Runs With Knitting Needles

Happy New Years Eve!

2011-12-31T10:32:00.002-07:00

On my fb page this past year I kept track of all of my knitting projects. I should have done that on my ravelry profile, but I'm slower there to input projects....but whatever (as my kids say).

My last project was a plain vanilla pair of socks, in anything but a plain vanilla color. While visiting my friend in England I was admiring this yarn in a shop and she mentioned that she really likes the zauberball yarn. I'd never knit with it, but have seen it in many shops. I liked this green color and decided to give it a shot. Looking at the yarn I couldn't decide if I wanted to knit it up with a fancy pattern, or just a quick plain sock to let the yarn shine, so to speak. I decided to let the yarn shine, and I'm glad that I did. The plain Jane is a quick knit, no pattern to worry about, no fuss for holiday visiting while knitting, just knit happily away. I am happy with the end result and think they will be a favorite in my wardrobe (of odd clothes and socks). In keeping with my plan to track everything I knit this year, I finished them up this morning....a mere 16 hours before we ring in the new year.

Here is a list of my year in knitting:

11 fish hats
1 pair slippers
1 brooch
3 cowls
2 felted bags
1 felted kindle case
5 shawls
1 doll shawl
2 scarves
1 baby hat
1 baby sweater
1 beret
5 1/2 pairs socks (I ripped out that 1/2 of a pair)
2 vests (one child sized one grown up sized)
1 doll sweater
and about 1/2 of a sweater for myself

Happy New Year. May 2012 bring wonderful things.

Not so much holiday knitting

2011-12-20T14:10:00.002-07:00

I'm not a toe up sock person. I've knit a couple of pair and find the fit to be odd. I've done an afterthought heel and a short row heel and this pair has a gusset heel. I do think that the fit is better with a gusset, but we'll see. Perhaps my thoughts are colored by the fact that I knit my socks from the top down.

Holiday knitting has pretty much come to an end around here. Of course with Christmas staring me in the face about the only thing I'd be able to finish in the next couple of days would be a book mark...and only if it were a small bookmark. We've had snow days around here and some delayed starts to the school days. I have had my girl child at home with me the past couple of days, which really throws a wrench into things. She loves to stand next to me coughing and hacking and asking if she can help. Only from afar.

Happy Holidays to whoever may see this post. Enjoy!!

Those odd skeins

2011-12-02T13:03:00.002-07:00

One of the LYS's I visit on occasion has an "orphan" basket of odd skeins near the check out. These are usually discounted 15 or 20%. Often, being a lys and all, these are very nice skeins that just happen to not have enough yardage to pull off a very big project. Often these are skeins that do not have enough yardage to be featured in a "One Skein Project" book. You just don't see a whole lot of patterns dedicated to that odd 50 gram 195 yard skein of sock yarn. Faced with a couple of these "50 gram not enough yardage for more than one sock" beauties I decided that I would find something to knit with them. Something useful, something to throw into the one small skein pattern pool, which is how I came up with my "Dainty Chevron Cowl", which I do plan to figure out how to publish as a pdf instead of how it is here as a blog post.

So I dug through the orphaned skeins and found a lovely skein of some Mochi stuff. I'd never knit with it but a friend loves the stuff and soon will have a lovely cowl of my own (since I wrote up the pattern and have knit several of the cowls I thought it might be nice to have one of my own).

My limited Christmas knitting is done. I don't knit a lot of gifts. I find that knitting gifts is a complicated thing. If people don't knit they may not appreciate the amount of time and effort that went into the project. Then there are those who think that the whole home made gift thing is a way of being "cheap" (quite the opposite actually). My very own mother will say "but why would I knit you something? You knit beautifully and can knit anything that you'd like" (but I can't knit the hand knit gift from you, my most precious knitted items are not the ones that I've knitted for myself, but the ones that are gifted to me). If anyone besides myself reads this post, you and I both know that hand made gifts are lovely (and perhaps I've just been lucky, but I've appreciated every hand made gift I've received).

Happy Friday blogland. I didn't think I'd enjoy having my work day rescheduled today, but it's been nice to slow down a bit....even if I should be doing the holiday craziness!

Christmas knitting

2011-10-31T08:49:00.003-06:00

I don't know about you, but for me Halloween marks the true rush toward Christmas. Oh, I start thinking about Christmas knitting mid summer. We'll be sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows and my mind may idly wander to if/what I will be knitting for gifts especially if we pass by a yarn shop on our wanderings. The spousal unit doesn't put any thought into the holidays until December 20th (tho, it did surprise me when he picked up a watch yesterday and said that perhaps that would be the perfect gift for one of the boy children we have around our house).

I'm picky about who I'll knit for. There are two gift recipients in my family who enjoy hand knit socks. (One of these recipients will actually send me sock yarn hoping for socks). This year I have several requests on wish lists for hats. This time of year is difficult for a lot of knitters (or at least it is for me, you'll have to speak for yourself). Back in July if I said "I'm knitting this as a holiday gift" I was looked at as if I had a screw loose. I'd hear "but the holidays are half a year away!" Come October I find people asking me "Can I pay you to (fill in a craft here, in addition to knitting on occasion I also sew), I'm thinking of giving (fill in gift) to (fill in recipient) for Christmas.....oh, and I need it in time to mail". Rarely do I "hire out" to knit/sew/cook gifts. My general rule is, if you want me to knit your dear old dad a scarf, I should know your dear old dad. And I do have a list of the things that I will willingly knit for gifts. That said, and as snotty as it probably sounded, I do knit for my younger children's school senior luncheon, Santa's breakfast and the Giving Tree. Most years I donate a knitted item or three for door prizes. One year I donated a lace scarf to be raffled off for the PTO. My charity knitting is my favorite and yes, I'm lucky enough that I will pass up a paying knit job to give my knitting away.

I'm not sure what the point of this post is. I'm here with my cup of coffee in hand, working on this lovely beret for my girl child. I am hoping that I can scale this pattern down, or write one that will work so I can knit a matching one for her doll. Then there are ear flap hats to knit, and socks and a scarf and and and. There's always something waiting in the wings.

The Frog Pond

2011-09-14T14:04:00.003-06:00

I dutifully knit up a swatch for the "Henley with a Twist"(after starting it and ripping it twice). I cast on after swatching and deciding that I should have not ripped out one of my false starts. Then, I've proceeded to cast on and rip it out another 4 times, prompting the husband to ask "What is wrong with it NOW?" So, rather than making myself crazier than I already am, I have set aside the lovely "Henley with a Twist" to rest for a bit while I finish this little lovely "Estonian Lace Sampler" from my hand spun wool. So, I'm going to try to get myself and my projects out of the frog pond and back onto my needles.

Fall is in the air. Labor Day came and suddenly fall/winter was here. My garden is winding down and the thought is of sweaters and baking and knitting. Perhaps the frog pond will freeze over for a while :)

Swatch-it

2011-09-13T14:39:00.004-06:00

Rarely do I do a real swatch. Often times my projects are small enough that I just cast on and knit a few inches and measure my gauge. But I've decided to knit Anne Hanson's "Twisted Henley" and rather than put a sweater's worth of knitting and find out that it's just not going to work. So here is my four inch swatch. (Just like Anne did with hers, I actually copied her from her blog). I think that it will work.

We shall see.....and now...swatch on my friend.

My life in stitches

2011-07-18T12:02:00.003-06:00

So at some point I started this blog thinking I'd post about my knitting projects and really I'm kinda spotty about posting about my projects. I decided for a few friends of mine that I would chronicle my year in knitting over on my FB page. Perhaps at the end of the year I'll roll that little tome into a post here. Suffice it to say so far this year I've knit something like half a dozen fish hats, the sweater vest pictured here, a vest for my daughter and some other odds and ends, but for the most part it's been those hats. I'm tired of those hats.

I ordered a sweet little spindle from Thomas Creations (Threadsthrutime) over on Etsy because apparently I feel that I don't have enough projects to keep me busy for longer than I can imagine. And just for yucks, because the tiny was was so wee and sweet and tiny in a day or two a medium one should be showing up. Then I think I'm done as far as spindles go. Oh, I did sign up for a class and they specified a "top whorl spindle". My sweet new spindles are of the Turkish variety (my favorite to spin on)....while I'm no expert, shoot you probably couldn't even class me in the beginner category as far as spinning is concerned (my husband thinks that I'm at least an intermediate spinner, but what does he know?), I have fiddled around with a couple of different types of spindles and I really like the Turkish variety. So, being me, I've bought these nice lovely Turkish spindles and for the class? I dragged the husband down to Home Depot where I bought a dowel and a disc (actually it's the wooden thingy you use to hold the pole up in the closet) and we fashioned a top-whorl spindle (I forgot to grab a cd when I dragged him to the store, so we improvised). I plan to bring my top whorl (which will drive me crazy to spin on) and my Turkish spindles with me to my class. We'll see what I learn.

But lately, while I've thrown myself into spinning, I feel like my life is spinning....out of control and I'm fighting to get it back to something more manageable. I have one kid going into braces on his teeth. Not earth shattering, but boy are those things expensive! The boy could go visit Europe....twice on what we're sinking into what will be a lovely smile. I have another kid going into a back brace to try to slow the growing curve in her back. That one is more earth shattering. I'm not even going to mention the expense on that one (in part because I know that we don't have insurance coverage for the mouth braces, and I have no idea what will be our share on this back brace). I just know that the doctors get all excited to see us coming we do contribute to their bank accounts these days.
But for now I'm going to enjoy the sunshine and try to not think about spinning out of control. I will concentrate on spinning a nice yarn, and perhaps a tale to go with it.

Disappointments

2011-04-11T09:10:00.004-06:00

First let me say that I have a love/hate relationship with Colinette Jitterbug Yarns. I love the colors, I love the feel of the yarn (that said, I think it knits up into a very very warm pair of socks, not something you'd ever feel and say "gee, this feels summery"). There's just something that I love about the yarn. But there's a dark side to it too. For some reason it seems to be skimpy on the yardage. I've knit a total of two pair of socks from Jitterbug and the others I've had to frog back because of this (see photo above). Yes yes yes, I could always knit my socks from the toe up, but I prefer a top down sock having never gotten a toe up sock to fit quite right. So there you have it, a lovely sock from Cookie A's first sock book, knitted to the toe, where I ran out of yarn (after I took this pic I knitted several more rounds just to further convince myself that I'd run out). So now this lovely yarn has been rewound is will be a finger weight "Traveling Woman" shawl-ette/scarf/something pretty that will be seen.

My life in Fish Hats

2011-02-25T10:30:00.003-07:00

So at the beginning of the year when I decided that I would photograph and keep track of all of my knitting (there are people out there who actually do this. They catalog everything that ever appears on their needles. I have always been fairly lazy about this...it's on the needles, then it's off the needles and out of my mind until my sister says "hey, I love those socks! What pattern is it?"). But really I've knit so many of these hats since January 1 (5 of them so far!) that I don't really feel compelled to note the pattern (dead or alive fish hat) or the techniques I used to knit it (whatever entertains me at the moment, same with my color selection....I'm more governed by whatever odd skeins I have hanging around).

A friend asked if I'm tired of knitting these hats, and the answer is yes......and no. I've knit so many of them now (I've knit a total of 8 or 9 of them) that it's a fairly mindless knit and they're quick to do....which is good as I still have 4 or 5 more of them to knit for gifts.

I remember when

2011-02-09T16:13:00.004-07:00

I have been a knitter for most of my life. I can remember when it wasn't "cool" to knit. It was okay that my mother knitted sweaters for me, I preferred her knit sweaters to match my school uniform to the scratchy uniform sweaters. But I remember being that age when knitted gifts were looked down upon. You know, like in "A Christmas Story" when Ralphie's aunt made him that Bunny costume for Christmas. Doesn't everyone have a gift like that costume? For me it was a woman my dad dated, she gave me this lime green sweater. She didn't knit it, a friend of hers did for me. It was horrid. I thanked her for it and wondered what in the world I would ever do with it. (for the record, I did wear it. It was warm and perfectly suited for wearing around the house and in the yard).

This whole thing crossed my mind as I asked my son's friend what kinds of things he might like for his birthday, since my son is invited to his party and, of course, a gift is customary. Several of the boys in my sons class have asked for a hat. So when asked this boy piped up "A fish hat". The party is day after tomorrow, I got the invitation yesterday. I know, I know I could just go buy a nice gift to give the kid. But I already had started another fish hat because I knew that if I could get a fish hat or three or four ahead that they would make perfect gifts. So, I'm madly knitting away on this hat and wondering how it is that now hand knit items for the middle school set have become so popular?

2011-02-07T10:02:00.002-07:00

So life has slowed down my knitting a bit, it feels a little bit like the last couple of weeks have been a blur of activity and work. But I still have managed to squeeze in a little knitting time. This guy here needs eyes, he's for a friend who wanted one for her daughter's birthday. As soon as I talk to my friend about whether or not this guy gets "live eyes" or "dead eyes" (a button in the middle or an "X" in the middle), I'll give him eyes and be on to my next project....which is actually on the needles right now. Socks. For me. From yarn my friend in England dyed and sent me. Socks I am hoping I'll have done before I go to visit her next month. Of course, soon, very soon, another fish hat will be on the needles. I'm thinking I shall call 2011 the year of the fish hat.

Another birthday, another fish hat.....and a slipper

2011-01-14T16:21:00.003-07:00

So these fish hats have become quite popular with my youngest son's friends. Makes birthday gifts easy (time intensive, but easy and because I knit them from odd skeins of yarn they are relatively cheap gifts). Now when I'm at the school his friends tell me when their birthdays are and what their favorite colors are. I should probably write down this information, but really I could more than likely just knit up several in whatever color combination entertains me and the kids wouldn't care. It was fun going on a field trip with his class and seeing my hats on several of the children. (well, several being three...counting my son).

My daughter has been hounding me for some slippers. She admires the ones she sees up town. You know, the big fluffy ones that make you think of the 1960's and the moccasin style that was so popular in the 70's. She likes the socks with the non-skiddy stuff on the bottoms of them. She doesn't discriminate....she wants any sort of slipper, any sort at all. So we were perusing Ravelry and we came across this pattern perfect. Lord knows I have enough yarn laying around and it's a quick knit. She all but stood over me waiting for them to come off the needle, then just about sat in my lap helping me to sew them together.

A friend of mine has gifted me with yarn. In some of the yarn I was gifted was some fluffy lace weight stuff that just said "knitted flowers" to me. I'm sure that to other people it would say "Shawl" or "lacy something", but really what I heard was "you'll have a nervous break down because this stuff grabs itself and knots like crazy" But I have a skein of it and I'd pull it out every now and again and pet it and think of how pretty it would be knitted up into something that wouldn't make your eye twitch. Perhaps something small, the yarn is pink it's got a nice halo action going for it.....I know!! A knitted rose!! Small, quick, a nice easy peasy way to discover that a big project with this yarn might drive your family crazy. Actually the rose was a quick easy knit, the yarn is not easy to work with, but not too too bad for this project. I'm actually thinking of making several more and donating them to our school's senior luncheon in November.

So, just to keep tabs on what I have knit (and finished) so far in 2011 (yes, I realize that we're only 2 weeks into the new year but the fish hats birthday recipients birthdays were Jan 9 and 15. Kinda made my year start out looking all ambitious like!) 2 dead fish hats, one pair of slippers and one brooch. (I finished a cowl for girl child that I started back in November, but other projects needed to be finished first, but it is still on the drying table)

Can we sit by the fire and knit

2011-01-10T08:38:00.003-07:00

Husband left for a business trip this morning. So we were up just before 5 so that I could drive him on the snowy icy roads to meet his ride to the airport. The thermometer at the bank said it was 2 degrees. At home it tells me that it is 3 with a wind chill factor of 17 below. The thermometer in the house swears that it is 67, but my feet are so cold I'm sure they'd beg to differ. School has been canceled and it feels like a good day to hover around the pellet stove and knit. Of course I still have to take the trash out to the curb and I just noted that no one told me that we were low on dog food. I find myself looking into the bin and wondering if we have enough to last until Wednesday when I go into town again.

