Field Trip!

I took PeeWee on a field trip yesterday to Houmas House, a very beautiful plantation home about an hour away. It was a lovely day. We went with friends getting married there in June for the food choosing. (If that's even a word.) Everything was delicious, there was a nice breeze all day, PeeWee had a blast and I got to sit in the passenger seat and knit! I figured my friend could do the driving since he knew just how to get there. How convenient I had my bag of knitting in the car!

Here are a few pictures to make you happy, since I have no pictures of knitting. I have been knitting, just not documenting it. Since it's all gift knitting, I'm waiting until I have things in the mail before exposing the goods.


Lovely sculptures all around the property hidden in little nooks and crannies.


PeeWee appreciating a lizard sunning on a marble tub. Wouldn't a marble tub like that be luscious? I want one to USE, not have in the garden...


Look at that, there's a lizard in the mouth of that heron sculpture!

Want to see the images bigger? Give them a click and they ought to enlarge.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Socks!

The yarn PeeWee and I dyed turned out great. I left a gap of white between the colors, hoping for a good pooling effect. I hope when it knits up we have great big swirls. I think I may make hats out of this. It's Cascade 220 superwash. I just unwound it on the swift and we went to town. There's a bit of variegation in the colors, too, so it should have a lot of interest. Lately I have been into long color changes.

I am going to wait to start it because right now I have 3 pair of socks on needles. Oh my. Well, one pair does not count, it's those socks for Big Brother, who's now in a 14 shoe. So the giant socks have to keep growing. I am really sick of the yarn, too. It's muted greens, and very pretty but man oh man, 800 miles of stockinette is taking forever with these babies.

The other pair is Michelle's green socks. They are coming along nicely. The Cascade Fixation yarn is so comfortable feeling. It has a lot of stretch and squish. It's nice to touch. I hope I have planned the size correctly, it's hard to say with the stretch- I don't want them to have to stretch too much but I don't want them baggy either.

Sock 3 is for the HSP sock. This has been fun so far. And I am taking my sweet time working on it as well, kind of enjoying the yarn and stitching. Since I have only one to knit I am taking my sweet time. A change from my usual speed knitting. It's my relax knitting. I have been eyeing some goodies for my pal, too...

Can you say yarn?

I started the day off with PeeWee, dying some yarn with Kool-Aid. I told her it was magic yarn and she got so excited! It was pretty cute to see her face when the yarn came out of the microwave no longer white.



Since Mark is going off to deal with the other flooded house tomorrow he spent the day with PeeWee. So, I snuck off to the yarn shop, knowing they were having a good sale. I just had no idea HOW good. I guess when you get to the yarn shop and they give you a paper bag, tell you the first room is 50% off, the second 75% off, you do what's expected and fill those bags! That I did. Then I went to look through the non sale items. I was kind of hyped up from the sale stuff, but didn't do more than some sock yarn I have been looking for. And a book, Victorian Lace Today. It is SO beautiful! The photography is enough to make you want to leave it on the coffee table. Even Big Brother was looking through and ooo-ing and ah-ing.



Since I had actually gone to the yarn shop looking for the right sock yarn for the Hurricane Socks I am knitting and sending along, when I came home without it, I decided to go to the other yarn shop, the one right near my house and look. Well. April is THE month to shop for yarn around here. Another 75% off sale. Seriously! You know you did good when the receipt says over $200 off! She double checked- my total was $67, and no one thought that could be right. (the other shop was a mix, but let's say I saved serious money there, too) I came away with some lovelies, too. And on the way out, something very neat caught my eye. Ceramic yarn. It's cool to the touch- really! I may go back and get some. The colors were stunning. I can't remember who makes it-oops, I'll find that out. I've been thinking of it since I left the shop. And you know that means it's siren call will drag me back there to pick some up...

