finished objects

This is the baby surprise jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman done in Lion Branc wool. The first picture is before it got sewn up.This picture is after sewing and felting.

And lastly, the finished mittens with added Icord so I don't lose them.

Happy Hanukah

In honor of hanukah, I hand grated 5 pounds of potatoes and fried them in oil. The only casualty was the pepper grinder that fell into the boiling oil, splashing oil everywhere and ruining the pepper grinder (but not the latkes). Luckily I was wearing an apron, so I was not injured. And of course the whole thing would not have happened without the assistance of my DH who thought it would be good to reach over the stove to get whatever... and kaboom!

I have been knitting and even finishing stuff, I will post pics soon. I have some serious starteritis, there are at least three single socks in my house, some have nearly finished mates.

world's lamest UFO

So I started these mittens a hundred years ago (okay at least three years ago). I put them down with everything but one thumb done, and there they sat and sat. I don't know why. So I dragged them out and decided it was time for mittens. I knitted a huge icord string to keep them together and am now slogging through the last thumb. I mean I wish I knew what I was thinking or if thinking was involved.

Today is my little guy's fourth birthday. I can't believe it! Also today, one of the kids I work with needed some help in his class with a craft project so I was helping him. At some point he touched my hand and he said "Your hand doesn't match your hair. Your hair is old and your skin is young". You have to love a kid with PDD for a backhanded compliment!

Lenore

Well, after several failed attempts and untold use of inappropriate words, I have kicked Lenore's ass. The color is pretty accurate, but the pattern looks a little flat here. The center line is a yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo and it has a lot to texture that my photo does not show.

I also washed and blocked the carolis socks I made for a sockapalooza person who never received their socks. They will get mailed tomorrow. I loved the color but I don't think I am a fan of Lorna'a Laces Shepard sock. I have really enjoyed other LL yarns, but I think I prefer a sock yarn with more twist.

Other than that life is chugging along. My 11 year old daughter's 6th grade teacher resigned without much explanation and the school managed to screw it up even more. They told the kids on Halloween before communicating with the families. Then they had the school psychologist "process" with the kids as a group and in some cases individually, again without parental input. As a school social worker and as a mom, I am appalled. At the least, I would have not let her ride the bus all sad - I would have picked her up if I had any notice. There is a special place in hell for the teacher, who though she was young really should have known better and done better. She came from three generations of women who taught for more than twenty years each so I think she should have known whether or not this was right for her. Also, since I work in the school world I really think that the 10 month commitment is pretty sacred, and even the worst fit in a job can be tolerated for 44 weeks, especially since 10 weeks were done already. I think the kids can't help but feel bad, they liked her and they had no chance to say goodbye.

sooo frustrated

I got the new sock club package from Blue Moon and it is great! Its a semi solid, black over red. The Pattern is called Lenore, and was written by the Yarn Harlot. I was so excited that I dumped what I was doing and cast on. I got to the third row and had a problem (with the count and the tension), so I started over. Then I cast on again, got to the fifth row and my count was off. I tried to tink but it got to be a mess so I ripped it back. And then I cast on again and it seemed okay but I had to rip again.

I posted my problem on sock knitters, and I hope that someone can help me. This is giving me bad memories of the black aran sweater I tried in college that put me off knitting for several years. The dark color makes it really hard to read the stitches. I have been working in good light, but its hard!

To Rhinebeck or Not

For me Rhinebeck is turning into a logistical mess. My husband is sick, and therefore not reliable for child care. I am not sure that I want to do more driving with kids. I could live without spending money on yarn. If I DON'T spend money on yarn, I won't feel guilty about rejoining STR Club. I am edging into the don't go column. Now I heard that the weather may suck. Its really hard to live so close and not go. I will have to think on it.The picture is from last year, with the medium and small kids. The large kid stayed home and was sorry. We did have fun.

Still knitting the Carolis socks for my sock savee (I guess that's the word for the recipient of your savior socks). Hope she will like them, it really takes some getting used to - since the pattern is really different than your standard sock.

