Wrap it up

I would never have thunk it, but this working on one project until it is done thing really works. I have to say I have been pretty darn productive around here with my knitting. I finished the little wrap Saturday night. Finished the ends and added the bottons and button loops yesterday. It should be perfect for dinner tonight.



That's not to say I won't get an incredible urge to start 6 projects this afternoon and not finish a single one. But it's been working well for me so far. I also finished the Blue Hawaii socks. They are so comfy and soft. And crazy silly. I like them. I have enough yarn left to make PeeWee a pair, too. I may wait on those, because I have one project still on the needles needing to get wrapped up. Those giant socks for Big Brother. His darn feet keep growing though. They are 14's now. He should be about seven feet tall at this rate.

There has been massive progress on the unpacking and reorganizing. Turned out almost all the stuff piled in the back room was Big Brother's. Nice to know it wasn't all my mess. He's been sorting through it, good boy that he is. All his long Mardi Gras days landed him a cold and he slept through most of his holiday. I keep running things through the dishwasher and I am down to one container and a few random boxes. It sounds like a lot left, but I am pretty close to the end. Considering it has been almost 18 months, that's not bad! Uh, yes, I know it should never take someone that long to reorganize themselves. I guess if we count from when we moved back in in June it's not quite that bad. Especially when you consider it was August before the kitchen was wrapped up. And we just got doors in December... and cabinets in the laundryroom last month. I guess it's really not so bad that I am still unpacking! I just need to get to the end of it though.

Ta Da!!

Well, PeeWee's sweater turned out adorable. She wore it yesterday but I didn't get a shot of her in it. 8 million ends to weave in, they took me over an hour. My mother said on the phone I had to be exaggerating but when she saw the top she said "it only took an hour!"



She was my original inspiration for knitting a few years ago. She used to knit all the time, and makes a sweater for the grandkids every once in a while. I wore a lot of hand me downs growing up. I think I have told the story of her knitting Argyle socks for her college boyfriend, but it's worth a repeat. It's why she always tells me socks are a waste of time. She spent countless hours knitting one Argyle sock for her boyfriend, started the second sock and got caught up in exams before the semester break and didn't have enough time to finish sock two. She wrapped it up all pretty for her boyfriend and gave it to him with the idea that she would finish the other as quickly as she could. Partway down the leg of sock two, her boyfriend's brother, who was also his roommate, broke his leg. Their mother came down to nurse him as it was a bad break and she dug through the sock drawer to find a lone sock to keep his exposed toes warm. The only lone sock in the place was the one Argyle. My mother said she literally gasped when she saw it stretched all out of shape over the cast and all. She broke up with him because she said his mother didn't know the difference between a store-bought and a hand-knit sock and there was no way that could be her mother in law! Tragic as it is, that story makes me laugh. It hurts just to imagine.



Last night I started a wrap, with stash yarn. No idea the size it will turn out to be, I am working it as I go. I simple little lace pattern which is going along at a nice pace. I started it with 402 stitches which I decreased to 202 right away. I'll keep it this width for two balls of yarn then work shoulder decreases with the third ball I have. It is light enough it should get some actual wear, too. I can't wait to go button shopping for the closure! We have a double date Monday night and I am keeping my fingers crossed I'll get it done to wear out then.



Mardi Gras around here was very busy. For the ball Saturday night I ended up finding the perfect black skirt, and wore it with the lace top from the stained skirt set that may be retired for good. I'll give the cleaners a shot at getting the stain out, but it doesn't look too hopeful.

Mardi Gras day was Tuesday, and I am glad it's over. PeeWee and I stayed home, it looked like rain but never did, then Mark took her in the afternoon to visit his parents and I busied myself trying to get the spare room in order. It finally feels together. One more room and we're all done. If someone had told me my future a few years ago I would never have believed them. Feels like we're getting to the end of the tunnel though. We've certainly waded through our share of muck though. I think we've earned ourselves some easy sailing now.

Big brother has been off from school since Friday. A nice long lazy break for him. Today is his work day though. He's organizing his room today. Tomorrow he's my helper in the garden. We need to weed and plant nasturtium seeds before it gets too late. he is such a character, he wore a basket of fruit on his head for Mardi Gras. (That's him in the first picture) He went with my brother and his cousins. He came home with the hat, but most of the fruit had come off. Surprizingly he had most of it. A good addition to PeeWee's kitchen.

Darn

That's what I'm going to have to do.


My favorite socks and a great big hole. Probably because I wear them at least once a week. Went to put them on and sure enough, the floor felt awfully cold on the bottom of my foot. Darn.

These are PeeWee's newest favorite socks. She loves to pull them up as high as they will go and marvel at her pink socks.



My little runway star tried on the sweater. You might notice it has short sleeves.



Yes... it was pointed out to me by a very intelligent Big Brother that it's only going to be cold a few more weeks at most, why was I making her a sweater. Well, advice taken, I turned it into a short sleeved top! It's coming along nicely. I have about 20 stitches to pick back up before I get back to it. She wiggled quite a bit trying it on and got ahold of the needles as I was pulling it off of her.

