Back to Normal

My mother went back to Baltimore yesterday. :( I will miss her very much. It's just so nice to have someone to do the normal routine with. She is a very benign houseguest. She drinks a lot of coffee and plays mahjong at night (on the computer) but otherwise you don't even notice the intrusion.

Below are all of the projects I've been working on (minus Chris's sweater.) My friend had her baby early so I am working exclusively on the satchel right now. (Though I'm itching to start Knitty's Branching Out.) I have some mohair for it that I bought on sale in a lovely blue that I think will be very nice. I also finally ordered some yarn to make Clapotis. This is the colorway. It is dyed to order so I won't have it for a few weeks. That's probably a good thing.

Close up of bindoff. 

The Knitty Satchel in progress. I love the icord bindoff! I am now working my way up the flap. 

Baby Cashew's LTK Easy Peasy sweater. Just waiting to be seemed. 

Felted wine bottle cozy for a Father's Day gift. (Yeah, I'm running a couple of months behind.) 

My Toe and the Coffee Table

It was not a good meeting. My poor little baby toe is broke! Nothing too bad, I think I just cracked it a little. It has a nice purple blotch and is stiff and swollen. It really only hurts bad if it gets whacked (a common occurrence with a munchkin) or when I walk on it.

Last night was my local SnB. I finished the back of The Evil Sweater for Chris and am almost finished the LTK Easy Peasy sweater for Baby Cashew. I still need to CO for the satchel and un-ravel the yarn for my dad's Father's Day gift. Mom -- I'm thinking you'll get the vest for Christmas instead of your birthday. :) Chris -- I'm not sure when you'll get your sweater, maybe Christmas too.

My mother is coming to stay for a week starting Saturday. Originally we were going to paint our sunroom (part of my early nesting phase) but now Chris has volunteered to do it so Baby Cashew is not exposed to any fumes. Now I need to come up for stuff for my mom and I to do. We'll definitely do some gardening and I think we might venture down to Cuyahoga Falls where I believe there is a combo yarn/cross-stitch (her craft of choice) store. She's an easy visitor but it's nice to do something rather than reading and gardening.

The Lure of a New Project

I am happily typing away with braces on my wrists. These even have built in ergonomic rests for computer use -- pretty sweet! I haven't tried them yet with knitting as I spent most of my day reading. Knitting related material, but still books. I finally got At Knit's End from inter-library loan and enjoyed it. It had several laugh out loud moments. I also received an Amazon package containing EZ's Knitters Almanac. (This was part of HP purchase to qualify for free shipping.)

This is where the desire to start something new and exciting comes into play. Much like my habit of visiting online yarn shops and placing yarn in the shopping cart but never buying it, I love to dream of what patterns I'll tackle next. But alas as I have too much on my plate as it is, I'll just keep on knitting the same old stuff and lust over the complicated Arans I want to make.

Not Much Knitting

The upcoming release of HP has had me in a reading mood. I finished the OotP and then read Artemis Fowl today for some fun. Not HP, but a fun light read. It only took a couple of hours (those are toddler watching hours -- a slightly different time continuum.)

I haven't done much more knitting than in the last post. I need to get that damn sweater back finished. I'm not quite sure why I'm excited because next I'll be casting on for the front and 20+ inches of black knitting.

One nice thing about knitting is it gives me the ability to sit still long enough to watch a movie. The other night I watched House of Flying Daggers and loved it. This genre of movie is my favorite, so it's no surprise that I liked it. It was wonderfully romantic and heartbreaking. (And Chris says it has the best 15 minute fight scene ending ever.) I also rewatched Amelie. Unfortunately, having listened to the soundtrack well over a thousand times (munchkin-man's sleepy-time music) has slightly ruined the movie for me. I still love it but I cringe at the parts where the music stands out. We currently have Life Aquatic out and Aviator, though the latter is for Chris.