The Sanctity of Marriage

Well, Plastic Pam has married some ridiculous turd of a man whose claim to fame is being in the Paris Hilton sex tape. This is her third. Makes me so glad that the conservatives are fighting to honor this most holy of unions. I mean really how can any one expect gays and lesbians to keep this institution as fresh and clean as the straight people have. I give it six months.

Busy Day

I spent about an hour setting up some stuff on ravelry. It was suprisingly easy. I set up my flikr account, and was able to add some projects to my note book. I started adding yarn to my stash, but that will be a big project. There's a lot of yarn in my stash, and I want to take photos. My ravelry name in Lindapt2. I am very pleased that I was able to save a photo for my profile there, since I have never been able to do it on blogger despite several attempts.

I had a real muggle moment today. I was trying to explain ravelry to my mom. This is difficult because she doesn't understand the computer or the internet and she actually hates knit socks. SO you may wonder why I felt the need to explain a cool web site that is letting me catalog my sock yarn and sock projects. I wonder that two. I love my mom but I must say that our dynamic has often been my continuing to return to the empty well for a drink of water. So she was not impressed that I am spending time online doing stuff that relates to knit socks. She has other fine qualities!

Happy Dance

My sockapalooza pal can finally do a happy dance. The third sock made it through the hell that is the Canadian Postal service safely. Now I learned several things

1. The cheaper postage works better and saves money!



2. The reason smart knitters write down what they do for each project is so they know if they need to replicate it. Duh!



3. It feels good to get the task complete even when it takes extra effort.

And I have the satisfaction of knowing that a new friend in the North doesn't have an odd sock hanging out. Those odd socks make me crazy. I can't bring myself to throw them away because when I do the mate always shows up.

I finally got my ravelry invite, but haven't had the time to set up my account or explore the site. I hear there is much socky goodness there, so I can't wait.

The picture is of my friendly neighborhood bear. I discovered that after his attack on my trash can, there were huge claw marks on the can. Spooky!

In knitting I am working on a sock savior pair using the carolis pattern. It will be my first full pair using Cat's book. I made a cute baby carolis just for practise!

where do the days go?

Well, I haven't been writing but I have done some knitting. I would show you but I am having blogger issues. I made two of the practise socks from the new Cat Bordi book, a pair of sidewinder peds for my niece at Penn state, the replacement sock for my sockapalooza pal (thank you Canadian Customs!), and a square for a group project. You can't see them (thanks, Blogger). I also had some excitement in the form a bear that came up to my front door, knocked over the garbage and threw it all over my yard. The local wildlife people said they only come out if its a nuisance, clearly we do not share the same definition of the word nuisance. DH is out of state for two weeks, which leaves me with no plan B for childcare. My next knitting is going to be a pair of socks for someone whose sockapalooza pal crapped out on her, so they are rescue socks. I am think about yarn and choices. I really wanted to do a pair from the new cat bordi book, but this gal lives in California and a lot of those socks are pretty thick for a Cali girl! I would use fixation but I am kind of tired of it sine I just made a third fixation sock. Hmmnn. I may have to go shopping in my yarn closet!

On a lighter note, one of the kids at the school I work at have a real yarn obsession and he likes to play with lengths of yarn (to the distraction of his peers and the detriment of his work). He is on the autism spectrum. Today he was talking about how mad he was that I hadn't let him play with yarn during group therapy, and I told his teacher that I thought he might like me if he knew how much yarn was at my house! I understand the love of yarn but I always want to knit with it.

Cat Bordhi's book

Lets just get this over with. Clearly Cat is a genius. Her mind is capable of innovation and understanding things in unique ways. But I am scratching my head. I just bought her new sock book. It is gorgeous, the samples are gorgeous, the yarns are gorgeous. Some of the socks are not my taste, but all are gorgeous. The book is huge! I don't love the binding because I know that I will wear it out or break the spine. I may have it spiral bound. But that lady must have the world's coldest feet. Some of those socks are super thick, some are double stranded. I don't think I could fit them in shoes. My goal for this book is to knit the sample baby sized socks and see what I can use or adapt from the methods. I have to say that there are some seriously cool toes to try!

