An open letter to my family

To whom it may concern (and this means YOU):

The evil conspiracy around here must stop. All demands for food, clean clothes, and attention must come to an end. There will be no more "hey, mom, where's my fill-in-the-blank?". No more "how long do I cook this?". And especially no more "bark bark bark bark barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark" (read: let me out, let me in, let me out, let me in.)

Didn't you see that my Amazon order came yesterday? And that Alison's new book was in the box?

One of you was even warned, "If my order comes, don't hide my knitting books while I'm not looking". That look of "why would I do that?" was too geniune to be believed.


sigh....

It's been 24 hours and I've only read the first few pages.



I've been hearing great things about this book, by Alison Jeppson Hyde, "Wrapped in Comfort, Knitted Lace Shawls". It would be nice if I could read it for myself. I'm not really even a lace knitter, I just wanted to own the book. And maybe read it. And maybe get drawn in to the knitting of beautiful shawls.

And family, whoever hid my reading glasses, or...whoever covered up my reading glasses with your junk, or....whoever knows where I absentmindedly put my reading glasses needs to 'fess up.

I'm making due, but it's harder to read Alison's great stories with a broken pair of glasses.



In conclusion, my dear family, all normal activities around our house will be ending until I get to read this book. There will be leftovers tonight, and will somebody let the dog out?

Love,
Mom

P.S. Has anybody seen my glasses?

Clapotis: take two

This week's knitting involved ripping out an old project and starting again. I needed to rip because I couldn't quite figure where I was or if I had made a mistake. (That's usually when I stop a WIP--when there's a mistake and I'm trying to figure out how to fix it.)

This is a Clapotis, knitted in lace weight Morehouse Merino yarn that I got at the MDSW festival in 2006. I hadn't knit into it very far--it just didn't want to flow. This time is much better.



The dropped stitch rows have been started. A stitch gets dropped every 12 rows, so it's fun to get to the next point to drop the stitches.



I'm also dyeing some sock yarn.



Yes, I'm going on a trip, but no, it's not tomorrow.

I'm trying to think ahead.

Famous last words

"You got what? A bearded dragon?" I asked my son way back in the beginning of the year.




"So....what are you going to do with him when you come home?"


In the spring, he got a female bearded dragon.



"So...what are you going to do with them when you come home?"

"They'll come with me. They're no problem and you won't have to do anything with them."

I saw them first-hand in May.

"Aren't they cute?" (Not that DS actually said cute. I'm sure it was whatever the current equivalent of "cute" is, but I can't remember.)



"Oh, and the female is pregnant. She'll be laying her eggs soon."

"So....what are you going to do with them when you come home?"

Within an hour of his getting settled on the train, the female started having the eggs.


"What? Eggs? Let's hatch them!" my husband said as he rushed out to set up an incubator.



They take 50 to 70 days to hatch. DS will be gone by then. The dragons will go back with him. The eggs? They stay with us. We can sell them back to the pet store, but I'm thinking that one or two will end up with us.

Today, they had a bath.



So....that's my answer. At least I haven't had to feed them yet.

Katrina Rib

The Katrina Rib sweater is done. I have knitted eleventy-seven more rows onto the bottom for that extra inch. The men in my family were asked to give an opinion.

"Is it long enough?" I asked yesterday.

"Make it a bit longer," they both replied.

As I debated with them, they started to smile uncertainly and back away towards the door. They looked like deer caught in the headlights, afraid that the next question would be "do I look fat in this?"

Anyway, I took their advice and am satisfied.

The sweater hasn't been blocked yet (nor the pants ironed), but I'm happy.



Pattern notes: Katrina Rib sweater by Cookie A., written shortly after Hurricane Katrina happened and where she donated $ for each pattern purchase. The traveling rib in the front reminds me a bit of a hurricane.

US size 6 needles, using the small pattern size because I used worsted weight rather than DK weight yarn (I did a swatch, with actually worked!). It looks very skinny and long, so if you do this pattern, try it on.

The yarn was Cascade Sierra, 80% pima cotton, 20% wool. The color really is royal purple, even though in the pictures it can look blue. I had at least half of a skein left over, so it took four skeins. (The sleeves directions were: pick up stitches, knit in pattern for TWO rows, bind off. Not much yarn usage there, even when I doubled it and did FOUR rows.)

It was started on June 1st, so took only 17 days, with a break in the middle. Definitely a nice pattern.

Stripes

It's been a stripey week with scraps. It's my favorite way of using up odd balls.

The Magic 28 socks are done. Pair #4 out of 28.



A hat. The colored yarn was spit spliced together as I went along. (To the horror of DD#2. The family has gotten used to me knitting in public. The spitting? Not so much.)



I've also been working on my Katrina Rib sweater. It's to the point on the bottom where if I just knit eleventy-seven more rows, I'll get that last inch I need. So far I've done that twice. Eleventy-seven rows times two equals: umm.... moving on....

I have bound off my sweater and have it on while I took these pictures and write the blog. I'm deciding if it's long enough. I don't think so. Sigh. At least the yarn is still attached, so no biggie. (Well, a little biggie. I'll have to un-bind off, knit eleventy-seven more rows to get that extra inch, and bind off again.)

Here's the yarn ball with the hat.



Here it is hiding in the other hat that I knit.



Can you tell I'm loving these hats? No new hats have been started, but I do have more odd balls....

Dentist

Yesterday involved a trip to the dentist. DS#2 and I both needed fillings. DS got taken in about 15 minutes after our scheduled appt. I was an hour later.

I choose to think that they took a kid early so he wouldn't get nervous, rather than that another person was scheduled in between us two. That would be poor planning.