I have too much Mardi Gras going on this weekend to worry about it too much. I found a long black skirt to fix my small problem of nothing to wear to the ball. Just call me Cinderella. I found several things in fact and will be returning which ever I don't wear tomorrow. I won't know until I am getting dressed how the outfit will come together.

I also took the kids to Michael's to get costumes together. We're going to wear butterfly wings. A little foam core, a little tissue paper, a little paint... no big deal... Big Brother said no way to that so we got him the makings for a basket of fruit to go on top of his head. He can throw on Mark's overalls from last year and we'll be good to go. It should all be picture worthy. I hope the weather is nice for Tuesday!

Knitting in Action

Some days a quick walk around the block is enough to shake off a funk. Lately it's been difficult for me to stay organized around here and it had been getting to me. Yesterday I wrapped up in my scarf and took a quick walk to the coffee shop for a treat to start the morning.



It was just what I needed to get me started on a day of total organization. It was great. Not only did I do a lot of organizing, I worked on a few things that had been neglected. Mark hung some hooks for me, rehung the cabinet doors (did I mention the cabinets were installed with the doors opening the wrong way? oops) and was generally helpful but out of the way. A good combination for someone who was cranky and wanting to get things DONE.

I worked on PeeWee's sweater. I have a serious problem with sleeves. For whatever reason, there's always an issue. I admit, if I used patterns, I would most likely not keep running into the same problems over and over. This time they are tight. Too tight. I know I will have to rip them out. I hate the idea of doing that. They are just the right size for her doll though so maybe I will put them aside on stitch holders for a sweater for Teetsie. Imagine making sleeves so small they fit her doll instead of PeeWee. Like I said, I have been a little off lately.



Tomorrow I am going to a Mardi Gras ball and am in serious denial. I pulled the dress I was planning on wearing out of the closet and it was covered with MOLD. Argh. I was stunned! I took the skirt and (gasp!) threw it in the washing machine. Yes, the washing machine. I figured it was a lost cause anyway, it's gotten plenty of wear and the mold had left a big yucky stain on the front. I ran it through, figuring it would either be ruined or not (again, the mood) and I was surprized to find it was lovely when it came out. Lovely and stained. I ran it through a second time with the same result. One more try this morning then I am off to the fabric store to get some fabric for a basic black skirt. I haven't sewed anything in a long time. I am a little anxious about trying with PeeWee around. Big Brother is off from school today so maybe he can earn some babysitting money and keep her busy for me.

Hearts Everywhere

It's been a week of hearts here. Mainly PeeWee's heart. We have been seeing some strange behaviour from her circulation the last few weeks and so we brought her in for some pictures of her little heart. We got a good checkup again, with a further in depth scan being done at the end of the month to give her cardiologists some more information. This is good news. I am always an anxious mess when it comes to her, but she is tough as nails.



And she has grown! Wow, Teetsie, her doll, is wearing one of her shirts. And it was BIG on her!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We went to dinner Monday night and celebrated early at one of our favorite spots, Muriel's. It is in the French Quarter and it was sadly eerily quiet. Businesses are really struggling down there. Makes me so much more aware of the need to shop local here. The horrible press we get is not helping. The French Quarter is as lovely as it ever was, in fact we have a great new clean up contract with the city and it's cleaner than ever.

It is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day today. Check it out if you have a minute. So much more common than people realize. When I was pregnant and I found out about PeeWee's not normal heart, I had no idea of any of it. I thought that kids were born with oles in their hearts, and I knew some had to have open heart surgery, but the extent of it? I had no concept. Because I had no reason to.

What happens when you haven't got a knitting plan but you find yourself with time to knit? Insanity.



I am lucky PeeWee is such a little thing because I am not sure how long my momentum might have lasted with this one otherwise. Mark's head is kind of big, huh? He's been such a willing model lately. I am loving this sweater, but I will admit it is a bit rediculous. PeeWee will love it though, so all is good. And just imagine the look on her face when down the line she pulls it out of storage to put on her own kids one day. Oh yeah. Makes me smile just to think of it.

The socks from the stash are almost finished. I like 'em. I took Big Brother to his math tutor last night and sat in the car by the park and knitted away until the sun went down and I couldn't see to knit any more.



Tornadoes blew through town night before last and there was a lack of street lights because the power was not fully restored just yet. Yes, another natural disaster for us to deal with.

Knitting in Action

Well, it's been warm the last few days, so trying to get a good "knitting in action" shot for this week was a bit challenging. It's easy to knit socks for Mark because he loves these little shorty-style socks. These are his Christmas socks in action. Yeah, he's got shorts on. It was almost 75 degrees yesterday afternoon.