I started another pair of socks while waiting to see if I can hit another shop today when we go to the French Quarter Festival to keep on my search for what I have pictured for those Hurricane Socks. (yes, I understand this is an excuse for getting my yarn shop "fix")



These lime green beauties are for my friend Michelle, who's allergic to wool. (they are greener than they show on my monitor here- a cleaner lime color in real life) I've never made cotton socks for anyone other than PeeWee, so I had never really paid attention to the yarn, I just remembered they had a stretchy cotton. It's Cascade Fixation and I really like it. Of course, they will have to be set aside when I find the perfect yarn so I can be sure to not jinx meeting my deadline for the other socks. These are toe-up socks because I have NO idea how this yarn will knit up. I've never been a fan of toe-ups because I found the heel awkward, but I am going to try Widdershins. It uses Judy's magic cast on, which was so easy (and not at all like a short row tow) that I will definitely be using this pattern again. I saw what I think is a mistake in Widdershins, but I think I know what to do to fix it- hopefully, we'll see. I like the way the heel is constructed. So, be patient Michelle, they may be a while coming, but they are on the needles, and that's a start! Can you believe I found lime green cotton sock yarn? These were meant to be...

Wow.

I am not sure how well this is going to show up, but here goes....



GLOW IN THE DARK YARN.

How cool is that. I am dropping everything to knit up some glowing socks. Oh yeah. I am so excited about this new find I got from Woolstock. It is softer than I thought it would be, kind of like a cheap acrylic. Good for stripes or an intarsia section on a sweater. Not a whole garment, although I might be tempted...

It really glows well, it's hard to photograph because I just don't know enough about my camera to be able to set it slow enough to gather the little bit of light it was emitting from the 3 seconds I let it "charge". I threw it in the cabinet, in a bowl, ha ha, to try to find a dark enough spot to capture it's oh so fancy green glow. Sorry for the funky quality, I was too giddy to get out the tripod for a steady long exposure. Ooooo! I can't wait unti the kids seee this!

Hurricane Sock Party 2007

Here's my questionaire! I am glad to be part of the Hurricane Sock Party!

1. Repeat after me "no hurricanes, no hurricanes, no hurricanes" . Okay we just had to get that one out of the way first. We needed to created a bit of "good weather karma"! GRIN


2. If your pet(s) wrote a paragraph about you to describe you to us what would they say? (If you have no pets then just pretend you husband or best friend wrote it! This is a 3rd person writing exercise that is always fun.)
No pets, the husband speaks
She's a little fickle and distracted by shiny pretty things. She knits all the time, I steal her socks, I think she knits them a little big just so I can. She's busy but I have no idea doing what. Yarn arrives here from far away places so often I wonder about the UPS man. I question her sanity when she's knitting with mohair (see, I pay attention) in August though.
the kids speak (teenager first)
You are NOT knitting in carpool line...
Oh pretty pretty string! Mommy is the lady attached to the bag of yarn. She takes me to the playground so she can sit on the bench and knit, but she never gets to, I keep her busy. She's become a speed knitter so she can still play with me and keep me from diving off the couch on to my head.


3. What is your favorite hurricane supplies snack?
Chocolate- you had to ask? I think last time I ate 400lbs of the stuff.


4. Do sock patterns normally fit you "as written" or do you usually modify them for size in any way? (other than foot length)
I have thick ankles but usually don't alter patterns, I haven't had a problem yet.


4a. What are your foot measurements, not just shoe size? (Measure the length of your foot from heel to toe, then the ball of your foot. ) heel to toe is 9 3/4", around the ball of the foot is 9" These are loose measurements, I usually knit with negative ease.


5. What one city abroad would you visit and why if money was no object? (and terrorism was non-existant)
That's a hard one. I think I may travel all over the world. I'd like to see India. I think I would go to some ancient ruins in Turkey though. Or St. Petersburg. My next place I am going to is Ireland- one day. Those aren't cities though. oops.


6. Do you wear socks all year round or just during the winter? Do you prefer them tall or short or regular height?
I wear socks much more in the winter than the summer. I make them from 3-5" tall above the heel. I like lace socks and patterns, too.


7. The last time the power was out during hurricane season (or bad weather of any kind) did you knit by lantern or were you lucky enough to knit to the humm of a generator? Or did you knit at all?
I knit by the hum of the generator then the gas was shut off so I relocated. Now I knit by candlelight, or flashlight. I made a pair of socks while watching Katrina blow by- we were where there were hurricane proof windows, that was so neat.


