Look Who's Back

Talk about fits and spurts. I get motivated to keep up with the blog for a while and then *life* happens and boom! it's six months later. With the birth of http://ravelry.com I may be even more thinly spread. OR, ravelry could very well be the thing that finally gets me organized so that I CAN keep things updated. Wouldn't that be a hoot....

More this weekend (hopefully)

Coming Up To Breathe

Breathing is good. Not coughing is also good. Breathing and not coughing at the same time - really good. My advice? Get plenty of rest, take your vitamins and wash your hands alot. You don't want what's goin' round. There were five people out at work last week - that was just in my department, and that's more than half of us. I was, as previously posted, too sick too knit for a while. But now things are back to normal, whatever that is. Except for the fact that Oldest Son totalled his car last week. It's a gift from God that he walked away with only a scratch. Now, if we can just get him beyond thinking that he's invincible.....which is a very bad way to go through life.....

On a lighter note, I've made some serious progress in other areas of my life - namely knitting. Knitting is, after all, therapy. I made a baby beanie for a co-worker's baby (due March 1st). I didn't use a pattern, just the basic hat recipe that's in my head. And would you believe this is the first time I've done I-cord? Guess I never had a reason to before, but there it is, in all it's cuteness on top. I'm going to make another one, bigger and with primary colors. Them babies grow so fast ya know?

I'm down to the bottom ribbing on the baby cardigan. Then all I have to do is sew up under the arms and put buttons on. I LOVE THIS PATTERN. There's something incredibly satisfying about it that I can't put my finger on. Maybe it's the fact that it starts looking like a sweater almost immediately. I'm going to modify the pattern a bit for my next one though (wait, didn't I just say I LOVED it?), and eliminate the underarm seaming. I can't see any reason why, instead of putting the body on waste yarn and then knitting the sleeves, you couldn't put the sleeves on waste yarn, knit the body and then go back to the sleeves and knit those in the round, so there's no seam at all. Seems like a no-brainer but we'll see. I'm all for being un-seam-ly.

I also got a start on Nathan's fingerless gloves. We went back and forth on how to incorporate the teal in the gray, and finally decided on striped cuffs, and teal on the ends of each finger. I think it'll be pretty cool. And I'm sure he'll wear them since he had a hand (unintentional bad pun) in the design. GO SHARKS!!

The next project I'm anxious to start is EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket. This intrigues me intensely. I bought the instructional DVD from Schoolhouse Press - and I'm really looking forward to knitting along with Meg Swanson sometime soon. Worth noting: I have no socks on the needles at the moment! This is highly unusual, but I made a promise to myself that I'd finish some things before starting another pair of socks. My next pair will be done with one of the following yarns: Fleece Artist (Lagoon), Socks That Rock (Scottish Highlands) or Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (Watercolor). How about I show you my choices? (in the order stated).

The other knitterly thing I made progress on was washing the baby blankets, hats, booties, etc. that Strands of Love (our knitting ministry) has compiled in the last few months. Before we can donate, it all needs a good wash and block. We have at least three big bins of items to donate, which we'll be doing soon (I hope). Knit on sisters!

Too Sick To Knit

I've been sick all week with the coughing crud and most of the time I haven't even been able to knit. That's adding insult to injury as far as I'm concerned. All this "down time" and all I can muster is a lie down on the couch, most of the time vying for precious real estate with the dog. I did get some knitting done before I started feeling really awful but I don't think there's enough progress with anything to post an up-to-date picture. Other things I have missed this week: dinner and a concert with my best buddy; girls night out with a group of friends; yoga; and three days of work - though the jury is out as to how much I really missed that - ;-)

The Turning of The Heel and Random Thoughts

Progress folks. My goal yesterday was to get the heel turned. Tada! I've been working on the gusset today, almost done with the decreases.

I am sick. Started with a sore throat yesterday and now it's moved south and it hurts to cough. So much fun. I can't complain though, this is my first bout of germs this winter (hope it's the last). I'd say it's a good day to knit. But, I'm really bummed because I'm supposed to go to the Chris Tomlin concert tonight and I don't think I'm up to it at all. Just the thought of getting presentable to go out has me stymied.

I taught two high school guys to knit this past week - it was ever so much fun, and they were good students. They "crashed" our knitting ministry meeting, coming with the daughter of one of our members. It was a fun evening. Who woulda thought.

Since my brain does not appear to be working in a cohesive manner right now (maybe I shouldn't be knitting a gusset)...this post is coming out as random thoughts. Or maybe it's just that I'm thinking in a logical manner, just not on one subject for very long. Has anyone seen my attention span?

I've added more to the sidebar - figured I needed to keep track of all my UFO's - if it's staring at me from the sidebar perhaps I'll pick it up more than once every two months (could I possibly be talking about my Aran sweater?)

And here is progress on the baby cardigan. The front sections and the back are on waste yarn and I'm working the sleeves even. I'm not sure you can tell what's what in this picture, but my hand is on the left arm (gosh isn't that where everybody's left hand is supposed to be?) Kind of like looking at an ultrasound - "that's the foot??? I just don't see it!"

Carry on....I need a lie down and a knit.

I Think I'm Having Twins!!!

I decided to see if I could figure out the right starting place in the dye sequence for sock #2 to match #1 stripe-wise. Voila! I'm ever so proud of myself. Now if I just keep to the same tension as sock #1 they should be twins...maybe not identical...let's call them fraternal (just like me...:-)
I have managed little knitting time this week because of deadlines at work, but I'm still making progress.

I think Tatty wants to learn how to knit...she's always sitting half on top of me (it seems) while I'm knitting on the couch, ever so interested in what I'm doing....

Happy Feet

I received my swap socks in the mail yesterday - thank you Sue!! She packed them in a clever little quilted pouch. Here are my feet modeling them - love the colors (I am a green girl). Wore them all over the house last night. I've never felt Austermann Step - very yummy on the feet for sure! So thank you thank you again! I promise to have "my end of the bargain" done soon.

In Praise of KnitPicks

Tada! One swap sock finished. I'm hoping to have sock number two done in the next two weeks. This probably seems like a long time to some, but there is the (more than 40 hr) job, the house, teenagers, critters, and they all seem to want a part of me. So a sock in two weeks is good! I'm very happy knitting these socks - it's a fun pattern, and the yarn is great - nice and soft and it doesn't split (hate that).

Those in the "know", know that I am a die-hard fan of Addi Turbo circular needles. They are a dream to knit with but not cheap. KnitPicks recently came out with their own line of circulars, and I took the plunge and tried them (after listening to much word of mouth). Well. Nice pointy tips, smooth joins, supple cables. And half-to-one-third the price of Addi's. Oh boy. The ones I ordered arrived this week so I switched mid-sock. Okay I still love Addi's, but it's nice to know that if I find I don't have a particular size needle for something (is that possible?), that I can buy them without breaking the bank.

Here's another UFO. It's going to be a baby blanket someday, maybe in about 13 more squares. Don't have a clue how it's going to be seamed together, but one thing at a time. Each square has a heart on it - clicking on the picture might give you a better look. I can't get back to working on this, though, until I make Nathan's gloves. Especially since it's 28 degrees these days.... He's decided that he wants some teal mixed in with the gray since he's a big Sharks fan. So I had the pleasure of shopping for some teal-ish yarn online tonight (this is allowed on my "knit from my stash" restriction because it's for an existing project). I ended up getting KnitPicks Gloss. I don't need that much of it, so I plan to get another pair of socks out of it too. Oh yeah, and while I was there I figured I may as well order some more of those needles.....;-)