Fit and Fiber

Yep, I'm crazy...

2010-04-16T12:58:00.001-05:00

I was talking with SamuariKnitter on Twitter yesterday about the baby jacket she was getting ready to knit, as she was finding a replacement pattern for the BSJ. She found something that I had been wanting to knit for a while, and since I have a co-worker who is pregnant and due in the next few weeks, I asked if she was up for a KAL.
Instead of a KAL, she countered a knitting challenge, to see who is done first.

Pattern: b18-25 Jacket in "Fabel" from Drops (what creative names the Drops people have)
Yarn: Knit Picks Imagination in Mermaid Lagoon. I have 2 skeins, and I hope that I will have enough left over to knit a pair of booties.

Rolags of Fibe

2010-04-01T10:25:00.001-05:00

Don't get excited. Just need to share with spunky club, and fastest way to get off my blackberry was to email to blog.
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Handspun sweater to be.

2010-04-01T08:30:00.001-05:00

I decided that one of my goals this year, to help make me a better spinner, was to try to spin yarn for an entire sweater. While I had goals of buying the yarn for this at fiber fest, and making it a goal for later in the year, two things happened that pushed this goal up to the top of the queue.
The wheel that I bought with my overtime check came with one lb of fiber to spend. Sure it wasn't the pretty pre-dyed stuff that I'm used to, but I put in a call to help to SamuraiKnitter (who has written dye your own tutorials for Knitty), and stocked up on Wiltons food dye and vinegar and made a plan.
This last weekend I dyed the pound of fiber that came with my new wheel (yes, I will get photos of the new wheel up soon). I forgot how much fun it is to dye in the kitchen, and dying fiber is not much different than dying yarn.

Last night was spent predrafting the fiber and rolling it into rolags for spinning, and I might have spun a little of the fiber. I think I have my first hand spun sweater started.

I fell inlove with Amy King's Tappan Zee pattern in the Spring Knitty, and decided to take the plunge. While I would love to have splurged on some of Amy's hand dyed Merino/Bamboo, I have to make due with what I have.

I'm hoping for a longer post tomorrow or Saturday.

Oh Dear neglected blog...

2010-03-24T11:14:00.004-05:00

The crazy times at work are over, so I can start to give you back some of the attention that you deserve.

Months have passed since I have last had time for decent post. I've had a laptop break, and been upgraded. I've workd tons of overtime at work, and I've spent time at both Old Grouchy, my pre-WWII Lithuanian wheel, and my spindles.

The Ravolympics were last month, and I did manage to do one of the projects that I had planned, to spin and knit an entire shawl. The camera portion of my BlackBerry was dirty at the time, so I don't have any good photos, I need to re-take pics of the finished shawl. I spun the thinnest that I remember ever spinning in my life. The yarn wound up cobweb weight, and I left the Merino/Bamboo blend as singles. I could have made a two ply and kept it as in the laceweight category. I still have a large portion of the yarn yet, which I'm thinking of plying back upon itself to make it a two ply.

I've also started another mystery shawl. I know, I know, but I never finish them. I always get a late start, and fall behind, make a mistake, and never finish them. But I'm trying hard this time. Its the Evenstar Mystery KAL, designed by Susan Pandorf, who does such wonderful and complex shawls. I know, I've started (but not finished) a few. I'm using some of the Alpaca Silk lace yarn that Steve got me for Christmas years ago, the same yarn and color that I knit Aeolin with last year. So far so good. I'm only 6 rows from being done with the current clue, but there are over 520 stitches each row at this point, and I need to switch over to a longer circular needle.

Also on the needles right now I have Citron. When the issue came out in December, I didn't see the appeal of this shawlett. Well, besides the yarn it was knit from Mmmmm. But since I've been spinning, I have odd amounts of handspun yarns in small amounts of heavylace/light fingerling that I need to use up, and I'm unofficially participating in the 10 shawls in 2010 knit-along.

One good thing about all the overtime that I have had to work over the last 3 months is that they decided (for once) to pay us out for our time, as opposed to having us bank it in comp time. I wound up with enough money to upgrade my wheel. I am now the proud owner of an Ashford Kiwi, which arrived last night, and is sitting in pieces in the living room waiting until I can stein the wood and paint the wheel part.

Jan Spunky Club Fiber

2010-02-03T16:06:00.000-06:00

Pomegranate. No idea how I'm going to spin this yet
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Spinning, and Knitting, and other stuff

2010-01-20T17:17:00.002-06:00

There's been a whole lot of spinning going on around here lately, and not much blogging.

I finally finished spinning the Midnight in the Meadows Falkland that I got back in May for Mothers day. I've wound up with about 500 yards of a heavy lace, light fingerling weight yarn. The color is really a bit muddier than the photos show, but I've already cast on for Haruni.

My awsome mother-in-law got me a subscriptin to the Spunkey Club for Christmas, and I've already spun my way through the first fiber. The December fiber is Wensledayle, and it was the first time I spun this fiber. It was a dream to spin, I did most of the singles in one day, and plyed it one night after work

I wound up with about 250 yards of a light fingerling/sportish weight yarn, and cast on for Abby

I've still been working on the Merino/Silk blend from All Spun up that I got for my birthday. I'm about 1/4 through the bump and loving every moment of spinning this. I think I'll get around 800 yards, which will be enough for a good sized shawl.

The Ravelympics are getting ready to start next month, and I've been trying to decide which event (s) I want to attempt. Defentely something spinning and/or lace related. I've been thinking of:
Fleece to FO Long-Track eventfleece (Start with fleece or roving and create a finished object)- Spinning a single out of some merino/bamboo blend (or the Jan Spunky club fiber) and knitting a small shawlett.
Flying Camel Spin eventflyingcamel (Just spinning…lots and lots of spinning)- for spindle spinning some silk which is in stash, and might be able to double enter the Fleece to FO spinning
Lace Luge eventlaceluge (Lace patterns and laceweight yarns), enter the Fleece to FO knitting portion.

A Golding Christmas

2009-12-25T11:24:00.000-06:00

And birthday fibers
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Silvester

2009-12-18T15:31:00.000-06:00

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Beck Take Two

2009-11-25T13:31:00.003-06:00

With the "Fit" part of the blog being next to non-existant, I think it will really help me by remembering to mention it from time time.

Grr- I'm disgusted with myself currently. After saying for a year that I needed to get back on track, here I am, near the end of 2009 and 25 lbs heaver than I was when we started this year.

And I feel it this time. I am huffing and puffing as I climb stairs, and I'm too young to be feeling this cruddy.

So I decided to go ahead and buy the Beck Diet Solution workbook (I had checked out the book from the library last year and liked it, but didn't implicate all the changes last year)

I think this, with Turbo Jam for cardio, ChaLean for strength training, and Weight Watchers for eating guidelines will help me.

NaKniSweMo Burnout

2009-11-23T10:43:00.002-06:00

After working on the sweater for all my free time for three weeks, I have completely burnt out on the sweater.

I have over 50,000 stitches, but I am completely unmotivated to finish it before November 30th.

Maybe after a few days break I'll change my mind, but for now, I'm knitting a hat for my dad.

The Halfway Point

2009-11-18T11:44:00.001-06:00

Here was my progress as of Monday night on my NaKniSweMo project. Please pardon the blechy bathroom mirror photo, it was late, and I was the only one up. Sleeves are done, and I am on the 15th repeat of 30 (or 40 if I have the yarn) repeats of the body pattern. Only 60 (or 100) rows of 189 stitches left! 11340 (or 18900) stitches left to knit! Totally doable. Well, plus the collar, but I'm working on that at lunch currently. I did decide to make the collar about half as wide as the pattern. This is mostly to make sure I have the yarn to knit it, reading Ravelry, this seems to be the major yarn suck of the pattern.