8. Make a wish for your favorite sock yarn that you've already used once. What would it be? ? Dont be shy about listing an exact colorway or two if you'd like.
Hmmm, I like Lorna's Laces a lot, Cherry Tree Hill, and Colinette.


9. What is it about sock knitting that keeps you wanting to knit more and more socks?
I wear them out. The more I have the less often they need darning. And I can stuff a sock in my purse and go.


10. Make a wish for a sock yarn that you are dying to try but haven't bought for yourself yet. (be specific,even colorway if you'd like)
No real wishes, I am kinda dumb when it comes to sock yarn, really, there's SO much out there.


11. What size needles do you knit socks for YOURSELF with the most? Are they circular or bamboo needles? What brand?
I most often use size 3's, sometimes 2's. I knit two socks on two circs, my favorites are addi turbo's but I do like to throw in bamboo dpn's every once in a while. If I am using 1's or 0's I use aluminum needles and knit them one at a time. And they take about a year so I don't do that much.


12. If you could only take 3 yarn related books and one previously knitted project that you love with you when you evacuated what would they be?
Oh shoot me now. I would take Anne Budd's book of sweaters. I would take the perfect summer skirt if I were leaving tonight. The other books? Whatever I was working from at the moment or whatever was at the top of the stack. I lost all my books in Katrina and have replaced most already.


13. What knitting notion do you wish you had that you just keep putting off getting for yourself?
Some good fun stitch markers, a yardage counter for dividing sock yarn into two equal balls instead of working from both ends of a ball, a row counter- the clicky thing.


14. What is your favorite tv show?
These days I love My Name is Earl. I might have withdrawals without the History Channel though, but not war stuff, the archaeology.


15. Do you want a lacey sock or a "solid fabric" sock from your hurricane partner?
I'm liking lace lately. I'd like to try a fun new pattern


16. It's midnight and the power has been off for two days, its hot, and you have a craving for something sweet! What would it be? (This is a FOOD related question ladies! LOL)
Oh food? Well, knowing the power is off two days, I am not wanting anything else. I'd probably be ready for some lemon ice. (Particularly from Brocato's for you New Orleans knitters.)


17. Tell us a story about any of your hurricane weather related experiences.
Well, I remember sitting on the front porch when one came through and I was younger- maybe 10 or so?, it must have just turned out to be a tropical storm. We evacuated when I was pregnant, we didn't evacuate for Cindy, we did for Katrina. And boy am I glad we did. We had 18"-2' of water in the house, a baby, a teenager, and 80+ year old inlaws to worry about. We moved to the mountains of North Carolina through the first school semester then came home to a rental and finally 10 months later a partially finished home. It's almost done now. I would evacuate again, this time planning for a vacation for real. I did leave with all my knitting needles last time!


18. What was the one thing you wish you had remembered to get last year for hurricane supplies that you swore you wouldn't forget this year?
Some art. My husband announced he thought Katrina was serious, he had a bad feeling, and I better take all our papers. So I did. I was glad to have them. Now I keep them in my evacuate plastic bin. I was surprizingly prepared, but I had no shoes except the ones I was wearing. All my favorites were by the front door- and flooded.


19. What color sock would you like to recieve from your sock partner? (if you don't have a pref just say so otherwise give us a hint!)
I so wish I could find a real red yarn. I like pretty much everything except olive greens and browns and mustard yellows. bright is good for me


20. Well surprise, this one isn't a question at all, it's a THANK YOU for filling out this questionnarie and posting it. Also, don't forget to send (in a private email) your snail mail address to Christy for later when the packages are mailed

Aqua, aqua, everywhere

I jump started myself out of my rut. With what? Socks of course! I made a lacy-cabley-ribish cuff and stockinette on the foot. These are a little wide for my fat feet, Mark has them on right now and says "comfortable, very comfortable" PeeWee pulled one off and is fighting him for the other. She snagged them and brought them to me, saying "that Mommy's" Good girl. Oh wait, she has them on now. And she's skating down the hall trailing them off her feet...