In other socks, I have about 27 grams of the cascade fixation left to re knit the lost broad ripple sock. Sucks that I need 33! DH realized that the job in California was turning into a choice between his career and his family. He chose family but not without putting me through the ringer. He is sulking. Poor man lacks a sympathetic audience for the sulking show!

The mystery of the missing sock

Well, some how between the geniuses at the United States Postal Service and their brethren to the north, the Canadian Postal service my sock pal received her socks a little worse for the wear. The package I sent priority fro $17 (promised in 6-10 days) arrived at her home on September 2nd. The box was smashed, and the contents were disturber, very disturbed. She received 1.5 pairs of hand knit sock, yes that's right three socks. Two Baudelaire and one broad ripple. Socks are less effective when not in pairs. So she is trying to track the missing sock, I am looking for my left overs from the yarn to see if it is enough for another sock. Sigh. Check out her account of the mystery.

OTN- the second sidewinder ankle sock for my niece.

much tsuris

That's yiddish for angst. I spent most of the week twisting my psyche in knots, but finally realized that for very many reasons - there was no way I believed this opportunity was right for my family. I hope DH would get there but he remained 100% positve about all this. I finally had to say no so we (by this I mean him) are in a deep stage of simmering in bitter resentment. I hope that he comes around, but in the end I felt like I could not make that CA situation work for the family. Gulp!

sock pics

Just so you know that in addition to not being in the photo, I am also not eating ice cream. This is the family enjoying frozen custard in bethany beach, de.

This is the cuff of the monkey socks I made for my daughter. The colors are indeed bright and nearly impossible for me to photograph well. My only change in the pattern was the addition of the picot cuff, for me my default cuff! Right now I am working on a sideways footie for my niece. That and in non-knitting, I am working on a nervous breakdown. In addition to the major stress of starting a new job, the kids starting school and arranging all the childcare - DH got a job offer out of state. Far, far out of state. In a state I don't really want to live in. No offense to that state, I am sure it is a perfectly nice state. I am also pretty sure its not for me. I worry about the changes for the kids. I am up every morning at 4 am worrying about all the things there are to worry about. Still this feels like a runaway train. Clearly it is what he wants and thinks he needs - therefore he is glossing over all the minuses and sees this as an adventure. I see this as an adventure that could f**k up my life and my family. Not alot of grey area, is there?

out of the frying pan

So, I got back from a week vacay with DH and kids in Bethany Beach, DE. We love it there and have been there for a visit for the past 13 years, usually for a week. This year I was ready to bail after three days of rain. We were able to make it to the beach three days, but we really pushed the outer limits of what is a beach day.

DH went from DE to CA, leaving me to drive the three kiddies home. The fact that we made three stops in the first hour tells you something about the ride. The dryer in our rental broke the last night, so I had to travel across three states lugging a giant plastic bag of damp clothes. Finally back in CT, and I started the new job today. I am still debugging my childcare situation. I am a little overwhelmed with the people, personalities and case load at the new school but I am sure I will get up to speed fast.

As for knitting, I completed one and 2/3 of a pair of monkey socks with some hand dyed yarn for my 11 year old daughter. This doesn't reflect the amount of knitting I did because I frogged the first sock when it was complete because I didn't like the ways the heel was turned. Some how my gauge changed but only on the heel and I decided I hated it after I finished my decreases for the toe. So rip it went. Hopefully I will finish tonight and post it tomorrow.

Update

I ended up with two offers, and took a part time job in a therapeutic children's school. Now I am rushing to line up all my duckies. I hired a before school sitter, and the kids are registered for after school programs. My wardrobe sucks but I can't afford new work clothes yet. I guess that will have to wait for some paychecks to come in.

