Clicking Needles Heard in Suburban House

I guess it is sort of disturbing that our house is still considered the burbs.  I mean we're really a city to ourselves here two blocks from New Orleans proper.  Eh, whatever.

There has been knitting going on here recently.  Not much, and not really worthy of much mention but it is indeed happening.

It's a sock.  I'm not showing off the whole thing because it has to be ripped back to the heel.  I am really not happy with the weird pooling going on.  It's actually more like a long stripe for some reason.  So it's got to go.  I'll simply do an all stockinette foot.  This yarn is Fiesta Boomerang, seriously lush squishy and nice to knit.  One of my favorites.

Spring break is over.  Marky Mark is driving my car an hour to the place where it will be serviced (reason enough for me personally to get a new car but the bank account disagrees)   And it is quiet.  I can hear the appliance noises, the breeze blowing, things I thought had simply stopped.  For scheduling reasons we were unable to go anywhere during the break but next time I am not going to waste the chance to get out of town.

I'm off to attempt to clean up around here a bit.  Rabid monkeys must have broken in here and done all this mess.  It surely could not have been anyone in this family.  Everything is out of place.  And I so want to get something creative done.  Oh well, I know the housework is not going anywhere but this week is shaping up to be a busy one and the disorder has already gotten under my skin so I guess I better at least attempt to make things civil.

I think he likes it

Yesterday was Marky Mark's 47th birthday.

He complains at any and every single event that I should not waste money buying him anything.  Making him things, however, is okay.  I could tell he was disappointed that this one was not done in time for Christmas.  (Christmas morning here was kind of ugly, he was seriously out of sorts and it was no fun)  He had hinted that he needed a blanket when I told him there was something I had made under the tree.  Since it's been put away for over a month it was a case of out of sight, out of mind for him.  

I think he forgot about it, although part of that makes me chuckle because he watches the evening news with his feet on the huge-ass apple butter making copper pot that this has been in since August and did he notice it has been empty?  Probably not, but now he will and he'll put it all together.  (His focus is on the outside world, plants and dirt so when he's done digging for the day he comes in and plops down with out realizing what's changed around him some days.)

He really was happy when he opened the blanket, and I am glad.

Marky Mark is a man of few smiles.  

Yep, it's long enough!

This one?  I guess he was a little giddy!  PeeWee wanted to make a tent with it right away.  They ran off to her room and made one.  It was pretty darn cute.  She's as happy as he is it's finished!

Spring break here this week, not much other stuff going on.  Lots of laying around, lazy lazy lazy.  I am itching to get things moving in the new sewing studio but with a houseful of kids that's not happening right now.  I'm hoping for a little Daddy/Daughter time before Monday and then hopefully I will have something (anything) new to show off.

And how did he get to be 47?  When did that one happen?  Then again, when did I get to be 39...

Color can be subjective

In one of my printmaking classes in college the professor told a girl her print looked like a WalMart shower curtain.  Keep in mind that in the late 80's that could not be taken in any way other than completely negatively.  WalMart, KMart and the like had no designer stylists at all.  I think I remember both the print and the comment because it was so scathing.  So keep this lovely black and white in mind when you think about my "ugly couch" knitting.  Because it really is ugly.  The kind of ugly you just have to love, like an ugly baby.

This puppy turned out big.  Over 6 ft both wide and long.  This round table is 6ft and I smooshed the blanket to keep it on there.  It really does need the additional edging.  The curling is not working for me.  The finished look of white all the way around is going to bring this one from "ugly couch" to cool ugly.  At least for me it is.

I hope Marky Mark has a good birthday Tuesday.  Having forgot one a few years ago, I feel the need to shower him with love.  He's not big on gifts and this blanket having been in the closet for the last few weeks will be completely in the out of sight/out of mind category.  Good thing I am married to the absent-minded landscaper!!

I like it.  It may fit the ugly baby category and feel free to speak up about that.  The yarn was on sale.  I most likely would have chosen something quite different but I really like this one.  And it's basically big enough to use on the bed, though it's meant for couch cuddling.  It replaces a somewhat ratty crocheted mess, well loved but seriously in need of retirement.