Colinette Jitterbug yarn. I like it. I didn't even pay attention to that pooling. The knitting gods like me and pooling I guess. And there is a right and left foot with this pair, so I really lucked out.

So I got out the books (of which I have quite a collection) and was looking through my much depleted yarn stash and decided on the poncho on the cover of Vogue Knitting on the go series Ponchos. I'm using up the Classic Elite Two.Two yarn I bought on sale a few weeks ago. I know I don't have enough of any one color to finish in solid so it's going to be a striped huge cable poncho. Uh... we'll see. I like it so far, but when the white runs out and I start with the purple... well...

Reason 8, 492 I love Big Brother

"Mom, do we have any string or something like it I could use around here?"

May as well start young...

I've got nothing on the needles right now, and no idea what to start, so I decided I would wind some yarn and see if I could get inspired. PeeWee was watching the swift spin like crazy and decided she wanted to give the ball winder a whirl. I figured that untangling the yarn would be well worth the smile on her face so I let her. And she did really well! After two balls though, she decided she was over it and went to take a nap...



My kids make me laugh. She was up there "hawshew, hawshew, hawshew". It made my day.

So, any ideas what to knit? Maybe I need to keep with the preemie hats for a while. I've finished 3 so far. I'm just not feeling the love. I need to get inspired. I need a trip to the yarn store. Or maybe I just need a day off.

Only a mother...

At about 6:30 this morning Big Brother, at the perfect age of 13, which should explain a lot, announced he needed an Elizabethan costume for tomorrow's Elizabethan feast at school. And it's being graded. Well.

I had to get on the internet and google Elizabethan clothing. (Should I admit that? And, what did we do before the internet?) I realized nothing in this house, which is very full of costumes was going to even begin to cut it. He wanted blue pants rolled to his knees and tights because all his friends are wearing that, but it seemed too Colonial to me, so I thought I would stop by the fabric store and at the least check the costume patterns. I was thinking a tunic would be fairly simple to crank out, but was hoping for a pattern for those poofy shorts they wore with tights. I grabbed a pattern on sale for one whole dollar and ran out the door to an appointment. As soon as I got a chance I ran to another fabric store (this kid is lucky I know how to sew) and grabbed what I needed and raced home for a two hour sewing marathon.

And the results?



Not bad for someone with just the vest pattern and thankfully some knowledge of how pants are made. I actually had bought a diffferent material but when digging out the sewing machine the striped fabric was right there on the top of the machine. Just waiting to be Elizabethan poof pants. I mean really- what else was I planning on using that wide striped shiny green and blue fabric for? I guess I could have made the legs a little tighter, they are too loose to stay up on Big Brother's skinny legs, but all in all I am happy with the whole ensemble. And man oh man is he a good sport. We like dressing up in this house. (He better get an A.)

Can you see the inverted pleats taking advantage of those fabulous stripes?



All this AND knitting? Why yes, I am Supermom today. I made a preemie hat last night and part of one today. I am writing the patterns out as I go since I just make them up. I am still trying to get it all down for the knitting guild. I do aspire to greatness (or foolishness, or way-too-much-to-do-ness, or serious delusions)



And here are the socks I made the other day. Man are they comfy.

next?

Wow, those socks were super speedy. I finished them last night.

I'm figuring out what to start now, since I have mended my whore-ish knitting ways and am faithful to only one project at a time these days. I will admit it's weird to not have a doen things lying around the house waiting to be picked up and worked on. But it feels so good to complete projects that are actually being used!

I think after all the selfish knitting (me me me!) I'm going to do some knitting for others. It's been a long while since I sent hats to the NICU and I think I am overdue for some.

I'll update later with sock pictures and my idea for the preemies!

Busy busy bee!

The skirt is finished and I am very happy with it. I am phtotographing an outdoor wedding in June and it's going to be hotter than you-know-what and I am hoping I am not going to be a bucket of sweat and the skirt may be perfect for staying cool. It's cool and breezy and not clingy at all, just the way I like it.



