addi circs, but I am thinking of tring knit picks circs
What are some of your favorite yarns? I love sock yarn and have made mittens from both commercial and hand dyed sock yarns
What yarn do you totally covet? I have a strange obsession with rowan kidsilk haze but I am a miser about using it, though I have stranded it with sock yarn to make a warmer fuzzy mitten.
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? Probably some insanely comlicated color work or testural pattern
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? Metal, addi, circs. I rarely use straight needles.
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Hand dyed cashmere, maybe lobster pot from Purl Soho.
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?Sour gummy peaches, good and plenty. I love chocolate but it doesn't always mail well!
What’s your favorite animal? cats, but I am petless right now
Would you prefer super warm mittens or something more like fingerless mitts? Living in new england, I guess I have to say warm
If you were a color what color would you be? leafy green
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? a new baby sleeping, it doesn't even need to be one of my kids
Do you have a wishlist? Not a formal one!
Anything else you’d like to share with the group today? Nope, but always open to questions

finished father & son socks

So I finished this matching set for my guys with this tiny bit of yarn left. That never ceases to amaze me, that no matter how stressed I get about whether I will have enough yarn, I always make it with the tiniest bit left. This is opal chameleon from the first rainforest collection ordered from Astrid (and she is always a pleasure to buy from).
Now the only question is why dh and ds keep asking me to make them socks that they never wear. My nearly three year old informed me he doesn't like the "knitting" socks except for skating on the wood floors. No attempt to explain by DH, but he was informed that this is the last pair he gets unless he starts wearing the others.

Okay here it is. The rhinebeck loot. I am possibly the last person in blogland to post my aquisitions. The sock yarn is all from ellenshalfpintfarm.com and the scarf kit is from morehouse merino. Hard to believe how much money was involved!

better late than...

Here are some Rhinebeck pics, how can you miss with kids and animals? The kids had a lot of fun. They did not even mind the fact that I was having fun too. I am being thwarted by blogger and my pop up blocker, which are conspiring to keep me from posting the pics of my goodies from Rhinebeck, and recent finished objects. I will have to try a different computer or something.

the muldirectional witches

I am so mystified. I tried to join the yahoo group for multideirectional knitting and my request to join was REFUSED. WTF? I cannot imagine how anyone could refuse a knitter membership in a knitting forum! I was informed by the letter that "all decisions are final". Am I missing something?

Rhinebeck!

Well, despite the fact that my partner in crime was unable to go I took the two little ones and went to Rhinebeck. What a scene! It was the most gorgeous day and one of the lovliest drives ever. Thanks to a fun new game we learned ( virtual hide and seek) the ride was without any bickering. Driving into the lot and seeing the massive number of cars was amazing. There were some fun things for the kids to do and there was yarn. We watched a sheep shearing. My five year old now is desperate to learn to spin with a drop spindle, she is carring a small piece of angora fiber that a spinner gave her. I continue to chant "Must not take up spinning". My favorite find was Ellen's Half Pint Farms sock yarn, the colors are lovely and the yarn has a great feel. I will post photos later. I bought 5 skiens but I am not sure they are all for me.

The Fold's booth had been stripped bare of STR by 1PM on saturday, they had only sockcandy left. I guess there is a slight exaggeration when I say stripped bare, as there were two skiens of the almost solid olivine left. I saw so many people wearing their handknits, but was most impresses with the two women I saw wearing items they made from the Knitting Nature book. Wow did they look great.

Coming from the epicenter of bland whiteness (Connecticut), it was great fun to see some funky fresh non-beige people. My kids behaved amazingly well, and I realized how lucky I was when I saw so many moms with crying kids. Its hard to find a place to time the kids out in the midst of a fiber fest. I will post pics as soon as I can.

brain cramp

So I have started knitting aChristmas Stocking for a really nice woman who recently adopted a child from Russia. Over the summer she told me about the stockings that her mother lovingly knit for all her grandchildren (I loved the part about how they got bigger as the years went on and her mom's gauge grew). Sadly her mother was not here to meet this grandchild or to make her a stocking, so Jean asked if I knew anyone she could hire to make one for Krystina. I of course told her I would do and she could pay me in coffee! SO she ordered a kit from Patternworks in New Hampshire, and I got to work. I couldn't figure out why the instructions called for straight needles in addition to dpns, so I cast on the dpns. When I finished the cuff, it finally hit me - the intarsia part of the stocking was to be knit flat, then they tell you to change to dpns. Boy did I feel dumb as I frogged it! In my defense, it doesn't say to cast on using straight needles, you only kind of figure that out when they tell you to change to dps for the heel. Now I am back on track. The pattern is really cute - its a teddy bear sitting next to a xmas tree. I plan to jazz it up a little! The ornaments are supposed to be duplicate stichted in colored yarn, but I think they really need to be little crystal beads. Now if I could only figure out how to explain this project to the rabbi when he sees me knitting in front of the kid's hebrew school.