Finally a post on the weight loss progress. After months of saying I needed to get back on track, I finally re-signed up for Weight Watchers. I tried using a free site for months to count calories, but it never "clicked" for me, and I kept going over every day. Friday I noticed my weight had crept back up to the 230's and briefly hovered at the weight I was when I had Kaylee less than 2 years old. Not good. Not good at all. So far so good. I have found it easy to avoid the sweets and bread (except for two occasions where there was stress and all you can eat pizza, but I didn't go as overboard as I had in the past)

My first WI is Friday, and I will try to post the results then.

NaKniSweMo Day 6

2009-11-06T13:27:00.001-06:00

Just a quick progress shot as of my lunch break today. I sepereated the sleeves, and have about 160 rows of k3p3 and p3k3 checkerbord before I'm done with the body. I might do the sleeves at the start of the next ball of yarn so I can more effenciatly judge how long to make the sweater.

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NaKniSweMo day 4

2009-11-04T12:53:00.000-06:00

Almost done with the increases. 33 out of 34. Will be starting the body tonight.
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Christmas Knitting in November

2009-11-01T14:45:00.004-06:00

I've been busy the last few months getting a head start on some Christmas knitting, so I could "relax" in November and work on NaKniSweMo again this year. I started in March (yes March) with Aeolin for my mother-in-law, but that is still unblocked, and will probably remain so until closer to the holiday or the next time my parents have the kids overnight.

Other projects that I have knit are Ice Queen, for my mother. I knit this in about two weeks (off and on) using JeggerSpun Zepher in Juniper and light gold beads.

And pulled up over my head.

For my 15 year old Emo Brother-in-law, knit York. I'm going to embellish around the moth to make the sculls look more like the sculls from the Punisher, but I need to felt it a bit more still. I'm waiting until I have both sinks cleaned out and both kids asleep at the same time. I figure I have until Christmas to get this done, so that miracle is sure to happen sometime between now and then. I knit this in one day while home sick and watching a Buffy marathon.

I'm not sure who this one will be for, I might send it to my sister in Germany, or I might save it for myself. This is knit from my homespun Falkland that I knit during the Tour De Fleece this summer, and is nice and soft and crunchy.

In regular knitting, my Arisaig is coming along nicely. I have the back lace piece finished, and have started on the right lace piece. I'm still pretty confident that the changes I have put in to make this a pullover will work and look nice, but it is going to take a while to do. I am glad that this isn't what I decided on for NaKniSweMo.

But this is. Therapi. Knit in my own hand dyed yarn, using Wilton's Leaf Green (a whole container for seven skeins). I'm 38 rows into the yolk (have 30 more to go) before it is time to separate the sleeves and work on the endless 3X3 ribbing for the body. But I'm sure that I will be able to have this finished before November 30th.

Now back to knitting.

FO! Alphamitts

2009-10-20T18:57:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I finished the Spiderman Mitts for Corwin's birthday, and Kaylee kept steeling them and putting them on. Corwin demanded that I knit Kaylee a pair of mittens of her own. After a night of searching Ravelry and getting Corwin to ok the pattern and pick out colors, I started on the Alphamitts. It took me two weeks of lunchtime knitting to finish these.

I presented Kaylee with the finished mittens this morning, and she was very happy. She took them to show her brother, and her daddy, then, smiling, tossed them in the trash.

Pullover Fail

2009-10-19T09:56:00.004-05:00

Saturday I started working on my modified Arisaig pullover. I decided I would try to knit the pull over in one piece, with a provisional cast on at the start of the lace and would split at the arms. After much adding, casting on, frogging, re-calculating, casting on again and fudging I had the cast on started. All 368 stitches. It only took one repeat of the 16 row chart for me to realize that I was fucking crazy. Yeah. I frogged again last night and am going to work the body in pieces, and will seam, and knit the ribbing in the round. Take two begins tonight with the back.

This weekend also had me dying the yarn for my NaKniSweMo project, Therapi. I wound up dying 7 skeins a nice bright leafy green, and realized that the green is the same shade as the school colors for the Uni that I work for and graduated from. Oh well, it is going to be the office sweater. I just hope I will have enough yarn.

I did finish the Chickidee Cowl and Ice Queen, and will try to get pics up as soon as I block them.

Vine Yolk Cardi, now with buttons!

2009-10-12T10:24:00.000-05:00

I sucked it up last night and sewed buttons on my cardi. Nothing special on the button front, but I'm wearing it at work today and it is so comfy and warm in our cold office. Might have to make some arm warmers to match though.
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Sickness, Changes, and Casting on like crazy

2009-10-11T11:23:00.009-05:00

I've been sick for 10 days :( Not the flu, but a head cold turned upper respiratory infection. Breathing has been hard to do the last few days, as it feels like my nasal passages have been rubber cemented together, but other than that, I feel ok. I've missed two days of work, which gave me some time to knit and spin a little, but not much, as I spent much of those days sleeping. I cast on for two projects during that time, Ice Queen and Kernel from Knitty. Ice Queen will be a Christmas gift for my mother, and I'm using yarn that has been in the stash since 2005 (when I first started knitting) and have been using as scrap yarn for years. Kernal is being knit in conjunction with the Sexy Knitter's Club current knit along. Its my second project using my hand spun yarn:

The other thing I cast on for in the last few weeks was a pair of mittens. After I finished Corwin's Spidy Mitts, Kaylee kept steeling them and putting them on around the house. Corwin came up to me and said that I had to knit her her own pair, so she would stay out of his. I am knitting the Alphamitts in Knit Picks Palette, Calypso Heather and Lilac (both yarns left over from other projects). Corwin picked out the colors to use and they look awesome!

I finally got photos of Kaylee's Jacket on here with the buttons and ties done. She loves this coat, and the matching hat, and asks for it to be put on in the mornings. Everyone who has seen it has mentioned how cute it is on her.

I've also finished Corwin's Pembrook Sweater, in time for him to wear it on Photo day at daycare. Oh my goodness, this was a knitting marathon, but so worth it. I knit the whole sweater in less than 10 days, and I say it is just about perfect. The only problem is that the dyelots of the yarn (which I had in stash forever) didn't match up, and the labels had been long gone, considering I had started and frogged many projects with the yarn over the years.

I'm trying to finish up as many small projects as I can this month so I can devote November to NAKNSWMO again. Right now I'm debating between two sweaters: Therapi and Arisaig. I have enough yarn in stash for both, and both would be challenging projects for me to do.

With Therapi I would need to dye yarn, and reading the commits on it at Ravelry, the yarn amounts on the pattern are way off, almost 50% off. I'm debating either a leafy green or a dusty rose color, and would have to dye in two batches (and alternate skeins). I'm thinking I'll overestimate by a few skeins and shorten the collar if I run out, but I'm dreaming of a nice big comfy cardi to keep in my office. The downside is that this whole sweater is knit in one piece, and would be rather cumbersome by the time I finished it.

Arsaig would be knit in KP Palette, and modified very heavily. I think the project as shown on Knitty looks sloppy and baggy, and I've seen other's project pages where they have modified it to be a pullover and I think it looks great that way. I'm thinking I'll knit in one pice, starting with a provisional cast on at the start of the lace, knit up from there, and then after I have that done, decide just how much overlap I will want, and knit the ribbing down from there. Since the sleeves are knit in pieces, this would be the more portable project for me to take to work for lunches and on car trips to the store or my parents. All changes would be documented on the blog.

Time to get back to knitting

FO! Vine Yolk Cardi

2009-10-02T08:35:00.001-05:00

I finished the Vine Yolk Cardy from the fall Twist on Saturday. Pardon the cruddy camera phone shot. I still need to go find buttons for it after work today, but wanted to post a quick pic.

My Knitting Time is No Longer My Own

2009-09-24T11:09:00.004-05:00

It has been taken over by the kids! Ok, I'm still able to get some knititng time for myself, there is the Chickadee Cowl that I am knitting in my Purple and yellow handspun on my lunch break at work, and a few rows of my Vine Lace Cardi at night when the kids are in bed, but lately the kids have been ASKING for things.

First, I saw the most adorable coat in one of the Knit Picks catalogs, for the Smock Coat by Debbie Bliss. I had to make it for Kaylee. And I enough CotLin in my stash in Lantana. The knitting took about a month from start to finish, and since this photo was taken, I have added buttens and a seed stitch belt.