I knit this with some close out Classic Elite Two Two yarn, which is both soft and lovely to knit with. I have no idea what the colors are, but I used a lot of this stuff.  I bought 54 skeins of it at less than $2 a skein and used most of it.   

So there.  Finally some knitting.  And a FO at that.  I have some socks I started but instead of jinxing my progress on those I'm keeping them to myself for the time being.

Grrr

I'm cranky.  If you want to go somewhere happy, go ahead.

Why is it that some knitting websites and magazines are full of crochet projects?  It really bugs me.  When I want to crochet, I'll look for crochet, thanks.  Not cruise through knitting patterns, (and dangit, especially in magazines and books!) looking for something to knit and finding only crochet.  Grrrr, it really bugs me.  I'm cranky, did I mention that?

Marky Mark's blanket has stalled.  I think it is simply done.  With the kids off of school until they go back on the 31st there's not likely to be much time to sneak in knitting.  And the entire month has snuck away from me.  I want a do-over for the last few weeks.  I've been too busy to even think straight.  Getting that edging done before Tuesday is just not likely.  It'll be fine though.  And I promise a picture of it.  Should be doable tomorrow, if Marky Mark would just go away from this house.  He's been working on our yard for almost two weeks now.  If he could do this without being underfoot, I would be thrilled.  With him home all day the conversation is running thin.  And trying to sneak in either secret knitting time or even a picture has been about impossible.  I'm trying here.  Tomorrow I will run him off for a while.  I really need to.

Not Knit

I've been stitching here lately, just no knitting worth showing.  I think starting and ripping back the same sock 722 times does not make it worthy of a photo.  I can't seem to get a good pattern going and am not interested in knitting up a sock in a pattern I just don't like.  So there.  I guess I am simply in knit rut land.  Eh, that's okay.

I did manage to set up my sewing studio.  You have to use your imagination here in tie picture because there is a table and sewing machine in the spot PeeWee is occupying.  And some shelves with fabric along the right.  Very happy with my set up.  Not sure Big Brother is though, he had spread himself out pretty good in there.  I had to round up his goods and take over.  His stuff is still in there, it's just contained now, something I am not sure he is thrilled about.  Sorry buddy, we have to share this house.

This room makes me happy- its a tree house kind of room, those windows are great.  I do look out at a sea of rooftops but am okay with that.  You can tell from this picture this is a 20's house.  Oozing with charming little things while the wind whips through those windows in the winter and heats up that room in the summer.  This time of yearr here and I am ready to go get the screens from the attic.

And look at what is new to PeeWee's wardrobe thanks to the new sewing setup!  Yep, very happy with this new setup indeed.  My friend Robin thought out loud that the birds from the quilt would be too cute on a t-shirt so there they are.  I'm working out the kinks with this but mostly happy with the whole idea.

PeeWee wore the green outfit on St Patricks Day.  Marky Mark's family is Irish and we're Scotch-Irish, so while a true Irishman might way we're not Irish,  I know it means some time in Ireland even if we're Scottish.  I mean the group who moved there did it in the 17th century, so I guess there's got to be some Irish in the mix.  (I've now written Irish enough times it looks like I spelled it wrong, so if I did, please excuse that.)

Must Knit Socks

I dyed this yarn a while back with Christina for one of our crafty days.  I cleaned everything up in my yarn closet a while back and it's been peeking through it's container smiling at me for a while now.  Even though it was in the 80s yesterday I still want to knit wool socks.  Must be something wrong with me.  Today it's cool and dry and gorgeous, perfect spring weather.  

I'm planning on winding this up in a bit and casting on something fun.  The yellow to red combo reminds me of warm weather and spring flowers.  PeeWee and I planted our nasturtium seeds a few weeks ago and they have sprouted much to her delight.  She's going to go crazy when they start to bloom!  Nasturtiums are my favorite thing to plant.  We grew up with them in our front flower beds, and my parents have them still every year.  