for real finished object (frfo)

Well in between all of the challenges of life, health and sockwars , I managed to get some knitting done. My son is in a green phase and begged for some green socks so I used the opal chameleon. It is a pattern from my head and from now on I really should write them down as I do the first sock. It was a challenge to remember what I did. The ribbing is k3p1, with a heel that combines a PGR short row heel and Lucy Neatby's garter stitch short row heel. The toe is also a combo toe. I really like doing the heel and toe on crazy small needles, I think this was a 00. While my son liked the socks, he was scaring us by using them to skate on the wooden floor. He can find a way to make anything dangerous! By the way the other feet belong to my 5 year old daughter who cannot tolerate being left out of any picture, even a goofy knitting shot.

Now I am using the rest of the skein to make DH a matching pair, but his will be a low ankle sock so I don't run out of yarn.

my socks from the"war"

Now you can see what I got from being killed in the sock war. A pair of beautiful purple merino socks of doom. They fit like a glove...can't resist word play. I mailed my 1 and 1/2 socks off to be finished by Hope!

sock wars victim

Well this is how far I got before I recieved my pair in the mail, so in short - I was the assasinated not the assasin. I will go directly to the post office and mail my attempt to my assasin so she can complete the mission. Blogger is clearly also involved in the conspiracy since I cannot upload the picture of the beautiful socks of doom I received. At least I have the socks, heh heh. If any one is interested the yarn is a regia six ply, and the colors are pretty close to accurate.

in memory

Today I went to the funeral of an incredible woman who should by all rights be walking among us still. She was a devoted mother, a friend to many and someone who never tried to shine a light on herself. At her funeral, I learned that she was a talented singer. I knew of her love of music. I recently learned about her academic and professional achievements when my DH and I tried to help her buff her resume. She was widely traveled. Clearly she was modest. Devoted friends from her life were there. And her beautiful children, 11 and 13, were a testament to her. She ended her life because she became hopeless about her marital issues and feared for her future. If you knew her you would never believe that she would leave her children behind.

My garden is full of gifts from her, when she split her perennials she left them in my driveway. Hug your kids and tell your friends how much you cherish them. Never assume that tragedy cannot occur. I knit her a scarf because she had helped me so much after my husband's open heart surgery eighteen months ago. When I came to her house to drop it off she leaned in the window of my car and said that is so beautiful. She seemed delighted that it was a gift for her. I was proud to know her and hope she knows that.

zimmermannia

I just joined the Zimmermannia kal and I am so excited to be knitting along with other obsessed knitters who worship at the hem of the master. I am going to do a baby surprise jacked for my niece who got slightly cheated by the last sweater which she will outgrow any minute! Now I get to go browse the yarn stash for the appropriate color and weight!

First of all, I have waited altogether too long to post the beautiful gift I recieved from my KSKS pal Julia (from www.peonyknits.blogspot.com). Since it has arrived at my house the kids are bickering about who gets socks made from the gorgeous Sundara yarn. The little brats stand no chance of getting anything other than scraps from this, as I have been coveting Sundara yarn for ages and had not yet treated myself. The candy disappeared faster than fast. The addi 00 has already been used for a garter stitch heel ( and it looks great), and the green chibi case and needles are great. I am thrilled! The bag is lovely, the fabric is amazing and the dragon scales pattern from the keyboard biologist looks like fun.

The other pic is from last week when all the girls in the house wore handmade socks. The two blue pairs were recently finished from one ball of opal, with a tiny bit leftover.

render me speechless

This is what is on my minivan. The knit sticker and one that reads "The last time someone listened to a Bush, folks wandered around the desert for 40 years" (I typed it because of the glare in my photo). Well, today this was added to my car by persons unknown outside my 5 year olds' gymnastic class. I can barely contain my outrage! I understand that driving around in a red part of a blue state with this bumpersticker may elicit some political discussion and I welcome that. This is ,however, a comment on their perception of my relationship with G-d, which is uncalled for. I would have been happy to discuss my beliefs with them but they chose an less direct approach. Part of the reason behind this bumpersticker is that my last name is Moses. Mostly I am shocked that anyone felt the need to put this note on my car, without thought to how I may feel and then signed it with a smiley face! What the heck is that about?