Just Keep Knitting

Just Keep Knitting, Knitting, Knitting. What do we do? We Knit. (Sung to the "Just Keep Swimming" part of Finding Nemo.) Even when you fingers are all tingley from the CTS. Mr. Chiro said I have a bad case. Nothing to be done really -- get adjustments and take more B6. Maybe try some splints. Luckily the shooting pains are gone. Numbness is much more bearable.

But anyway, I got about 3 inches done on the Evil Sweater. I put in the red stripe and started the decreases, somehow this makes me feel better about it. I am also almost done my little sweater for Baby Cashew. And I finally dug out more yarn to finish my dad's father's day gift. There's a small ball I hope will be enough before I have to start un-tangling the rest of the skein. For some strange reason I also pulled out a ball of super-chunky Cherry Hill cotton chenille. I'm thinking a baby blanket would be good.

Lastly, because I am always anxious to start something new, I dug out all of the leftover yarn from my other felted bags and I think I have enough to make the Satchel. Yay! I love my friend but I wasn't looking forward to spending money on the yarn when I have a whole chest full. Now the only yarn I need to purchase is for my mom's birthday vest (cabled and in a chunky wool) and something silky for whatever type of shawl/wrap I decide to make for myself.

Back to the Evil Sweater and A Good Book

I have finally un-tangled the black yarn that I'm using for Chris's flame sweater. I have now knitted a row and am committed to working on it tonight at SnB East. I've learned a few things from this project:

1. I hate black yarn. I have relatively good eyes, but this yarn require great lighting to see the stitches. This means that I can't do any nighttime-watching a movie-while the babe sleeps-knitting.
   
2. I should have picked a smaller person for whom to knit my first sweater. I thought I'd be fine after all of the baby garments I've made, but this makes for some repetitive knitting.
   
3. Relating to the last, pick a more interesting pattern (this is a k6, p1 rib) for the body of the sweater. I need cables or something. Or at least it should be in the round so I can fly through it.

My goal is to still have it ready for fall. If I can committ to working on it every week at one of the SnBs, I should be fine. That said, I have a few other things I need to do. The satchel
from the new Knitty as a diaper bag for a friend. She's due in a month so I need to get moving on this. I also am going to make another felted purse for my aunt after she kindly gave me some great new pots/pans (Kitchen Aid Stainless) for free.

Lastly, I read a good book. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It's a dracula story but very original and well done. Now I'm just waiting for HP.

Back from Bmore

Munchkin and I got back from Baltimore on Friday. I did a wee bit of knitting down there -- I started a wool/angora sweater for Baby Cashew. I have an issue in that since I switched to a Continental style of knitting my stitches are way loose. I had to go down 3 needle sizes and consciously knit tightly to get the correct gauge (I didn't have any smaller needles.) I'm not quite sure how to handle it. I can't imagine knitting everything with needles 3 sizes smaller.

Fiberfest 2005

I went to the Lake FarmPark Fiberfest today. If I hadn't been taking a class I think I would have been disappointed at what they had. I did score some needle felting stuff that I've been wanting, but otherwise wasn't overly wowed with the selection. Maybe my rather large stash was weighing on my conscience.

The class I took rocked -- Beyond Stripes, Knitting with Variegated Yarns. I took it because it covered using more advanced techniques, not really for the yarn, but that was cool too. We had a 20 dollar material fee which was worth it since we got to use Lorna's Laces yarn. Yum, nice stuff. So some of the techniques I learned were entrelac, mitered squares, fair-isle, lattice stitch and two lace patterns. The only one that I was really glad I was at the class for was the entrelac. It just looked so wonky on my needles that I couldn't believe it would turn out ok. But overall the instructor's patterns/directions were excellent. A nice way to spend the day! I'm going to block them soon and then post picks.

Crappy Librarian Recommendation

Yesterday I had a lovely treat in that my girlfriend had little man for two hours in the morning and I got to go to the West Side SnB in the evening. I spent my morning out by hitting the library for a good fun read. Upon the librarian's recommendation I checked out Ben Elton's A Blast from the Past. The back of the book lists him as a comedian and he was recommended after I listed Christopher Moore as the style of book I was after. Ha! I obviously picked the one he wrote after recovering from a bad break-up. It ends with three deaths, one being one of the main characters. Elton has an interesting style, but this wasn't funny, witty or even enjoyable. A waste of my time lounging in the hammock.