Want to knit it yourself? Here's the the pattern!

When I put away the skirt I felt the need to start something new right away! It's been about 2 weeks of tiny needles and cotton so I decided some house socks are the ticket. Nice cozy bulky socks in fact. I have almost finished the first one. Started in the afternoon and talked to the painter (yes, I gave up getting it done myself and called in help) for a bit before I realized I was done with the cuff already! What a difference just a few stitches and larger needles makes! Even though these are bulky socks the color shouts spring! Not that I wear socks much between now and November though...

Check one off the list

No, not the skirt, although it's coming along nicely. I decided not to start socks, or rather work on socks, because all I could think with each stitch was I could be getting closer to finished with the skirt and put them down. I am at that point where you want to be finished, but every time you measure it somehow comes up the same. Or worse, smaller. But, I am more than halfway there and very pleased with it. The miles of stockinette are so mindless I am enjoying just cruising along. I can pick it up and do a few stitches or a few rounds depending on the time on hand.

Lately not much free time, fun time or knitting time. I have around 50 ladies coming by for a lunch meeting next week and quite a list to finish by then. Like maybe I ought to find the forks.

Yesterday and today, de-cluttering everything. I am a paper magnet. The mail comes and goes to the table where it sits until I sort it, then someone's coming over and I pile it up again to move it out of the way. Then I re-sort it and it sits there for entirely too long. Yesterday I went through it all, made a box for filing, threw out a bunch of junk, paid all the bills and found both a diningroom table and sideboard. Imagine that! Today I hope to find the kitchen counters- oooo!

Tomorrow is painting day. I have a few people coming by to help. Mark will drop PeeWee off for me and we'll get cracking. Almost every room in this house has touchup. Almost none of the baseboards are painted. They are all primed and some are finished, but when you're married to a handyman, you really can't hire it out so you have to wait. And wait. And the week before a huge thing you rush and get it all done yourself.

There are handy household things he does for me though, so I really can't complain too much. I ordered doors last week (that's right, last week, can you say procrastinate?) They were delivered yesterday morning and Mark had the old ones out and the new ones in before lunch. He started demo about 10:00, the doors came about 10:30, and we ate an early lunch about 11:30. Not bad for free labor!

You all know how much I love before and after shots so here they are! (Never mind the clouded up side windows, those haven't even been ordered yet. I have no idea who to order from so I am just ignoring the fogged up look.)

Spring has Sprung!

We've had the prettiest weather this week. I have been outside as much as possible. The garden is coming along nicely. I have a few more plants to get in the ground and all I'll have to do is water. I know that before long we're going to be looking at long hot humid days so I like to take advantage of March. It'll be awful enough to have to go outside to water by the end of May.

The skirt has progressed about 6 more inches. Nothing too exciting there. The yarn shop's sock club is meeting Saturday afternoon and I am hoping to hop over there. (I don't feel like it's cheating on the skirt to start some socks.) They are having a 'bring your favorite original pattern to share' swap. Exciting! I'm going to have to write up a few patterns I have used for some of my socks! I hope there are a few I would like to try. Actually I really hope nothing comes up to keep me from getting there.



Big Brother has been crazy busy the last few weeks and I feel like Madam Chauffeur. I think that's why the skirt has grown. I grab the bag whenever I run out the door. I know from now until the end of the school year it will be just one event after another. It seems like the second half of the school year there's nothing but breaks and days off from actual school. We had last Friday off, this Friday off then we're off the 6th as well. Then Spring Break. After that it's all down hill. The kids and the teachers just don't have their minds on the classroom and before you know it it's the end of May and exams and they are off for the summer. (I'm having enough trouble wrapping my brain around the end of March already.)

A Day Outside

March in New Orleans is truly one of the prettiest places to be. The weather is dry and 60's to 70's, sunny and breezy and just stunning. I spent the day outside working on the garden a bit, since I have the Garden Club coming in two weeks. I figured it would probably be worth my while to at the very least have the junk thrown out. I went to the garden center, a place kind of out of the way, next to some railroad tracks down a dirt road, right smack in the middle of the city. It was a great new find (thanks Mom!) and I came home with some treasures i hope to keep alive- at least for the next two weeks!