And update on DH is that he has to have another angiogram on Thursday to rule out damge on the right side of his heart. Wish us luck, we welcome prayers of any denomination!

good news bad news

Well DH has landed himself in the hospital with pnuemonia, but the doctors seem more concerned with his ticker. He had open heart surgery 1 and a half years ago at age 46 to fix a valve. We'll be waiting for test results today. And before that I found out my dad in in the hospital for chest pain (they ruled out cardiac problems. And my nephew broke his wrist. Guess which part of the post this is?

My good news is that three of five family members went out today wearing hand made socks. That felt kinda good. I gotta focus on that. I have photos to upload but I lack the initiative now. Maybe later.

a small story of 9-11

In the midst of the rememberence of the horrific anniversery of 9-11 I want to share the story of my day five years ago. I was working as a social worker on an adolescent psychiatric unit outside Chicago.It was a glorious morning, the sky was unbelievably blue. My girls were 5 and 7 months old and I had dropped them at day care. I was listening to Howard Stern who was talking to someone who wanted to fix him up. It was the usual Howard Stern Show. I walked into the lobby of the hospital where outpatients wait for aapoinments. There was a television on and they were showing the first tower in flames and unsure of what had happened. As the cameras rolled the second plane hit. I ran up to the unit and most of my coworkers were unaware of what was happening, I told people what I saw and we ran to the TV. The kids were having their breakfast. I remember commenting to one of the mental health workers that the buildings would always be a target for crazies trying to make a point. The staff and I watched as the tower fell and we contacted the medical director and the unit manager. We realized that this was a defining moment that people would talk about like where they were when it happened. We had about 12 or 15 inpatients and we thought about the story they would tell about where they were on this day that the world changed. We reached a decision that we would view the TV footage with the kids and start to talk about what was happening. Some how I wound up being the one to do this. The kids were staggeringly unaware of the world. When we talked about who might have done this they were painfully unaware of who the enemies of the US might be. Kids asked if it was Europe or London. I tried to say that though we had no knowledge at this time it was more likely an act of terrorism from an arab terror group. It was really sad to think that these troubled kids would live in a changed world with no knowledge of history or politics.

The day was a daze. I was lucky to get ahold of the few friends and family I had in NYC and they were all safe. I spoke to my husband. At some point I left work, and remember picking the kids up. I didn't realize that I had kept an afternoon dental appointment until I got the bill weeks later. My 5 year old had been told at school that bad people had blown up the buildings. I was upset that she had been told befor I had a chance to think about what to tell her. My baby was blessedly unaware. My husband and the kids and I went to Ruth's Chris and ate large slabs of meat and drank bourbon. At one point I was on the floor looking for a binky that had fallen and was greeted by the parents of a teen I had recently placed in residential treatment. I was barely sober. We got back home and watched the kids sleep and the TV through the night. Everytime I woke up during the night I would see the footage and realize that it really happened. My husband and I were so sad to think that this was the world our children would inherit from us. I realize that this rememberence is small, and meaningless in the face of what other families experienced. My heart aches for the kids on that unit who may one day realize that their problems were small in the face of the suffering in the world and my heart breaks when I think of the families that lost people they loved. I recall reading about a man who continued to feed his child the breastmilk that his wife had lovingly frozen before her death on 9-11 and remember the profiles incourage published by the NY Times. The losses are ripples on a pond that reverberate. The people whose lives were touched by those who died, and the lives that could never be touched in that way. My rabbi, Irwin Kula, came from New York for the High Hollidays and he sang in traditional melodies the texts of the messages people left for their loved ones and we wept. We sang G-d Bless America in Yiddish and for the first time in my life I felt truly American. I grieve all of these losses and really pray for peace.

baby wearing sweater

Well this is not her best photo, but it shows the sweater in action. Considering the fact that it will probably fit her for 15 minutes, I am happy for the picture. I hope her face is not a reflection of how she feels about the sweater! Her mom and dad like it. I guess that was the goal! She looks like she needs a nap.