The scarf I have been working on is drying right now. It's almost dry so if PeeWee gets up and gets ahold of it things will not be ruined. She was awake most of the night so if I am lucky she'll sleep in this morning. Picture of the scarf tomorrow. I like the way it turned out. The grey color is soft, with an almost blue tone. It is supposed to be cold again tomorrow so I get to wear it this weekend!

Princess Polkadot was out in full force yesterday. She wore her tiara (thanks David!) most of the morning before we got to school. She would have worn it to school but I made her leave it at home. She kept walking around saying she was pretty.



She's a character. She's been a menace lately though. Whew! She's aging me rapidly... She has decided to boycott sleep. All night long she's kicking me in the head. Put her in her bed and she yells for hours. This morning I came down to the couch at 4:30, hoping for a bit of sleep. Big Brother had to be at school early for a field trip- 6:15 early! So I got in an hour before I had to get us all up and moving. Thank goodness Mark was able to sleep in with PeeWee so I didn't have to bring her along so early.

The laundry room studio combo is coming along nicely. Mark needs to do a bit of trim work to pretty it up, install a few shelves above, below and in between the cabinets to make it complete, but I have cabinets! Yay! I hope he'll take pity on me today and go off on an adventure with PeeWee so I can get things better situated in there.



I am really excited. With the cabinets in over the washer and dryer, I have been able to unload many boxes of dishes and doo-dads. Making progress with the little things here at this house is making me feel so much better. It's been a year and a half of rebuilding post-Katrina. I am seriously sick of it. My personal deadline is the end of March to be completely settled. Wish me luck!!

Tulips

I went to a flower arranging class Tuesday and came home with these. I did the wrong thing and just plopped them into a vase instead of arranging them, adding other plant material and all that good stuff, but they are pretty and they make me happy, so I am good with them. Tulips are one of my favorites flowers. They change almost hourly as they open. The colors in these are just unusual enough to keep me looking. Sitting in the window, they are bringing in a bit of spring.

The weather here has been crazy, cold one day, warm one day, lots of dreary rainy days. Typical January in New Orleans. I can't wait until march, when we have the most beautiful weather around. Until then, I'll snuggle up with my almost finished scarf.


Very happy with the way it's turning out. I have another ball of this yarn left which will make it the perfect length. I have a feeling this one will get lots of out and about time. I thought it would be finished by now. Life got in the way.

This week has been booked and over booked, with appointments being rescheduled because they were booked on top of each other. Back to back rushing from one place to another. And I have been the one in the driver's seat so there hasn't been a lot of knitting in the car time either. This afternoon Big Brother has a bass lesson and I plan on bringing my knitting and sitting in the car the whole time he learns to play. He's doing really well with it so far. I am happy with that. He's got a band getting together. I wish he'd get back to the trumpet, but hey! anything musical makes me happy. PeeWee claps when he plays. It's a pretty cute thing to watch. Last night while he was practicing, she went and got a drum to play along with him.

Remember these? From last year? I should be embarrassed to bring them out into the open and fess up to them still not being finished. I love the color swirl. It's really fun. They'll be good summer socks. Lorna's Laces Blue Hawaii (I think that's the color name, no ball band, of course...)


I brought them to work on while I was getting my hair cut Monday. The scarf is kind of fuzzy and I didn't want to risk bringing something so large to a place where there's a lot of dye in close proximity. I wanted something a little more portable. I remembered these up in the bedroom, snatched them up and got quite a bit done. Boy are they taking forever. For me, socks that are straight stockinette move so slowly. I need a pattern to jazz them up, keep me interested, make them fly along on the needles. So these are moving slower than I like.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I love my birthday. I make sure everyone knows it's my birthday. If people forget, I call them up and remind them. I like to get the word out.

It is also Groundhog Day. And I did not see my shadow, so we can expect spring. There are no groundhog's around here, so I take the responsibility for the forcast. I can't even say how many times I have been asked if I saw my shadow! Too bad no one pays for that answer.

Mark went to the coffee shop this morning and brought me a mocha and a cinnamon roll for my breakfast before he ran off to work. Today he's working for himself, he went to pick up my cabinets for my studio and the laundry room. I am very excited. I hope there is time to get them installed before the weekend is out so I can get myself a little more organized. It seems as is they might be, I hear the drill working as I type. And the hallway is filled with some things that usually sit on top of my work surface. All good signs.

I usually throw myself some sort of birthday bash, but even though this year it falls on a Friday, I just couldn't muster up the courage to do it. To be honest, the clutter bug has moved in to my house and things are a bit disorganized around here. I retrieved all my loot from my parents' house last weekend and now I am just looking at the containers with my hands on my hips, saying "huh" and ignoring it. That kind of clutter isn't what I want to share with even my closest friends. No company until those cabinets are good and installed and filled with the goodies currently in my dining room. (Damn that Katrina. It is taking me years to get myself back to normal)



I decided that I am going to indulge myself and knit up something quick and easy for my birthday. I restarted this scarf about 50 times yesterday. Seriously. I ripped it back over and over. Now I am satisfied with this zig-zag lace. I like the contrase of the bulky yarn and the holes. This yarn has been in my stash for a long time. it was one of the first yarns I ever bought. I have no ball band but I do remember it is sile, angora and wool. Soft as can be. Wish I had a ball band though.