I cleaned out a bunch of plants I am not too crazy about having right outside my kitchen window and replaced them with some things I hope will be better at making me happy. Dont worry- the plants were all either moved or potted up for another yard. Whoa- just ignore the garbage bags- I didn't realize how lovely they look!!



Instead of some type of bedding plant I decided our bed should be filled with peppermint, alowed to just grow and spread itself out in the bed. If you have any experience with the stuff, it's pretty hard to kill- all it really needs is regualr water, and it'll spread out and thrive by early summer. We'll have peppermint for years if we do it right.



Like I said, I took out some things I really didn't want to look at all day long. Here's the artesia (sp?) I potted up. The berries ARE pretty spectacular, but the plants are long and leggy and otherwise unimoressive to me. At least close up- I like them en masse at the back of a property.



And knitting... I couldn't resist taking the skirt out into the sun and letting it lie in the grass for a few minutes. I think it likes the sun!



And I like the way the edge came out. Kind of sassy and silly and entirely too young for someone my age. Now just 27 inches of stockinette! Remind me I said I wanted a project that would take more than a week to work on in about 8 months when all I see is pale pink and I still have 26 inches left to go...

Oh Good Gracious!

I am boring. I do apologize for that.

I am working on my skirt and I must say right now it's going to be a while before it's finished. So I will try to avoid pictures of an inch of progress here and there. Not much knitting time either- all my free time is so limited right now. And I am dying of exhaustion. PeeWee has taken over my bed and it's baaad. She has the wonderful habit of tucking her feet in under you. Her favorite spot is to slip them in the back of your PJs and if you even think of moving them brace yourself for a bit of a breakdown. We've had two nights of 1-4am fits. Hopefully with Mark back it'll be a smoother ride tonight. Or at least she'll be digging her feet into his back instead of mine.

Mark's been out of town dealing with the other flooded house. He brings back reports of not too bad damage. I haven't seen the camera yet, but tomorow morning I will upload them and see what we're dealing with. I just can't believe I have to deal with another flood. It's just unreal.

I missed both the knitting guild meeting and the knit at night at the yarn shop. Kind of disappointed. I am going to stop by there and drop off my NICU guidelines, which I DID get written out. Hard to believe, but they are sitting on the counter, waiting. I was headed out the door Monday night and as I was gathering myself together PeeWee decided that an entire container of sliced mango was just too much for her simple belly. So, cleaning the rug and the blanket and PeeWee became a bit more important than dragging her out into the night to drop off sheets of paper. Oh well. I am getting used to this mothering thing. It has been 13 years. For some reason I keep thinking I'll be able to do what I want. Hahahahaha. Yes, I hear you laughing.

One More for the List

I said this shell was a quick knit!

I think it is a great beginner's project. I may introduce my new knitting friends to it. Well, the female ones, that is. It's comfy and flattering and I just love Rowan All Seasons Cotton. It's pretty much perfect for New Orleans knitting.



I like the way this neckline works for me. I will definately refer to it down the line with other projects. Regular crew necks don't do much for my body and I am bored with the regular old V-necks I usually crank out. A wide neck is a nice change.



I am going through my stitch library for a fun stitch for a skirt. Since I would have to wear a slip under a cottton knitted skirt anyway to keep it from sticking to my rear end in the ultra humid days coming soon, I decided I may as well do something fun that will keep my interest for the bottom half of the skirt. Being girly girl these days with my clothing choices I picked up a bunch of Patons Grace cotton yarn in shades of pink. I am actually looking forward to a project that will most likely take a bit of time to complete.

Once I finish my painting for the museum (or completely back out of this crazy thing) I will be busy writing up some patterns and guidelines for knitting preemie hats for the NICU. I have a whole bunch of random acrylic and cotton yarns for the hats and I think I may figure out how much I use then ball it into little kits for the knitting guild. In all my free time. The meeting is tomorrow night. And I will have PeeWee with me. I am not exactly holding myself to this one- it may be just a dream to get anything together other than some of PeeWee's old hats and her my-sized doll. But a girl can dream.