Then it was time to start on the yearly birthday knitting for Corwin. This year he vetoed every sweater pattern I showed him, asking instead for "Spiderman". We did a search on Ravelry and came up with Spiderman hat and mittens.

The yarn is Knit Picks palette in Bare and Calypso Heather that Corwin and I dyed into the red and dark purple for the hat (yeah for using up more stash yarn!) Since finishing them, Corwin has worn the set every day and says that we need to dye more yarn up so I can knit him a sweater. I don't think so.

Instead, I think I'm going to knit him Pembrook from the summer Petite Purls, in more stash yarn of blue cotton ease, and I may add sleeves to the sweater.

Corwin has also requested that I knit mittens for Kaylee, so she stops trying to steel his, and I found the perfect pattern, Alphamitts, which I can also use stash yarn for.

In all of this kid knitting, I still have to knit a scarf for Michael, a hat for my dad, and a few more sweaters for myself. Thank goodness I convinced Steve to let me buy a lot of yarn with the last tax refund, knowing that we would spend this holiday season dirt poor.

The Start of the Vine Yolk Cardi

2009-09-03T12:30:00.000-05:00

I cast on for this Tuesday and I'm loving it so far. Right now this is my lunch project for work, at least until I finish C's hat and mitts and K's coat
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Blogging from my phone

2009-08-20T10:59:00.001-05:00

Testing to see if this works.
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52 Weeks to GO!

2009-08-20T09:30:00.000-05:00

Steve is currently in an accelerated nursing program through Texas Woman's University. He is working on getting his BSN in a 15 month program for people who already hold a bachelors degree in any field. Until then, I'm the bread winner, but after he graduates, the plan is for me to start working part time, and to be around when our son is home from school (he starts Kindergarten the same month that Steve graduates).

I have decided to dedicate myself to losing this weight, and trying my best to reach MILF status before my son starts kindergarden, or to try my best to get as close to it as I can. I know that we won't have mony for junk food or fast food more than maybe once or twice a month, and most of what we will eat will be inexpensive, whole foods. I will start using my bread maker (the one I have had for 7 years and have used 7 times) to start making our bread at home. Mmm hot fresh bread in the evenings, and limiting the amount of meat that I eat to once a day, dinner time only. Or at least I will do to the best of my ability on our budget. But vegetarian meals for breakfast (oatmeal, cream of wheat, fruit, etc) will be cheaper than hitting fast food. Lunches will take being creative. I might allow myself canned soup with a little meat in it, but I will avoid hamburgers, meat filled subs, Chick Fil A, and all the bad options that I have near campus. Dinner most nights will be from the crockpot to save time, and to have hot meals waiting for us when we get home.

Until then, Steve has voted for pizza tonight. Here is hoping that I don't make a complete and utter pig of myself and eat half (or more!) of the pizza, again.

Why I suck so much

2009-08-20T09:29:00.000-05:00

Why I suck so much,

I'm a fatty. I know it, and I hate it. But I can't stop eating. Why? Why am I such a fatty who sucks?

I hate being fat, feeling fat, feeing puffy and having my jeans be too tight. I need a place to vent where others in my everyday life can't find it, so I guess I'm going to start doing it here.

I've been fat all my adult life. I was oblivious to it also. I knew I was "big" but I didn't realize I was obese. Yeah, at one point I weighed 245 lbs, when I first started Weight Watchers. And then I got pregnant 3 weeks later. I did great after my son was born, but in 2006 regained 40 lbs, and got pregnant again, and had the most stressful pregnancy, with gestational diabetes, and marital issues. I was 214 after my daughter was born, and have been trying to lose the weight ever since. I did manage to get down to 205 before the holidays last year, but let myself eat everything in site since I couldn't eat any treats the year before.

I was up again today. 222.6 That up one lb from last week. I'm up over 10 lbs from where I was this time last year, up 20 lbs from where I was in November, up 30 lbs from where I was in March of 2006, and only down 20 lbs from where I was in January of 2004.

Fuck, I've been on this weight loss rollercoster for over 5 years, and have only lost 20 fucking lbs! I hate that. What the fuck is so wrong with me that I can't fucking lose weight? Why do I start doing good, and then slide into complete and utter over eating. Why do I hate myself so much over this?

Is it me, or could this be because I'm still nursing Kaylee? Will I start losing weight when I wean my baby? But I love nursing her (except for when she wants to use me as a paci all fucking night long). I'm not sure I'm willing to give up nursing her yet, especially since she gets so much comfort out of it. I love nursing her, and if she is going to be my last child, then this really will be the end of me being a nursing mom.

But why do I identify myself so much with being a nursing mother? Why is it so important to me? Why don't I identify myself just with being a mother? Why do I focus on the fact I'm nursing so god dammed much?

But if I do wean her, will that end the constant need to shove food in my face? Or will it make me want to eat even more? So confused.

Working on night weaning her right now. Seeing if getting her to sleep thought the night will help me mentally. Not sure if it will, but it will be a start.

Need to start being more accountable for what I eat, working out, everything.

I've spent most of this week watching the youtube videos of another over eater with other eating disorders. She yo-yoed so bad, but seems like she found her path finally. Which is good. Her being a faster is not healthy, and is another form of her disorder. But her going raw. That sparked something in me. I think I'd like to go mostly raw. I know it would be healthy, but I still like my meat (Mmm steak) and everything. The down side is I'm too fucking broke to do it. I can't afford much produce right now, let alone enough to live off of most of the time. Dammit.

I'll be 34 years old this year, and still as fat as I have been for all of my adult life. I so suck!
I want to be thin by the time I am 35
I want to be in top shape by the time I am 40
I want to be a MILF when my kids are teens, even if I will be close to 50
But at the rate I'm going now, I won't be around for my kids at all.
Corwin already asks me why I'm so fat, and it breaks my heart. Yet have I done anything about it other than gain another 7 fucking lbs since he asked me? No, and I suck for it.

I'm already drinking 100 oz of water a day (at least), I drink 2 cups of coffee a day (sometimes 3, but thats all) with FF half and half and splenda. Switched from my high fat and calorie flavored creamers. Rarely drink a soda (ok, maybe 2 or 3 times a week lately) Thats close to 150 oz of liquid a day. Damn thats a lot. But I know I'm drinking enough.

My eating isn't the best. I've tried logging points, calories, you name it, and it lasts for a few days, then I go way overboard, and stop. Why is it? Is it too hard for me to keep up with everything? Why do I suck so much?

Today I have eaten:
1/2 onion bagel with cream cheese
1/2 apple danish
1 cup yogurt with granola
grapes
2 1/2 cups of coffee
35 oz of water.

Its only 11 am, and I am due to go out to lunch with my husband in an hour. I know he is going to suggest pizza buffet (have coupons for $5 a person) but pizza is one of my biggest trigger foods, and I am trying to avoid it at all cost right now.

A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.

I need to keep telling myself that when I feel the need to overeat.
Last time we went to this pizza buffet, I had been doing killer with tracking everything, working out, and was starting to look and feel great.
Had a big huge plate of salad, with a little ranch and sunflower seeds on it.
Chased it down with 8, yes 8 slices of pizza! Now I'd been kicking myself in the ass thinking I ate an entire pizza, but I think I might have been mistaken on that. They do slice it a bit thinner than we do at home, so it was closer to a little over half a pizza, 3/4ers of one. Still a lot. And I felt like ass over it the next two days. I just couldn't stop eating the pizza until I felt like I was going to burst.
Have I been eating healthy since? Nope.
I have let that one night, 3 fucking weeks ago, set me off track for so long.

But I think I'm back now.
I need to do this for me!
I need to do this for my kids!
I need to do this for my husband! He deserves to have me be the thin woman I was when we met (18, size 6, ballooned up real fast). I know he has loved me at all my weights, but I want to be thin and healthy for him.