Vacation Recap

The highlights of the vacation were :the giant spider outside our door , the sand , the pool, the tanlines and the baby cousin. Photos shown in no particular order. I finished one pair of socks and started another but have not yet photographed them. Hopefully, I will get my life back on track this week when the little maniacs go back to school.

handpainted by a ...

So it took two days but this picture got posted! I don't understand why it didn't work yesterday. This is for my niece's room, which I haven't seen. My BIL was less than detailed when I asked him to describe the decor of the room. He mumbled something about frogs and the color blue. The good news is that I am unlikely to understand him if he doesn't like it. I can't wait to meet this baby!

secret no more

This is the secret baby sweater done for my new niece who was born on July 5th. It is an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern that I complicated by using a fibonacci sequence in the stripes. This picture kinda sucks but the colors are bright pink, burgandy, navy and violet. My sister in law loves color, so I assume she will not want wimpy pastels for the baby. My friend Jane sewed the zipper in for me, and it would have taken me forever to do!

I also made a painting for the baby but I am having trouble uploading it. The painting has a frog in a crown on a lily pad. Blogger continues to mystify me, I can't figure out why it would post one pic and not the other one.

We are going to Bethany Beach in three days, I have to pack for the entire family and pack groceries etc. So guess what I am doing? Knitting a sock!

scattered thoughts

1. I found two moths in my room last night and my husband could not understand why I jumped out of bed to dispatch them to the next life. Finally, I said "Steve, there is yarn in the house. You know yarn...wool." THen he relaized the potential horror of it.
2. I had been hoarding two skiens of Claudia Handpaint sock yarn in Ingrid's Blue which is a lovely combination of brown and blue. My husband's friend mentioned last night that his wife Ingrid knits. When I asked what she liked to knit he said, "Basic stuff - socks and sweaters". I explained that socks were not basic and sock knitters are a special kind of crazy (present company included). Then I gifted the Claudia hand painted to Ingrid (hope she will make something "basic"!
3. Elizabeth Zimmermann is a knitting god! I did applied icord per her instructions on the secret baby gift and it looks unbelievably good. I want to apply icord to everything in sight!
4. I finished two baby name paintings this week, I will post them later. I may be done with all the baby gifts this week and may be able to knit for fun when we go to the beach next week.

super secret knitting

Well, I continue to toil on the secret baby sweater, hopefully will be done by Monday. I have distracted myself by crocheting a dishtowel with the leftover yarn from the other baby sweater. I used the sugar and creme yarn. I wish I could find the peaches and creme in CT, but it doesn't seem to exist. At some point I want to order some from the company, but I think that can wait. Maybe I can find it on vacay when in Virginia or delaware.

I caved and joined sock wars. Intruiging but a little scary!

baby prezzies

Well the party for baby Kylie starts at 3 today and my two gifts are almost entirely done. All I need to do is do a little chain stitch on the inside of the sweater so the mommy can tie the other side of the kimono shut. That leaves me with the big baby present to finish as soon as possible, then on to the ten thousand other things I want to knit. I just added a big want to do project from Rowan Knits 40, the wrap around. I love it. But what I really love is that Rowan gave up on the extreme ethnic accessorization of issue 39, which gave me fits of ADHD. Ironically some of the actual knitted objects are lovely, but how can anyone tell with all the stuff they threw on those poor models.

actual knitting

This is yet another baby gift but this time its for someone who has less than zero chance of seeing it here before I give the gift on the 4th. It is the baby kimono from Mason-Dixon Knits, made out of variagated Sugar and Creme yarn. They recommend peaches and creme yarn, which doesn't seem to exist in Connecticut. I do plan to order some but I needed to crank this out fast. I started on Friday night at 10 PM and today I am three rows away from finishing the left front. I hope to be done knitting by tomorrow so I can finish and sew on the ribbon and get back to the baby sweater that is the ultimate finishing challenge. About the kimono, I am a little concerned about how stiff it seems, but I hope it will soften when washed. I love the color, and even like the way its pooling at the neckline.

