Inspiration

I am a TV junkie. I am hooked on the History Channel, Court TV, DIY Network and BBC America mainly. I think that's why I knit so much lately, there's no TV in my studio. It's pitiful, but I know I would be in there much more if there was a TV. But, with a 2 year old under foot most of the day I can't do much in the way of messy work without her very occupied, so knitting it has been lately. Being out of town without TV, I always realise just how often it is on at our house. Not something most people admit to, but, hey, I watch mine.

Why all this mention of TV all of a sudden? Except that I am pretty sure TV time is a big knitting time in most people's day, I have been catching some of the best shows, some with some real inspiration. I really like Allison Whitlock, and now she has a show on DIY Network, Uncommon Threads, which I have caught a few times and really enjoyed.

Yessum, the TV is on right now, I am watching Knitty Gritty. I like it too. There's an issue on making up your own knits, something I always need to know more about. Check this out, it's the workpage for the knits she did. There are also a bunch of links to other knitting calculators. Looks like good reference!



Here are the sweater and pants, I am oh so happy with the way they turned out. What a treat that was! I am not always thrilled with what I make, so to have used reference points and come up with something I think is cool makes me happy. And I think PeeWee will get a bunch of wear out of it when the weather's cool. Cascade 220 superwash, loving it lately! The blue is perfect, I love the way the collar falls when it's on too. All around winner.



The sockapalooza socks make me happy too, I am all about cables lately.I have a month left to finish them, and I don't see any problems with that at this point. August 2nd is the mail date, it's exciting to think of a thousand socks flying around the world that day.



Here's the super simple sweater I started. Details later, but I figured I better include a picture. Of course it's blazing hot here and knitting with wool is losing it's appeal. This one may sit aside for a bit while I work on some preemie hats next. I should have the socks packed to be mailed soon, and as soon as I do that I can work on my goals. When I wrote them they sounded so simple! Now when I look at that list I realise so much of the summer has passed! Better wrap some things up soon!

Back to the real world...

Well, we made it back in town. It was a great vacation! The mountains are nice and cool and the weather was just the beginning. We actually had so much of a chance to hang out a relax. The kids had a great time, with lots of simple family stuff. There are no cell phones, no internet, no TV up there...

I got to see the damage from the broken pipe up close and personal- WOW. Lots of demolition. Lots of rebuilding. Mark is going to head back up there as soon as he's recovered from the drive home to finish the rebuild. A lot still to do, but he'll finish things soon.

I had a ton of knitting time. I have to get some photos still of things but here's a bit of the work on PeeWee's sweater. It is finished, I never got a shot of her in it but I am SO thrilled with it. I will get a shot tomorrow. Today was too much returning to the real world. I used Anne Budd's book of sweater patterns, it's a great source for so many things! I love that she did those books and saved us all a ton of math!





I didn't write any of the pattern down, basically I stole ideas from a bunch of places I like. It was supposed to have swing, but I didn't take the ribbing in to account so it's more of an A-line shape. I know one of my goals was to create the pattern and write it out for the patterns page, but..... there's still a bunch of summer left, maybe it'll happen.

Speaking of the list of goals, I almost finished the second Sockapalooza sock. I worked quite a bit in the car on the way home, Mark was in the mood for driving so I kept my hands busy. Carole's gift of the counter came in handy- I used it to follow the chart instead of a sticky note, much easier! I had to fight PeeWee to keep it for myself though, she LOVES that thing- click, click, click! I took a break from knitting today. Ten hours in the car really does a number on my brain, so I figured I would leave the needles until I have rested up a bit.

A great yarn shop opened up this spring in our little vacation town. I am so happy! I bought some yarn and a pattern too. Yep. It's one of those super simple patterns- a series of rectangles all put together. Yeah, I know, pictures of that tomorrow too... (My camera was busy getting shots of the kids!) They had a model in the shop and a full length mirror, and it looked simple and good looking. And if a model looks good on me, I am sold. (I am a bit curvier than most models out there!)

More pictures tomorrow, planning on keeping up with the blog more regularly, add that to the goals too.

Vacation!

We're off to the mountains! A week's vacation for the family.

I have packed a whole bunch of knitting. The Sockapalooza second sock, PeeWee's swing coat (to match her pants), and two other socks in progress. Considering it's only a week we'll be gone it sounds like a lot to me. I know I could pack half the car with yarn, but we're going to start the clearing of the house this trip. It's been on the market for over a year and a half with little interest. now that the repairs are pretty much wrapped up and the house has a new kitchen, we're hoping to rekindle interest, possibly dropping the price. (We still have a bit of clutter to deal with, so I had to save SOME room for the trip home.) I am a bit anxious about my projects though because there's not a knitting store up there. Deep breaths, I know I will not run out of knitting, I just have to repeat that over and over.