Today is the St Patrick's Day parade in our neighborhood.  It is completely something I can absolutely do without but I think we are going.  We were invited to a crawfish boil across the street from my in-law's house, where we lived next door for a few years.  So I do feel obligated.  And here I was looking forward to a lazy day with just me and my sewing machine.  Darn.

Delicate balance

Has everyone had a few weeks like I have?  Kind of winging it but it's somehow working?  Much harder to do anything than it should be?  Whew, I am beat.

No knitting.  Knitting plans in place though.  I'm trying to sneak in secret knitting time to finish up Mark's blanket without him seeing it.  He knows it exists, but his memory is not exactly focused on things like that so I am good to be able to please him with it.

Finished the second needlepoint ornament and dropped it off for finishing.  Needlepoint seems to be soothing and distracting enough for me right now.  I'm not proficient enough at it to be able to let my mind just wander while working yet.

Crafty Wednesday was plaster play.  That was fun.  Nothing is complete yet, so another picture free post here.  We haven't actually gotten together since Thanksgiving and we all needed it!  Messy messy messy, we're going to wrap our stuff up before Easter so pics then, I promise.

Maybe I'll throw this in just for fluff:

A post with no pictures is kind of boring, I do know that ;-)  And I do love ruins.  This is from a destroyed house open for tours of it's incredible house ruins and gardens, Afton Villa in St Francisville, LA.  

So what's coming up around here?  I'm not even sure.  I've left lots of open free time on my calendar.  I'm hoping to work in a lot of creative time to keep me happy.  I'm in the mood to watch a lot of movies, hang around with the kids and stay as relaxed as I can.

It's still stitching...

So I finished one needlepoint ornament, which I sent off for finishing without a picture and I am working on another one, a New Orleans icon from back in my day, Mr Bingle a very cool guy indeed.  Needlepoint, while never a favorite of mine, requires a lot of concentration.  The only thing I ever finished before Katrina was a pillow which flooded before I could send it off to be finished.  I figured that was a sign.  I've already mentioned my mother had more than one needlepoint shop in her many careered life and I have been known to paint a canvas or two to pay the rent in college, but stitching them was never my thing.  I'm happily working away on these now, just to keep my brain busy.

I'll be casting on for some socks this week, I'm on the hunt for the perfect pattern right now, with a few on the short list.  I just enjoy the socks too much to not be working on some.  I never meant to discard knitting with this break, I just wanted to keep my brain very occupied.  I have set up a little sewing studio in part of a room and have some plans to whip out both the art quilts and some summer wear for me and PeeWee.

Much better than my kitchen counter set-up!

Ah, to have a real working studio.  One day.

Thanks for all the good thoughts and well wishes for PeeWee.  She is finally on the hospital's calendar, though we are waiting to hear if we are traveling to California to another hospital  for this procedure.  That would be up to the surgeon, so if he says go there, we will.  It's called a cardiac catheter.  It is invasive and but we've done it before and it was relatively complication free so I am keeping my faith in the doctors that this one will also be. (not an easy task)  It's the first step towards her next open heart surgery, which will likely be within the year based on what they have seen in the last few months.  This test will tell us much more information they need to determine that date.

Knitting break

While I dearly love knitting, I have been itching to do some other needlework lately.  It's starting to get warm already and while I have a few projects lined up I am ready for a bit of a break from the knitting.  Not to say that doesn't mean I will post this and go cast on for a new project, just that in general here at Mom's house things are in a rut.

I signed up for an online class from Joggles.

It's a small art quilt class, and aside from the fact that I now have more fabric to store, I am so far enjoying it.  I have another few classes I am up for, including one that begins today, all of which focus on different stitching techniques.  

I'm hoping to come away from this refreshed.  Things here are moving a bit too slowly for my taste.  We've been sitting for two weeks waiting for PeeWee to have some tests scheduled, frustrated that it has to be done at a different hospital than we go to for safety reasons.  Not that our hospital is anything but the best, she has to have a pediatric cardio-thorasic surgeon in the building for this one, since there is a small risk of them needing to open her up if something goes wrong.  Our pediatric cardio-thorasic surgeon moved about a year ago and there is some down time when recruiting a great replacement.  Which leads me to the fact that this test is the first step towards her next open heart surgery, which will be coming up soon.  She's doing great, but she has grown 30+ pounds since they fixed her so there is maintenance that needs doing.  