I am also waiting by the mail as I ordered some of the new undyed yarns from Knitpicks (the superwash and the tweed). I had to throw in a book to reach the free shipping. How's that for rationalization, I just love defense mechanisms! I sent my knit sock kit sway and it was recieved by my buddy and she liked it. I will link to her page tomorrow since I forgot to take a picture before I sent it off!

hubby's midlife crisis

So last weekend, I was in New Hampshire a few miles from Patternworks. It is an amazing store and every year I treat meyself. This I was feeling guilty about the amount of yarn in the house so I didn't buy a thing! I felt rewarded when I got home from the trip and recieved my socks that rock club package. However tonight my DH is picking up the porsche he bought himself. Think of how much yarn I could get for the price of that thing! It better fulfill his wildest dreams because he has been a pain in the ass to live with lately and if this doesn't make him happy he may come to some harm. So now my mantra is if he can get a porsche I can afford a....... (fill in the blank).

I haven't posted a pick of my wip becasue it is a baby gift. Suffice to say that this was the wrong project for the girl who hates finishing. I stopped before starting the sleeves because there were a million ends to weave in, and I didn't want to get stuck doing it all at the end. Tonight I start the sleeves.

sad stash enhancement

So here is truly a score. 6 balls of opal, 8 of baby ull, 2 that my daughter picked out and 4 dale books for 94 dollars. So why is this sad? It was only possible because a great yarn store lost its lease and decided to close after 20+ years in business (Needleworks in Newington). As much as I loved saving 50% and am planning my next trip, it feels kinda wrong. But as in all things yarn related, if loving it is wrong, do I want to be right?

a picture worth a 1000 words

The most interesting thing we saw on vacation was this - look closely. Yes, that is a wheeled dolly strapped to the underside of a giant turtle. See the bent front leg. The zookeeper showed xrays of the fracture and subsequent surgery. She explained that the turtle hurt itself playing with the other turtles, then looked up at the grown-ups and air quoted "mating". I struggle to understand how an animal that lives so long could actually hurt itself mating.

happy 4th

Well all my best intentions for at least a text blog from the rents house are currently paving the road to hell. It was a busy week. We had a cold caught from grandpop, a fat lip, a hurt knee that resulted in the best lame act by a two year old (he crab walked and hopped for about 12 hours) and an unexpected swim in the fish pond. And that was all one child. The rest were reasonably well behaved, but the 5 year old who knows everything refused to take her carsick medicine and turned the car ride home into the vomit comet. In knitting news, Loop in Philadelphia was having a major sale and an extra 5% off if you shopped before noon on Sat. and Sun., so I made my sister run over there to pick up euroflax for me for the IK summer 2006 cardigan. Whoo, 5 balls and a pair a of inox needles to replace the ones I bent in the car door all for 50 dollars! I have some great photos but don't have the energy to download them, hopefully I will post again tomorrow.

wip pic

This is the chevron scarf with the yarn I dyed. I am making it for my little sister (for her 38th bday). Its looking cool because the chevron has added almost a pleated kind of texture that you can't see in the photo. When I tried using the flash it washed out the colors. I'm thinking there is a kind of missioni vibe, but I may be deluding myself. I am going to take the kids to see the rents for a week so there will be no new photos, just texty posts, so I will add another cute kid photo to boot. Its medium and small ejoying a bath and their shower caps. Nice red eye!

book review

Well, its been a tough week in knitting land. Last week I cast on for a lace scarf using one of my fingering wieght hand dyed yarns using the book Lavish Lace. The book was published in 2004 but the production values are straight out of the eighties, even the models hair and poses are dated. I kept getting stuck on row 7 of the pattern and after the 5th time of ripping it out and starting over, I realized maybe it wasn't me. I carefully counted the chart and low and behold, the section that should have had 11 stitches needed 12 stitches to complete the pattern as charted. Huh? So after 36 years of knitting I was forced to do the unthinkable. I called the publisher to see if there was a correction on the page. It seemed possible because there are several published corrections for this book. Well, they had someone call me back. While she was prompt and pleasant, her advice mystifies me. She claims that it is common practice among lace knitters to have to remove a marker and borrow a stitch from another segment. Now unfortunately this common practice is described nowhere in this book. I went back and tried to find a stitch to borrow and damned if she was not completely full of crap. There is no extra stich anywhere in the row to be borrowed. Well, there is a week of my life I will never get back. I ripped the entire thing out and started a chevron pattern scarf out of the yarn, it looks great and no searching for the missing stitch. In summation, the book is not even capable of being a door stopper. I would give it away but I don't want to frustrate any of the other knitters that I know. I will post the scarf in progress when DH returns with the laptop.

& I thought it was the food that would kill you!