Organizing Myself

The last few days have been fairly slow around here. All sorts of daily life has gotten in the way of much creativity. In organizing my photos on the computer, readying them for a big back up on the external hard-drive, I realized I rarely take pictures of things I have finished knitting. So that's this week's project.

I am almost finished the shell I started the other day. I was surprized at how much knitting time I was able to find. This week I spent a lot of time waiting in the car for Big Brother. It is a quick knit, too, and that helps a lot! The neckline is fabulous.

I am seriously procrastinating on the project for the Museum show. Oh yeah, am I procrastinating. I have a painting sketched out but have been avoiding the whole actual painting part. Brain block. I WILL finish it. Just need to sneak the time out of my day somehow. Actually I just need to start the darn thing!

It's been just PeeWee and me this weekend. Big Brother went to his grandparents' house for the weekend. Mark left Friday morning to head up and deal with the house. (He got a call from the handyman up there who told him to wait a few more days to let things dry out a bit more.) He said the damage is much less than we had anticipated. That this happened while the house is on the market is really rotten. We're not sure how much repair work to actually do since whoever purchses the place is likely to do some fancying up around the place. There's nothing really wrong with it, it just needs some updating and a little polish. I hope the realtor gives Mark some direction with this one so we don't over fix the place.

Fraternal twins

Okay- it was pointed out to me that I am bad about following up an earlier thought. Not a big surprize to me. Here are my socks I finished last week in action. I love them.



For those of you wondered (out loud even), PeeWee's VQ scan went well. We are not on any calendar for surgery any time soon. We go back to the cardiologist in June, do another total work-up, including a cardiac catheter, and go from there. Sorry I was so slow updating the good news when we heard it. Seems she's plowing ahead on her own schedule with this one. I don't think there is very much information available about the length of time between repeat surgeries with truncus arteriosus. The type of repair she had has only been happening a relatively short time frame, and not too many of the repairs have been on such tiny hearts as hers. We're in uncharted waters with this one. It looks like if things progress like they have been and she keeps doing as well as she is we're in the clear until at least this summer.

I made some progress on the shell I started Friday. It's going along nicely so far. I love the periwinkle blue color. It's very summery to me. I have white yarn for finishing the neck and arm holes to give it a little something sassy. We got another blast of cold air this morning so it feels like I may never get to wear it. Remind me of that when it's August and I sweat just thinking about going out into the un-air-conditioned 15 feet between my front door and my air-conditioned car.



I have no idea how much knitting time I will have this week. Mark's going off to deal with the house and I have to finish a piece for the New Orleans Museum of Art. More precisely I have to start the piece, which isn't really even an idea in my head yet. A few vague thoughts but nothing set in stone. I double checked the requirements of the show and it's supposed to be preferably either a painting or metal or clay. The one thing I know is it'll be a collage. I hope that somehow falls into the painted catagory. I got the shadow box to put it in to finish it and that's as far as I have gotten. Nothing like the last minute!

In case you just want something luscious to check out here is some yarn I am going to make myself some yummy thick house socks out of. It was part of my giant splurge on Friday. Imagine if I had gotten the flooded house news while still in the yarn shop! I may have broken the bank comforting myself. As it is, I did massive damage- but all luxurious goodies that are in line to become well worn knitting. In keeping with my resolutions to plan things better, I bought things with a project in mind. In fact, projects that can actually be completed so I can then return to replenish the stash.

I am an Aquarius...

I had my yarn shop play-date yesterday. I did some great big damage. Lots of goodies. The owners of the yarn shop are really fun ladies, they are chatty and helpful and I enjoy their company. They know PeeWee's whole up and down story, early start and rough beginning. I get my cotton yarn for the hats I bring in to the NICU from them and they always ask if that's what the bright cheery yarns are for. Yep. I got a ball of bright varigated yarn for them yesterday.



