Using up yarn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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....

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!

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

(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

My father in law has it too.

Cancer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.....