Not to worry, that's all down the line, and a huge tangent I just went off on.  My point is I need some extra mental stimulation.  Knitting, while soothing, doesn't always engage my brain in a way which lets me lose focus and forget things I have no control over, which you just can't help but worry about.  So the classes are hopefully going to get me moving in a different creative direction for a while.

The sand was cold on my toes

Nothing like a few days away to restore my faith in mankind.  

Destin is a great getaway spot.  Lots of relaxing, beautiful beaches, the constant breeze, the works.  Not a bad place to wrap up two pairs of socks and Marky Mark's blanket.  I was glad to have brought just what I did, the rest would have been in the way.  

I promised pictures...

First thing in the morning! I love a sunrise and on the water? Yep, it makes me happy

Sock 2 of the first pair, good around the house socks, so cozy. Gryphon's traveller yarn, so cushy and comfy. They are finished now but I was too busy relaxing and doing nothing that I never got a beach picture of them all done!

The sock enjoying the view... it was gorgeous. The weather was chilly but mild. Perfect winter getaway style.

And the second, finished, sock from pair two. These are the Colinette Jitterbug sockettes, short little ankle things. Wore them already.

Another 'know I am thinking about those of you in 16 feet of snow right now' shot. Yeah, I am a brat.

We were serious stitchers this weekend.  Everyone was either needlepointing or knitting and lots of projects were finished.  It was fun.  Hanging out in PJ's and eating takeout what just what the doctor ordered.  And just what I needed.

I'll have pictures of Marky Mark's blanket but I must be stealth about it.  He's working home this week and I want to surprize him with the finished product.  I still need to pick up and finish the two sides  of the blanket's ribbing, something I figure I can sneak in before the end of his month and his birthday.  But dang, a blanket that's over 6 ft wide and over 7 feet long?  A lot of work and a lot of satisfaction in having it finished.  I want to spread it out to get the full shot.  Soon, soon, just let me finish that ribbing.

I try

Working on getting it together around here.  I've had lots of waiting room fun, which equals lots of knitting time.  But sadly a lost camera cable is causing me grief today.

I'm almost done with some socks out of yarn from Gryphon's shop .  It's her traveller sock yarn and I am loving the sproing! quality.  I am so happy that it is not doing any funky pooling or striping but the colors are just spotting around like a good handpainted yarn should.  Very happy with it.  (No pictures!?  Nope.  I will find the cable for the camera somewhere in this house.  Big Brother was using it last and he's in school, so we all have to wait to see.)

The pink and purple socks are riding in the backseat of my car right now.  Being neglected.  I'm at that boring long stretch of the foot and got distracted by the fun lace of the other socks... so... not much happening there.  And since I can't exactly show progress, all is good.

Thursday I am running away from home.  I have it all planned but it feels like running away!  My long-time-childhood-friend-stitching-group is going off to Destin Florida for a girl's weekend.  I'm going to win the prize for the biggest haul of stuff because I am bringing along all the big almost finished projects to wrap up.  Mark's blanket, the pinwheel jacket, and those socks.  I think I can get a bit done on them all.  I would love to wrap up at least one of them.  Hoping the 5 hour drive is enough to finish the socks.  I'm carpooling and in the passenger seat this trip.  Ahhhhhh.   A whole weekend with nothing but knit time.

And if I run out of things to do?  Well, of course there is a place to restock my bag,  Unwind with Yarn.  I have to make a comment here about craft store names.  When you try to get creative it can sometimes bomb bigtime.  All the good ones are taken.  My mother, not sure what she was thinking, opened a shop in Highlands NC years go when she was a full-time resident.  She named it "Needlepoint... is pretty wonderful".  Complete with those "..." in the legal name.  We teased her about it a lot.  When she sold it to her employee she promptly renamed it "Needlepoint of Highlands".  It was a thriving business though so I guess a name is just that.