I'm nearly finished with another fish hat. This one if for a boy who is red/green deficient. Yes I have some rust in there, but I'm knitting from my stash and I'm not exactly sure of what he can see color-wise. I know that he'll enjoy the hat, regardless of the colors.

So my second project of this year is nearly finished.

knitting in the new year

2011-01-05T11:13:00.002-07:00

So my new years resolution, such that it was, was to keep track of my knitting this year. I know people who catalog all of their knitting projects, the needles, the yarn, the gauge, etc. I knit whatever I fancy and when it comes off the needles often it goes to whoever it is knit for with nary a picture or thought about it. After forty odd years of knitting I have no clue as to how many things I've knitted. At the end of the year two friends mentioned that their sons birthdays were coming up and how the boys love my sons fish hat. So I begin my year with the fish hats.....just as I ended the year with the fish hat. As I type this I have several skeins of yarn sitting next to me because my second project for 2011 will also be a fish hat (done in blues this time). Then perhaps I'll break the fish hat streak and knit socks, or a sweater or.........

New Years Eve 2011 or is it still 2010?

2010-12-31T19:50:00.002-07:00

Here we are at the end of 2010. As my New Year's "resolution" was to keep track of everything I knit in the New Year I thought perhaps I'd get a jump on things. I do have a cowl nearly finished on the needles, but I had knit this hat for one of my son's friends birthdays. As I neared getting it finished my son deemed it "too girly" for either of his two friends I have committed to knitting hats for. The daughter had been begging me for a mosaic knit fish hat since I had knit one to donate to their school's senior luncheon, and she'd been watching me knit this hat and wanted the same mosaic pattern/colors/etc. So now the hat is hers. And this wraps up my knitting adventure for 2010 (no, I don't remember all of my projects from 2010, I probably should......but I don't).

So here jumpstarts my projects for 2011. We'll call it "Mosaic Fish hat for girl child". Happy New Year to whoever may stop by here. May your 2011 be full of good health, happiness and wonderful things.

Merry Merry Happy Happy and other thoughts

2010-12-18T09:21:00.002-07:00

Every year around this time it's always the same, or at least it is at my house, I don't know about yours. I run around like crazy muttering things to myself like "next year more organized", "didn't I swear last year that I'd be more organized?", "never again" and "What was I thinking when I said I'd bakeknitvolunteerdecorate for namethatobligation". This year as I look at the pair of socks that I was planning on knitting my sister and at this point one week before Christmas I have one sock 3/4 done (with a mistake in it which will have me doing sock #2 as a mirror image). The only way her Christmas present will be done before Christmas is if there is a horrible accident while she's on vacation (she's coming home the day before Christmas) and she loses one leg....and even then without magic the socks would not make it to her door because there's no way I have time to have them done and in the mail by day after tomorrow.

Yep, Merry Merry Happy Happy stress free holidays. Lucky for me my sister is my sister and suffers from a great many of the same afflictions I do, so we all know that Christmas happens in December....or January....or February...shoot, she and I give each other until Easter. Same with birthdays we can drag those on forever.

So I sit here contemplating the holidays and the making of New Year's resolutions (which for the most part I don't do, because really what is the point?). But even tho I don't make New Years resolutions I was thinking that perhaps this year I could get off my butt and chronicle all of my knitting projects throughout the year. I often take a picture here and/or there of my knitting, but a great deal of it flies under the radar. On the needles, off the needles and to the recipient with nary a picture to show that I ever touched it. Perhaps this year I'll keep track here and on Ravelry the things that reside on my needles. I remember a few years ago I counted the number of pairs of socks that I knitted during the year. (I haven't looked back to see, but I think it was something like 13 pairs)

So there you have it. If I remember in a couple of weeks that will be my New Years Resolution.....what better resolution could there be than to knit?

2010-12-05T10:42:00.003-07:00

I am so woefully behind on blogging/journaling or whatever you want to call it. I'm sure I'm behind on my knitting, but really who can tell? I am forever hearing "I just don't have time to knit", "Where do you find time to knit"....well, my friends, I don't have a very active social life aside from knitting. Oh, yes, I'm at the Y a couple of times a week exercising while the kids take karate, I'm at the school working or volunteering....but as far as hanging out with my friends? Thursday mornings are it (Hi Enid!! Hi Shelly!!) Besides. I like to give knitted gifts (to those who like to receive knitted gifts). And as with the senior luncheon at our school, often I am asked if I can donate a knitted item (or more) to a worthy cause...and really who can say no to that?

So, here's what I managed to knit up for the senior luncheon this year. I'd planned more, but it was a loooonnnnggg way off and it seemed like 15 minutes later it was next week! Two scarves. I still have some of that yarn, one skein each of a few different colors, so trying to come up with a scarf pattern that used just one skein and worked with this fuzzy yarn. I really like the key hole idea since it really does keep the scarf from slipping and sliding everywhere and besides that key hole area there would be awesome to show off a fancy pin.....I'm thinking vintage 50's here.

That fish hat......what a fun knit. I'd not really planned to donate it for the senior luncheon, thinking it might have been better suited to the Santa's breakfast which would be full of children who love crazy hats. But the powers that be used it as a senior luncheon door prize. Apparently they read a crowd better than me as the winner of said hat hunted me down (okay, it wasn't really much of a hunt, I was in the school office) she came up to me and thanked me for the hat and said her granddaughter confiscated it right away....she was thrilled to win something knitted by someone she knows. My kids were the only ones on the playground at the school with those silly fish hats and I have had a lot of requests for them.

Knit on my fiber addicted friends :)

A Dainty Chevron cowl

2010-09-30T09:01:00.005-06:00

"A Dainty Chevron Cowl"

When it gets cold I love having the option of something other than a scarf. Sometimes I just don't want to fiddle around with the wrapping of the scarf or dealing with the ends. I want something I can just pull over my head and go. Of course I am such a style trend setter that I'm known, much to the embarrassment of my children, to pull my cowl up over my head as a makeshift ear cover or hat (okay, sometimes I pull it up over my face like a mask and chase them around). Here is one that I knit as a gift for a friend.

1 skein Happy Feet sock yarn
16 or 24" circular needle size 6
Marker

gauge, while gauge is not vitally important here, I mean chances are a little tighter and you'll still be able to wear it, a little looser and it will be more cowl-y.

Gauge: 22 sts to 4 inches

Cast on 120 stitches and begin to knit in the round as follows. Place marker to mark where your row begins and ends (but you already knew this).

Knit one row
Purl one row

Begin lace pattern:

Row 1 (and all odd rows) knit
Row 2 & 4: *ssk, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, k2tog, k1 rep from *
Row 6: *yo,ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k1 rep from *
Row 8: * k1, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k2 rep from *
Row 10: * k2, yo, sl 2-k1-p2sso, yo, k3 rep from*

That sl 2-k1-p2sso......slip 2 stitches together as if you were going to knit them together, knit the next stitch then pass the 2 slipped stitches back over the knit stitch. This type of decrease makes the middle stitch more prominent in the pattern.

Work rows 1-10 8 times
K one row
P one row
Bind off as follows k2, sl sts to left needle k2tog tbl, k1, sl 2 sts back to left needle, k2tog tbl. continue to bind off this way until the end.

I am currently working on this and will post a picture and if I can figure out how to post a chart I'll do that too.

Happy knitting!!

2010-08-25T15:26:00.002-06:00

I finished this cowl a couple of weeks ago and decided that it needed something besides a tank top and shorts, that perhaps it would be more suited to a fall outfit, or maybe even something more wintery. So I got it blocked and decided I'd try it with a jean jacket and a t-shirt....much much better than my summer outfit (of course what you can't see in the jean jacket photo is that I have shorts on and am barefoot...since it is still summer after all!).

The pattern is Mill Creek Cowl by "Exercise before Knitting" I used just shy of one skein of Panda Silk and a size 7 needle. It was a quick knit and would have been a fairly easy knit if I knew how to count to 10 more than once or twice.

Happy Fall (which is not really here yet either, but seriously...doesn't the jean jacket picture look fallish?)

Still here, still knitting still crazy

2010-08-05T11:59:00.002-06:00

I've not been much of a blogger anywhere as of late. Oh, I post here and there on FB, or Ravelry. I'm spotty at best about taking pictures of my knitting. Depends upon the project, the battery in the camera and my mood (and if the planets align up etc etc).

My sister loves hand knit socks, after years of teasing about how one can just buy socks at the store, she admitted that a pair of hand knit socks would be welcome. So I knitted her a pair and so began her love affair with hand knit socks and me having my hobby financed. Over the years I've knit her countless pairs of socks (I think we're close to a dozen). The pink pair in this photo had near to no wear on them when she developed a hole in the toe. I'm not a competent darner so I picked the toe out and re-toed them. and darn it (pun intended) if the new toe didn't develop a hole in no time (I am not impressed with this yarn and did the second re-toe in Wildfoote which I swear is indestructible). Lucky for me she doesn't care that the toe doesn't match. The green sock I knit while on vacation. Eventually I'll finish writing up the pattern and post it here. It's pretty basic and so I should have no problem finishing it's twin since on any given day if I'm wearing socks they (usually) match.

So yes, I'm still here, still knitting and still crazy.

I love to knit lace

2009-04-16T09:43:00.002-06:00

I love to knit lace. Well that's kind of silly because truly I love to knit. I find the repetitiveness relaxing and meditative, calming. That said, I am always amazed at how just the act of making loops in yarn, or string, you can manipulate the loops to make such beautiful designs. With only 2 stitches, knit and purl, one can knit countless designs. I am trying to teach girl child to knit. She sits with great concentration and has gotten the knit stitch mastered...more or less. She still has a tendency to start knitting in the wrong direction making an impromptu short row and periodically holes and great loose yarn ends appear, but she knits back and forth learning to tension and make loops. I do remember that part of learning to knit, even if I have no memory of actually learning. I do also remember my first sweater it was blue, garter stitch. I knit it my first year in high school and I wore it to death. There have been many many projects since and a great many of them have not stuck in my mind quite like that first "real" project that wasn't potholders or blankets for my dolls, and such began a lifelong love of knitting.

Knit on

2009-03-12T16:00:00.002-06:00

A mom of a couple of girls in girl child's karate class is pregnant with her 6th baby. She doesn't know if it will be a boy or a girl so I tried to be as gender neutral as yellow and lavendar can be. I'm sure that baby (or mother) will not care about the color of the sweater. The pattern was easy peasy (tulip cardigan) kit from some yarn I picked up from a yarn outlet (great place, name brands marked waaayyyy down).

Meeting the not famous famous

2008-10-21T07:52:00.003-06:00

It's funny when you think about famous people. We've all heard of wildly famous people....Robert Redford, Brittney Spears....you know movie stars, tv stars, rock or country stars, well known authors. But there's the not-so-famous famous people too. These "not-so-famous" people are well known in certain circles. I certainly don't know whose famous in my husband's line of work, but there are certainly people that are well known, but not famous. For me it was meeting Wendy Bernard and Leah Radford (and Mary Kay of Mamascrapalota fame)...and forgetting my camera. I had finished my "Slinky Ribs" from Wendy's book and wore it, it was a surprise to me while I was browsing around waiting for the thing to start to look up and see Wendy standing there and a surprise when she exclaimed "hey you're wearing the sweater from my book!" Perhaps it shouldn't have been such a shock, but I was so star struck. She's very pretty and funny and laid back and just the person you'd want to hang out with. I didn't chat with Leah Radford, but she too is pretty and seems like someone who'd be fun to be around.

So, that was my exciting evening. For a non-knitter perhaps it would be a huge yawn, but for me I practically floated home (it was cold enough when I left home I was concerned that it would snow, but it actually warmed up enough that nothing was freezing when I got home...so no worries). So, I returned to a check register for the PTO that needs some work before the meeting tonight and wine that had reached the "specific gravity" for the next step of stuff that needed doing, but even today collecting my things for the meeting and such I'm still floating.

Still puttering along (at a breakneck pace)

2008-10-03T09:37:00.003-06:00

Summer sped by this year with a minimal amount of knitting. Actually when I look back I can't really think of anything that we did this summer besides doctor appointments (once the husband was employed again). We did manage to go camping a whopping three times, which I admit is better than not at all. The youngest son did keep us busy with his inability to remain healthy, I believe that we're on the right path and the poor little guy is doing much better.

I did manage to finish a little top for Girl Child out of Knit Picks Cotlin. It's a "Drops" design and is quite fetching I think on her. She liked the purple yarn, but so far hasn't really worn the top. I'm hoping that she'll wear it with a nice little turtleneck underneath it this winter, or perhaps next summer or at least wear it before she outgrows it. I wasn't enamored of the pattern and for some reason found it to be a tedious knit, don't know why, it could have just been my mood.

I also started (and finished) a little cardigan based on the "Tess" pattern by Marie Grace Designs. I had wondered what would happen if I just cast on for the neck of a sweater did a couple of rows of garter stitch and then added on for the front, back and sleeves just like I do for most of my sweaters. The result is a lovely little square neckline. The problem is my child is pretty narrow and I think that were I to knit another sweater like this (and I probably will) I would narrow down that neck a bit....and perhaps add some short row shaping to the back to bring the back neckline up just a wee bit.

I am nearing the end of a "Slinky Ribs" from Wendy Bernard's book for myself. Love the pattern, which for once I am following, but am already making changes in my head for the next sweater I knit....which I would say is going to be fro that pattern, but the changes I have in my head are so many that the only thing I appear to be planning on keeping is the rib knit stitch and the fact that it will be a sweater.

That's pretty much my life in knitting right now. I'm staring at several "obligation" knits...which, perhaps it's wrong to call them "obligation knits" when truly they are slated to be gifts. But I guess when the yarn is in the stash and it's not been cast on yet so there are still so many many possibilities for it except for the fact that if it's sock yarn more than likely it will be socks and when it's your mom's favorite color...well, those socks will be a gift for your mom...no, no matter how you slice it the yarn and project become "obligation knitting" of course I could do what she's done to me in the past and just wrap up the pattern, yarn and needles and give them to her for Christmas....

Just how long does it take to knit a sock

2008-07-26T09:19:00.002-06:00

I am asked that question often, perhaps it's because I always seem to have a sock in progress with me, tho not lately. During the school year when I seem to spend my life waiting for children at different things I try to keep a smallish knitting project tucked into my purse usually a sock which will beg the "how long" question. So I cast on a sock and kept a record of how long it took me to knit one sock (not the ones in the picture as at the moment I have only 1 sock done of the pair I was timing I'll take a picture of them later) I found out many things while I was timing my knitting. One is that it's tedious to time yourself when you're doing an activity that is supposed to relax you, another thing is it's hard to set aside time when you know you're not going to have a lot of interruptions. But all of that aside it took me six and a half hours to knit one women's size 7 sock. Naturally this is not necessarily accurate since each project takes on its own personality and one sock could take 10 hours to knit, but for purposes of having something to tell people when they ask I can now tell them it takes about 7 hours of. knitting. time.

I do, actually, still knit

2008-07-08T10:48:00.002-06:00

So much has been happening lately that I just don't get to the computer (or the camera for that matter) on a regular basis. It seems that everytime I go to use the computer I have a child standing next to me asking to use the computer, and if I dare say "no" then....well...it's just easier to turn the damn thing off and no one use it. Or the husband is on the computer. He did accept a job and this is his second week of working. I found it irrita....er... interesting that he could have a computer in the basement that he does all of his work on and the looking for work, and yet he can spend an inordinate amount of time on the computer that I use. But, what can I say he's the one with the job that pays for the computers.