I have spent the last few days trying to reorganize my life. I backed up all my photographs on my external hard drive, something I had neglected the last few months. It pretty much took the whole day. I keep re-doing my iPod for the drive (10 hours). I did all the laundry and put it away so our house sitter is not sharing the couch with a mound the size of a small beached whale. (Figured I would be less embarrassed if I got it put away.) We've had Big Brother busy too, doing a lot of chores he's been neglecting. For the first time in who knows how long his room is very tidy. He's also challenged when it comes to housekeeping, gets it from me poor kid.

Finally got PeeWee to model her new pants. She loves them and wanted to wear them all day. Try explaining to a two year old that wool pants when it's 89 degrees out is just not the best idea. She sure looks cute in them though! I am really happy with the whole setup.





I have started the top. I am close to finished with the sleeves already! I think when my mother told me it was 58 degrees in the mountains I got inspired. And I feel so clever to have started the sleeves first. Not sure why I never thought of that before, since they can be worse than finishing a second sock.

Not sure if I will be able to get on and post this week. If not I hope everyone has a great week!

Back to normal

Well! The last few weeks around here have been over booked. We're working on getting back to daily life, it's taking a bit of effort though.

We took PeeWee to her cardiologist and we got another stay of at least 6 months until the next surgery. She's just the amazing baby, I tell you. She will have to have another open heart surgery some day down the line, but for now we are in the clear. She's definitely got her guardian angel watching out for her.

Very little knitting time. Very little. This weekend I photographed a wedding for a friend from my college days. I didn't like the responsibility of knowing if I blew it there wasn't a do-over. I was a nervous wreck waiting for the files to upload, convinced I must have shook or done something else horrible. It was outside and insanely hot, I was sweating and couldn't even really see, so I was some glad when most of the images turned out to be not only usable but pretty good. Glad it's all finished.

We had a wedding houseguest for the week, he is the easiest person to have around. I am not the greatest host, I really don't like houseguests. It was great to have him around though. (He kept asking about my knitting friends.) We haven't seen him in 5 years, he's been in Germany, so it was a treat he chose to stay here. (He had some other offers.)

Hmmmm, knitting you say? Well, even with all this crazyness going on around here, I managed to finish PeeWee's pants. They are cute, if I say so myself. Sorry there's no pattern, it was in my head and never made it to paper, nor will it. But here's what I did, measured her inseam, around her thighs and ankles to get a general idea of size. I measured around her waist also and remembered to add some extra stitches to create a crotch gusset. Knit the legs at the same time in the round on 2 circs, got to the inseam length, increased for the gusset stitches, joined the whole thing in the round, left the gussets on waste yarn to kitchener stitch up later, increased for the thicker measurement around the waist. Short rows made up the butt bubble. Easy peasy. I am in love with Cascade 220 right now, this is the superwash. I'm looking through books for a pattern for the matching swing coat. I think I am going with Anne Budd's general sweater pattern plus some swing. Maybe travelling cables...

Until I figure out that one, I will be knitting on who knows what. I think I am going to save the second Sockapalooza sock for an upcoming drive to North Carolina. Vacation knitting, ahhhhh. I am sure I will have an entire suitcase of knitting to entertain me. I want to start some simple plain knit socks, something mindless with a simple repeat. I started a pair and was not happy with the way the colors were behaving, then when I slippped it on it was huge. So yet another ripped sock. I am saving my Hurricane sock until I can wrap my brain around the cast-on, it's something new to me, so until I feel brave enough for a new trick, I'll be sticking with simple. My Hurricane buddy Carole was great, she really outdid herself. We had each other, which I accidentally figured out, but kept quiet about, boy was THAT hard! I SO appreciate all the work Christy put into the whole thing. I was very happy with the whole exchange, even though I still feel a little bad for my tardy mail out.

My camera is misbehaving, I think it is mad at me from the wedding. I am having flash issues and will have to send it in for a repair. And we're going to the mountains this weekend. I may just wait to send it in because I can use an external flash, but when I tried on PeeWee's pants I noticed it was acting up and got so annoyed and frustrated I said forget it, I'll update with pictures of knitting tomorrow though, when I get her in the pants. Instead I will try to satisfy with a picture of the happy couple:

Mail Call!

Well, I have been missing all weekend, but the mailman hasn't!



Here's a close up of the package sent by my wonderful Hurricane Sock Party pal:



She included all sorts of fun goodies, row counters, stitch markers, a waterproof container to store things in. A whole bunch of doo dads, candy, light-up needles, a little handmade paper notecard set, ummmm, I must be forgetting something! ANyway you can see it all here, she was very generous!

The sock is red! It's a great lacy pattern, and it fits perfectly! I am looking forward to finishing the second one and getting to wear them.

I was a little late mailing out my package, it will arrive where it needs to be Thursday. Things caught up with me over the weekend somehow. I'll update more after tomorrow. Just sneaking in a minute to jump on here!