This post is the only time I'm allowing myself to beat myself up. The only time I'm allowing negative talk from me (but I know some will slip through). I need to focuse on the positive instead of the negative.
I have kept off 20 lbs for almost 5 years! Thats incredible! I could be 300 fucking lbs right now if I hadn't had made some of the right changes when I was pregnant with Corwin and after he was born.
I have let my body nourish my children for the same 5 years. Both through pregnancy and through nursing. So what if I'm not going to be able to nurse Kaylee for the 2 1/2 years I nursed her brother. She was still nursed for the first year and a half of her life, and that is a lot more than most of the other children in this country.
I've been obese for both of my pregnancies. Maybe if I can get to a healthy weight, we will feel like it is time to have a third child. Maybe weaning Kaylee isn't going to be the end of my nursing time. (Stop focusing so much on your life as a nursing mother, you are more than your breasts Cyn!)

Today is the first day of the new, healthier me. Hear me roar!

Trying to post once a week

2009-08-20T08:28:00.002-05:00

Doing good so far.

I'm still camera less, so once again, no photos.

Sunday Corwin and I dyed the yarn for his Spiderman hat and mittens. I decided to use the Calypso Heathered Knitpicks Palette I had in stash, and to over dye one skein a very dark violet for the "black", and my mom had some bare palette that Corwin and I dyed red with Kool-aid and red food coloring. The colors for both turned out beautiful, just what we were wanting, and I cast on Monday night at knit night. It was there that I found my first problem. The purple yarn was bleeding all over my hands as I was knitting, leaving purple streaks around my fingers where the yarn was tensioned and my fingers that touched the knitting. No biggie. I knew I had glvoes at home for dying hair, so I could use those for knitting. I got through the blue section of his hat before bed, and got a few rows in on the red before I noticed just how small the hat was. I called Corwin over so we could try on the hat, and it was too small! The hat was coming out to 16 inches, when my son has a head circumference of 21 inches. I'm thinking I'm just going to buy some Wool Ease and try again at a larger gauge, rather than trying to re-write the pattern, because I know the gloves would be too small for him as well.

So I've been working on Kaylee's jacket ever since, trying to get that finished so I can start and focus on Corwins set when I can get the yarn. I finished the left front on Friday night, and started on the right front Saturday. I had a few mistakes in row counts that led to 10 rows or frogging, twice!, but I finished the right front last night, and will cast on for the second sleeve at lunch today. If all goes to plan, I should have the the sweater seemed by the end of this weekend, and will only have the collar to work on. I will have enough yarn to do a matching hat, and will work on that while I'm waiting on getting the yarn to do Corwin's set.

I've decided to frog my February Lady Sweater. I just haven't been feeling the love for it. I've had it as a WIP since April, and maybe get 5 rows a week. At this rate, It will take over a year to finish the sweater. And to top it off, I think the yarn will rock as this. I only have 1100 yards of the blue dyed, so I'm waiting to see how yardage goes for others making the sweater.

Just a quick update

2009-08-13T09:36:00.004-05:00

I don't seem to remember the blog exists half the time, and when I do remember, I don't ever have much to say.

My camera is dead, so no photos for a while, unless I want to do camera phone pics or I can convince Steve to let me use his.

Its August, and the time of the year where I start planning what I am going to knit for Corwin for his upcomming birthday. Every year, since he turned one, I have knit him a sweater for his birthday present. There was Trellis, Scoop (minus the intarsia), Childhood in a solid bright red, and last year the green hoodie with cables (that I never put the zipper in Oops). I've been scouring Ravelry for sweaters for him, had a few to show him, and he didn't want any of them.

What does he want?

Spiderman!. He is obsessed with spiderman. I think we have settled on a hat and mittens for this year, and I'm going to have my mom put a zipper in last year's hoodie. I think I might re-size the mittens for fingerling, or try my hand at designing something, so I can do everything with the same yarn, and only have to buy a a few balls from Knit Picks. I can pick up the yarn to make this for $10 from Knit Picks, which I will be doing soon.

Until then, I'm trudging along on the Smock Coat for Kaylee. This coat is nothing but Seed stitch, with a little bit of garter stitch thrown in on the hem and collar. Its good mindless knitting that takes forever. I'm having to force myself to work on it some days, but others I can't put it down. I 'm making the 2-3 year old size to fit my big girl (18 months tomorrow and has been in 24 month clothing for months), but I think I miss judged, and made it one inch too short. Trying to decided if I'm going to stress and fix it, or just deal. I have the back, one sleeve, and half of the left front done, and just have the rest of the left front, the right front, other sleeve, and collars to go. I'm only on ball 5, and if I have enough left over, I think I'm going to knit a matching tam for her to wear with it.

My February Lady Sweater has been neglected these last few months. Since I took up spinning so hard core, and have been working on gift knitting, I just don't have time for it that often. I have it next to the bed for that "I'm up, showered, dressed, and have 30 minutes before I have to get the kids ready" time, but since Steve started classes in Dallas, I've been sleeping in longer, and not having that 30 mintues of veg time to start the day with. I'm still only on the second skein of yarn, and think it will only take 4 of the 5 that I dyed for it, maybe leaving me with a skein for a hat.

I've been obsessed with looking at hats on Ravelry lately. I'm not sure why. Maybe it has to do with spinning, and hats being a good option to do for small amounts of yarn. Who knows, but I see some hat knitting in the near future. Which is odd, since in all my years knitting, I have made a grand total of one, yes one hat. Cowls would also be a good thing to knit with hand spun, and I could give those as gifts. Hm, to ponder.

On the lace frount, I have stalled out on the GoddesKnits again. I' m just not feeling the love for this shawl, and have been thinking about frogging it and using the yarn for something else. This could be due to the fact that I just knit Aeolin out of the exact same yarn, color and all, and I'm tired of this color for now. Who knows.

I've taken a break from wheel spinning for now, and have been working on finishing up my two big SIP's on spindles. I also really need to stain the wheel, and hope to do that this weekend, now that Steve has a break from class and can wrangle the kids for me a bit. But I know my dad wants to see me spin on it, and I don't really want to break it down until after I can show it off.

Spinning wrap up from Tour de Fleace

2009-07-27T11:14:00.005-05:00

I know I keep saying that I will get better about blogging about what I am working on, and that I need to update more than once a month or so, but once again, life got in the way. And spinning. I haven't knit much in the last month, but I have been spinning thanks to the Tour de Fleace

I have gotten in a large amount of practice on both my spindle and on the wheel, and feel like I am getting better, more consistent yarns on both, and I'm actually going to show ithem with you for once.

First up is a small project that I did using the purple merino I have had forever and a bit of a batt I picked up at Fiber Fest. The purple ply was wheel spun while the blue ply was spindle spun. It didn't turn out the way I was expecting it to, but I think I did come up with something that is usable. Second is the Rose Garden batt from ButterflyGirlDesigns that I picked up at Fiber Fest. Well, not the whole batt, this bit is only about a quarter of it. Spun on my smallest spindle, I'm getting more even and constant with this yarn. I worked on it while watching my friend Angela dance a few weeks ago, and she was fascinated that I could take fluff and turn it into yarn. This was my first time winding a plying ball, and I think it is so much easier to ply from a ball than to use my home made lazy kate. This was also the first time that I wound the finished yarn off on my PVC niddy noddie. Kaylee thought the finished yarn made a great pretty to wear.
And my first wheel spun! Way over twisted, this thing spins fast when it wants too with slow take up when the bobbins get full.
Ashland Bay Colonial Top, about 4 oz and maybe 175 yards. My MIL has claimed dibs on something made out of this.
Next up some more spindle spun yarn. "Midnight in the Meadows" from Chimera.Etsy. This is Falkland (drool, a new favorite yarn), and only 1/4 of what I have, about 150 yards, light fingerling to lace weight.
And last, what I neglected my family for this weekend to get it finished. More Falkland from Chimera in the "Crocus" colorway. 150 yards of a three ply. The singles were wheel spun, and I spindle plyed it to have one hank. Not as over spun as my first wheel spun yarn, but I do have my under spun bits in there. After a huge tangle less than 10 yards in, I did abandon the lazy kate for another plying ball (not pictured).