But, knitting. Yes, I do, actually, still knit I just am lazy about getting pictures of what I knit. A while back (meaning a few months ago) I ordered some Canapone from Elann (Canapone being their hemp yarn) with the idea that I'd knit girl child and I matching skirts from it. What I did not realize is that the Canapone is a very light weight fingering yarn, not the DK weight that they claim it is. Perhaps it's dk weight if you aren't knitting a skirt, but I'm telling you for a skirt, it's fingering. But I digress, I had no interest in knitting a skirt from the yarn when it landed in my mail box and I wasn't about to send the stuff back so I knit a "Lacy Little Top" by Lana Knits. I am very very happy with how the top came out, happy enough that I'm planning the next one. I may even get around eventually to knitting a skirt...but from allhemp6 which (to my understanding anyway) is heavier.

Summer days

2008-05-26T10:58:00.003-06:00

I am knitting a little again. Girl child wanted a skirt so that is on the needles and slowly becoming a tube which will be her skirt. I'm knitting it "from the top" down so it has eyelets for a drawstring, a couple of more inches of knitting and I'll border it with a lace pattern. We have a wedding to go to in a couple of weeks, hopefully I'll have it finished and she can wear it if she wants.

I've not knit much, but I have wallowed around in self pity the past couple of weeks. I need to snap myself out of this funk and dust off my resume. We didn't really expect the lay off, oh husband knew one was coming up, but had no feel that his name would be on the hit list. 30% of the company was laid off. I guess we should be grateful that it was now with a severance package, rather than later (I'm sure there'll be a later) when perhaps there will be no severance. I've not worked outside of the home since becoming a mom 21 years ago, I've never balanced taking care of children while working. I've always welcomed neighbor children into the house to help my neighbors who work and need coverage here and there. Youngest boy and girl child aren't old enough to leave at home alone and I'm sure that hubby will be employed again before too too long, so technically I could be needing child care. Hubby wants me to wait before I start sending out my dusty resume out. I'm not qualified to really do much. I have a two year degree, which rules out subbing for the school (thanks to the "every....er...no child left behind" one must have a bachelors degree..I swear in education...to substitute), if I could get hired as a para-professional then I'd have the same days/hours as the children. Otherwise I'm looking at our local little health food place, it's near by and the hours are much much better than the big chain store across the street. We'll see. In the meantime I'm trying to adjust my piss poor attitude and paste a smile on my face and treat this like a really cheap "staycation". Husband is getting some much needed work done on the house and the kids are happy to be out of school and youngest son is slowly recovering from his pneumonia (and not a moment too soon either since after Friday we'll be uninsured and I'm not signing up and spending any precious money on insurance until we need it, or hubby has a job with benefits).

Smile.....that's my mantra.

No Knitting (again)

2008-05-02T13:52:00.005-06:00

This time of year is always so very very busy. End of the school year stuff, just busy stuff that happens at the end of the school year when one has school aged children. I carry my sock project along with me (not the one I'm timing, it is languishing on my desk until I have time to time the goofy project), no I always have a sock along with me. I did manage to knit for about an hour on the bus to the Denver Children's Museum with girl child's class, but that's about all of the knitting that's been happening lately. I could blame it on the DS and brain games the husband bought me, but truly I think I'm just burned out from the increased activity at the school. Our new Y opened (finally) and I have spent a lot of time (well....a lot of time for me anyway) there working out, which makes me feel great, but doesn't give me more hours in my day for knitting. My newest issue of Interweave knits landed in my mailbox yesterday and I was pleased to see it there, but nothing jumped out and said "knit me", so perhaps I'll just languish in "no knitting time" land for 3 more weeks, I'm sure that when school lets out my mind will clear and knitting will look more attractive that it has been.

How long does it take to knit a pair of socks

2008-04-12T16:24:00.004-06:00

This is a question I am often asked...."How long does it take to knit a pair of socks?" And an excellent question it is! The answer is.....I have no idea. I've never timed myself as socks, as a rule, are knit for my own entertainment. Sure often they're gifts so I do have a deadline (of sorts, if they're not finished then the gift is either late...or something else), but I knit while "watching" tv, or while waiting to pick up the children after school, or a few rounds here or there. So I have decided to time myself while knitting a sock (I'm not going to commit to keeping a time record on the second sock, this first sock I will note the time spent knitting, which means it probably won't be hauled around quite as much but I will have an idea as to how long it takes to knit a single sock) multipy by two and you have the answer for how long a pair takes right?

Easter

2008-03-23T13:49:00.002-06:00

Yesterday morning I honestly thought that I was going to have to have the husband haul me into the emergency room. Honestly all I did was pee. Simply going to the bathroom and emptying my bladder caused me to take to my bed for a couple of hours with one and a half percocet a case of the chills and thoughts that I was going to die. After a good nap the pain subsided and hubby took the kids to see "Horton Hears A Who". I am so looking forward to feeling better again, I feel like life has just passed me by the last month.

Tomorrow morning I get the stents removed from my kidneys, hopefully then the pain will subside and I can start to truly heal from this ordeal. Tomorrow right after I have the stents removed (I've been told to take a couple of pain killers before I go) we pick my oldest son up from the airport. I've warned him that we could be a little late picking him up, but to be patient. And that I'll more than likely be in a percocet haze so don't be hurt if I sleep and am not much to visit until later in the afternoon. I am really looking forward to getting to see him and am glad that (hopefully) the worst of this kidney stone ordeal will be behind me and I can enjoy the week with him before he heads back home. I'd love to figure out how to get him out here for his 21st birthday in June, but he's already made plans to go to Vegas with his father over his birthday and I know he's looking forward to that. Plus, I doubt that he'll have any vacation time then to come out to visit his old mom. Vegas from California is doable. Colorado is a bit more of a stretch.

I'd love to say that I'm feeling more human, and to a degree I am. Hubby keeps teasing me that he knows when I'm sick because I'll haul my knitting with me, but am afraid to pick it up. The past couple of days I've knit a couple of fuzzy garter stitch scarves for friends' birthday gifts. Those I can knit looped out on painkillers because they use absolutely no brain power to do (and they're as boring as hell to knit). I've not gained any weight while being sick, despite eating pretty much whatever I think will stay down (carbs, carbs always promise to stick). But truly over the past month if you've given me a choice between eating and sleeping I'd choose sleeping and have to remind myself that I have to eat in order for the painkillers to stay down.

But I'm getting better. Today is Easter and to honor the holiday I showered and got dressed. I dressed in gym pants and a t-shirt...but no one is going to see me and the family is probably just happy that I put on a bra and clothing, and washed my hair. Tomorrow I'll be out in public...so perhaps I'll wear....gym pants and a t-shirt.

Almost better

2008-03-16T21:08:00.002-06:00

I've spent most of the last month fighting kidney stones. I had a ct scan and really thought that perhaps the doctor would find a stone or two. I had concerns because no only did my left side hurt, but I had twinges in my right side as well. The radiologist read the ct scan to say that I have 8 stones in one kidney and 5 in the other (actually I believe his words were "at least"). The urologist says that both of my kidneys are full of grit with a few small stones. Oy! Not much knitting going on around here as I can't take pain medication and still have the ability to knit (I can read, but my comprehension is in the toilet because I can't seem to retain anything while zonked out on the pain meds). But there is a light at the end of the kidney stone tunnel. While the doctor told me that he can not make me "stone free", we can get rid of the ones that are causing me pain, then we can concentrate on making sure that my kidneys of grit don't turn into kidneys of stones again. So day after tomorrow I'll be having surgery to remove the offending stones and hopefully once the stents are removed from my kidneys I'll feel more like myself.

I may even have some knitting content for my knitting blog!

kidney stones

2008-02-26T13:19:00.003-07:00

Not too much happening around here. I've been in a percocet haze for a few days suffering from the kidney stone from hell. Yesterday I slept much of the day, so when the husband asked "did you have pain?" I really couldn't answer him. I mean...I did have pain in the morning and took a percocet (the only thing that seems to work), but then I slept so if I had pain I was unawares. I didn't have to take anything for the pain last night and was able to sleep (amazing because I slept several hours yesterday during the day). Today I worked at the elementary school for a couple of hours and came home. My side had ached off and on, but I'm not in agony. But because I know the stone hasn't passed, I know that this time of being pain free could be short.....or long.....that's the lovely thing about kidney stones they're sneaky when it comes to doling out the pain.

I am a slow slow knitter

2008-02-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

I am a slow slow knitter. I admit it. It's not really that I'm a slow slow knitter, it's that other things happen in life that eat up my knitting time. There's the kids, the housework, laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, the computer...oh so many many things that crop up. It can take me an hour some days to complete a row on something as small as a sock depending upon how many interruptions I have. At the elementary school I'm teased because normally I have a sock I'm knitting tucked away in my purse. Just in case. Just in case I have time while the kids are in one of their specials (pe, library, etc), or if I'm in the work room waiting for the copier to free up. But all this means is that there's not a lot of picture taking of my knitting. Somehow posting a picture with a mere row or two done would bore everyone (including me) to death. But knitting is happening. The butterfly shawl is coming (slowly) along. Now instead of looking like a lacy square, it's scrunched up on the circular needle looking more like a rag than a lovely shawl....not exactly exciting picture material. Once I get it worked far enough that there's something besides the little butterfly motifs I'll take another photo of it. I cast on some socks, but 8 rows of ribbing isn't much as far as saying "hey look at these socks".

Oh, look at the time! Youngest son stayed home sick with a fever today (and yesterday) and it's already time for me to go fetch girl child from the bus stop.

A Butterfly Garden

2008-01-30T11:14:00.002-07:00

My latest project. A butterfly garden square shawl. I hunted around looking for this yarn. I knew what I was looking for and (finally) found a yarn in the proper color with the proper properties. I bought enough to (hopefully) finish my project, brought the yarn home where it sat for a week while I finished the project that was on the needles I needed for the shawl (one would think that I'd own more than one pair of this size needle...and I do....but we have our favorites don't we?). I had cast on a couple of times and was flummoxed at the fact that the needle size seemed all wrong. I swore up and down (okay, I didn't "swear"...I just thought I was losing my mind) that I'd bought worsted weight yarn. I know that's what the ball band said in the store. Well, in the store it may have said "worsted weight" on the ball band, but at home it said "sport weight" (which is just a thinner yarn). Oy! But the color is perfect! I've cast on several times with one of the skeins, so I'm not returning the yarn. Did I mention, the color? It's perfect. So I finish up Katherine's sweater and cast on the shawl. Perfect. I've not knit a square shawl before (tho I've knit many many things in the round) always rectangular or triangular so it will be interesting to see how this goes, especially the edging.

Something to show

2008-01-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

I had cast on the blue scarf with no idea who it would be for, but one thing I knew, I was not for me. No matter how much I like it (a little voice told me it was not for me). So I cast on and started knitting. Then my neighbor called me. Her husband was at work and could I come over quickly and take her to the doctor. Another neighbor appeared to take this woman's daughter. So I went. My neighbor had just had a biopsy and was awaiting the results (which was not the reason she called, but it's all related). She commented on the shawl and asked who it was for. Not knowing I told her "a friend". A few days later she called to tell me that the biopsy came back as cancer. I knew then who the shawl was for. I picked up the pace so that it would be done before her mastectomy. I finished it a couple of days ago, she will have surgery hopefully next week. It looks lovely on her and I am grateful for the little nagging voice that said "knit a shawl, someone close to you will need it".

On the non-knitting front. My kids take their lunches to school every day. They don't like paper napkins and so I thought that a few cloth ones would be fitting.

Still knitting

2008-01-10T09:33:00.001-07:00

But not much to show for it!

It's not that I'm in an after holiday slump, really I'm not. But you know somehow some projects just don't lend themselves to photography until they're completed and blocked. And with 3 kids at home and two dogs, one of which is a puppy who just loves to carry off projects. knitting and getting knitted items photographed isn't happening on a regular basis around here.

That said. My neighbor was diagnosed last week with breast cancer. I had cast on a shawl with no idea who it would be for, but a nagging little voice told me that there was someone meant for this shawl (which will really be about the size of a scarf), just cast on and knit. Sure enough when my neighbor called me with her news I knew at once who the scarf is for. There will soon be a photo for both Ravelry and for here, but in the meantime just know I've not quit knitting.

On needles right now: Leaf Lace (at least I think that's the pattern, I'm too lazy to get up and wander over to my knitting to look at the pattern) shawl, knit in blue Cherry Tree hill Supersock merino.

Monkey Socks first sock is on the needles Cherry Tree hill Sockittome in cherry blossom.

A pink raglan sleeve sweater for girl child knit out of some cheap-o supersoft red heart (only because the yarn is 1. super soft 2. pink 3. washable and 4. so cheap I won't have an attack if it gets lost/ruined on the school playground....at 6 she's not the most careful about her clothing...but she's getting there.

A new dog, a finished project

2007-12-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

While I realize that I intended to keep this a knitting blog and to blog about my knitting, I also know that I've mentioned my pets here. Namely Sam my old crabby cat that I lost in February and my old and dear Stella who left us broken hearted the first part of November. The past two months without my Stella have felt like two years. The sawed off hound Jenny is lonely and the house just isn't the same without a retriever around. In perusing the newspaper website (did you know that the online newspaper includes many photos in the classified section?) I found a puppy. The ad had a picture of the mommy dog and her little face looked so much like Stella's I was hooked. And so, day before yesterday we acquired a new puppy the kids named Sunny. She's a sweet little thing and quite the chewer. I've not had a puppy for a while so we've not had to worry about chewing. Jenny is happy, tho she needs to remember that a basset hound is like a bulldozer and she has to play nicely with the puppy or the puppy will be afraid to play with her. (Jenny's not mean, it's just that she's stocky and tackles the other dogs because she can't keep up with them).

And a finished project which would be an Estonian Sampler lace scarf by Evelyn Clark knit out of Rowan Lambswool. Knitted for me because I thought that "a little color" would be nice in my wardrobe (such that my wardrobe is). Yes, the scarf is a greeny brown and yes, I realize that that's often not someone's idea of "a splash of color", but trust me except for the occasional red t-shirt my wardrobe is pretty bland.

Webkinz Sweater Pattern

2007-12-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

Girl child loves her Webkinz and my younger two have mentioned wanting clothes for their toys (and seem to think that I'm magic and can knit just about anything....boy have I got them fooled!) But looking at the toy sweater I thought I can do that. And I did.

Webkinz Sweater (I knit this specifically for the dalmation dog shown, but am sure that it'll fit a variety of the animals)

Yarn: I used some worsted weight stuff I had sitting around that my neighbor gave me.

Needles: Size 7

Cast on 32 stitches and join to knit in the round.

1st row (and pretty much all rows) k1, p2, k2 to end stitch k1

Knit for an inch or so (shorter if you don't want to roll the neckband like a turtleneck).

In rib pattern rib 16 stitches (put these 16 on spare needle or holder) bind off 4 rib 11 (12 stitches), next row bind off 4 rib to end (work back and forth on these 8 stitches for 4 rows)

(for the above photo I slipped the last stitch on these rows)

On row 5 rib across the 8 stitches and cast on 8 stitches (use your favorite, for this sweater I used on a knitted cast on, for another one I have on needles I used a backward loop), pm, rib across the 16 stitches on holder, pm, cast on 8.

Rib in established rib pattern for about 2 inches (depending upon how long you'd like for it to be, keeping in mind the length of the stuffed animal's body). Then either cast off all of the stitches loosely, or if you'd like the top of the back to be a tad longer with the curved edge, cast off the 24 "bottom" stitches, knit 2 rows in rib from the 16 "back" stitches, then on right side row K1, ssk, rib to last 3 stitches k2tog, k1, rib the next row, k1, ssk, rib to last 3 stitches, k2 tog k1....repeat last two rows once or twice and bind off loosely.