So, for New Year's I make no resolutions. Instead, I make ready for my birthday resolutions.

First off, I am organizing myself. This might take all year. I am okay with that. organizing myself breaks down into several catagories, mainly keeping on top of the incoming mail, the laundry and my work space. The kitchen needs to be all put away, when that is done, it will fall into place. A year and a half of workers filing through the house makes it hard to stay on top of the mess. I am always moving something out of the way to get the space for what's being worked on.

Second, I am getting back to being in shape. I already started that by joining and going to the gym. It means more cooking at home, which means both eating healthier and saving a bit of money. Added bonuses! I am signed up for a six week class the gym offers for eating and health tips. That starts the end of the month.

Third, I am making more time for myself. Always at the bottom of my list, I hope to actually lose the guilt by indulging in things I want to do.

Which brings me to number four, making time to work in my studio and actually doing it. Having on hand the supplies I need for projects is tops for that. Know what that means? Buying enough yarn for a sweater... hee hee hee... needles and all that stuff too. Kind of goes back to number three doesn't it?

A whole bunch of nothing going on

A small amount of progress on these ugly gloves. Not even sure what'll come of the other one, but I am strangely desirous of finishing the pair. You never know, I might end up wearing them on my morning walk to the coffee shop.

It's been a crazy week around our house. Just today was spent rushing from one place to another. I had a lunch meeting, went to it and politely turned my phone to vibrate. During the presentations the phone was taking several calls from the school nurse, telling me to come get Big Brother, he was in severe pain. I got the messages when the meeting broke up, I called, said I was on the way, called for an appointment at the doctor's office, where he was double booked and they said they'd work us in. (No knitting with me either, shoot.) When I got to the school and picked up Big Brother, he was back in class and pretty much fine, a little stiffness in his back. He said it was hurting and since it is a bit of a drive I brought him home anyway. I cancelled the appointment though, because he seems just fine. I think he may have resorted to his "I don't feel well acting" for the nurse's benefit.

The school nurse hates me because Big brother was quite the actor as a younger kid and unfortunately about 3 weeks into his 5th grade year, at this school, which was a new one for him, he broke his arm. This being the third time I had received a call from a school nurse telling me he thought he broke his arm, I told her I would just get there when I got there. (And I took my sweet time, even went to the grocery to pick up a few things.) She never had met me before, and said, I don't know, it looks pretty bad. Of course, turned out it was a bad break and now she thinks I ignore cries of pain from my kids. No real way to explain that quite the opposite is true. I spend plenty of time at the doctor's office taking care of their aches and pains and general maintenance.

I got Angele Parlange's book Creole Thrift for Christmas and I have been finding a few minutes here and there to read through it the last week or so. I think she's pretty fabulous, she does the best job of using her sense of humor to reinterpret overly expensive decorating ideas. Plus the book is rich with New Orleans beauty. Always a plus for me. Looking through it is another reminder that I seriously need to get myself back in a working state of mind. Hubby Mark is supposed to get me cabinets installed in the laundry room tomorrow so I can finally clear up my working space. I am hoping for shelves too, but not holding my breath over that one. It is good to be married to a handy guy except when he's got as much to do as Mark. My list is growing daily. Poor guy.

Knitting Gloves

I have everything all ready to start a striped sweater but decided I wanted something small and easily portable to work on for a bit. I bought the red white and blue sock yarn last week and knitted up a swatch and decided I really needed fingerless gloves. And boy are they ugly. I should have put thought into the color repeats, because they are really funny looking. And I am working without a pattern, so I hope they are even slightly usefull when they are finished. There's a chance I will rip them back if they are just too silly, but at this point I am forging ahead. Big Brother says "at least no one will steal them". Mark says they are knitting gloves, since there are no fingers. Gloves I can knit in. Maybe that's why I am still finishing them.

Every Girl Needs Some Glitter

I had some time to kill yesterday afternoon so I wanted to go by the yarn shop around the corner to see what goodies they might have. I was looking through their DPN's and found some fun stuff. Tiny size 1's, size 10's and these... disco addi DPN's. Seriously, I have never seen anything like them. Talk about a sucker for something shiny.


Can you see the glitter in there? PeeWee loves them. Big Brother may start knitting again if I let him use them. He thinks they are pretty cool too. They make the knitting go pretty quickly, you just stare at them instead of anyting else. Slightly hypnotic. I whipped out a swatch with them in about a minute, or it seemed like a minute.



As much as I would like to finish this top, I am putting it aside for a week or so. I have to do something good with the sleeves. I tried it on and it needs sleeves. I was thinking short sleeves, but Mark says I should try to get longer sleeves, 3/4 length. Or even long sleeves, if there's enough yarn. I agree, because it fits like a sweater, not a t-shirt. And there isn't a color change halfway through like the picture shows. It's all one lot of yarn, the picture has a funny color change and it is showing the top to have a giant color change in the middle.