I got tagged

Kaya, over at sisterly knits tagged me. The Power of Seven. So here goes...

1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. (check!)
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. (see below)
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. (hoping these will play along)
4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (done)

Seven things about me:

1) I drink way too much Diet Coke.  I have a small caffeine addiction.  I must have the stuff in the house.  I go to the grocery when we are running out. (I fasted today for my lab work for my physical and as soon as I gave my blood I went to the machine at the hospital.  It's that bad.)

2) I have a degree in printmaking.  The fine art kind, not the poster or book making kind.  If you are wondering has it come in handy? Never.  But I finally went and got several things framed not too long ago.  I'd really like to have a working studio one day.  I had one of those instructors who did not believe in A+'s but I got A's.  So I was good.  I like to think in the negative that way.  Doing it backwards is a challenge.

3) In spare time I use graph paper to design house plans.  I'm kind of a freak about it.  I love to flip through home magazines and would miss HGTV if it went off the air.

4) Give me a challenge and I thrive.  Every day stuff, not so much.  If it's one of those situations I'm your girl.

5) I am a horrible house keeper.  I do not understand the joy people get from the act of cleaning.  I like it clean and want it done but I am terrible at it and can ignore the small stuff for an embarrassingly long time.

6) I'm a huge procrastinator.  I'm always the wait til the last minute to do it girl.  Must be some how related to needing a challenge.

7)  I like being alone.  I need to be alone.  I love my friends and family and need them too, don't get me wrong!  My ideal day though is alone.  I get a lot done when no one else is around.  I always come out of a day with a lot of time to myself a whole lot more pleasant.

So who's tagged?

Kathleen 

Rhonda 

Christina

FiberChic

Tammy

Christy

MeShell

Can't wait to knit

How long does it take to knit a short row heel?  As long as I waited for the doctor and then a few rows more.  And who knows what ick I may have picked up while waiting in there surrounded by people with all manner of coughs.

I had three people ask me what I was making, not counting the nurse.  One man actually moved closer to carry on a conversation.  He was intrigued that I was not looking at my knitting.  My doctor's office is located off the hospital atrium with a wall of glass, so there is good people watching.  And the place was packed today.  He was nice enough and very interested.  He was telling me how his mother once knit a blanket, which when she switched to longer circular needles she accidentally went up a needle size too and the thing is trapezoidal.  He said she still uses it though.  He went on to tell me all about his father who knit a sweater and a hat and never knit again.  He wanted to know how I knew how to do "those rows that don't go all the way across"  Yeah, it was a long wait.  

he also told me a funny little joke:

There's this preacher who just does not have the knack for reaching his congregation.  His wife takes up knitting and brings it to church and all of a sudden his sermons are amazing.  This goes on for months until his wife is called to help look after the kids in the nursery one Sunday.  The preacher panics, looking for his wife.  When they tell him where she is he announces no sermon today.  Turns out she wasn't knitting at all, she was using sign language to feed him his sermons.  

(Well, I thought it was cute.)

Impatient? Me?

Wow, for some reason these colors uploaded funky.  All of them have a weird overcast washed out quality on my computer.  Huh.  Oh well, the colors are much prettier then what I'm seeing.

On to the knitting...  If I could unfurl this baby right now I would be doing a happy dance.  I am almost there.  These last few rows are so much bigger than the center of the pinwheel that they are just taking me forever.  I like the bit of red on the edge.  It's some fun.  This may be about the most obnoxious bit of knitting to come off my needles.  It's loud and colorful.

I picked up the yarn for my next project, a cotton top.  Not entirely set on which top, but I am thinking a lacy tee that I can wear over a tank.  I like these colors, thinking edge with the darker blue to give it some sass.  We'll see when I actually start the knitting.

Also picked up some Fiesta Boomerang.  Man that stuff is lush.  Big fat around the house socks for me.  Goofy colorful things.

And last but not least, in case you had forgotten about that blanket for Marky Mark, it's still in the works.  I've been avoiding it for a while now, it's gotten so big it it ungainly to work on.  And heavy.  I have to get it in just the right spot to be able to knit comfortably.  It's calling my name though.  About 2 more feet and it will be done.  It's over 4 at this point.  Just a little bit more to go.