Please drop me a line if you use this pattern and let me know how it works for you and if you modify it. This is the first pattern I've put out here in cyber world and I'd love to know if you love/hate it. Thanks!

Yarn yarn and more yarn

2007-12-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

For a few of years I've knitted hats for the hospital where my two youngest children were born. As word has gotten out that I've been doing this everyone "gifts" me with yarn (mind you I'm not complaining here, it really does help). The last year and a half or so I've been pretty spotty with my donations since girl child was in half day kindergarten last year and the hospital is a good half hour away, and once I'm in town I don't like to rush. If I'm going to burn the gas to go into town I like to say run a few errands, perhaps have lunch with the hubby etc etc. But I digress, hats. Hospital. Yarn. A couple of months ago my dear dear neighbor gifted me with a trash bag full of odd yarn she had and wasn't going to use. There's enough full matching skeins to knit girl child a sweater, or perhaps a shrug for me. There's also a huge matted mess of yarn and several ends of skeins. I knit a scarf for the giving tree at the elementary school and am sorting and untangling the mess and trying to figure out what to do with this yarn. Some of it has been re-gifted to the elementary school, and I'm sure as I detangle I'll gift more to the school. Some of it is going to be knit over the next year into scarves and warm hats for the soup kitchen (which, handily is just down the street from the hospital where I drop off the baby hats). What I am finding is that I really need not just more time for my personal knitting, but more time for my charity knitting (I hate calling it charity knitting, perhaps I should just call it "my knitting of stuff for people I don't know" and leave it at that.) I'd post a picture of the big ol' bag o-yarn, but eh! who's interested in seeing a big tangled mess of yarn. I'll post photo's of the stuff that I knit with it.

Brioche

2007-12-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

I've read a little bit about the brioche stitch, but until yesterday I'd not tried it. I looked at a really cool hat that a friend had knit using the brioche stitch, but what put me off was knitting up a hat and then having to put a seam in it (I can seam, but I really prefer to not to if I don't have to). I just finished up the last gift that I'm knitting this year for Christmas (as a rule I don't knit Christmas gifts unless, of course, I can have them finished by December 1. I don't like the pressure of trying to get something finished a the last minute) so I figured I'd play with knitting a brioche stitch hat. It just happens that my youngest son is planning on going to our local Y tween night and if they get enough kids to show up the guy that plans these things said that they could shave his head. I thought it would be fun for the boy to bring a hat to give to Dustin to keep his bald head warm (since I think the kids will be shaving his head even if they don't quite make the "required" number of kids):

It's a pretty quick knit and I'm pretty sure that I can (painlessly) finish it before the boy gets there Saturday evening. I think once this is done I'll try to graduate up to two colors. Girl child would like a scarf, in two colors and this is just "poofy" enough a stitch to please her.

Christmas knitting

2007-11-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

I don't give knitted gifts as a rule. That's only partially true really, because a few years ago I knitted my sister a pair of socks for her birthday (she'd hinted that she wanted a pair of hand knit socks.) It's odd that I'd waited for so long to knit her a pair since I'd knitted a pair for my brother's wife when she turned 40 (my sister won't hit 40 for a couple more years, so she'd still be waiting). So, I knitted a pair for my sister for a gift and she requested socks for every gift after that. Really it's easy since we wear the same sized shoe.

But other than for my sister I don't knit gifts. I did knit my mother in law a shrug which was supposed to be her gift last Christmas, but I gave it to her over the summer because she'd been diagnosed with cancer. She died November 25. I'm glad I didn't wait. I did knit my dad a sweater about 25 years ago for Christmas. Bless his heart he wore it even tho the bind off on the neck was so tight he just about ripped his ears off trying to pull the thing over his head. I asked about the sweater after he died and my step mom said "I hope you don't mind, but we donated it, that neck band...." My feelings weren't hurt in the least.

This year I've broken my "I don't knit Christmas gifts" rule. My mom has said "I don't have time to knit, or do any hobbies, I just have so much going on in my life right now". My mother lives alone with a cat. Yes she's fixing up her yard, yes she's getting rid of the crap she's hoarded for all the years she's lived there (anyone need an old helmet hairdryer? In turquoise?). She visits me and makes these comments and tells me that I have so much more time because I have a husband (yes I do, and 4 children...okay 3 kids live at home, and a dog). So mom doesn't have time to knit (but she does have the equivelent of a yarn shop's worth of yarn in her house), but I digress. She's getting hand knit socks for Christmas (and some other fancies she doesn't need). And that's pretty much the extent of my Christmas knitting. Oh, I did knit a quick scarf from some yarn a neighbor gave me for the kids to put on the tree at their elementary school and I have started a sweater for girl child. But if I don't finish girl child's sweater it's not a big thing because it would be just as appropriate (probably more appropriate) in the spring. And I've started an Estonian Sampler scarf (for me) but that is only because I'm not wild about knitting with Tofutsie and needed a break. Oh, and a quickie cheap-o plain Christmas sock to shove an ornament into for an ornament exchange (but that hardly qualifies as knitting even!)

Perhaps sometime between Christmas and New Years I'll say what I say just about every year....maybe this year I'll knit everyone something.

yea right.

Busy busy and quiet

2007-11-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

It's pretty quiet around here without our Stella. Jenny spent the better part of the day after Stella was put to sleep looking for her. All the old dog did was sleep, but still the house feels mighty empty without her around. And my knitting! I seem to have forgotten how to knit without my Stella. I've ripped the same sock out about half a dozen times trying to get it right. I had decided to knit my mother socks for Christmas, just to make myself crazy. The pink sweater, or at least the pink beginning of a sweater is for Girl child. I was in Joann's last week and found some "Red Heart Soft Yarn" and thought that it would be perfect for a sweater for girl child (that if she lost I wouldn't have a fit...tho I have to say that she's been the best of all of the kids for not losing jackets and the like).

Jenny Basset was very accommodating about allowing me to perch my knitting on her. She's quite the model.

I've not done much in the way of knitting lately. Just the little you see above. The school and kids have kept me quite busy. This past weekend there were karate seminars that the youngest son attended. His sensei's sensei was here from Alaska and it's always exciting to have Sensei Tanaka here and we plan to let little guy attend a few classes with Sensei Tanaka. And with the school we just have Thanksgiving stuff and a Senior luncheon. Busy busy.

Miss Stella July 23, 1993 - Nov 3, 2007

2007-11-03T12:30:00.000-06:00

Goodbye sweet Stella. Thank you for a little over 14 years of love. You'll be missed.

An old dog

2007-11-01T14:23:00.000-06:00

For the knitting part of this post I'll say that there is a pattern in "More Sensational Socks" (page 23, heel flap for a 70 stitch sock) that I can't for the life of me get to turn correctly. I honestly think that there's a mistake in the book, I've never had such a time turning a heel. I ripped the sock back and I just can't work up the mojo (so to speak) to cast on another sock at the moment.

I made the call this morning. Miss Stella will go and see the vet for the last time on Saturday morning. She would not come downstairs this morning and left a puddle on carpet at the top of the stairs. She wouldn't stand up and walk and I finally had Robert help me to carry her downstairs where I fed her (being a golden retriever I figured that she'd lose the ability to walk before she lost the will to eat, tho lately she's not been the best eater in the world either). We got her settled and she finally got up and staggered/fell into the den and in front of the chair she likes to lay in, so Robert helped her up into it. She stayed there for four hours, before climbing out. She has a hard time on our wood floors lately and today she's not been able to navigate them at all. Robert helped me get her out to the front yard where she'd walk a step and fall, I'd help her up and we'd repeat the process. At one point she decided she was going to play and in trying to run (hard when you can't even stand) she spun and fell. We let her rest for a bit then carried her back into the house. She just staggered from her bed by the front door (when we hauled her downstairs we put her bed at the bottom of the stairs, next to the living room rug) and is asleep at my feet under the desk. Her quality of life has deteriorated to pretty much nothing and I think that it's time. I can't bear to think of not having her around, but I can't bear to think that she'd have to give up what is left of her dignity if I were to keep her here. She's been the best dog a person could ask for for the past 14 years. Pets, they brighten up your life, but they also break your heart.

Socks for girl child

2007-10-25T15:40:00.000-06:00

Girl child loves hand knit socks, but sadly fitting her has been pretty hit and miss. I knit her up some lacy socks a while back and the lace was not stretchy (as lace should be), she likes those socks but it's hard for her to put them on. These are nice and stretchy and fit her quite well, should be no problems with putting them on! The 17 year old is asking for me to knit him some socks, methinks he should learn to knit. Besides I just knit him an earflap hat!

Busy days around here lately with parent teacher conferences, a jury summons, doctors appointments, optometrists appointment, karate lessons. It's been a while since I've looked at the calendar and told the kids "gosh we have nothing going on for a few days"!

Fires

2007-10-23T14:28:00.000-06:00

My oldest son lives with his grandmother (his father's mom) in Pasadena. He's lived out in California with his father for the past little over 5 years. Every now and again he talks about moving back in with us, but I think that he likes the hustle and bustle of Southern California. I never grew to like the hustle and bustle growing up in California, and would rarely venture south of Santa Barbara, nor would I often go north of Paso Robles (actually my comfort range was fairly limited). But Colin has thrived living out there.

I talked to him this morning about how close the fires are to where he is. He assured me that the smoke isn't too bad and that the fires are still a ways away. He said that they're probably half an hour's drive from home (which given the tendencies of uncontrolled fires is far too close for his concerned mom). He promised that he would call me if they have to evacuate. I'm sure that his grandmother has places she can go to, and Colin's father lives in San Diego hopefully not in the path of the fire, tho Colin said that his dad's fiancee's school (she's a teacher) had classes cancelled due to the fire. But he knows that my family is to the North out of the reach of the fire and they are watching the fire and worrying too.

He mentioned when we were on evacuation alert during the Hayman fire here. How weird it felt to box up photographs and to try to figure out what we'd take. My mom was here visiting during that time and was terribly upset because I refused to hire a moving van and empty my house. We didn't have to evacuate so we still have out house and our belongings. I learned alot when Chris and I were first married and there was a terrible fire in Santa Barbara (1989ish). Chris was in Korea on business with his boss and called me because his boss had been unable to reach his wife. He gave me the address of his bosses house and I had to inform him that every house on that street had burned to the ground. His boss's wife had taken some relatives to the airport and could not get back to their house. They lost everything, their house, their horses, dogs, cats. Everything. So, had we had to evacuate during the Hayman fire, we still would have been blessed.

I am sure that my son will be safe. Hopefully soon the fires will be out.

The Cross Hatch lace sock and my favorite model

2007-10-21T16:00:00.001-06:00

Here is my dear Stella holding Girl child's "Cross Hatch Lace" sock. I've just cast on the second sock and perhaps when I get it done I'll have girl child model both of them for me. Amelia mentioned my darling footrest and I thought perhaps I'd tell a little bit about my model/footrest. This picture (minus the sock) is pretty much what I see when I am sitting at the computer and look down. Miss Stella. Miss Stella was a gift from my husband a little more than 14 years ago after my first miscarriage (I've had 4). When she came to live with us she was a 6 week old ball of fluff. She's dried many a tear, and shared much much laughter and many many good times. Now she's 14 (she turned 14 in June), nearly blind, nearly deaf and quite stiff...tho she still plays and is just as sweet as can be. Because she is so calm and patient it is easy for me to toss my knitted goods on her and have her "hold" them for me to photograph. She never complains and will hold perfectly still for hours on end (sometimes prompting us to hold a mirror under her nose). She is in the twilight of her life and I simply can't bear to think of her no longer here to put up with my warming my feet on her, or perching my knitting goods on her. Jenny (the sawed off hound) just isn't the same.

It snowed last night and I need to shovel off the back deck. Old Stella can't navigate the stairs especially in the snow, so she has "deck potty privileges" when she was a young thing she got in trouble for pottying on the deck, but with age comes privileges. She's earned them. So perhaps I'll go and shovel off the deck for my dear little old lady, and then settle in with the mate to that sock.

Where did I learn to count?

2007-10-07T21:49:00.000-06:00

So, I finished my mom's first sock. You know, I mentioned my mothers ridiculously small feet....she wears a woman's 4.5 (childrens 2) and I wear oh, say a 7.5 (or an 8 depending upon the shoe). I measured the sock as I knitted along. I put the sock on my 9 year old son's foot (since he wears a children's size 4 shoe, I figured that it should be in the right size ballpark, as I decreased the toe. I finished up that bad boy and looked at the lovely lovely sock..........

Lookie there, I think that my mom's lovely sock will fit my sister perfectly....think she'd like a pair of lovely blue socks for Christmas? I swear the toe must have added a foot in length to these. Because that foot in the picture is mine...my size 7.5 foot. Perhaps it's Karma, I kept saying that mom wouldn't like them, but I was going to knit her socks anyway because she keeps dropping hints. Methinks that the fact that these came out much much too large is a sign (of course it could be a sign that I should keep them and not gift them to my sister, but really if I do know one thing, I know that my sister loves her hand knit socks...especially if she doesn't have to knit them).

Another Friday

2007-10-05T09:09:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting here balancing the checkbook, no...really I am toiling away at balancing the checkbook. Of course I do find balancing the check book to be less than thrilling so I do have to have a break to check ravelry (because I obviously have time to knit all of the projects I find. and it's fun to look at other people's projects), oh and perhaps a break to open and close the door a thousand times for the dog who feels it is her duty to go in and out like a yoyo (that will change when it snows, then I'll have to throw her out). Yep, I'm balancing the checkbook so that I can knit when I'm done...oh! Look! A cloud in the sky. Okay....focus (and finish my cup of coffee that should help with my focusing powers).

Okay, checkbook is balanced. Some of my yarn is photo graphed. Middle son just shook his head as I'm photographing sock yarn (he said I should dump out the garbage bag full of yarn our neighbor gifted to me and show that, but I'm not quite ready to do that. I told him to get back to school....he goes to online high school).

The only project I have on needles at the moment (for some reason I'm not one to have multiple projects going, sometimes I'll have a sweater AND socks, or a sweater AND a hat, but rarely do I have 5 or 6 things going at a time) is a pair of socks for my mom for Christmas. Since she wears a children's sized 2 shoe I'm anticipating a quick knit. The yarn is some Cherry Tree Hill Supersock I bought a ton of from ebay last year, the pattern is Twin rib from Charlene Schurch's "Sensational Sock" book. I hope that mom likes her socks since once they're done they won't fit anyone else in the family. The only person with feet smaller than my mom's is my 6 year old daughter. So if mom doesn't like the socks instead of strangling her with them we'll give them to girl child.

And now, enough with the rambling, I have things to do and some knitting to get done (and housework, always housework) before our Friday night racketball-a-thon.

Later gators!

I'm in!!

2007-10-04T09:13:00.000-06:00

Got my invite into Ravelry yesterday and started looking around. I'm not terribly computer savvy so we'll see what I can do there, I know it shouldn't be hard but I don't spend all that much time on the computer (tho some days it feels like I never leave the computer).

In knitting news I am now the proud owner of both of Charlene Schurch's books "Sensational Socks" and "More Sensational Socks". Those socks in the picture aren't from either book, but are pretty much my basic sock with a gull stitch down the side. I knit them up in Colonette something wild (I have no idea what happened to the ball band, those things seem to disappear the moment I wind the hank of yarn, I think the kids take them). I had about 6 yards of yarn left when I finished the socks which amazed me because my feet are pretty much standard issue size (7.5 ish). Now that I've finished those socks I do have a pair from "Sensational Socks" in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (a score from E-bay) for my mother for Christmas. She has exceptionally small feet (Children's size 2) so it will be a quick knit!

