Summer days

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An old dog

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

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

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.