**I have no idea what is up with Blogger today.  Weird colors, unintentional underlines, text in funky colors, so please excuse the weirdness.  I normally would not post this bit but I'm full of myself so I like to share just about anything**

Peek into my knitting bag...

Another color done on the Pinwheel.  I actually got to the next color last night, aqua.  This is fun to knit up.  I've gotten to the point where there are enough spaces between the increases so I might need stitch markers.  If you are looking for fun and quick this one definitely is that.  I think I may use the leftover yarn to make another for PeeWee, I have enough to make one that almost matches.  Much skinnier stripes for hers.

Yesterday I picked up yarn for a cotton tank top and I swatched for socks.  I'm not starting another project without finishing the Pinwheel Jacket.  Behaving myself right now.  The pink and purple socks are slowly moving along.  I'm just knitting a bit on them here and there.  It's a nice traveling sock.  A few rows while waiting here and there.

Not much exciting here knit-wise.  Hopefully the sun will come out today so I can get some pictures.  It's not looking promising though.  The clouds are thick and grey already.  Good hunker down and finish that jacket weather.

Knit

Colinette Jitterbug sock-ette,  aka short ankle socks with a short row heel.  The stripes are making me happy, I like a bright ugly sock.  I rarely find I am cold enough to wear wool socks out and about here in New Orleans.  Lacy ones, yeah, I wear those a lot and I think my next pair will be lacy.  These are knit on Addi Turbo 2's, smaller I should be using, this fabric is tight.  They should wear like iron.

The Pinwheel Jacket in action.  Well, sort of, because my printer is way the heck upstairs and I am too lazy to bring the laptop up there these days.  So I sort of skimmed over the directions and am hoping it turns out.  More overly bright colors in action.  I can wear them with the socks.  It looks like a Rasta hat right now bunched up like it is.

The spiral is cool.  I'm really uncertain how this is going to wear, but I am enjoying the knit itself.  I'm ready to put the stitches on hold for the sleeves and keep moving on to the finish.  This is surprisingly quick to knit.  This Noro Cash Iroha is delightful to work with.  It's wooly but not harsh in the least.  The cashmere content makes it soft and springy.  I love the color ways with the other Noro yarns but I just can't get past the scratchy feel in the skein.  Too many choices out there for me to pick up scratchy yarn.

The kids have been out of school for the week for Mardi Gras, which was fun.  (I know- a week? Marky Mark can't understand it either.  Hey, it means I don't have to be dressed at 7:20.)  We were a family unit, my favorite kind of costume.  PeeWee picked out Super Hero Princesses, yeah baby.  It was a whirlwind from my birthday until now, and honestly I didn't realize it's Friday.  Lots of catching up this part of the world.  Holidays always seem to throw me off a bit.

Everyone left the house so I'm off to pick up that jacket and get some more work done on it.  Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to ME!

So I am sitting here in bed, having eaten my breakfast in bed, had Big Brother bring me my computer in bed and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

What's on the needles?  The pinwheel jacket- it's not making much progress as I have not had a whole lot of free time the last few days.  There have been crazy schedule changes mid-stream, the norm for us it seems.  It's sitting in a bag on the couch.  PeeWee has decided she is not going to sit by and watch me knit, so the time has been really limited. 

The socks however have been all over with me this week, one is done the other started.  I really enjoy using the Colinette Jitterbug.  This is my third pair with it.  I like having the knitting to go stashed in my bag to be handy all the time.

Tonight I am off to a Mardi Gras ball, which means dressing up completely, something I do so rarely I had to go shopping to get the goods.   Seeing as this is the birthday celebration this year, I decided fun was the word of the day.   So as not to have a post with no pictures here it is:

 
I feel like a bit of a fraud in this getup but it is fun.  The dress was a bargain and the shoes are my birthday gift to myself.

I know this is supposed to be about knitting.  I'll be catching up with all that this week, as my resolutions kick in today, one of them being regular actual knitting posts, how about that?  Why no knitting pictures today?  Well, I would have to get out of bed and I am not ready yet!