The scoop neck is not quite a scoop, but I am happy with the way it fits my neck. I don't like tight necks, they bug me. Any tight clothes bug me. The curled up bottom edge also lays flat when it is on. And the style, although it looks boxy, really does skim my body. I am going to go ahead and use the same pattern for the new sweater I am planning now.



I hate to sew by hand, I always have. I have had sewing projects languish for years because there was a step that had to be done by hand and I was never in the mood. So when I got the zipper for the hoodie pinned in place I was feeling good. Mark took PeeWee to go see his parents and I figured it couldn't sit around this house for long still pinned together, so I took the plunge and put the zipper in. Finished. Very pleased with myself on that one, especially since I had to stop half way through, only one side sewn. It took a major plunge to pick up the needle and thread and do the second half.



New project for ME! This is clearly the year for selfish knitting. And I am liking it. I have never made things for myself other than socks. Or never FINISHED things for myself except socks. And I usually finish socks just so I can get the needles to start another pair of socks. But a hoodie and the body of a sweater? Kind of fun to finish things just for me.

Disaster averted

I laid out my knitting carefully, had camera in hand and was ready to shoot a picture when, darn it, the camera battery was dead. Went to get a backup and since I only turned my eyes away for 3 seconds, you can bet PeeWee got her hands on my knitting. The giant gasp I practically yelled out scared her half to death and she stopped pulling out the needle just before the end. She stepped back, clearly knowing she had made a mistake and stayed away long enough for me to slide the stitches back onto the needle. If you look closely you can see the only stitches actually on the needle are the last 10 or so. ::sigh:: Did I mention how glad I am she didn't get ahold of it after she pulled the stitches off? This yarn just wants to unknit itself.


I stuffed the stitches back on the needle so tightly it's rediculous, layed the top out not quite as neatly as before and got a picture as fast as I could. Almost not fast enough, you can see she's rolling it up along the edge. She just can't wait to get her mitts on it.


Hard to tell with such a fabulous photo, but I have almost completed the back. I decided to go with a scoop-neck shell instead of a t-shirt. I have no idea yet how I am going to do the front, but hopefully it'll be to my liking when it's all done. The edge ribbing is curling in on itself in a way I am not happy with, so I may rip it out and knit down another edging. I hope it'll block nicely instead because I like the look of the 2x2 rib.

Tonight is date night, but I'm on my own. Mark is taking Big Brother to an all ages concert. You couldn't pay me to do that. Maybe I shouldn't actually admit it out loud though. I am sure they will have fun. It starts at 6 since it's a week night. No idea what bands are playing even. I think I'm going to go to the bookstore then dinner with a friend. Looking forward to it. I need to escape this house.

feeling my age

Last night PeeWee decided to stay up all night. No fussing, no whining, just decided to stay up all night. At 3:20 I told Mark I couldn't take the singing and the wiggling and moving around she was doing in our bed (long story, she's in there until we patch up the giant hole from the plumber) He brought her downstairs and he fell asleep on the couch until I came down at 7am, woken by her dropping her big tub of blocks on the stone floor. It was a big loud crash, and I, unfortunately, once woken have a very hard time falling back asleep. She has been incredibly pleasant for being up the entire night. More pleasant than I would be. She took a quick nap this afternoon. I threw her in the car after she flat out refused to even pretend to sleep earlier. Of course, I am feeling it now that I've been up for this long with this little sleep.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I can talk about my knitting.

I have been told that if you just work on one project, you actually finish it. I am hoping to stick to that concept this year. It worked with the hoodie. And it seems to be working so far with the t-shirt. Yes, it seems I have enough yarn to make a t-shirt, not a vest. That means I will get more wear out of it I think. Of course, when I get to the point of deciding about sleeves or not, I'll see how I like the way it is turning out. I need to see how the sleeves look when I start them. Then I will decide if it will have them or not.

Whoa! I think my lack of sleep is showing, I am rambling on here...

Anyway, my point was that I have made much more progress then I would have thought so far by just sticking to the one project. I like it. I am about 11 1/2 inches up the body at this point. When I get to 15 1/2, I'll divide for the sleeves (or vest). Normally by now with a project I would be bored, starting a new swatch, buying more yarn, any number of things to distract myself from the plain old stockinette tube I am knitting. Knowing it's all going to be done within the week is helping me just forge ahead. Old dogs CAN be taught new tricks!

I have also been quite good at sticking to my scheduled exercise. It goes by quickly and I enjoy it. There are a good group of women there when I go. Plus, I got all my lab work back from my physical and everything looks good. I will be the picture of health when these extra pounds drop off! So far I have lost 3 1/2. Just a tiny dent in my overall goal, but at least it's a start.

What's in the bag?

I did not knit yesterday.