My Wheel!

2009-07-15T15:10:00.000-05:00

Here are the much promiced photos of my $0.99 plus shipping, wheel. It needs work (has had a little) but I'm already in love with it.

And just figured out how to do cool things with photos!

Tour de Fleace days 1-5

2009-07-08T20:16:00.005-05:00

Look! Two posts in one day!

I'm participating in the Tour de Fleace for the first time ever this year, spinning for Team Spindle and Team Rookie.

Pardon the photos, I warned you my camera was being wonkey. Everything has developed a blueish cast.

The fist thing i'm working on for the TDF is some of the ButterflyGirl Designs batt I picked up at DFW Fiberfest in April, in the blend Rose Gardens. I've actually been working on this batt since the start of June, but have been working on the spindle above since Sunday morning on the drive to my parents.

Second up is another ButterflyGirl batt, a sample from the mixed bag I picked up, being spun on my ButterflyGirl Designs spindle. I don't have much of this fiber, but to spread out what I do have, I'm planning on plying it with the purple merino (wheel spun) on the straw.

I've also been playing with my wheel a bit this tour, trying to get used to it. I know i haven't done a big post on the wheel yet, I'm planning on it. This is the Ashland Bay Merino in English Gardens that I also picked up at Fiberfest. Going from spindle to old wheel that still needs a little bit of work does have a bit of a learning curve, but I'm getting used to it. When I was spinning the purple fiber, more than half of what I spun wound up in the trash pile, due to being over and or under spun.

Once again, its been over a month

2009-07-08T09:02:00.003-05:00

But what a month it has been.

The kids and I went on our first vacation in, well ever, with my parents. We drove from Texas to our family reunion in Idaho in the middle of June. I did bring my camera with me, but the camera decided to crap out on me at the start of the trip, so no photos (but your used to that from me by now)
We started our trip on Saturday June 6th, meeting up at the halfway point between our house and their house for me and the kids to get loaded in their RV, and grab a quick breakfast at McDonalds with Steve before we all got on the road.
The first leg of the trip was uneventful, and nothing new to us, since it was the route we drive to get to my MIL's house in the panhandle at least two times a year. We are used to stopping every 90 minutes or so so the kids can get out, stretch their legs, potty, and burn off some energy. My dad isn't. His theory is, he's in an RV so he doesn't have to stop for potty breaks. We were halfway to Amarillo before we convinced him to stop and let the kids out to play at a rest area with a playground. After a 30 minute break where the kids and dogs got to stretch their legs and potty, and a diaper change for Kaylee, it was back in the RV. We pulled into Amarillo around 2 pm for lunch at the Big Texan. Even though I have been driving to the panhandle/Amarillo area for 15 years, this was my first trip to the Big Texan, home of the famous 72 oz steak eating challenge. The kids ate Mac n Cheese while the three adults munched on Buffalo burgers and fries. Then it was a bit of walking around the gift shop and back in the car for a few more hours. My dad thought he would make it to Pueblo, CO that first night, but in the end we decided to stop for the night in Trinidad, CO, just past the NM/CO border on highway 25.

Ah Colorado. Even though I haven't lived there in close to 25 years, its still the state that I think of as home. The smell of the mountain air was refreshing, and the mountains, oh the mountains were so beautiful! The kids and I walked around the RV park while my dad set up camp and my mom cooked a quick dinner.

Sleeping arrangements could have been better. The kids and I wound up sharing the tiny (between a twin and a full sized) bed, and I was crowded and didn't sleep well at all on the trip. One night I was able to move Corwin to the couch to sleep, and another night Kaylee slept with my parents in their queen, but for most of the trip, it was the three of us, and my two kids are both bed hogs.

Day two of the trip had us driving north along I25 through Colorado, with a few more leg stops for the kids. On one stip, in Colorado Springs, Corwin and I ran across the parking lot to Starbucks (my one addiction) while Kaylee stayed in the RV playing with my mom. We stopped for lunch north of Denver at the Lafayette exit (close to where we used to live many, many years ago) and had Famous Dave's BBQ. It was a rainy afternoon, and we noticed a large crowd from the resturant was looking out the window at something. I got up to check it out, and it was a tornado!

(pic taken with my blackberry, and grabbed from my twitter site)

Now, I have lived in a part of the country called Tornado Alley for over 20 years, but this was the first tornado that I have actually seen since we moved out of Colorado in the mid 80's. Crazy, right? After lunch, it was back in the RV, and off to Wyoming. We had another pit stop in Cheyenne then got headed west on I80 to Rollings WY for the night. We decided to try to stop earlier in the night, to give the kids a break, and actualy picked a campground with a play area, but it decided to start raining outside of town, and kept raining the rest of the evening.

Monday started with a quick breakfast at a truck stop, gas and back gain on the highway, this time heading north west towards Yellowstone national park. The original plan was to try to get a camp ground just outside or inside of Teaton National Park or to try our luck in Yellowstone, but by late morning my parents decided the kids (and dogs) had been cooped up long enough, and we were going to stop around lunch time for an afternoon of running around and playing. We stopped in Dubois, WY, and driving through town, I saw a knitting and spinning store. I knew where I was going to try to take a walk too :). We all walked into town from the camp grown at lunch and explored town a little, but to my disappointment, the yarn store was closed on Mondays. *Sigh*
After lunch we walked around the camp ground, and let the kids and dogs run around the park, play in the outside play ground (which still had some snow on it from the night before), and play in the indoor game room a bit. We also got firewood and S'more makings and made some after dinner.
Tuesday morning we loaded up, had a quick breakfast in town and headed along the road to Teaton and Yellowstone.

Our view of the Teatons was cloudy, but they were still pretty.
Teatons and Jackson Lake.jpg | TweetPhoto

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I had been looking froward to taking my kids to Yellowstone since the first month I was pregnant with Corwin, and I was excited to finally be able to do that. It was early enough in the season that there was still snow on the ground as we drove in from the south entrance. Corwin my mom and I kept looking for wildlife out the windows while my dad drove. I don't remember seeing much wildlife while we were driving that first leg, but we did see plenty while we were there.
Corwin loved seeing the geysers, and I think Old Faithful and the other geyser basins were his favorite from the first day. He got excited every time he saw steam or water shoot up into the air. Kaylee was still too young to know, understand, enjoy much of anything that was going on. on our drive around the park we saw tons of Buffalo and Elk, even having one brave Elk dart in front of our RV as we rounded a curve. We spent the night in Canyon in a cabin with two Queen sized beds, and it was nice not to be cramped in that tiny bed with the kids, but both still slept on me. We picked up some suvies; shirts for me and the kids, a cap for Corwin, post cards and went on our way again, seeing Tower falls, and dad, Corwin and I hiking down to the base of the falls. On the drive to Mammoth Hot springs we saw lots of wild life, tons of elk, and even a buffalo right where we got out for a quick walk and potty break for the dogs.
The only thing about Yellowstone that disappointed me was Mammoth Hot Springs. I had been there only once before, in 2000 when Steve and i went with my brother Scott and his late wife Cindy. I remember it being a long hike to see the sites, but it was still beautiful. Well, time and changes in the geothermic activity of the park have hit Mammoth Hot Springs, and the springs that we were able to access with Corwin's short legs had dried up, except for the ones on the very top of the climb, or on the much long loop.
After Mammoth Hot springs, it was time to leave Yellowstone, and head to Rigby, ID and my aunts house, which was another two hours down the road. We arrived Wednesday afternoon, and my cousin Gregory greeted us all with tall stiff drinks, and my aunt had balls and water bottles for the kids. The family reunion was fun, but I don't really have much that I want to talk about with it right now.

And I promise more knitting/spinning/fitness content soon. I just realized how long this post was.