I have two weeks before my son is done with his "phase" in to preschool, so I will be doing some serious begging to get at least four days of coverage for him. Its a good thing he's cute! I am really excited about the job, my Connecticut social work license was finally approved, which required 2x a week phone calls to licensing people for several months. Bet they are happy to not hear from me every Tuesday and Friday. Sunday we go to the beach for a week. I am planning my vacation knitting (one sock, one BJS for my niece). If I get desperate, there is a knit shop in Bethany Beach. When we get back, I start work. Whew, it makes me tired thinking about it!

Ptoy, ptoy, ptoy

So Jews have this weird superstition that to avoid bringing bad luck by talking about something good, you spit three times on the ground. As time went on and my peeps got house proud we instead started to make this weird noise to simulate spitting. What does this have to do with knitting? Well I am having a darn good week. I had my Stitch and Bitch group over for a pot luck, yarn swap and s'more roast. We had fun, people went home with yarn different from what they came with. I know the photo sucks but we had fun.

Thursday I had a job interview that went really well, and when I called one of my references to let her know she would be getting a call about me I ended up with a job offer from the place that I worked at for 4 months this year! And my transfer of my social work license from Illinois to Connecticut (which has been stalled in bureaucracy since February) was finally approved.

Then I came home today and found my sockapalooza socks had arrived. And they are awesome, made out of Collinette Jitterbug which is one yarn I do not own. They are a perfect fit. And they are from the adorable 17 year old knitter from Finland that I originally thought I was knitting for. So as to not piss fate off, I will say it was a heck of a good week, ptoy, ptoy ptoy!

Is 11 the clusterf**ck birthday?

I thought I was crazy to invite 24 kids to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I KNEW it was crazy to plan to tie-dye with all those kids. I had no idea that things could get even crazier. With 20 kids actively engaged in preparing thier clothes for dyeing, my three year old son came up to me crying, something about bugs in or near the food. He was giving me the bad finger, which I then realized was about five times normal size. (My mom later asked if it was as big as the foam fingers at the ball park) Then I saw the swam of wasps or hornets or some angry insect, and there were several kids crying. I looked at the swarm and figured out that this was not good. The end was that the 20 girls who were at the dyeing area were okay, but there were four people stung - each getting about two bites. No one who was stung was allergic. Benedryl was drunk by all who needed it and I sprayed the hell out of the nest or hive or whatever it was. No one will forget this party! I tried but even several glasses of wine could not wipe away the memory of this.

In knitting, I am on my second sidewinder and hoping I will manage the increases with more finesse, or at least less tight!

anxious knitting

Taking this yarn from point A to point B was about as nerve wracking as knitting can be. I followed Nona's sidewinder pattern with no changes, I got gauge. Because there is no way to know if it will fit until you have done a lot of work, it requires a lot of trust in the pattern. I was surprised by how well the sock fits, now my only concern is whether there is enough yarn to knit the second sock. I guess I need to weigh the yarn.

My only disappointment is how tight the yarn got at the lifted bar increases even with an effort to keep it loose. I wonder if there is a way to finesse this?

Whoo Hoo

I am unblocked, I guess this means that nothing dirty happens here. I was one of many blogs that were erroneously blocked because "they contained elements consistent with spam blogs". My friends at blogger did not explain further but after several days it is unblocked.

I had really wanted to post last week because I was mid-dilemma about two pairs of socks. Since then with consultation from my SnB group, my monkeys were undone. They were in an opal yarn from Germany that had some serious contrast. I thought it didn't look so hot in the monkey pattern. The SnB'ers agreed and they are kaput. I made several starts at the sidewinder, and have just finished Act II. This sock is so hard for me because I will not know how it works out until it is done. The yarn choice seems good, it is from Opal Rainforest I. I will post pics later.

I was in New Hampshire to see my nephew at camp. It is his last summer, and his camp is super close to Patternworks. I bought a few things to send to my sockapalooza pal, nothing for me. So that makes only one slip from the yarn diet since January. I finally got my package from Marianne, and it was worth the wait and worth the slip!