I need to get with the program

2007-09-27T11:32:00.000-06:00

I finished girl child's sweater and cast on for a pair of socks (Colinette, some wild color, my own design as far as socks go). I obviously forgot how to knit socks and had to rip the first sock out twice before I got it right...and for some reason I can't muck up a sock until I reach the instep. I can't mess up on the ribbing, no I have to wait until the thing is half done before I decide that it won't fit the way I expect it to. Pictures perhaps soon. For my upcoming birthday I ordered (both) Sensational Socks and More Sensational Socks by Charlene Schurch. I expect them to arrive next week and am knitting madly on the second sock of the pair mentioned a moment ago, so that when the books arrive I'm ready to cast on another sock. Oh, maybe I'll go and dig through the sock yarn stash and wind some into a tidy ball so that when the books arrive I don't even have to pause to wind yarn......

My Design.....

2007-09-06T13:43:00.000-06:00

Isn't she just too cute, oh yea and the sweater isn't too bad either. Girl child has asked and asked for a blue sweater shirt. I'd seen cute sweater top in an ad and thought that it would be a fairly quick knit if I knit it up in Cotton-ease. Not the greatest yarn, but hey it's machine washable and we're talking about a kid here who is hard on her clothes (that said the hand knit ones seem to hold up forever). So I cast on with the idea that it would be v-neck-ish and immediately decided that perhaps a nice tie would work for the neck (and keep in on her little shoulders). So I knit and knit and decided that perhaps a little textural interest would be nice across the front and around the bottom (which I have now ripped out because the princess asked me to make the sweater longer, this is the reason that I knit from the top down) As I picked up the stitches for the sleeves I decided that ties on the sleeves might add a bit of fun and interest too.

So, here we have the sweater....before the frogging of the hem in order to add an inch or three in length.

Pattern: In my empty head (pretty much a basic top down, custom fit to my skinny child)
Yarn: Cotton ease because there's no yarn store nearby and no matter how fast shipping is there's not a company who could get me the yarn with the speed with which girl child wished. Besides, I was lazy and cheap. That and at Michaels she could touch and feel the yarn.
Needles: Size 8 for the sweater size 7 for the "hem"

Knitters and Muggles

2007-08-20T22:17:00.001-06:00

Koigu footies. I've decided that I rather like footies, especially for summertime wear. That and they're a great way to use up odd skeins of sock yarn. I'm sure that I'll have some in much wilder color patterns as I use up ends of skeins. My one rule is that if it is 100% sock wool I won't mix it with a blend (unless the blend is for the heels and toes giving extra wear, not that I'm hard on my socks because I'm quite the opposite).

I read knitting blogs. Not a lot of them, but a few. It's fun to read other peoples ideas and I've found more than one pattern by reading blogs. There is one that I enjoy very very much. The woman has been a knitter for years and years and she's really quite funny and her blog is fun. She has named those who do not knit, or who are not knowledgeable about knitting as "Muggles". Muggles I know are from "Harry Potter" and are people who are innocent to witchcraft and wizardry and, I tend to agree with another blogger that I enjoy in that I find that giving people who do not knit a name feels like a "us and them" sort of thing. Now I'm not criticizing either of these women, their blogs, their points of view or whatever they had for lunch today. I'm just throwing out random thoughts tonight. I've been knitting forever and have never thought about being a knitter, or a non knitter or whatever. I knit when it wasn't cool.....I wasn't a knitter.....I was a nerd. I guess I've never really thought of people not being "in the know" as far as knitting is concerned because knitting is just a part of who I am, like the fact that I can sew, or quilt, or I'm right handed and I have brown eyes. Not long ago a friend and I dropped her and my kids off at Water World and we had the whole day to goof off. We headed over to Boulder and stopped into a yarn shop. My friend is not a knitter but she found many many things to amuse her while we were there. It was nice to have the company knitter or not. I say let the people stare, let them ask questions or think of you as a granny or perhaps they think that you're really really cool. I hear that knitting is back in again. One of our high schools (probably more than just one, but the one that I've had kids attend) actually has a knitting group....how cool is that?! Back in the 70's these kids would have been laughed at, and now they're the cool ones.

It's late and I'm not sure that my ramblings all make sense, but for now.....good knit and knit on!

Prayers

2007-07-31T22:23:00.001-06:00

A friend has been going through a lot with one of her daughters. Her daughter has been diagnosed with a form of neuropathy. My mother in law suffered from neuropathy, but hers didn't begin until she was an adult, my friends daughter is still a child. I've never met this friend in "real life", but she's sent care packages to my youngest son when he had to have his tonsils out, and when he's had a rough time in school. If you could look up kindness and beauty in the dictionary I am sure that you would see Aleta's picture there. This shawl was a learning experience for me. I know that Aleta and her dear husband are going through a far more painful learning experience and I wish I could make it easier for them. Each stitch of this shawl is a prayer, and I sent it off to her with hopes that she can feel my love for her family.

Yellow

2007-07-26T08:13:00.001-06:00

I knit hats for the hospital that my last two babies were born in. When I brought them home they were wearing a hand knitted hat knit by a volunteer and I thought that when my babies got old enough that I could knit again (for so long it seemed like I had a choice, I could knit while they were asleep or I could sleep. Sleep often won). So I've been knitting hats for a few years now. As word has gotten out that I knit hats for the hospital I get donations of yarn. Which is really really nice and helpful (only sometimes does the hospital seem to have yarn to use). My very own mother has been one of the bigger contributors of yarn. The hospital volunteer ladies post that the preferred colors for the baby hats are blue or pink (or white. Or the varigated baby colors). So naturally my mom has drowned me in yellow yarn. So to disguise this yarn I knit lacy baby hats and basket weave hats with a touch of blue. Really in the winter it doesn't matter the color of the hat because when the baby leaves the hospital all you see is a pile of baby blankets covering a car seat carrier.

This is what the hospital is getting when I next drop off the hats:

My sister sent me some of the tofutsies yarn and I knit a pair of socks and a pair of footies from the yarn:

I have another picture to post, but it is a gift for a friend and I don't want to mention it here until I know the gift has arrived safely at it's destination. But one hint. It's not yellow.

Girlchild's shrug

2007-06-26T11:43:00.001-06:00

My own design knit in that cheap Bernat cotton stuff (cotton-ease). Size 6ish.

More words later as I have an impatient teenager wanting to leave....

Pictures

2007-06-10T22:31:00.001-06:00

This blog is probably read only by me especially since lately I can't seem to figure out how to manage a camera. I'm sure there's more images in the camera, but it's resisting my putting them where I know how to use them. but anyhow
it's not been a crazy busy knitting bit around here as is evidenced by the lack of blogging. Let's see pictures. There's a entrelac hat up there made for a mother from girlchild's kindergarten class who had a baby girl a couple of months ago. Then there's my old lady Stella, graciously modeling the thistle lace stole before I got it blocked, and later there's a picture of it on my porch swing (cleaner than the old dog) all washed and blocked and beautiful. And it's not a shadow, I got both pieces of the stole knit and went to weave them together and one side is considerable lighter than the other side! (I bought the yarn on ebay as seconds, and so it is. In real life it looks as tho I planned it that way). The socks are a pair I knit for my sister, who now asks for handknit socks for every gift giving occaision. There's a couple of other baby things I've knitted, but they seem to be lost in the land of the pictures that loaded up in a program I haven't learned yet (I can see them, but am not sure how to move them and actually I can't even find the ones I was looking for....of course I didn't look very hard because it is late and I'm tired).

The husband is travelling this week so I'm alone with the kids and a steady stream of questions, most of which I think they ask just to irritate me. No matter how many times they ask dad will be back on Friday, and asking a thousand times an hour will not make Friday come any faster. Oy! So the house is quiet and the husband is gone, I think I'll hoist the old dog up the stairs and go have some tea and knit.

Yarn Harlot and a few pictures

2007-04-19T16:58:00.000-06:00

I feel like I've been away for forever and a day. We've been having "teenage" issues which seem to eat all of my time and energy. I keep telling myself that I will survive, but I'm not so sure about my sanity (I've got one almost done with the teen age years, one that's giving me a thousand gray hairs a second and two who won't be teenagers for several more years).

I did get to take a (much needed) break from the teenaged "stuff" and go to see the Yarn Harlot speak. Oh what fun I had! It was great to laugh and laugh and to be able to bring my knitting and not have people look at me like I was some sort of alien. I even got my book signed and gave her some stitch markers that girlchild made for her.

I have other miscellanous knitting pictures that I'll upload later. My computer time is fairly stunted since it seems that going through high school wasn't enough back in the 70's when I was of high school age. No, it seems that my son can't manage to get himself to school on a regular basis (like enough to actually pass high school) so today after I dropped off my younger ones at school I headed over to the high school to sit in class with my middle boy. As soon as I left to pick his sister up, he left too and didn't return to class. So I guess now I'll drop off the younger ones at school, go sit in his classes with him, fetch the youngest from kindergarten and take her to the high school with me to sit in the rest of his class with him (the boy only has 2 two and a half hour classes a day, one would think that he could manage to show up). The only plus to this is that 1: There's only a month left of this school year (and there's a fair chance that he'll be going to a boarding school next year and 2: Because there's no phones for me to answer, or laundry or toilets for me to clean at the school I got 2 uninterrupted hours of knitting done in class today (I feel that I've already done high school so I'm not taking notes or answering questions). But this high school stuff really bites into every other aspect of my life (like laundry, housekeeping, shopping and such)

Yarn Harlot and more pictures coming soon!!

2007-04-06T11:34:00.000-06:00

I promise!! Pictures and my tale of getting to listen to the Yarn Harlot speak coming soon.......

Still knitting

2007-02-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

And I've actually done more than just a pair of socks and a baby hat, but this is all I've taken photos of (okay, it's all that is photo ready and at that I took the sock picture a few weeks ago and the hat picture last week). It seems that everyone (but not me thankfully) is expecting. A co-worker of the husband's, the gym teacher at the elementary school, the office lady at the elementary school, another parent in kindergarten and a parent in my son's second grade class. Plus, there are birthdays to knit for and a shawl for moi knit out of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (thanks to the great shopping store known as ebay).

I really need more hours in my day. Me thinks if I quit shopping at the great online garage sale known as ebay I might find at least some minutes in my day (and besides I believe that I have enough yarn, supersock anyway, to keep me busy and off the streets for a while)

RIP Sammy boy

2007-02-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

Not long ago Sammy posed for this picture. This was kind of in the middle of his decline. When he adopted me 17 years ago he was a mangy, sad little cat. The house where he technically lived had a bunch of big dogs and the cat was left pretty much on his own. I would leave the back door open so that my oldest son could go out and play in the back yard (I was pregnant with my middle son) and often as soon as I opened the door the cat would appear begging for food and attention (and he loved kids). When we moved to Colorado I'd invested quite a bit of time fattening up this guy, so I took him into the vet had him neutered and got his shots and took him with me. He filled out to a nice 16 to 18 pound cat (his top weight was 18 pounds, the vet whined that he should "lose a few"). He thought he was a dog and if I went outside to visit the neighbors here he'd come to visit too. He was a chatty fellow and enjoyed always getting the last word in in any conversation. This past year his health started to slip. Not a lot, but he lost a little weight and just slowed down a bit as old cats do. In the past couple of months he became a shadow of himself and I questioned how well he could see/hear/smell and he got a little thinner. Day before yesterday my daughter dropped her pillow off the couch and it landed on Sam's tail and he yowled because he was not strong enough to pull his tail out from underneath the pillow (folks this was not a big or heavy pillow). I'd been portioning out his food for quite a while, but in the last couple of weeks he was only able to eat a tablespoon or so of wet food (I kept dry food out all the time for him and he'd nibble at that), but then he'd throw it up.

Yesterday I called the vet and took Sammy in and held him while he went to kitty heaven. I decided that to keep him alive would be cruel to him and he deserved to leave this earth with what little dignity he still had. My dear 18 pound cat weighed 8.5 pounds. The house is sure quiet without him. He had an opinion about everything and like I said, he always got in the last word. There will be no more cats for me. I've had a cat all of my life, but this is the first time in my life that nearly everyone I know is allergic to them. And living where I do cats have to be indoors or they become wild animal food. I was always amazed that Sam lived as long as he did. about 9 years ago something did get him and I found him lying in my flower bed all chewed up, after that I didn't have to fight with him to get him to come in at night. The last few years of his life he only wandered away from the house if I was visiting with the neighbors, then he'd come and sit at my feet like a dog otherwise he liked to go out and sun himself on the deck.

I sure miss him.

I am still here

2007-02-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

I finished up a pair of socks. I even took a picture of them but have been too lazy to load said picture onto the computer, crop and post it (at the moment I'm not even sure where the camera is and I'm not looking for it).

My father in law has been in and out of the hospital like a yoyo. Poor guy has had pneumonia in his one lung and is fighting heart issues. My mother in law has only been gone since Thanksgiving and I'm sure that it's an adjustment after 60 years of marriage to be alone. I am truly looking forward to seeing him this summer. I wish he lived closer (or we lived closer).

I've lost all contact with my brother, except when his wife finds my blogs and decides to leave little nastygrams. I miss him, shoot, I even miss my sister in law, but I miss the them before all of the drug problems and money "borrowing" and crap. That was causing much much heartache, but I'm dealing with it and while the heartache will always be there, I'm learning to let go of the stress part of it.

And knitting. Pictures soon. Not much knitting as far as new and exciting projects. I finished a pair of socks. This seems to be a ......fertile....time of year (Good Lord, NOT me!! I am too old), the attendance clerk at our elementary school is expecting her first, the gym teacher at the schools wife is expecting his first, and a co-worker of my husband's is expecting their first. So, I'm knitting hats and booties. I really need to knit up a few baby things and put up just for these events so that I don't feel like the old lady who lives in a shoe when it comes to knitting baby things. Very very soon I am going to knit up some grown up sized things again because..... birthdays are coming up and socks are always the perfect gift.

Later!

Random projects.

2007-01-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

Lets see how did the photos load on here (I never manage to get them where I want them to be). I made girlchild a pair of socks, she's quite thrilled with them and stopped only for a second for me to snap a picture of them....well, long enough to snap a picture of the bottom of her foot with stuff stuck to the sock. They are purple with a pink ruffle, toes and heels. Knit from Knitpicks essential sock yarn (which I don't think it's very "essential" as far as sock yarn is concerned, I've knit a few pair from the KP essential yarn and think that I'll fork out the dough for Lorna's Laces or some other higher quality sock yarn....that said, for children's socks nothing beats cheap she'll outgrow the socks before they wear out). Then we have and Estonian sampler scarf knit from KP stuff (all I remember is the color is "Happydance") We have the blocked version shown here and the unblocked version as modeled by my very old cat (he's about 18 years).

Knitting time comes in bits and spurts these days. I am currently working on a pair of socks for moi from Lorna's Laces in "jeans" (or something like that, I'm currently too lazy to go find the ball band and am relying on my unreliable memory. The yarn is shades of blue and white if that helps). I have other things I should cast on, but for the moment my mind can only wrap itself around one project on the needles at a time so that is what I'm doing. One. Project. At. A. Time. Ug!

Using up yarn

2006-12-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

I seem to be the queen of the wrong amount of yarn these days. Anyway, this scarf is something I came up with all on my own. It's a fern lace pattern blocked to about 7.5 inches wide and 64 inches long. I finished it up last night and blocked it and haven't worn it yet, so we'll see how I like it later. The yarn is Knitpicks Memories in Fly Fishing. I used about a hank and a half (I had about half a hank left over from some other project).

We've definitely had the weather lately for scarves (and hats, I think I may need to knit up some hats!)