I had too many real life daily things to deal with. Big Brother was sick so he stayed home from school, napping on the couch all day because the plumber finally came to finish up fixing the leak. I think I called a month ago. He came the day before and showed me the completely funky way the drain was stopped up when this house was raised in 1957 and what was once the kitchen became a bedroom. A hole was still there where the drain pipe tapped into the wall. They put a piece of wood in there. Something stopped up the drain down the line and the resulting pressure in the drain pipes blew out the little circle of wood. What do you say to that? Seriously, therre's nothing you can do except just look at the open drain hole coming out of the wall and say "huh". You can't even wonder what they were thinking. All you do is say, "well, I guess this is where the kitchen sink was" and let the plumber repair it the right way. Turned out there was a secondary leak and he fixed that as well. Glad he finally made it here. Plumbers in this town are worth their weight in gold.


PeeWee decided she really likes my new bag. It was a gift from my parents and it is perfect. It has a ton of space but isn't bulky at all. It also has nice little pockets inside for all my goodies, knitting and otherwise. It's full of my new project, all the balls of yarn, needles, and the pattern. She keeps slinging it over her shoulder and walking around the house with it.

And yes, she chose that fine outfit herself. Gotta love a two year old's sense of style.

Sweater weather

Yesterday it was both very cold and very damp. Normally I wouldn't venture out too far on days with nasty miserable weather but I promised a friend of almost 20 years a birthday lunch so I piled on the layers and went out into the world. The steady drizzle inspired me to wear the finished hoodie, even though it really isn't finished. It needs a zipper, but it worked just great under the raincoat and on top of the other two layers I had on. I had on three handknit pieces yesterday. Normally I probably wouldn't wear so many at once, but I wanted to be warm.

The bonus is I may have talked my friend into learning to knit. He kept saying how cool it was I could knit a hoodie and wear it. He had on some fingerless gloves made for him with little mini-cables. They are pretty cool. He got a hat with "hair" on it for his birthday from yet another friend. He was telling me how if he knit he would make silly and rediculous things and I told him he must learn. My nephew wants to learn and Big Brother can do it but needs a refresher course. I am thinking we may have a man-can-knit day around here.




Since I finished a bunch of swatches, I was ready for my next project. (Thinking ahead pays off- yes!) I started working with some of my bargain yarn I snatched up the other day. I am going to make a top out of it. I did a few rows of 2x2 ribbing and started working in the round. I figured it took a ball to go up 2 1/2 inches so I am not sure what kind of top this is going to turn out to actually be. I need to do a little figuring. I hope I have enough for short-sleeves, but I'll make myself a vest like tank-top if that's what I have enough for. Another reason to keep going to the gym.

Take two

So, I am now making actual progress on the hoodie. A few hiccups along the way. Definitely learned a lesson or two. This pattern is kind of neat. You knit the body, either in the round or back and forth as a cardigan (my choice). Then you knit the sleeves in the round. You cast off a few stitches for the underarm on all the pieces, line it all up and knit across. You create the raglan sleeves by decreasing in four places around the sweater. No seams except a few stitches under the arm. I have never been a great raglan aweater fan, but this knits up so quickly, the front and back at the same time, sleeves before you have to finish the front and back, and then fun decreases just when you are getting bored. Perfect for me.


For some reason this picture makes this sweater look really small. It's not. It's my sized. You can see the sleeves are actually attached here, in the other picture ou can see it is the first row after connecting the whole thing. The sleeves are hanging on there. This pattern is taken from Anne Budd's sweater book. It is a great reference for me. You have to do a little math, because with the 8 jillion different combinations, there were a few sizes not knitted. I had sleeves for the koolaid sweater with big problems. This gauge sweater isn't in the book, so I had to figure the number of stitches and use that pattern. So far it's working just right, with a minor sleeve change. The yoke will have a few adjustments, mainly when to start the neckline. And the hood for the hoodie? I guess I am going to have to wing it. I will measure one in my closet and just figure out the math as I go.

Speaking of my sized, I joined the gym and have been going as I planned! That's a huge thing for me, I have never been much of a working out kind of girl. I have joined many a gym and not even gone back even after hiring a trainer (way too much wasted money on gyms, kind of embarrassing) but for some reason I want to go, so I am. And I never make resolutions until my birthday, so this is just something I started. So, hopefully my sized will be a little toner as the year goes on. Or at the very least I will be healthier for the effort. I'll let you know. The gym takes measurements and weight the same day each month so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

gauge rage

When you learn to knit beyond a scarf, you have to start paying attention to gauge. There's no real way around it if you are planning on having something to wear when you are finished. So I do gauge swatches, lots of them. I like doing them now, and I have a drawer full of trivets for my kitchen. Even a few potholders. I am not entirely sure why, but I had a bunch of swatches, and decided to just felt them. It works. Otherwise what am I going to do with them? I rip a lot of them out and use the yarn when I am happy with the results, but for something I need to actually wash to get the real gauge (another lesson learned with some unwearable clothes) I keep them around as long as I need them. Then I throw the unwashable ones in the washer and have another "Sarah" thing for the house.