First trip to the zoo

2009-05-20T10:18:00.002-05:00

I was hoping to have our family photos uploaded for this blog post, but my husband has stuck the camera in his backpack, and I'm too scared to go looking for it.
My husband is getting ready to start an accelerated nursing program in June, which means that for 15 months he will be 100% a student (40 hours a week + in the class room) and not able to do much with the family.
We decided that we should take the last few weekends that we have before then to do as much family stuff as we can.
Sunday we loaded everyone up and went to the Fort Worth Zoo. Corwin had been there before, we celebrated his first birthday there, and have tried to go at least once a year (but missed last year). Kaylee had never been.
Corwin was most excited about seeing the elephants and lions on the drive up, and was in a good mood for most of the day. Kaylee, who loves anytime she spends outdoors, was in 7th heaven, and got even more excited when she noticed there were ANIMALS out there to find!
It was a mild spring day for Texas, high 60's low 70's, and the animals were up and moving for once. Our first stop was the Cheetah exhibit, where one cat was walking around, and the other was rolling in the grass and dirt trying to scratch his back. Corwin took a few photos with his small kids camera, and Kaylee squealed.
Corwin got to see the elephants, all together for feeding time, and thought it was so cool! In front of the giraffe exhibit was a pond with fish and turtles, and I think that was Corwin's favorite thing of all.
Kaylee loved everything. She went "Rawwwrr" when she saw the lions and tigers. The white tiger exhibit is set up with a glass wall, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with the animals. Too close in some cases, as I was treated to the image of a Yawning tiger jaw and teeth right behind my 15 month olds head.
Kaylee's real favorite, I have to say, was the penguins. She loved watching them swim and dive down, and come up for air.
I can't wait until we can afford to take them back to the zoo. If not the Fort Worth Zoo, then the Frank Buck Zoo, which is smaller, and costs about half what the FTZ costs.

Back to Fit n Fiber

2009-05-13T16:35:00.002-05:00

I think it fits my newfound obsession with spinning and the huge lecture I got from the Midwife I say for my gyno visit this morning, its time for some changes.

I do need to make it a goal, no a priority to lose at least 40-60 lbs. My weight is back up to 219, and I know I don't want to get back in the 220's again. I want to be thin! I want to be healthy!

First step, which is something I've learned from so many resources, is to journal every bit of food I eat. So this might get old and repetitive on the blog, but I don't think that many people read it (if you do, I'm apologizing in advance for boring your socks off)

Breakfast- Sausage McMuffin, Hash browns and a Skim Caramel latte from McDonald's. Not the best choice for breakfast after getting told to lose weight, but it was 2 hours past my normal breakfast time and I was starving (fasting blood work)

Lunch-2 slices of high fiber bread (don't remember the point count), 1 morning star farms spicy black bean burger (they were on deep sale at Target, will get more), 1 slice of cheese, jalapeños slices, and jalapeño cheddar chex mix.

Snack- Recess pb cup, pudding cup, carrots

Dinner-

And there is fiber to this post

My first spinning!!

Which meet with a horrible yarn barf accident when I attempted to ply, and got tossed into the trash in 60 broken threads.
I immediately started on my second spinning project

Which I didn't have too many problems plying.

At that point, the smart, safe thing to do would have been to keep spinning the baby batts from BFG, but instead, I jumped feet first into the silk

I'm in love, and already dreaming of getting my hands on more silk for a spinning project.

I also finished the Parker Cardigan on Sunday

It needs buttons, but I wore it out to the mall with the family.

And my mothers day present? Fiber!

(photo yanked from Etsy, since I can't remember to take a photo, and am blogging from work, and should wait for upload to finish before I delete the photo from my computer)

Still no spinning wheel, but I hope it will come soon.

Fell Off the Wagon

2009-05-05T13:13:00.003-05:00

You know, the diet/workout wagon where I could reward my efforts with purchases at Fiber Fest last month.
Work out days 0
Pounds lost 0
Yep. A great big nothing
I gained a few pounds.

I suck
I need to get better at the working out and holding myself accountable thing.

I did go to DFW Fiberfest, and I did spend money.
My MIL gave me some money to go have fun with (I love her so) and I sold some old books and DVD's that I had doubles of to raise some money.

I went, and I didn't' buy yarn.

Not a single skein.

But I didn't leave empty handed.

A Butterfly Girl Designs drop spindle. I've been drooling over her spindles ever since I started Stalking the Spindlers group on Ravelry.

Plus Fiber

ButterflyGirl Mini Batts

And More Fiber

3.3 oz ButterflyGirl Rose Garden

And More Fiber

5 ozAshland Bay Merino Multi-Color in "English Garden" that I got a great deal on.

And Silk!!!

1 oz of Tussah Silk Roving

I've spun up a few of the mini bats, and then decided to dive head first into the silk, and I'm in LOVE. Its so easy to spin.

I also finally, 18 months after casting off, blocked the Mock Harlot Wedding Shawl

And found HOLES!!!
I hyperventilated and cried all day when I saw them, then decied to re-knit it later, when I had less lace on the needles. And to do something crazy like spin the yarn... in silk... But that will be a ways down the road when I get better at spinning.

And after I get this up and running

Maybe I should change the blog's name back to Fit n Fiber?

A shoutout to myself

2009-03-20T14:25:00.002-05:00

Hey you!
The chubby one sitting at the desk.
What are you drinking? ANOTHER White chocolate mocha?
Aren't you supposed to be doing this whole diet thing
Yep, you are.
And I saw the weight on the scale this morning, its MORE than it was this time last year, when you *JUST* had a baby.
You keep saying you are tired of being fat, yet you never do anything about it.

No, don't give me that lip service that you are doing Weight Watchers Online. Sure you are paying for it, but when was the last time you actually TRACKED your FRIGGING points?
Had to think about it rihgt?
Sure, you start out the week tracking points, track your breakfast on Monday morning at least. But you usually give up and eat CRAP by LUNCH on Monday! Not even one day before you give up.

But I'm going to make a deal with you. You got it?
Fiber Fest is coming up in one month. 5 weeks from today. If you can manage to stay on track for that long, I will let you spend $50 at the fest. Sound good? That includes eating, tracking, working out (and not hitting the off button on your alarm at 5) EVERY DAY!
Yes I mean every day.
For every week you do it, there is $10 to spend at fiber fest.

Want to sweeten the deal a little? How about a little fibery goodness as a reward for weight loss?
Got your attention, right?
How about $5 for every pound you lose between now and then?
You weiged 215 this morning.
If you weigh 210 the morning of fiber fest, thats $25 from weight loss money. Sound good?
If you can get back to 205, thats $50 in fibery money.

Can I bribe you to work out that long?

Signed- The thin person who has been trying to dig her way out for the last 5 years.

Baby's Got Back.

2009-03-15T17:24:00.004-05:00

Last week as I worked endlessly on the Parker Cardigan, it felt like it was taking forever to get to the proper armhole depth. I'd knit, measure, see that I only needed two inches, so maybe 2 1/2 pattern repeats more, knit that, measure, and still need over an inch. All week it felt like I was knitting onto something that defied logic on how far I was knitting. But finally, on Friday, I reached it, the end of the back.

The true-color of this is a little less yellowish, but still, one of my favorite non-lime shades of green. The pattern on this is interesting enough after working on many things of just plan stocking net stitch, yet easy enough that I had the patterns memorized on day one. I think if I could stay focused on this, I could have the whole cardigan finished by the end of the month.

But, I'm weak and gave into temptation. I've cast on for Aeolian after all. I did decide to stick with stash yarn, and used the Valley Yarns Alpaca Silk in Mulberry that Steve gave me for Christmas a few years ago. Friday afternoon I braved our torrential downpour and went shopping for beads. I found some 10/1 beads that I think look great with the yarn.

I love the look of beaded lace. In the last few years, I have started so many beaded lace projects, Swan Lake, Moroccan Days, MS4. Yep, I started them all. And got less than 1/4 of the way through before I decided I hated everything about beaded lace, epically getting the beads on the lace. Its a royal pain in the ass.
Last night, on my 3rd repeat of the Yucca chart, I got to that point again, broke the yarn, put it in my 'trash cup' I'd been using for beads that refused to be knit, and re-cast on without beads.
I didn't get past the set-up chart before I realized that the beads were a part of this shawl, weather I liked it or not. So, I dug the previously knit part out of 'time out', to see if was savable. It was, and is back on the needles.