Sleigh Bells Ring and a snow storm

2006-12-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

If you read this blog at all you'd think that I knit very little, but the opposite is actually true. I have a friend who thinks it's odd that, for the most part, I only have 1 or 2 projects going at a time, and I finish them before moving on. Truly this is a most recent phenomenom. Usually I have many projects going on at one time and I work on them as the feeling moves me. Lately the feeling has moved me to work on one project at a time and to finish it up before moving on. But all of that goes out the window at Christmas. About 30 years ago my mother knit me a scarf. My middle boy discovered that scarf and has been using it even though he, like me 30 years ago, says it's too short. So I bought some uber-cheap Red Heart and cast on this mistake rib scarf. I figured that I can give it to him for Christmas, and he can tell me what he does and doesn't like about it, and if he uses it and doesn't lose it I'll knit him up one in a more natural fiber that acrylic that squeaks across the needles. This bad boy is in maroon and black and is a little over 6 feet long. I even put fringe on it (even though I loathe fringe):

The snow it is sitting in is courtesy of Mother Nature. Mother Nature decided that Colorado needed several feet of snow just before Christmas. My youngest son was complaining that it didn't feel like Christmas because there wasn't much snow on the ground. Then he was complaining because the snow closed down the school (and the roads and the state) meaning that there's no class holiday parties this year. Ya just can't win.

But today, the sun is shining and the biggest snow blower I've ever seen drove down our street clearing a path as wide as a Surburban (I know because a Surburban drove down the road shortly after the ginormous snow blower) so we can get out and go to the store and see if there's anything left to buy there. And, much to the happiness of my kids.....we won't have whatever is left in the freezer for Christmas dinner.

Stress knitting

2006-12-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is my latest project. The yarn is Knitpicks swish superwash and the pattern is a picture I have in my head which is why I'm knitting it from the top down and have finished the neckline (ribbing and all) so that I can try it on as I go and see if the actual sweater matches the picture in my mind. So far so good.

I heard through the family that my brother and sister in law are still having "issues". It breaks my heart because they have pretty much written us (my brother's family) out of their lives. Because of the problems (drugs) there is nothing that I can do to help them (already tried and was burned). They need to make important decisions on their own. And so I knit. I knit because it is a stress release. I knit because it's like meditation, or perhaps it is meditation. All I know is that I feel calmer when I have my needles in my hand. Back when my brother was still talking to me, I was sitting in his kitchen with our mom, my husband and my brother's wife. We were going over what their drug habit had cost them financially and how they could get back onto track. I sat with my knitting in my hand and my brother asked me about it. I told him that when I'm nervous or stressed I knit. He asked what did I have to be stressed about. This man that has been my brother all of his life, this man who has a heroin addiction and whose wife shares that addiction (along with an alcohol problem and painkiller problem). This man who is the father to my two nieces asked me what I had to be stressed about. This man who I have recently found out is still using and has cut me from his life. There's not enough yarn or needles in this world to help my stress. But one stitch at a time I meditate and pray.

A sad ending

2006-11-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

My mother in law passed away. The sister in law that won't speak to us called. I tried to tell her that we love her and wish to put bygones in the past. She told me that she wants her brother to apologize for hanging up on her (she was screaming at him so loud in a drunken rage that I could hear her from across the room) . I told her that I wouldn't apologize and that I'd have done the same thing. She hung up on me. This is the same woman who screamed at her own mother "I'm glad you have cancer and I hope that you're afraid to die", so her hanging up on me when I calmly tell her that I'd have done the same thing, means nothing. It means nothing because as far as I am concerned she no longer exists.

But that said. My mother in law was an extraordinary person. She would have said no, but she was a tough old bird with a really big heart and I'll miss her terribly.

A thank you for a friend

2006-11-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Last week my youngest son had surgery and a girlfriend of mine picked up girlchild from kindergarten for me and kept her for a good portion of the day. I was especially appreciative of this because this friend doesn't have a kindergartener this year, nor does she have a girl (she does have 2 wonderful boys). To thank her I knit her a pair of socks which my neighbor's dog was so kind to model for me (they are too big for my feet and Blaze was holding still, so I thought he'd hold them for me).

Thanksgiving is now over, the boychild is feeling like himself again, bless his little heart. My mother in law is holding onto life in a hospital 3 states away and I am afraid that we are going to lose her very very soon. I wish that knitting could ease that pain away.

Frog pond

2006-11-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

It seems that's where all of my projects are going these days. Perhaps if I could count to 80 (or 16, or 5) consistently I wouldn't have to rip out so much. Or maybe, just maybe, if swatches didn't lie. My knitting karma just isn't lately and I've fallen back to the old standby project. Socks. I'm knitting a girlfriend a pair because she kindly picked up girlchild from kindergarten yesterday and kept her because youngest boy child needed surgery and neither my husband nor myself could figure out how we could be in two places at one time. I'll post pictures once the socks are finished (if I remember). I've tried about a dozen times to knit a shawl. Print o the wave. I was rewinding the yarn (laceweight) when it flew off of the winder. I had a fit and threw the mess across the room. The husband fetched it, untangled and rewound the mess and banned me from knitting it for a while (I told him to just throw the mess away). I'm sure that didn't make the yarn Gods happy and I'll have to cast on that stole/shawl at least another dozen times before I manage to remember how to count to 80 more than 5 times. I'm just hoping to keep it out of the frog pond when I decide to (once again) cast it on.

A little knitting happens

2006-11-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

Both of my younger children like to have a small rug outside their bedroom door. I'm not sure why, but they do. The girlchild has a pink and lavender rug made from strips of fabric and fashioned together using the end of a toothbrush (no, not the bristly part, I thought that it was funny to find that they actually sell a toothbrush tool!) The one in front of boy child's room (not the silly boy with the ugly hat) is made from left over loops from one of those little looms the kids make potholders on....or in the case of my children they ask me to show them how to make the potholder, I make one, they make about half of one and wander off asking me to finish it for them because "it's too hard". The rug is nice and springy, but the gauge is all lopsided because 1. Some of the loops are thick and some are thin and 2. It is really weird to keep an even tension with nylon loops. But the 8 year old thinks that its fabulous.

And then we have the hat. It was the fastest knit ever at 3 stitches to the inch. We now have a Wally World nearby, which is great when you have a kindergartener and live you life in 2.5 hour increments. I can never stray far from home because it's always time to either drop a child off at school, or pick them up. Our little town doesn't have much, but in the last 2 months they've opened up a Wally World (and a Kohl's) close enough that I can actually shop if I need something instead of waiting for the weekend. The tall silly boy works across the parking lot from Wally World and because he doesn't have his license yet, I find myself driving him to and from work, and naturally after work he likes to stop by Wally's (especially if he has some tip money to spend). He decided that I should knit him an ear flap hat. I planned wool, I planned on ordering some nice soft wool, in nice normal colors. Maybe something felted slightly. He planned cheap-o yarn from Walmart in ridiculous colors. But it really does fit his personality. The pattern is just one I culled from the free stuff on the internet, I'm not wild about it, but perhaps I'll knit him another one. In wool. From a yarn shop (or a catalog, since until kindergarten is over the yarn shops are too far for me to get to and return in time to fetch kids from school).

little pink socks

2006-10-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

Girlchild has asked me and asked me to make her some socks. She wanted pink (actually she'd like the pink and green Lorna's Laces, but she got pink and purple KnitPicks). The pattern is a combination. I loved the pink lace socks from Jeanie Townsend's yahoo group, but it was written for a grown up foot, so I took the ruffled edge and scaled it down to girlchild's size, I then plugged the lace stitch from the grown up version into my standard sock pattern and instead of just having a lacy ankle I decided to run the lace down to the toe. After a couple of starts and having to rip back, here is the result. And the nice thing is I have enough yarn left over to make her a pair of purple socks with a pink ruffle and pink heel and toe accents!

Another birthday

2006-10-17T22:17:00.000-06:00

It's another birthday. A birthday which was spent at the dentist's office this morning (for me) and again this afternoon (for my youngest son). Luckily I enjoy my dentist and all of his office staff (the hygenist will be my neighbor in about 3 weeks) and I could think of worse ways to spend my birthday.

I keep another blog for personal stuff, this one is mostly knitting stuff (my other blog can be found at www.xanga.com/cherim but because it's my birthday I will share what I posted over there:

Because today is both my birthday and the anniversary of my dad's death I am going to share a childhood story. When I was small, about 7 years old, we went to an auction. There was all kinds of livestock there and I don't remember the reason that we were there in the first place, but we ended up with an "Americana pony" named Topper (his registered name was "Rick-lan-repetition") He was a beautiful bay colored pony (smaller than a horse, but bigger trhan a welsh or shetland pony, he looked like a small beautiful horse). He was green broke and needed a lot of work before any of us children would be able to ride him. My mom was too pregnant (with my sister) to ride him and my dad, while not a big man, was too big to ride him, so he mostly just ate grass. My dad decided that he was too much horse for my brother and I and that we'd sell him and get something a little tamer (perhaps a shetland pony?) so some people came to look at Topper. Dad patted his neck and told them that he was as gentle as a lamb and that he'd show them. So dad (who was not a horseman in any way, he just wore the clothes) climbed aboard Topper who went straight up in the air and bucked just like you see in the rodeos. Dad stayed on for two bounces before coming off. Being supportive children and worrying about dad's welfare after he landed on the ground knocking the wind out of himself, we clapped and yelled "do it again daddy do it again!!" The people did not buy the horse, he eventually went to live with our neighbors. Several years later dad rode my horse (Paisana, an Arabian/Quarter horse mix) in a show.(It was 4-H and parents got to ride their childrens horses in a "parents show") . He won the booby prize. He never got the horse going in the direction or on the same gait as the other horses. That pretty much ended his horse career.

I have so many silly stories and my sister and I shared some of them tonight, some I'll share as I feel the need for a good hearty laugh. I miss him every day, but know that the last gift he could give to me was to be out of the terrible pain that cancer is. But I refuse to be sad on this day. The good points were today.....there was a key in my post office box signalling a package. And there it was some yarn and needles that I ordered (like I need more yarn or needles!). It snowed about 6 inches which is always beautiful. My favorite uncle called me (actually he's my great uncle and almost the only uncle I have left, but he's always been my favorite and he always calls me and sings me happy birthday). I've had several online friends and friends I see daily wish me happy birthday.

It's been a good day.

I am still knitting....

2006-10-12T22:19:00.000-06:00

And perhaps when it's not so late, and I'm not so lazy, and the camera boots up to the computer faster I'll post a picture or ten. Lately it's been washcloths. My sister in law mentioned that she'd love hand knitted washcloths and I thought "What a great Christmas present!! A bunch of washcloths and some bath salts, maybe a candle". Then the psychotic sister in law calls and screams at my husband (her brother) so loudly that I could hear her from across the room before he hung up on her. (long drawn out family stuff, let's just say that this isn't unusual behavior for her). Now she's not speaking to us (or at least to him, I'm not sure where I stand in all of this....I try to avoid conflict as much as I can). I'm not sure now....do I gift the washcloths to myself....or hang on to them and still give them to her as planned. I'm leaning toward the give them to her as planned idea, just because.

I think I'll knit myself a sweater.....

And I thought that knitting was a stress reducer!

2006-09-26T12:41:00.000-06:00

I woke up Saturday to the sound of our old golden retriever barking at the bottom of the stairs. So I went to go help her up them, problem was that as I reached the top of the stairs to walk down them I realized that I wasn't able to go down them. I was so dizzy that I went and crawled back into bed hoping that a few more minutes of sleep would chase away the vertigo. It didn't. All day long if I bent over at all I fell over. I didn't feel sick, my ears haven't been giving me any trouble (not that they do, but I figured perhaps it could be an inner ear thing). Sunday was a little better, but I was still kind of dizzy. So I hauled myself into the doctor on Monday morning. Told him that my blood pressure is still high (it's not been medicated and it's been running high for a couple of years), told him of my vertigo and of the 2 migraines I've had in the past week and a half. I had my blood pressure taken three times while I was there and was sent off with a prescription for high blood pressure medication (that the dear physicians assistant that I love, said would also help the headaches and that he didn't think that I had had a stroke or a series of them on Saturday, but that we do need to attend...finally...to the high bp). Oy. It's a scary thing to hear the word stroke, hearing that you didn't have one is refreshing, but stroke = scary. I'm a knitter. I haul my knitting everywhere with me. I especially knit if I'm under a lot of stress (oh like say, finding out that a family member has drug problems, or another family member or two has cancer...you know...stressful stuff). I thought that knitting was supposed to calm you down. I obviously don't knit enough. Do you think that this little scare could be my ticket to more knitting time? (yea right, I know, no matter what there's still only 24 hours in a day and a lot of stuff to get done....)

Peace

2006-09-18T10:16:00.000-06:00

(paragraph that was here removed)

My mother in law received the shrug that I had knit for her. I finished it a couple of months ago, but hadn't gotten around to sending it off. When she got this diagnosis of cancer I boxed it up and sent it off along with a jar of chokecherry jelly that I made from the chokecherries that my youngest two children and I had picked. It was so nice to hear that it all arrived safely at their house and my mother in law sounded better than she has in ages. It doesn't change the diagnosis, nor does it shorten the time spent waiting for doctors appointments and test results, but they know I'm thinking about them. She said the wound on my father in laws head where they have biopsied the melanoma is healing. Hopefully it won't be all bad news once the results start rolling in.

I am ready for this year to be over, it has been most trying and I am sure that 2007 will be better....(good Lord it's only September!?)

more cancer

2006-09-17T08:45:00.000-06:00

My father in law has it too.

Cancer

2006-09-13T13:05:00.000-06:00

While I was visiting my inlaws over the summer and knitting one day my mother in law mentioned that she used to wear shrugs. I can't remember now how shrugs came up, I was knitting a washcloth or something else that is mind numbingly easy. They were just perfect for keeping your shoulders warm and that she'd enjoy having one again. We returned home and I found the perfect washable wool (at 82 years old, with neuropathy I didn't think she'd appreciate something that needed a lot of special care when washing) and I cast on. I got the thing knitted, but didn't send it off. I thought about it, but where she lived the temeratures were still about the same as the surface of the sun, and while they air condition their house I wasn't in a hurry to get it sent off. Every now and again I'd tell my husband that we should send it off or it would be her Christmas present (or her birthday present in January). A little voice had told me to hold off sending it for now, I'm sure of it.

A few weeks ago my mother in law was into the doctor for an MRI (or CAT scan I don't remember which) and a spot was found on her lung. Yesterday she called me and left a message that she had bad news please call her back, I thought that my elderly father in law had passed, I called her back. She broke down as I was talking to her so badly that when my husband called her a little later she couldn't talk to him. 8 years ago? it must be 10 years ago now or more because she had breast cancer before cancer took my dad (which was 8 years and 11 months ago). She had a mastectomy. Several years later (still several years ago) a small pocket of cancerous cells were found at the mastectomy site and they were removed, she was declared cancer free and I believe that she was given that Tamoxofin or whatever the medication is. She and her doctor were comfortable with foregoing the chemo (which I agree with even back then I don't think that she could have survived the chemo). The cancer is back, now it is in her lungs. She's so scared. I wish I could have crawled through the phone line to hold her while she cried. I wish that she could have talked to Chris, it was the most horrible thing I have had to tell Chris.

I packaged up that shrug and a jar of chokecherry jelly that I made from the chokecherries that my youngest two children and I picked and sent them off to her. And a prayer that whatever will be will be and that we will be able to accept what God has decided with grace.