I have never heard anyone go on and on in the same way about checking needle size. Well, let me. I have found from my newest mistake, that this is also an important part of knitting.

Some might say it is the same as checking gauge, but, sadly it is not. All my ranting and raving about not having the entire set (one does not count as a set no matter how you try to figure it) of my size 13 DPN's, I went out and bought 2 size 13 circular needles. (I also stumbled upon some really nice wool and some cotton yarn with actual give for $1.50 a ball and snatched it all up.) I like using 2 circular needles with PeeWee around. She's like a magpie except she's attracted to needles and DPN's are dangerous when she's around, she'll slip them right out of your work before you even realize what she's got in mind. Then you have to fight her to get them back. So 2 circ's for me when it's possible.

Then, if you remember, I loaded up a great big bag to go to the doctor's office for my (not quite) marathon knitting. I can't tell you how glad I am that there was no wait. Seriously. I knit the sweater body with 15's. So all my frantic searching for the right DPN's was, shall we say, unnecessary? Yes, I will admit I had no idea I was knitting with such huge needles. I am not sure if you can see it here, but the stitches were very tight on that sleeve. I kept thinking it. I even got out my needle sizing tool and double checked the size of the needles I was using. Because you know they HAD to be mismarked. I even checked the needles I was using. And wanted to bury my head in the sand. Because there was no conspiracy, just personal stupidity. Ay yi yi...

Well, like I said, it could have been worse, there could have actually been knitting time the other day. And please don't ask me how I didn't notice until at the elbow how stiff the fabric was- it might have stood up on it's own if I tried. It was then I thought about gauge, and kept wondering if I was in a bad mood, or tense, or, geez, do I really knit that much tighter in the round? None of the above. I just don't pay attention all the time.

Hey, there's a floor under there!

I spent a little time this morning cleaning out my studio space. It had gotten particularly bad. Over run with debris piles, photos in containers waiting to be put in books, yarn all over the floor, the tables, up on the shelves, spillling out all over the room. Generally messy, and not at all a good work space.



I got a lot of it organized and contained, resorted. A big bag of yarn to send off to a friend who's daughter is a knitter. Some other odds and ends to donate to the school near us. Stuff that's been in the way for entirely too long. I have been much more precise in my yarn purchases in the last few months. I am trying to rid my space of anything that's not destined for a specific project. Sounds brutal, but I need both the clean space and the clean mind. No more guilt about having yarn around that I have no reason to keep. It feels like a huge space now. And if we get another rain where water seeps in the laundryroom, I'll be covered. Things will be up off the floor and it'll be easier to dry things out. Last time, I panicked and the whole room was dragged out into the hallway. Part of the huge mess was dragging it all back in there for Christmas, completely with no order.



All the other studio stuff is pretty much disorganized too. I'm working on it, I need to have a space to work in the next few weeks. I have committed to a piece to donate to an auction, and that's coming up in about 10 weeks. I have it in my head though so that's a start. It's a New Orleans themed thing and I am planning on collageing (is that a word? looks wrong...) a New Orleans shot-gun house. Hope it turns out worth while! (meaning someone actually bids on it)

I went to the doctor today for a checkup, figuring I would have a long wait, and possibly a few other tests. I packed up my new bag with a couple balls of yarn, my needles, the pattern, and scissors, everything I needed for the long haul. I waited just 15 minutes to get in! That is definitely a first for a doctor's appointment, and wouldn't you know that was the time I set aside to work on the sleeves for the hoodie? Well, I didn't get but a few rows done. But they are going as quickly as the rest of it. Bulky yarn is good for quick.

click, click, click

Working away on my hoodie today, but I have to stop for now until I get to the yarn store. Stupid me, I lost the DPN's I need for the sleeve! Argh. Oh well, Big Brother's friend said I was going to end up with carpal tunnel anyway. Probably time for a little break. But where on Earth are the DPN's? Darnit I have one of the set of five. I really don't like when I can't find tools. I can't even blame it on anyone else. Too bad. I really hope the little shop around the corner has the right sized DPN's. It's the only yarn shop open before Wednesday. What's up with that? It has been raining off and on all day, perfect knitting weather. Not cold though, what is up with the crazy weather here? It's warm again, I turned on the A/C this morning. And with the rain the temperature is dropping a little bit, I think it's going to be cold again tomorrow. Almost 80 this morning and it'll be in the 40's tomorrow.

Here's the jacket I made the other day for PeeWee. She's napping and won't stand still long enough for a shot of her wearing it anyway, so... no model today. It looks better on her though. And it's super soft. Light and fluffy enough that she doesn't mind wearing it.



My Rowan Exchange buddy, Kathleen, sent me this great scarf. It's hard to see but it swirls around and around. It is snuggly soft, and the prettiest blues. I decided to model it with a finished project of mine, the hat with the great zigzag pooling of color. I dig this hat, it is silly but not rediculous (I hope, don't crush me by saying it is) There are little twirlies (technical term, huh?) on the top that just make it for me. I like things that spin around, things you can play with.