You think you have your life all planned

2009-03-12T16:19:00.003-05:00

Well, at least your knitting life, and not the whole knitting life, but at least for the next few months.

You have two sweaters on the needles that you are switching between, the Parker Cardigan, and another Cardi you found on Rav, plus you know you have the yarn for a few things like the Whisper Cardigan, February Lady Sweater, Fountain Pen Shawl, and you are pretty sure you signed up for Mystic Rose.

Then life (or at least Knitty) comes and throws a huge wrench in your plan.

I'm in complete and total love with the shawls in this Knitty. I must knit Aeolian, as soon as is humanly possible. Sure I haven't completed a shawl since the Ravelry Knitting Olympic event in August, but this is different. This is lust.

I would love to be able to buy some DIC baby or Malbrigio Lace for this, but I'll be a good girl and knit from my huge lace stash (most of which has been knit and frogged at one point).

But I am tempted.

Once again, call me a bad blogger

2009-03-10T16:48:00.003-05:00

Both as a knit blogger, and as a diet blogger.

I have fallen at one and succeeded at the other in real life.

The failure: The diet so far. I was doing killer until the last week of November, I was down to 205, the lowest weight I had been in almost 3 years. Then the holidays hit, and being deprived the previous holiday season, I ate.
And ate.
And ate.
The holidays were over and I was still eating
Back up to 216 lbs :(

But I think I'm back on track.

I started ChaLean Extream with the husband. Got through the first week, loving every moment of it, the burn after I was done, the sore muscles, everything.
Then I got a UTI, and missed a week.
But I'm back, and planning on doing more in less than an hour.

Knitting, I have been doing non-stop.

I've completed so much that I haven't had time, energy, or really desire to blog about, but after going through the blog before I was pregnant, there was a lot that I had to say, and I was a half way decent blogger.

I'm currently working on The Parker Cardigan from the Spring Interweave Knits, in Knit Picks Shine Sport, and it is pretty, and soft. I hope the weather clears up so I can get photos this weekend.

And the blog, I'm debating changing the name back to "I Knit, Therefore I Frog" even though there is a lot less frogging going on.

If anyone still reads this, do you have an opinion?

2008 Finished Objects

2009-01-02T09:03:00.003-06:00

All of these are on my Ravelry page, but I don't think I blogged about very many on here.

Baby Shrug

Nantucket Jacket

Tomato

Ropped Shell

Katja

Wakame Lace Tunic

Laminaria

Helena

Green Hoodie for Corwin

Lisel

Green Hoodie for Kaylee

Silken Scabbard

Francis Revisited

I did finish a lot more this year than I thought I did. Going through my Flicker page, I also realised I have a lot of WIP's hiding around, and a lot of items that went to the Frog Pond.

Help I've Fallen and I cant get up!

2009-01-02T08:36:00.005-06:00

I was doing so good with being on plan, dieting, working out and losing weight. I had lost 12 lbs in a 2 1/2 months, and was down a size.

Then the holidays hit.

And I ate
and ate
and ate
and stopped working out.
and ate
and ate.

And re-gained 7 lbs.

Beck diet solution, yeah that didn't last past week 3.

100 AP's in November? I earned a grand total of 10

Goal to get under 100 lbs before the daughter's first birthday? I'm back at what I weighed at the start of October. Its not going to happen.

But I recommied starting today (yeah, yeah, famous New Years resolution), and have worked out already today, and I will go shopping for only healthy foods today.

And I will do better about posting on here.

I will do a belated year end wrap up of my knitting here later today.

Beck Diet Solution

2008-11-07T12:47:00.003-06:00

I picked up this book through interlibrary loan, after hearing good things about what it teaches you, and have decided to give this a try in addition to following WW. I think in addition to witting things out on note cards, putting the information from Response Cards on this blog will be great journaling tools.

Reasons I want to Lose Weight Chart
I'll look better
I'll be more attractive to others.
I'll be able to wear a smaller size
I'll be able to wear more stylish clothes.
I'll be happier when I look in the mirror.
I'll get joy out of shopping for clothes.
I won't feel so self-conscious.
I'll be in better health
I'll be able to exercise without discomfort or embarrassment.
I'll live longer
I'll feel better physically
I'll have more energy
I'll feel more in control
I'll feel as if I've accomplished something important.
I'll have more confidence
I'll increase my self esteem
I'll be less self-critical
I'll feel more outgoing
I won't have to listen to my family comment on what I'm eating.
I' won't have anyone bugging me about my weight
I'll be healthier to have another baby
I will lower my risk of developing diabetes later in life
I can knit smaller sizes.

Man I identified a lot of them as goals. Almost the whole list. I do need work. Now to get index cards tonight and remember to write them all down.

I've made negative progress on my NaKniSweMo project. I finished the 5th repeat of the raglan increases, and tried it on, and hated the neckline. It seemed like the body of the sweater was too big for me as well. I had DH give his opinion of the sweater and he hated the neckline as well. I frogged it that night, and re-cast on last night for the next size smaller (36 and something, the L) I know the sweater is designed to have negative ease, but this much negative ease does worry me a bit. But since I am knitting a smaller size, I'll have a bit extra yarn and should be able to do some short row shaping at the bust. And since this is a top down sweater, it will be easier to add some extra increases for the hips if I need them.

I have been lagging in the 100 AP's in November goal. Here it is day 7 of the month, and I am only at 11 AP's. But I will earn some this weekend. I don't think I will be at my goal of 25 a week, but I will try.

Lunch break is over, back to work.

November Goals and a NSV

2008-11-03T10:36:00.002-06:00

I have two big goals to work for this month.

The first is I'm participating in NaKniSweMo for the first time. The idea of knitting and finishing a whole sweater in a month is not that daunting, especially since I'm doing the short sleeved version of the Silken Scabbard. But I only have 800 yards of yarn and that is just shy of the called for for my size. I'm already planning on cutting out one cabled repeat on the bottom of the sweater, both to shorten and save on yarn, but its going to be close. The hemmed neckband took up a lot of yarn. But on the bright size, I figure I'm already 5,000 stitches in, and its only day three of knitting.

It doesn't look like much in the pictures, but the hem did eat a lot of knitting time.

On the workout front, I've committed myself to earning 100 AP's in November. If i complete this task, then I will buy myself a new pattern. With doing the Turbo Jam, its easy for me to earn 5-9 AP's a day, so as long as I am consistent, I don't see the numbers being a problem.

Workout Schedule
Monday- Punch Kick Jam and 10 min Ab Jam
Tuesday- 20 minute and Turbo Sculpt
Wednesday- Cardio Party Mix 1 and Ab jam
Thursday- Fat Blaster and 3TTurbo
Friday- Cardio Party Mix 3 and 10 minute Ab Jam
Rest Saturday and Sunday, unless I need to make up a workout.

There, its in writing, lets see if I can stick to it. Today is day 1 and I have already earned 9 AP.

Saturday DH and I had a date night. Nothing fancy, just the two of us going to the Abby Inn for dinner without the children. I tore apart my closet looking for nicer jeans to wear than the saggy baggy jeans I had been wearing since K was 3 weeks old. My Size 16 jeans that I had went on, and buttoned, but the gave me horrible muffin top. It was so bad that in the empire style shirt I was wearing, I looked very, very pregnant. I did go out and buy a new pair of jeans, with a bit of strech to them, also size 16 that fit beautifully. While I'm upset that my old jeans are still to small, I'm thinking because of the material and the cut, I'm ecstatic that I did fit in a different pair of the same size. There isn't even a "W" after the 16 on the label. I don't think I have fit in this size in over 10 years.

Happy Belated Halloween!

2008-11-02T10:10:00.002-06:00

Trick or treating was done early for us, since it was K's first time out

Dear Ben and Jerry's

2008-10-30T16:43:00.002-05:00

I have to say your Birthday Cake Ice Cream is really quiet yummy. The Chocolaty frosting swirl hits all the cravings in just the right spot. I can't resist this flavor. It beats Phish Phood hands down as my favorite.