A Shawl I'm donating

2006-09-07T17:24:00.000-06:00

Every year our elementary school has a "Santa's Breakfast". The school choir sings and plays hand bells, a breakfast of juice, coffee and cinnamon rolls is served, there is a raffle of gift baskets put together by the different grades/classes and staff/volunteers/parents. Last year another knitter mom knit up a hat and mittens (I believe, I may have to ask her what her contribution was, because my mind is like a steel sieve these days...not that it matters anyway) Anyway.....one of the PTA leaders told me "The other Cheri (actually I believe she spells her name Sherry, but same diff) knit up some things for last years Santa breakfast, would you consider knitting up something so that I could bid/buy all of the raffle tickets for it." And before I knew what was happening, I heard my voice say "you know I was thinking of knitting a shawl and donating" (I was?!! Why did I never mention it to myself? The truth is I'd thought about knitting up a shawl for a friends private schools annual fundraiser dinner/silent auction that I just adore going to even tho I don't have children there. So there I am thinking "I have so many things that I need to get done for gifts and other charity knitting that I do on a regular basis (baby hats) how am I going to get this puppy done before January. So I dug in my rather limited stash and came up with some merino lace weight blue jeans stuff from Knitpicks and a leaf lace shawl pattern from an Interweave knits and I cast on. School has been on for three weeks and I've hauled this project everywhere with me because I just knew that if I set that puppy down I wouldn't pick it up again until the week before Santa's breakfast when I'd be sobbing over my needles with a huge knotted up mess of yarn wondering if there was any booze in the house. So here she is, blocking on my living room floor (with the white towel you see in the corner over her to keep the dogs and cat from shedding on her). As soon as she's dry I'm schlepping her over to the school and handing her over. (Carmella, I believe that it's the perfect size for you and you'd look lovely in blue).

Now back to baby hats and socks.....

My fling with Lorna

2006-08-28T10:38:00.000-06:00

After many starts and stops I have finished a pair of socks for myself.

Does it mean you knit too much when you finish up one project and as you're casting on another your husband says "Now what are you knitting?" I really think it was because I cast on for a shawl I'm knitting for a school auction and not another pair of socks since he so kindly stocked me up on Lorna's Laces while we were on vacation. I love knitting with Lorna. I love the stitch definition, I love the softness and on this pair I loved the colors, they didn't pool or make weird designs (you know, not the designs like patterned yarn makes, but weird random designs that look like mistakes). Soon I'll cast on another pair of socks, but first I have 4 hats to finish up with pom poms and ends worked in so that I can drop them off at the hospital, then there's the school shawl thingy and...well....there's always a project of 20 that are calling my name.

A New Place to Stash Stuff

2006-08-25T11:03:00.001-06:00

I inherited my grandmother's desk. When I was a child this desk was always in the corner of the den in her tiny house. She kept dice for Yatzee in the drawer with the pens and pencils and assorted mailing return labels. The desk has three drawers and in them she kept letters. When she died she had 92 years worth of old letters. I'd love to say that I've kept every letter that has ever been sent to me, but I haven't. I have kept a great many of them tho. So, now the desk is crammed in a corner of my living room. The largest (bottom) drawer houses school supplies, the middle one has a paper trimmer in it. The cubbies have knick knacks, but they will soon be replaced with things like envelopes, tape, things the younger children like to get into but are not supposed to. They are not allowed to dig through this desk. It is for writing (which means homework can be done here), it is not for stashing (except for the drawers and they are mine all mine and I may fill them up with yarn, except the school supply drawer. The school supply drawer is what keeps me sane).

The girlchild is in half day kindergarten this year which means 3 hours by myself. I thought to myself when she climbed on that big bus the other morning (I swear she looked even smaller than she is when she climbed aboard the bus with a huge smile on her face) that I could get some knitting done and lots of stuff done that I can't do with her "helping" me. And I have. Sort of. Today is her 4th day in school and I know that I'll get into the "groove" again. It's been years (8) since I've had 3 hours on a daily basis to myself. I've had 13 years of children in school, but precious few without them underfoot constantly. For the past 3 days I've walked the dog for an hour, knitted for about an hour and did housework for about an hour. This morning I went grocery shopping and I have laundry going. I have gazed upon my knitting this morning. Especially the two baby hats (knit at the same time on one long needle), I need to get them finished and to the hospital. The doily thing is actually a washcloth, I am thinking about making a few and giving them to a sister in law for Christmas since she said she loves hand knit washcloths. But the pressure, I promised myself last year I wouldn't knit up a bunch of Christmas gifts because you know how it is. You tell yourself you'll knit all of these gifts in August, or September, after all you have months before the holidays. And then you find yourself a week before Christmas crying over your needles and nothing is shipped, heck nothing is even wrapped. But still......

Girlfriend's sweater

2006-08-16T13:27:00.000-06:00

I finished girlchild's sweater. I really like it for the most part. I used Knitpicks "swish" which was lovely to knit with. I had ordered 7 skeins, and unless the kids hid a skein or 3 I used about 6.5 of those skeins. I have steamed the life out of this project because, for some reason, the edges roll more than a bear in a circus. I ripped the bottom out 3 times and then gave up because I was afraid that the yarn would become exhausted from all of the ripping. I don't know that I'll ever knit this particular pattern again, but I know that there are elements of it that I will use again. All I need to do is slap a few button loops on it and a few buttons and she'll be ready for her first day at kindergarten.

A boy turned 16

2006-08-10T09:02:00.000-06:00

That would be my middle boy. And to celebrate him turning 16, after he spent the morning at the high school finishing up his registration, I took him to the Department of Revenue (I don't know why they just don't call it the "Department of Motor Vehicles") to get his learners permit. Being the mean parents we are, we didn't allow him to get his permit last year, he didn't have the grades and he won't be able to drive to school until next year anyway. We spent a lovely 20 minutes at one office only to find out that we needed to go across town, I knew that the line was too short at the first office. I'd been told expect to wait 2 hours. So when they called our number after 20 minutes I should have known. So off to the next office where we waited in line for half an hour just to get a number so that we could go wait (the receptionist makes sure that you have everything you need before you're given a number). Once we were issued our number we sat down and I got a good almost 2 hours of knitting done (in between listening to kids...mine...complain that they were tiredboredhungry).

I don't have a picture of said knitting, it still looks like a hunk of pink yarn. I discovered while I was knitting away that I need to rip out the bottom of it as I don't like how it's hanging. I think I'll try an attached icord when I get to that point. At the moment I'm working on a sleeve. What is the project you ask? It is Wendy's "Girlfriend Swing Coat" I am hoping to have it done for Girlchild to wear to her first day of school next week (of course it will probably be too warm to wear it, and perhaps it will clash with her planned outfit, not that she's excited about going to school, but we'll see.....) and once it doesn't look like a pile of yarn, I shall post a picture!

A Shrug for the mother in law

2006-07-31T16:41:00.000-06:00

Excuse the crummy picture, but that's what I get for doing the timer thingy on the camera. And I really should know better than to try to take my own picture after an afternoon with an old dog at the vet (the old dog is fine, she's...well...she's old).

While we were at my inlaws house my mother in law mentioned that she would like a shrug to keep her shoulders warm. Now, where they live the temperatures in the summer are just slightly cooler than the surface of the sun so they run the air conditioner. It's a more "normal" temerature there in the winter when they don't keep the house refrigerated. I mean, middle of summer, it's a kajillion degrees outside and inside you need a parka, hat and mittens, it's no wonder that she wants something to keep her shoulders warm (tho in my opinion one should adjust the thermostat so that the inside of the house is warmer than the freezer and the husband did keep resetting the thermostat and the father in law kept resetting it.....stubborn 84 year old man!).

At the moment I am knitting some Lorna's Laces gifted to me from my friend Heather oh my I think that I could definitely get used to knitting with Lorna (and I will since the husband bought me 6 skeins 2 of which girlchild is convinced are for her). Heaven, it's pure heaven (and no Crissy, the socks aren't for you). The girlchild has asked me to knit her a sweater so we're waiting for some bubblegum pink superwash from Knitpicks to arrive. The boys have informed me that they do not wish for a handknit sweater as it is not "cool" and the middle boy being in 10th grade this year is all about "cool".

I figured out how to knit two baby hats on one needle (the magic loop method), I'm not sure that it's a faster way to knit them, but now I can at least say that I know how to do it (more or less, I tend to forget things quickly and I'm not sure that I can remember how I cast on without looking at the pictures and reading the instructions I found on the internet).

But for this afternoon, I'm setting the knitting aside to sew a shirt for the daughter and perhaps a couple of pair of boxers for the boys.....

Free socks, a shrug and a cheap car

2006-07-21T10:10:00.000-06:00

You know when you're handed your baby shortly after you've given birth, you marvel at this little person (my almost 16 year old was 10 pounds at birth, so I marveled at what a large baby this was!). You try to imagine as they grow what they'll be like when they're teenagers, what will they be like when they're adults. You look at their litte Jack-o-lantern smile as they climb on the bus heading to second grade and wonder. But what no one tells you is that it feels like you put them on the bus for first grade in the morning and in the afternoon when they climb off the bus you have this 6'1" boy with a deep voice and whiskers (but when you look into his eyes you still see your baby).

My middle boy is turning 16 in a couple of weeks. For his birthday he gets to get his learners permit. He will not get his drivers license until he is 17, mostly because we were lazy about getting his permit and we'd like for him to drive for a year supervised before he gets his license and he's only a sophmore in high school and his school will not allow sophmores to drive to school. That said, we did find a nice opportunity to buy a used car for him to drive and to learn in. For $1,000 the car he will have to drive is a higher end car than either my husband or I have ever owned. A 1993 Volvo. It's an automatic, I hate automatics, but even more I hate the thought of teaching my uncoordinated boy to drive a manual transmission. It has every bell and whistle known to man and gets better gas mileage than my mom-mobile. I will be driving the volvo instead of the mom-moble for a while. I've contemplated selling the Trooper, but I do like having the 4 wheel drive in the winter.

Oh, knitting, I must not forget the knitting part of this post. Free socks. Yes, you heard me, free. Well, not really free but kind of. I had ends of sock yarn and had considered just donating the ends to the school and then I thought "hmmmm, I'll bet I could get at least a pair of footies out of these ends".....and so I did. And the mother in law mentioned that she would like a shrug to keep her shoulders warm. My inlaws keep their house refrigerator cold, I'm surprised that she didn't ask for a parka, but really a shrug is easier to knit. She's 82 so I'm knitting along on that and hoping that I'll soon have it finished and can move on to something other than hospital hats and the shrug....I'm trying to resist starting another project, but Lorna keeps calling to me, taunting me. I need more hours in my day and more days in my week.

Jimmy Bean's Wool

2006-07-11T08:33:00.000-06:00

That was my vacation destination. Oh, okay, really my inlaws house in Rocklin was my destination. But I did let it slip, at least once or a dozen times, that since we'd be driving through (okay, past) Truckee on our way to and from California, that perhaps, just perhaps I'd like to visit Jimmy Bean's. We were going to stop by on our way home July 5, but alas, the shop is closed on Wednesdays (the Truckee store)! So the dear husband took me there on July 3. It is true love when a husband will drive an hour and a half into the Sierra Nevada's and brave the holiday traffic in Truckee so that you can visit a teeny tiny wee little shop. Truckee is charming. Jimmy Bean's is charming. I chose 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces, the daughter chose 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces and the husband grabbed 2 more stating that he didn't drive that far for me to just pet the pretty yarn. (I also bought a "Yarn to Go" kit to knit flowers with).

Here's what I did on vacation (bought yarn and finished some socks I'd hauled with me)

Escape or how families can drive you mad

2006-06-26T19:31:00.000-06:00

We are three states from home, California...home being Colorado of course. We're staying at the inlaws. I may start staying in our camper parked out in front. My inlaws don't drive me as crazy as the sister in law next door. Why oh why did they decide that living next door to their daughter was such a swell idea (I think they've rethunk that one). I love her, but oh the stress!!

But, I have figured out where Jimmy Beans wool is up in Truckee. It's only a little over an hour from here. There's other stuff we can do up there. Ah the promise of a yarn shop!!

But for now.....dinner must be cooked. I'll pop in later. Perhaps I'll have tales to tell and yarn to take pictures of....

Stuff going on in the family

2006-06-15T15:38:00.000-06:00

has been just sucking up my time and energy. My money and my sanity. Suffice it to say that I have two extra children to take care of. Knitting has taken a back seat for the moment. I have finished a sweater but haven't even put it on to have pictures taken of it. No time.

So I am working on mending my heart and hoping that the family members who are going through stuff get lives back on track and I can pick up my pointy needles again.

Summer

2006-06-07T09:08:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my dad's birthday, he would have been 72 years old if he were still with us. My sister is going through many many pictures from our step mom's house. Boxes full of memories. Dad was an animal lover, he always had critters around and could often be found out in his garden carrying something around with him. The animals put up with him, enjoying the attention. He had a goose named "Gussy" that was one of his favorite pals to haul around the yard with him. I can still hear him saying "Come on old Gussy girl, let's go see what's going on in the garden".

Summer. I miss dad every day, but summer it seems more intense sometimes. I miss the garden, I miss the animals, I miss the relaxed atmosphere there in the back yard. When I was little, we had goats. I'm not sure exactly why we had goats, but my brother and I each had a goat mine was Nanny and Ted's was Snooper. They were half angora half pygmy or something (this was like 35 years ago, really all I remember is they weren't big, and they were white). I do remember my dad decided that we should breed them and he borrowed a ram from the ranch where Nanny and Snooper had come from. The ram's name was "Stinky" and boy was he!! As a kid I looked at this smelly, stinky hairy goat and thought "Good Lord!! What do you do with that fur!! Now I look back and think yarn, sweaters, spinning (after a good wash, of course).

Summer, it brings back these memories. Back then I was still learning how to knit. I don't know that I'd ever heard of spinning, it was something in the enclyclopedia with a picture of someone in a long skirt sitting in front of a wheel. But I was learning how to knit on cheap acrylic and probably driving my mom crazy with my dropped stitches. I don't knit as much in the summer unless we're driving on vacation. From my house to my inlaws house is about 20 hours of driving time, since I drive about half of it and computer boy drives the other half I can squeeze in about 10 hours of knitting time (minus the time I have to crawl back into the camper for pottying kids and making sandwiches).

Summer. Brings yard work. On one hand I'd love to hire the yard work done, but really we don't landscape the entire acre and a half. Heck we don't even landscape the front yard so to speak, we just go out and mow and cut the suckers off of the oaks and the yard looks pretty. But on the other hand I really find working out in the yard to be relaxing, even tho it does cut seriously into my knitting time (mostly I think, because I don't really look at trimming trees as work....goofy as that sounds).

And so I'm off with a nice glass of iced tea to trim trees and think of dad and his garden. At my altitude my garden will never compare to his, but I hope someday my kids have such happy memories of my attempts.

Happy Memorial Day and Happy Birthday to a 5 year old!!

2006-05-28T20:17:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow my baby turns 5. How can that be she was just born yesterday!! I, of course, say this about her 3 brothers too and they are 19 (next week), 15 and 8.

Not much knitting going on around here, I've been pretty pokey with getting things done. I'm not quite halfway on another sweater from the same pattern as the blue one I knit not long ago, this one is in a cotton/wool blend. I'm finishing up another crop of hats to drop off at the hospital. But with the end of the school year festivities, the husband's business trip a couple of weeks ago, and this car accident stuff I've just not squeezed in a lot of quality knitting time lately. But on June 14 the judge will formally drop the charges against me (I'm not sure when the guy who hit me will be charged, I do know that the police are investigating what happened. I'm just glad that the guy who rear ended me will be charged and I will be able to put this in the past).