How old am I?  I graduated high school at 18 in 1987, you do the math, it's not a milestone, that's next year.

Links to goodies I am loving these days

Sorry... no pictures today, it's dreary and cold out....

I started the pinwheel jacket with some Noro I bought when cheating on the yarn diet.  It's fun and really really fast!  I need to go pick up a bit more yarn, I ran short on the third color band.  Which also means running short on the larger bands.  So a trip to get what I need to finish things up is on its way!

Also cast on some traveling knitting, socks in Colinette Jitterbug, simple stockinette ankle length socks.

My friend Andrea turned me on to this fabulous website, a year of crockpotting.  For those of you who need easy recipes or ideas, the kitchen challenged, like me.  She's doing some interesting stuff in hers, like cornbread.  Worth a peek if you want some new recipes for yours.

Gryphon has friends who lost everything in a fire which consumed their business and devastated them.  She is donating 50% of what is selling in her shop to the family during this month.  So if you are looking for yarn, now is a good time to help a family while you are stocking up on some goodies for yourself.  

Also, there's a cool site for online classes here.  Fiber arts stuff that looks really fun.  The kind of stuff which might suck precious knitting time away but that I am interested in no matter what.  

Just a quick post to say I am still alive.  Next time lots of pictures...

Pat me on the back

Yes, indeed, the periwinkle sweater is done.  Finished.  All wrapped up and off the needles.  I love it.

I am still very happy with the yarn, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.  The colors have numbers, this one is their periwinkle blue.  I'm happy with the way it fits.  I altered the whole thing a lot, lengthened both the sleeves and the torso, changed the number of buttons, the length of the ribbing, lost the pockets, pretty much everything about it.  The color is a bit richer than what's showing on my monitor.

It's not often I finish something that I know will get a lot of wear other than socks.  It doesn't get too cold here so things other than wraps are not used regularly.  I haven't got the patience for much finishing, I usually rip it out before I am done.  Knitting for PeeWee makes it hard to knit something big enough for me.  It is way too easy to set it aside and start something nice and small which will be done in no time.

What's next?  I have no idea.  I'm hoping to finish Marky Mark's blanket before his birthday at the end of March.  It's gotten so large that I have to sit in the chair and knit it like an old grandma.  It's over 4ft now though, so it's more than halfway done.  I'm just going to knit until I am either so sick of it I want to cry or until I run out of the yarn.

I may do a pinwheel jacket next.  Mulling it over at least.  I have a great mix of yarns I want to work with.  But I also want to work on something quick and sassy, maybe a scarf/hood combo.  Who knows, I did my happy dance when I cast off the last stitches of the sweater yesterday.  I may ride on that high for a few days and decide what I really want to invest my time and energy on this time.

The house that yarn built

When I leave the house I am usually rewarded.  Today was a winner.  I was running errands and I passed a man wearing a kitchen timer as a hat.  I was not brave enough to snap a picture, when I glanced back he glanced back at the same time or I would have.  It was on like a little bell boy hat.  Fabulous.

A while back I was rewarded with the giant Elvis head man.

I'm wondering... should I worry about PeeWee?  Seems like she may have issues with Big Brother, since that's what she has named this guy...

At least he bathes.

Do you want to help rebuild New Orleans?  Hope over to The House That Yarn Built team Make It Right NOLA.  It's Brad Pitt's rebuilding effort and a great thing.  We gave donations for Christmas gifts.  If yo can donate, make sure you choose the house that yarn built team from the choice of team pages so it gets the credit.  The goal is $10,000, but I think we can do more.  As in build a house.  

Hop on over to Christy's blog to get all the info, make sure you drop her a line if you donate, she's got a contest going on if you participate.  Even if you can't be a part of it, will you spread the word?  Thanks.  Check out the details on the Make It Right page, I think this is a good thing.  The property owners are very involved and it's bringing lots of good to the area.  Ellen Degeneres has a team up and I think it would be great to give them a run for their money.  Look at the Yarn Harlot's Medicines sans Frontiers.