When we went in, I scanned the waiting room. There were 8 adults sitting around with no kids. (Meaning....oh no, this will be a long wait. See above.) Not only were they sitting there, but only one adult was playing with her phone, and the rest were just sitting. For a long time.

It was very odd. No one was even looking through the stack of old magazines.

I brought my knitting. This is how much I got done in the dentist's office.



I even took it back and knitted while the novicane kicked in. The dentist and hygenists were all fascinated by my knitting. No one questioned it, and they all thought it was cool.

Afterwards, I knit while the kids ate pizza at the mall (I had plenty of novicane.)

The End
(I have trouble writing a concluding sentence. I know I just drop off the topic without finishing. That's also how I talk. "The End" looks better than nothing, right?)

Present Forthcoming

Happy Birthday RB!

Your present is forthcoming. It's done and wrapped. No pictures, though, since I don't want to spoil the surprise (and....I might've forgotten to take one, as is my usual....)

I might've flagged you down on the way out to dinner, but I didn't want your family to be scared of the crazy lady at the side of the road waving you down. (You wouldn't be too surprised, but your family may not be as well aquainted with my craziness.)

Anyway, happy, happy, happy birthday, and I'll see you tomorrow. Look for me on the side of the road waving you down.

Five Random Things

Since all I've been knitting is my Katrina Rib sweater, and I'm only a couple of inches further (i.e. no interesting pictures), let me entertain you with five random things.

1. I have a slow, dial-up modem which makes for a very slow internet usage. While waiting for a page to load I do one of the two following things:
a) knit (a good idea)
b) load another page at the same time (bad idea). Why do I think that if the page is loading slowly, that starting another slowly loading page will give me something to do? Well, I guess it does if waiting twice as long is something to do.

Today while blogging I decided to order this t shirt from Cafepress.com.



The description reads: “knit is the mirrored image of purl”

Cool, huh?


2. Whenever I sit down at the computer, the dog has to go out. This happens whether I sit down four times a day, or ten.

3. Sometimes the dog will bark at me if I'm spending too long at the computer and he thinks I need to sit down on the couch. (That is, if he's already been out.)

4. Why is it that if you NEED to eat chocolate, only certain chocoates will satisfy? I'm not really a chocolate connoisseur. (Yes, I did start Word to check the spelling of connoisseur. Thanks for asking.) But....sometimes only certain chocolates will do. My Ghiradelli chocolate chips were not it. I think that's all the chocolate in the house, though. Unless I make brownies. And I still have time.... Well, there's always time for brownies.

5. The younger kids are done with school for the summer. In the first hour of DS#1 being home I heard, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do. I need a friend to play with." Yep, it's going to be a long summer.

Worrisome

I've been working on my Katrina Rib sweater this week. Almost continuously I've been worrying that it'll be too small.

See what I mean?



Worrisome, isn't it? (is that a word, and is that how you spell it?)

I finally got it long enough to be worth trying on, so I put it on some scrap yarn, and I did. (Yea, that sentence has problems. Sometimes I wonder why I write a blog and can anyone even understand what I mean with so many grammar and spelling errors. Sorry, grammar avengers!)

Well, surprisingly enough, it actually fits quite comfortably. (Other than the arms, which I can blame on the scrap yarn stitch holders that I didn't loosen up.) I'm going to continue on. I also have most of two skeins left so there's hope there also.

----------------------
Baseball news:

In case you want some baseball news, DS#1 got drafted today in the 34th round to the Cubs. It's exciting, but at the same time a bit disappointing. It was much lower than he expected this year. He has another year of college to go (with a scholarship), so he has a decision to make.

In the meantime, he's coming home to visit. That means I'll be cleaning his room this weekend. And cooking. maybe I'll do some of that.

Time will tell

I'm nearing the end of this season's baseball knitting. DS#1's season is over--losing in the Regionals this past weekend, and DS#2 will be starting the playoffs next week. However, DS#2 had a game tonight, so this is what I was working on.


It's the Katrina Rib sweater written by Cookie A. I'm using Cascade Sierra that a worsted weight 80% pima cotton, 20% wool blend.

This was started on June 1, so this is how far I've gotten in 5 days. Not bad for me. It's a top down pattern, using 3x3 ribbing, with a section of 2x2 ribbing that travels sideways as the sweater is knit. You can see the sleeve spots that are on scrap yarn. They're patiently waiting for me to finish the body first.

Yes, it really is a deep purple color.

Yes, it does match my folding chair almost exactly.

Yes, I do keep going back to the purple shades.



Not only do I have the ever present fear: "Will I run out of yarn?",

but it's joined by: "I know this is supposed to be stretchy, and I took time to do the gauge, but will it fit?"

Time will tell.

Weekend Update

As promised, I finally got around to posting some finished objects.

Here's my Lillehammer Fair Isle hat. It's made with Cascade 220 on size 5 needles using a free pattern from Cider Moon.



(Background plants provided by DD#1 in the room that holds everything until she moves out.)

Next is the CIC finished vest in U of Miami colors.



While goofing around, I stuck the vest on my head one day. Hey, this looks good as a hat! So I knit one.



This one has a nice big pompom and folds over for....extra warmth?....to look cute? Whatever....

There's also the finished hat that I worked on on the plane ride home. Chaco yarn, size 5 needles, made up eyelet pattern.

(My hats all ended up x-large. Probably because I have a large head and figure that since my head is big, then others must be too.)

Another pair of CIC socks. Had to be creative because.....


drum roll please.....






I ran out of yarn. (You knew that was coming, didn't you?)




This ticker from Ticker Factory is really cute, but it's hard to edit. (And remember my password, but that's another story.)

Then, for moving-out DD#1, a pair of oven mitts (I did an extra green one since I was on a roll). The pink was yarn dyed right before the Jacksonville trip.



See what they did to my needles?



You should've seen my hands!