While the husband and I were out birthday gift shopping on Friday the dog(s) (we're babysitting a friends 14 year old son and 3 year old dog this weekend) got into a bag of raisins. I believe that my basset hound, Jenny, ate the lions share of them (my golden didn't eat any), my friends lab ate some too, but the basset got so very very ill. Grapes and raisins are toxic to dogs. They can cause kidney failure. It was too late Friday night to have her stomach pumped. So we waited while she vomited and had diarreah. We've watched her for 2 days now. Finally today she's pottied without passing massive amounts of raisins (bet you wanted to know that!). She's wanting to play. From what I've read she's probably not out of danger yet, but her kidneys are still working and I think she's feeling better.

When the going gets tough, the tough knit socks

2006-05-20T12:25:00.000-06:00

I have griped and complained about this whole car accident thing, the unfairness of it all. I've knit all sorts of things that I don't have to concentrate on, baby hats and most recently these socks. But finally things are turning around. Late(ish, it was 9:00) the phone rings and the caller id says the name of my city. Since the town hall closed hours ago I piqued my interest as to who could be calling me at that hour. It was a seargeant from the local police depart calling to tell me that they've been reviewing the accident information and have come to the conclusion that they should drop the case against me and charge the guy who hit me. Gosh, what a concept!! The guy rear ended me and I even had a witness come forward (which the officer mentioned last night) to say I was innocent. Too bad they didn't do this before I went to court the first time. I really think that the only reason that they "reviewed" the case was because I told the court I was not guilty and now the case was going to trial. They could not just blindly charge me without looking at the facts.

I feel like singing. I feel like dancing. I feel like I can knit something that requires math. I have told the kids, tell the truth, no good comes from lying. Lying catches up to you and bites you on the behind. The guy who hit me is (possibly) going to find that out soon.

Sad non knitting news

2006-05-13T11:51:00.000-06:00

My mom called me this morning to let me know that my step mom passed away in her sleep last night. Good bye Betty, tell dad hi for us.

The judge is not scary

2006-05-10T11:27:00.000-06:00

I've known our local judge for many many years. We were scout leaders with him and his wife when my older boys were in elementary school. In his "real" life he is a high powered divorce attorney, which nearly cost him his life several years ago when a disgruntled ex husband stalked and shot the judge (cost the judge one eye, and if his son hadn't been in his office at the time it would have cost him his life). When he called my name and I stood up and stepped forward he told me "Why you dragging Cheri, you know that I don't bite". He read what I was charged with (reckless driving) and what the fine/points are for that ($200/8), he then read the plea (careless driving) and the fine/points ($200/4). Let's see, I really am only guilty of making a right turn on a green light with the right of way, having a guy cut me off nearly hitting me and then plowing into the back of my car and managing to get me blamed for it.....I plead not guilty (of course I managed to do it before John read me my rights, so we did things a little backwards). So he gave me a trial date and I'll get to stand before him once again. Engineer boy told me he "relishes a trial"....oy!! I really just want this to go away. Did the cop really think that I would plea out? Did the guy who hit me (who didn't get cited and so doesn't get to participate in this nincompoopery) have a bad driving record knew the cop and asked him to "protect" him? In my experience dishonesty has a way of coming back and biting you on the backside. The cop is protecting his friend, the chief of police, obviously didn't take our letter of complaint seriously. Now we'll face them at a trial. Either way it's a gross waste of time (I did sit and knit while I awaited my turn).

So, high ho high ho it's off to trial we go.

Preparing for court

2006-05-08T21:32:00.000-06:00

I don't go until Wednesday morning. I have girlchilds care taken care of. Off to a friend from dance class in the morning so she doesn't have to miss her dance class, recital is around the corner and she needs all the practice she can get. Then her friend's mom (bless her) will drop her off at my neighbor's house. It is the neighbor girls birthday and after neighbor girl comes home from kindergarten girlchild and she will go to the park and do fun things while I sit in court. Oy! Wednesday evening the boys have karate, so I won't even get to relax then (or maybe I will, maybe I'll drop girlchild in child care while the boys are doing their karate and I'll go sit in the hot tub).

But, tonight....preparing for court (because tomorrow night I'm playing bunko and I'm going to have fun.....damn it!). I've written out cue cards. I need to draw up some diagrams. If the police haven't given the judge all of the information I know for a fact that they have in their possession, the case should still be thrown from court, because how could I have caused that idiot to rear end me short of putting the little car in reverse and backing into him? But I digress.....diagrams (makes me think of "Alice's Restaurant" with 27 8 x 10 color glossy photos with circles and arrows and a diagram on the back of each one)....diagrams....my mind is tired, and my best pictures these days are stick figures and smiley faces. I don't think there will be smiley faces on my diagrams.

I may work on the diagrams more tomorrow, girlchild will be home, maybe I should let her paint them (not). Soon it will all be over....or just beginning. But how someone could believe the police report is beyond me. Without measuring and figuring (like the husband did) I could tell you that there was no way it could have happened as the guy who hit me said it did. Maybe in Hollywood with some good special effects and the super duper souped up mini cooper and some trick photography. But no way with the traffic on the road at that time of day, with a middle aged mom chatting about Easter eggs with her 4 year old daughter in the back seat would the mini be going 20 miles over the speed limit, skid around a corner in front of a Ford F150 slam on their brakes while flipping of the truck driver and let him rear end her. Impossible.

Now I shall end this drivel, fix some more tea and draw....

How to ruin the knitting muse

2006-05-03T08:12:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the husband told me that I had to get dressed in clean clothes and not the sweats I'd been wearing for 2 days and go out somewhere. Go to the Y (but if I exercise I have time to obscess about what's going on), go shopping, and here's where I knew he thought I was really really sick, he told me to go to a yarn store. I got dressed. Not snappy and stylish, but clean. I went to Kohl's. I bought bras (I know, about as exciting as an audit). I also found 2 pair of capris on a clearance rack for $3.50, I bought a sleeveless t-shirt. Girlchild and I ventured over to Target so she could buy a neighbor girl a birthday present (girlfriend will be at her friend's house when I go to court, that day just happens to be her little friend's birthday). Then we ventured over to our nearly empty outlet center where we bought the husband a little something for his birthday on Cinco de Mayo.

My witness to the accident sent me a message through his son. I've only met the witness briefly at the accident when I stood next to his car crying and asking to use his phone. My son figured out who his son was the day after the accident (his son is a year ahead of mine and they both were running on the track team). It seems that my witness took the time to go down to the police station to give a statement. The officer basically told him that he wouldn't take the statement, that he believes the guy that rear ended me. We (my husband and I)have emailed a statement to the chief of police. We are contacting a lawyer. I have hives. I can't knit. Oh, I can knit the baby hats and I'm churning those out at a faster rate than usual. I have half a footie on needles, but the knitting mojo isn't there, it's been replaced by hives, and thoughts of hiring an attorney. Thoughts that I really don't believe in lawsuits. I mean, there's nothing wrong with them in the right context, and I'm sure that this is the right context. I don't want money. I want my car back. I want to not be afraid to drive it again. I want to wear my sweater that matches my car and putter around. I want to be able to read and comprehend what I'm reading, I want to be able to focus. I want the guy who hit me to take an anger management class and perhaps a driving course.

I want to feel like me again.

I survived my challenge

2006-05-01T12:11:00.000-06:00

I challenged myself to not purchase anything knitting (or any non-job related craft) for the month of April. I finished up a sweater for myself, yoga socks for a friend, a sweater for girlfriend and several hats for the hospital. Mid month a guy rear ended my new car and managed to report to the police that I was suffering from road rage and was driving dangerously) and therefore I was charged (I go to court in 2 weeks) I was in a mini and he was in a Ford F-150, I had my 4 year old daughter in the back seat of my car, the police obviously think that I am insane (they also must think the car is magical because there's no way I could have been speeding around the corner this guy says I was speeding around). Anyway from April 13th on it was a pretty shitty (excuse my French) month. But I resisted I didn't buy yarn (of course I spent almost a full week in bed emotionally unable to do much that required thought), I still have moments, but slowly I hope to be myself again. At least we weren't physically injured.

But here I am to say Happy May and in a week or so I should have some lovely cotton/wool yarn to knit up another sweater. And if/when the charges against me are dropped I may just buy more yarn to celebrate.

A dirty faced kid in her pink sweater!

2006-04-28T14:04:00.000-06:00

She informed me that the top is a bit long, I told her that she'll grow into it and by the time it's her birthday (end of May) it will probably be the length she likes. Kids grow so fast.

A pink sweater

2006-04-27T17:59:00.000-06:00

You knit and knit and knit. Your daughter stands next to you telling you to hurry and finish up her sweater. You are designing the sweater as you go along, so she gets to try it on many many times. You finally finish up the sweater, it's a tad long, but as fast as kids grow it will probably be the right length next week. You ask her nicely to put it on so that you can snap a picture of her wearing her snazzy new sweater. You end up taking a picture of a hanger wearing it on a tree out in your yard because 1 the lighting is better out there and 2 because now the kid refuses to try it on, and she's not going to fall for a bribe.

I picked up the accident report yesterday. I was blamed for the whole thing. The officer stated that I "drove in a way that was unsafe causing the accident". I guess he believes that I would willingly pit my brand new mini against an F 150 pick up truck. In reading the summons, and the report I realized that he pegged me as guilty before he even spoke to me. So I guess the rule is, that if you know the cops and you drive a huge truck in Colorado you can make an illegal left turn into traffic cutting people off, you can then tail gate honking, rearend the car in front of you and you are not at fault, it is the fault of the people you cut off and who you rear end. Just thinking of it makes me want to go chew another xanax.

A sweater to match my mood, and my new good luck necklace

2006-04-24T17:24:00.000-06:00

You can't see it in this picture but today I found a little something that I'd ordered for myself from a friend for good luck. You must go to http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=34360 and buy something from my buddy Heather. I love love love it.

I've been working on this sweater for about a month (other things to knit like gifts got in the way so the sweater often got left alone, and it didn't finish itself). Finally, it's finished. The color almost matches my poor little wrecked car, but I won't think of that, instead I'll share this photo taken by the most impatient photographer in the land (my 15 year old)

Stress muddles the mind

2006-04-20T15:06:00.000-06:00

I had knitted my girlfriend a smoke ring and matching yoga socks for her birthday (not really to be worn together, since I doubt that she'd need the smoke ring while doing yoga, and she probably wouldn't need the yoga socks while walking the dog). I was going to take a picture of the yoga socks before I gave them to her, but stress being what it is I was lucky to remember to work the yarn ends in before wrapping her gift and giving it to her over lunch on Saturday with a bunch of girlfriends, because....well....my girlfriend turned 50!!

I held myself together over the weekend. Barely. But really I cried and cried and have spent more time in bed than I think I ever have except perhaps when I had a staph infection. Monday night I broke out in hives. I have never had hives before, but my mind has had the guy who rear ended me's voice screaming in my head. So Tuesday I went in to see my physicians assistant (I like him better than the doctor) and he told me that I have "Post Traumatic Stress" and gave me some xanax. I'm not so sure that I like the xanax. I mean, I like the fact that it quiets the guy in my heads screaming voice so that I can sleep. But it makes me tired and mutes all emotion. I took half of one Tuesday afternoon just to stop the shaking and uncontrollable crying, and half Tuesday night and half last night so that I could sleep. I am starting to feel emotionally better. I am very grateful that my daughter and I weren't hurt in the accident, but I am still very very sad that my pretty shiny car is all crunched up and I have to go to court to prove that it is not my fault that I got rear-ended (personally I think that it is ridiculous that this guy could even try to say that it is my fault).

But soon I'll have pictures for here......

My poor little wrecked car

2006-04-14T19:12:00.000-06:00

On my non knitting blog a woman asked not long ago how are the drivers in your area and how do you drive. Yesterday the drivers in my area were out enforce as I slowed down and put on my turn signal to turn right (actually I'd slowed down earlier because there was a car several lengths behind me that I wanted to look at). I started into my right turn, on the green light, when suddenly from the left appears a big white truck honking at me. He'd gunned it through the intersection. I proceded with my turn, and had this guy behind me honking (I didn't look in the rearview mirror, so I have no idea how close he was, but the sound coming in through the moon roof would say he was fairly close). Traffic was heavy and there was a car making a turn up ahead. I am not in the habit of racing up on people when they're turning or stopping as I am of the thought that doing so is not safe. I stepped on the brake to slow down (but not on the clutch to down shift) and the big honking truck behind me hit me. Because I didn't push in the clutch the car stalled and wouldn't restart. The guy starts screaming at me that I gunned it and was half a block away when he started his turn. Hmmmm I wonder how the car that was in front of me turning left would have felt about that, if I gunned it to hug their bumper. The car I'd been trying to see was now behind honking truck guy and the guy in the nice convertible let me use his phone to call my husband and gave me his card (which I foolishly gave the police, but my son knows this man's son) and told me if I needed a witness to give him a call. The policeman took an uncomplimentary report from honking truck guy and told me that convertible guy called the accident in, but said he saw nothing. Bullshit, the guys son told my son that his dad said I did nothing wrong.

So my car is in the shop with a huge dent in it's rear end and it won't run. We push started it so that engineer boy could take it to the body shop and it died on the freeway, so the accident did something to the computer. I have, I think, I mild case of whiplash. Girlchild calls the guy that hit us "that bad man that yelled at mommy". I'd break my deal with myself and buy some yarn to ease the ouchie feelings, but I'm not in the mood. Besides all my money for yarn will probably go into car repairs and lawyer fees.

Runs With Knitting Needles

Happy New Years Eve!

11 fish hats1 pair slippers1 brooch3 cowls 2 felted bags1 felted kindle case5 shawls1 doll shawl2 scarves1 baby hat1 baby sweater1 beret5 1/2 pairs socks (I ripped out that 1/2 of a pair)2 vests (one child sized one grown up sized)1 doll sweaterand about 1/2 of a sweater for myself

Not so much holiday knitting

Those odd skeins

Christmas knitting

The Frog Pond

Swatch-it

My life in stitches

Disappointments

My life in Fish Hats

I remember when

Another birthday, another fish hat.....and a slipper

Can we sit by the fire and knit

knitting in the new year

New Years Eve 2011 or is it still 2010?

Merry Merry Happy Happy and other thoughts

A Dainty Chevron cowl

Still here, still knitting still crazy

I love to knit lace

Knit on

Meeting the not famous famous

Still puttering along (at a breakneck pace)

Just how long does it take to knit a sock

I do, actually, still knit

Summer days

No Knitting (again)

How long does it take to knit a pair of socks

Easter

Almost better

kidney stones

I am a slow slow knitter

A Butterfly Garden

Something to show

Still knitting

A new dog, a finished project

Webkinz Sweater Pattern

Yarn yarn and more yarn

Brioche

Christmas knitting

Busy busy and quiet

Miss Stella July 23, 1993 - Nov 3, 2007

An old dog

Socks for girl child

Fires

The Cross Hatch lace sock and my favorite model

Where did I learn to count?

Another Friday

I'm in!!

I need to get with the program

My Design.....

Knitters and Muggles

Prayers

Yellow

Girlchild's shrug

Pictures

Yarn Harlot and a few pictures

Yarn Harlot and more pictures coming soon!!

Still knitting

RIP Sammy boy

I am still here

Random projects.

Using up yarn

Sleigh Bells Ring and a snow storm

Stress knitting

A sad ending

A thank you for a friend

Frog pond

A little knitting happens

little pink socks

Another birthday

I am still knitting....

And I thought that knitting was a stress reducer!

Peace

more cancer

Cancer

A Shawl I'm donating

My fling with Lorna

A New Place to Stash Stuff

Girlfriend's sweater

11 fish hats
1 pair slippers
1 brooch
3 cowls
2 felted bags
1 felted kindle case
5 shawls
1 doll shawl
2 scarves
1 baby hat
1 baby sweater
1 beret
5 1/2 pairs socks (I ripped out that 1/2 of a pair)
2 vests (one child sized one grown up sized)
1 doll sweater
and about 1/2 of a sweater for myself