Our knitting guild is looking for a charity project and they have decided they are going to make preemie hats. I am excited about it and they asked me to write up a few patterns and give them the yarn guidelines- cotton or acrylic, soft, washable, all that. They also asked me if I would be the 'wash them and drop them off' liason. Coincidentally my schedule rearranged itself so I can now make the meetings. I have never been able to go before! I've been talking about going for 18 months now.

The yarn shop is starting a Knit at Night. Looking forward to that one too. I hope I can do all these things this month though. We got a call from our realtor in North Carolina with disturbing news. My brother in law misunderstood Mark's instructions and did not shut the water off at the main back in November. The house is fairly well insulated but with weather in the teens for several days in a row and a power outage... well... bad combination. We had a burst pipe and since the water was left on, we had four feet of it in the basement. It had been running over a week. There was an inch all over the house, the floorboards buckled up and finally allowed the water to drain out into the basement. Why did it have to be water!!!! What IS it with me and all this water? Anyway, the realtor arranged for someone to come wet-vac it all up and put an industrial dehumidifier in the house. So, Mark's going to go up there in the next few days to deal with it. And I got all excited when I saw it was the realtor calling. I thought we finally had an offer. Boy was I wrong.

Since it is all 600 miles away, I am living in denial. I can just ignore it since the water is now off and the house has been somewhat taken care of, at least as much as we can do until it's dried out and we can really see the extent of the damage. Like I said, Mark is dealing with this one, not me, so I am ignoring it. Now that I have new yarn I started a summer shell out of Rowan all seasons cotton. I chose a pattern this time too! I'm being so practical. Of course I had a tough time getting gauge since I was using a different yarn than the Berroco pattern Marijke calls for... only small adjustments had to be made. I am knitting it in XS to have it turn out my sized.



The yarn shop has a little room off to the side where they have their sale stuff. It is usually a few random things, some discontinued goodies and a lot of fluffy novelty yarns. Well, they just went to market so all the yarns that have been discontinued by the manufacturers are now in there, 50% off. Dangerous stuff.

Oh and just for Rhonda ... here's the stove and fridge .

Well, they did ask...

When I was working with the kitchen designer and then the man who came to measure for our counter tops, we got into little details you might not normally get into. Like the overlap of the lip of the counter. In other words how far the counter sticks out from the cabinets. The kitchen designer said one distance, the man who measures said another distance and I said yet another. Of course I won out and got the extra quarter of an inch and this is why:



The swift fits so nicely on the edge of the counter. Not exactly what I had in mind when I got so picky, but it works.

The ball winder does fit onto the edge of the kitchen table, but it shot off at one point and I had to do some quick moving to catch it and stop the swift from spinning all at the same time. Our kitchen table came from my mother's shop, and it's got some age on it. It's an English pub table from the late 1780's or 1790's. The grooves are pretty worn and the edges are pretty uneven. It's got a pegleg, which is why it never really sold. Of course that was the instant appeal when I went looking for things to replace the junk thrown into the pile on the curb.



No knitting pictures today. No knitting. I wound up some balls of sock yarn to have a portable project. We're bringing PeeWee in for some tests today. I think I am going to bring along the gorgeous blue/green yarn. Socks again. Plain old socks this time. A 2x2 rib leg, I think. Simple. The yarn is so luscious it can just speak for itself. Or maybe Big Brother's giant socks. Great big giant socks I keep sticking farther into the back of the bin I keep the needles and tools in. Ugh, I really don't want to work on them but I SO want to get them finished.

I have a playdate at the yarn store Friday. I can't wait. I need a good summer project to start. I am deciding between a skirt or a shell. I guess the yarn will speak to me. And I completely cleared out my stash, sending off all the half balls and things which have sat for entirely too long to Warm Woolies. Of course, as soon as I did that, I had so much fun making PeeWee's top I immediately wanted to make myself a similar sweater. Well, not happening, there's no yarn. It all went off to a better cause.

I'm not saying I have no stash left! There's plenty there. I just want something bought for a specific project, just for me. Something new to play with. Maybe a cotton or cotton blend. So I made a playdate at the yarn shop with a friend I haven't seen in some time. Should be fun, I haven't been to the yarn shop in quite a while, either.