Mardi Gras has begun. Last night was Twelth Night and we took the kids to a parade. Big Brother ran off with his friend the minute we got there and somehow managed to miss the parade- one long goofy teenage boy story. It was a short one. PeeWee got to watch it and I think she had fun. During the parade, she just sort of stared at everything, a bit dumbfounded and overwhelmed. On the way home, she said over and over that she had fun. And she fell asleep as soon as we walked in the door, she was exhausted.

no excuses

So I have been in another land I guess. No real excuse for not updating in a few months- whoa, a few months? I resolve to get myself back here. I have gotten a hint here and there that I need to update, so here I am.

PeeWee had her second birthday and all went well with her latest cardiology checkup. We hit a bunch of milestones with her too, and she is all of a sudden talking up a storm and doing things well beyond what she had been doing even a few weeks ago! Yay! We love that here.


Big Brother is being, well, a big brother. Hanging out, being a good teenage boy. He's keeping me busy driving him all over the city to where he needs to be. And he is growing. He's going to be 6ft tall if I blink. Who knew a shorty like me had it in me? He got a bass guitar for Christmas and is actually pretty good playing it.

The hospital fundraiser was a huge hit, we made a bunch of money and replenished the fund that helps families who have to travel here for medical treatment for their children. We depended on that same type of fund in California so I was thrilled that is where the money went. Another hospital fundraiser I was working on raised money to purchase a robotic birth simulator to teach nurses, medical staff, residents and interns, medical students and doctors what to do in an emergency with mother and child. Very cool stuff. It was a satisfying way to spend a lot of my time this fall.

I also reconnected with several friends I had lost touch with over time. We all went to a 40th birthday party and that was great. Reminded me I very much need to get my lazy rear end back into my studio and really get to work. I need to get it from my brain to the page. I got a very nice camera from my parents for Christmas so hopefully I will have some more inspiration from playing with that.



And knitting? Yes, I have been doing lots of it. I started a complete failure of a vest for my father, I need to sneak in his closet and measure one he has and go from there. Now that I have the gorgeous light blue yarn for it. I have made a few pairs of socks, a sweater for PeeWee, finished Jadon's blue sweater (finally!!!) Boy did I lag on that one. Hmmm, sounds like nothing knit but I know there's more... OH! A very nifty hat- the color swirls right up it! I love that hat. For me to actually wear something I knit out in public and get asked about it! Very cool to me. I have been finishing up some stalled projects, too. Or ripping them out, knowing they will never see the light of day and winding up the yarn for another project in the future. I have been trying to use up my giant stash of Cascade 220. It felts so beautifully. I have made some pot holders out of it. I better come up with a better use though because it does not take nearly enough yarn to mae a pot holder. I started a blanket for friends of mine getting married in June, then realized I need to make them a blanket out of washable wool so all my work does not accidentally get shrunken up and become a floor mat or something like that.

I am trying to use up a lot of stash yarn. I made PeeWee a jacket from some Cashmere blend I had laying around. I had literally just enough to finish it with not yards left over. If we would just have more cold weather. We had great sweater weather for a few weeks but we are back in the 60's now. I am hoping we get another blast soon. Usually in February we get freezes. I hope so. (But please, no broken pipes. We had water in the house with a big rain and I kind of gave up. Then a major plumbing leak. And another one while trying to repair that one. More water than I need. Everytime it rains my heart races. Post traumatic stress?)

While working through the (entirely too large) stash, I came across some big old bulky acrylic yarn (who knows what I originally bought it for) I am making a hoodie out of for me. All my jackets were neatly put away in the downstairs front hall closet right before we evacuated for Katrina so I am seriously lacking jackets. I bought myself a nice coat but need some hanging around jackets- something to walk over to the coffee shop on chilly mornings. I made most of the hoodie, didn't like it and am ripping it out and doing a totally different one. Yep, I think I can be called a process knitter.



Everyone got socks for Christmas in this house. PeeWee got some pink knee socks and some pink and grey socks from leftover socks I made for myself. I love how the color bands change completely with socks in her size. Big Brother got some green socks I must have made back in March, but kept for his gigantaur feet. He wears a 13 1/2 now. I started him a pair of socks on tiny #1 needles, maybe I will finish the gigantic things in time for next Christmas. My One and Only, Mark, got green and blue socks. Yes, all these socks were stash yarn! Woo-hoo! Burning through some of that yarn I have piled up all over the house, stuck in nooks and crannies. I am determined to knit up a lot of it. Or give it away. I am hoping to knock out a few crocheted baby blankets. I know, crochet? Well, it is very quick and easy for those baby blankets, much faster than knitting and I can knit up a tiny matching hat to go with it.

So Happy New Year! I hope you can all bear with me and my sporatic postings.