So I took two of three kids to the "Golden Arches" for lunch so that George could get the Cars toys. I know, not the best food and not much fun for the mommy. Anyway, he was playing with the toy car and I was knitting a sock in front of him. A lady started chatting socks with me, and ran out to the cars to get hers (ML 2 at a time in a gorgeous Lorna's Laces Color). We discuss yarn, technique, ribbing - all the important stuff. George came over crying and asked for milk, I don't normally nurse him in public but he was crying. He fell alseep. When we got to the car, he woke up and began bawling. He was holding his wrist and his lower lip was trembling. I asked a friend who is a nurse and was getting into her car if she thought it could be nursemaid's elbow, but she's a cardiac nurse. So I started driving towards the doctor's office while trying to get through on their busy phone. I got them on the phone about 6 seconds before I got to their door and they saw me right away even though they were on lunch (Yeah Unionville Pediatrics!). It was nursemaid's elbow and they had to reduce it (in otherwords pop it back into place while the little guy screamed his head off). After the fiasco was over the five year old told me that some kid yanked George's arm. So I now know that the food is not the only dangerous thing about fast food.

superhero boy

No new knitting to post, or dyeing for that matter. But I had my little guy's hair buzz cut and he looks so different. He is living a parrallel life as superhero boy, mostly it involves jumping off things and yelling superhero boy to the rescue! Note the fake smile for the camera.

swatched dye job

This is the swatch from friday's dye job. I tried to post it yesterday, but blogger clearly hates me. Now yesterday's attempted post was filled with pithieness and wit. Today I'll have to settle for functional. All I need to decide is whether to send my dye pal the previously posted bright selection or the more muted tones from this swatch. Hmmmm, what to do!

a good day

So today I dyed superwash with acid dye, and tryed to modify the color. It was pretty successfull, except I accidently overdyed the beautiful mustard yellow with brown because I didn't mix the second batch the same as the first. I still like the results. I guess this is why smart people write things down. My hope for this weekend is that the 9 year old makes it through her 2 night girl scout camporee. Last year I had to drive to the end of the earth at 2 am to retrieve her.

square feet and new dyed yarn

So I finished my 5 yo daughter's footies but it turns out that short row toes and square toes aren't a good match. I have enough of the yarn left to make her squarer socks.

I dyed yarn with acid dye (on superwash) and found it to be more predictable, now I just have to work on color choices. I was kind of going for a fall thing, I wanted to use brown and bright colors. So I like the green, yellow and orange together. Love the brown and red next to each other. Some how when I see green and red together it strikes me as icky. Maybe its the big jew in me responding to "christmas" colors. I knitted a swatch and am trying to see if the colors grow on me. The yarn was a pain in the ass, it got a little pilly which made it stick together and I was trying to untagle it until 1:30 AM. In the morning, it finally broke so I had to dispose of the rastafarian knot.

huge foot

This huge foot belongs to my 9 1/2 year old daughter and is a size 8 women's. The sock is a regia india color cotton wool blend, and the pattern is from the blue blog. 1 down, 1 to go.

Some body took the suck out of my Monday

First let me acknowledge that I am responsible for this Monday sucking. AT the age of 43 I am experiencing the simultaneous joys of trying to wean my last child and perimenapause. And I forgot to take the magic pill that wards off the f***ing hot flashes yeasterday, so I had pathetic night sweats and early morning sweats.

Now what made me happy is the arrival of my yarn from dye-o-rama swap mate Kerry (aka Seraphina). You can hardly tell from my pic how gorgeous this yarn is. It has various shades of green with some little bits of gold and red. Yummy! and there were treats! Can't wait to start to knit it.

The second thing that made my day was a card from a woman who was struck by an aging and out of it driver who ran a red light. I was a witness but couldn't stay to talk to the police because I had to pick up a kid at school, so I called the police and let them know what I saw. The card was lovely, thanking me for taking the time to make sure the police got accurate info. Hope you all have great Mondays!

swatch this

Again, fuzzy but the colors are close to accurate. I like it even better swatched, tomorrow I felt!

No longer dyeing impaired

Well, I feel vindicated. It wasn't entirely my fault that my first results sucked. This time I used 1/4 the amount of wilton food paste dye that the instructions recommended. The sky blue shade developed some seriously purple areas, but I am overall okay with the results. I will swatch it up tonight to see what it looks like knitted up. At least I won't go blind knitting it up!

felted fug

Okay, now its felted. I think it might be tolerable as a felted object especially if the stripes are thinner. Who am I kidding? I should just admit defeat.