The West Side SnB is certainly a rocking group. Maybe it's the availability of beer and coffee, but it's a very different atmosphere from the East Side bunch. I'm hoping to attend both at least a couple of times a month. I spent my time chatting with another mama and working on yet another baby hat.

This is the purse after felting. Pretty cute I think. I gave it to its intended recipient (my hairdresser) and she said she loved it. The Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride felts up very nicely. I think it is my favorite yarn. 

This is just a cute photo of the little man.

I finished two projects today. The first is a felted bag for my hairdresser. It is a larger version of my own purse. This is the pre-felting pic, it's currently blocking and then I'll post the after pic. It's very cute. I also finished a baby hat for my midwife. Her baby is due today. Well, I finished the knitting, I still have to assemble and block. Pic to come.

We just got back from hitting Tuesday Morning for some super cheap discontinued Lion's Brand yarn. I got some Cotton-ease and some micro-fleece. I'm not sure of the intended Cotton-ease outcome, but I'm hoping to make a bunting for Baby Cashew (little man's name for the baby in my belly) out of the micro-fleece.

Not Knitting Sucks

Before I started knitting I read voraciously. Ever since the knitting began I have fallen behind in my reading (well, except for knitting related books) but I haven't minded too too much because I've read a ton for years and doing something with my hands is a lot of fun. But now this dreaded CTS has got me not knitting and not web surfing and I don't have anything to read.

I re-read the Harry Potter series over the winter and am down to the last one but as it was not my favorite I'm not feeling the urge to dive in. I'll definitely get the new one when it comes out, but until the middle of July I am stuck. We have a ton of great books around here but none of them are appealing either. I even picked up Steppenwolf by Hesse one of my all time favorite books and am just going "Eh." as I read it. If someone one would like to suggest something funny (think Christopher Moore) I would love it.

I Finished a project

but forgot to take a picture. Damn. I do that about every other item, I give it away without taking a pic. Anyway, it was the cotton chenille washcloth. It turned out cute. I'm hoping it doesn't fall apart when washed or get all wormy.

My arm is still achey but seems to be doing a little better since I backed off on knitting. I did get about an inch done on the newest felted bag I'm working on last night. It's going to take a while at that rate. Hopefully I'll get in to the chiro next week and everything will be resolved. It's also cut down on my internet surfing which is probably a good thing. One thing I did find to get into was a Dharma Trading Co. co-op. I ordered a bunch of silks to dye and a tie-dye kit that a friend and I are going to do with our munchkins. Should be fun!

More Addictive Than Minesweeper

I found this game off of a Slate article. OMG -- too fun. http://www.sudoku.com/ For the logic nerd in everyone.

Slightly Obsessed

Slightly Obsessed

Now that I've calmed down I can finish my post for the day. I'm sure this will result in the munchkin waking up. It was a lovely mail delivery day -- I received some yummy Noro Kureyon for my secret pal over on MDC (I'm going to send it to her along with the Booga Bag pattern,) some note cards printed with my name for giving out whenever I knit up some stuff for sale, and a card and present from my secret pal. Munchkin man was thrilled to receive his own package that contained a toothbrush with a race-car on it. It must be pretty cool to be 2.5 years old!

Just now one of my neighbors from across the street came over to ask if I wanted some zoo tickets as her partner works there. How do you explain that you have ethical objections to zoos and feel icky every time you visit one? I've explained it to other mama friends I know (and gotten some raised eyebrows) but not to someone who is employed by a zoo itself. I just said "OK, thanks." and left it at that.

On a Blogger note, the spell-check works in the pop-up but not on the main interface. I'm guessing it's a Mozilla issue. I will have to (reluctantly) break out IE to test my hypothesis.