Not for the faint of heart

First- a disclaimer this writer takes no responsibility for any ill effects of viewing this swatch. If you are of a delicate nature, you should avert your eyes.

Last night after the debacle, I decided that the only think to do was to find some way of using this awful yarn. I woke up at 5:30 am and began to swatch. It wasn't bad at first, then I turned on the lamp, ugh. I remain somewhat hopeful, maybe it will look alright felted????

the ugliest yarn ever

Well, today is a day of my life I will never get back. Serena if your are reading my blog I promise that this is not for you! Eleni (holyknitbatman.blogspot.com) and I spent the day dying and ignoring our children. Her yarn is lovely but I will let her publish it. The first part of the clusterf**k was that the yarn was pathologically tangled and took HOURS yes HOURS to untagle before it was dyed. For people who want to ensure that this never happens to their undyed yarn

1. don't assume wilton leaf green is the color of any actual leaf.
2. don't assume that creamy peach is actually a light color
3. by all means don't keep rinsing the f****r until it starts to felt.

This is my community service for the blog. I am now going to buy wine and drink it.

upload gods

Okay So I was so happy to be done that I took the photo without weaving all the ends. But they are done and have been worn, and I like them despite the fraternal heel problem. Now that the upload gods have smiled upon me I will tempt fate and try to add another photo. This one is kind of hard to "read" but this is my son napping on the couch with his legs at a 90% angle. Doesn't look comfortable to be but he slept this way for two hours.

Now onto my next project, I am bravely going into my ufo's and trying to finish them. I restarted the leaf sweater from Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop after a years inactivity. I am using a bulky alpaca and rowan kidsilk haze for my friend Heidi. The yarn is so gorgeous that when I was knitting in Barnes and Noble people were asking to touch it.

New socks and meme

So I can't upload my new pics right now, but here are the meme answers for the dyeorama swap. The third try at uplaoding photos was not the charm, I'll try again later.



Specific to this swap:
Your favorite colors?
Green (like spring leaves), blue(all shades), rich brown
Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)?
Fingering
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?
Multi
If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn?
Self-striping or variagated
Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)?
Sure, as long as its mostly natural
Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it?
Spring
What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along?
The chance to experiment with dye, which I wanted to do anyway!
General yarn/fiber questions:
Have you dyed yarn/fiber before?
No, but I did textile design in College, long time ago
If so, what's your favorite dye and method?
Do you spin?
Nope, I am pretty sure I don't need another fiber related hobby!
Have you knit socks before?
Yes, in fact I have been accused of being sock obsessed
Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too?
Yes, especially when knitting teacher gifts
What are some of your favorite yarns?
Opal, Regia, Vesper
What yarn do you totally covet?
Kidsilk haze, I love it so much I almost hate to knit up!
Favorite patterns?
Jaywalker, Lucy Neatby for heals and toes
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?
Lace but I would need to be granted a wish of peace and quiet because lace shawls require a lot of counting which is not my best thing.
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?
addi turbos hands down!
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?
That's like asking me to pick my favorite child!
Nothing to do with knitting/yarn/fiber in any way but seemed kinda fun:
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?
good and plenty, gummy peaches
What's your favorite animal?
cats
Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages?
Not now, but had two lovely cats who died at ages 15 and 18 respectively. Soon I will let the children talk me into finding another!
If you were a color what color would you be?
green for sure
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else's)..
my husband's fleece shirt that is like a security blanket
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature?
the sum and substance hosta poking through the ground
Tell me the best quote you've ever heard or read.
Dorothy Parker used to answer the doorbell and the phone by saying, "What fresh hell is this?"
Do you have a wishlist?
nope
Anything else you'd like to share with the group today? nope

Blue heron

So the mystery bird is a blue heron. Still not sure why it was at the bus stop. Knitting progress. 1 regia sock done, the other is at the heel. The body of the socks matches exactly, but I screwed up the pattern match on the heel. I am trying to decide if that will bug me, cause I really hate to rip anything knit on 00 dpns, it's a total pain to pick up the stitches. I don't have a shot of the dueling heels, so how about a gratuitously cute kid photo? This is my 2 year old at his favorite place, Flamig Farm in Simsbury Ct. Don't worry, he's not really driving. We went on Saturday, and I got spit on by the llama. The little man had loved telling everyone about the llama spitting on mommy, so my hub bought a plastic llama to encourage the retelling of the story. Like I could forget llama spit/