Thats why I can never buy it again. I have no will power with this flavor. Once I open the pint and get a spoon anywhere near the contents, I will eat the entire thing in one sitting. It won't even last on the spoon long enough to find a home in a bowel for any attempt at portion control.

Thank you.

Tuesday Weigh In

2008-10-28T09:24:00.005-05:00

I had a good week last week. Ok, so I wasn't 100% on with the program, and AF finally showed up after K's birth. But I had a loss of 3 lbs this week! That put me at 209.6, and down almost 8 lbs since I got back on track last month.

Last night was knit night. I did indulge in a Pumpkin Pie latte at Art Six while I knit and my companion crocheted. We are a small group, and we have had a third person hop in from time to time, but maybe its just this semester keeping people away.

I got home and was too wired to get to sleep right away, so I watched some NCIS re-runs off the DVR until midnight, and much to my surprise, was up at 5:15 to work out today.

I was sick last week, and took the whole week off of working out, so I started back small, with the 20 minute Turbo Jam DVD followed by the whole AB Jam, and I felt great afterwards. I really need to get a set rotation for me, and try to get all the videos in an order. Maybe I will try setting up a grab-bag, and do the video I pull out the night before, and for the shorter videos, remember to double up with a longer video.

On the knitting front, I finished A Cardigan for Merry on Sunday night, now I'm just sewing the hems in, and I'm hoping to be able to block it tonight, and get buttons this weekend. Its been chilly in the mornings, and my little girl needs something on her head, but she won't wear a hat.
I'm trudging along on the Apris Surf Hoodie finally. I did the first sleeve in two weeks, started the second sleve but messed up the increases, frogged it and decided to cast on for the body in the round. That is a whole lot of stocking net stitches. I did get to the waste shaping, and I am about 5 rows from starting the lace. That at least should make things go faster....

But Saturday is the start of November, and that means it is time for NaKniSweMo, or the National Knit a Sweater in a Month. I decided to join this year, and do the Silken Scabbard in the Brooks Farm Solo that I picked up at Fiber Fest in April.

Progress Pics.

2008-10-27T22:00:00.002-05:00

I don't have any pics from my heaviest weight, so this progress page will be limited to photos starting from Summer/Fall of 2008.

Taken 08/09/08 at my sisters wedding.

Weight 217 lbs. It would take another month for me to decide to get back on WW.

Taken 9/29/08, Weight 213 lbs.

Notice the huge-post baby belly.

K was 7 1/2 months old when this was taken, and I still look pregnant.

A new look for the blog.

2008-10-27T13:08:00.002-05:00

I've been toying with this idea for a while.
I've been trying to do a knit blog and a weight loss blog for a while. Unfortunately, both have been neglected in the last few months. Maybe it will be easier for me to focus if I try to combine them both again.

So the new name for the blog. "Fit and Fiber". I've been re-focused on Weight Watchers for the last two months, and I am down 7 lbs. I've decided for my rewards for hitting the milestones that I want will be knitting related, pattern, yarns, and the joy of knitting smaller sizes.

My highest weight was 245, and that was before I got pregnant with C. If I count my pregnancy weight, my highest weight was 254. I successfully lost 50 lbs one year after C was born, but quickly re-gained about 30, and hung around at 225-230 until I got pregnant again with K last year. After her birth, I was happy to see I was down to 217, and I have been working hard to lose more weight, and have lost 5 lbs in the last few months. I would love to get under 200 lbs before K's first birthday in February, get back to 50 lbs gone, and finally, get under 165 lbs. I do have a secret dream of getting below 145 lbs one day, for a grand total of 100 lbs gone, but I know that will take a ton of hard work and dedication.

Rambelings on Knitting

2008-09-19T08:59:00.006-05:00

I can't believe its been over a month since I last posted anything, again. I am turning int a bad knitblogger. I blame Ravelry. It makes things so easy, and makes it seem silly to write about the same projects on multiple places, but I miss being able to ramble on about knitting in an environment where my friends don't think I'm crazy.

Ravelympics- I finished not one, but two objects! Laminaria, which was my main project. The shawl turned out so lovely, and will more than likely wind up being my MIL's Christmas present this year.

Pattern: Laminaria by Elizabeth Freeman

Pattern source: Knitty.com Spring 2008

Yarn: Lone Star Arts Catalyst

1 Skein, about 800 yards

Purchased at DFW Fiber Fest, April 2008

I finished early, and wound up finishing Helena for the WIP wrestleling. We have had a few cool enough mornings this week for Kaylee to wear it to daycare, where it had much oohing and awwing. I just hope they don't decided to wash it for me. I do need to get some photos of her wearing it, but for now, Corwin's spider man sheets do a good job.

Pattern: Helena by Alison Green Will

Pattern source: Knitty.com Summer 2008

Yarn Knit Picks merino Style, 4 skeins,

over dyed with Koolaid in a gradaded pattern

I'm almost done with Lisel. I have just one sleeve left to knit. This is the first time I've knit with MMMMMMmmmmalabrigo yarn, and I'm in yarn lust! I want to move to a colder part of the country so I could wear it in more than an airy cardi. The pattern has been easy to follow, but has been taking a long time due to getting other things done.

I wasn't too sure about this colorway to begin with, and part of me still wishes I had gone for the blue-green one. But I have told the husband that more MMMmmmalabrigo would make a nice birthday or Christmas present for me this year.

Corwin's yearly birthday sweater is coming across fast. His only requirements were that it be a green hoodie. I searched and searched Ravelry for a free child size hoodie pattern that wasn't girly, but no luck. I broke down and ordered the Little Cabled Hoodie pattern from Gardiner Yarn Works, and I am enjoying this pattern. Its well written, and easy to follow, and I have my eyes on other patterns from them that I want to knit. I think I will have the hoodie finished this weekend, and then I will need to find a zipper and sew it in.

I think I should be finishing up the green hoodie and Lisel this weekend. Which means I can get back to working on the Mystery Shall 4. I'm using the Alpaca Cloud in Iris Heather and bead from the forgotten Moroccan Days shawl for it, but I'm not loving it 100% . I need to start a new sweater, and I have had everything for the Apris Surf Hoodie for months, but found the pattern for A Cardigan for Merry which would only fit Kaylee this year. But the Apris surf hoodie yarn has been in stash, and it is perfect weather to knit and wear it. I'd cast on for both, but they both call for the same sized needle. Decisions decisions.

And I'm happy in a geeky way that I finally figured how to link photos from Flickr so I can put them in where I need them, and not have to load them all up at the start, and hope they come are in the same order that my train of thought is.

FO: Wakame Lace Tunic

2008-08-11T19:49:00.002-05:00

Pattern: Wakame Lace Tunic

from the Summer 2008 Interweave Knits

Yarn: Knit Picks CotLin in Coral, 10 balls

Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 6

Size: 40 inch bust, see info

Cast on: June 21, 2008

Cast off: August 2, 2008

I'm very happy with how this turned out. I had some gauge issues with the yarn, and knit it the 40 inch size. In retrospect, maybe I should have knit the next size up (I still have a bit too much belly/c-section pooch) but when I get off my lazy rear and lose 20 lbs, it should fit much better.

I wore it out to a casual family gathering on Saturday, where K got to pose with her Gammy and some roses.

And I'm still knitting away on Laminaria. I'm about half way done with the Blossom Charts, and should make it to the border by this weekend.

Let the Games Begin!!

2008-08-08T11:04:00.002-05:00

The cast on for Ravelympics has begun, but I am stuck at work today, and have social obligations for tonight that will prevent me from getting much knitting done until maybe tomorrow.

Remember this yarn?

Its the Lone Star Fiber Arts Catilist in Deep Water that I picked up at DFW Fiber Fest in April.

I picked it up in hopes there would be some sort of Knitting/Olympic tie in, so I could knit Laminaria, which I have been drooling over since March.

My only problem has been what size to make. I don't have enough yarn to make the full sized shawl, and the smaller size seems like it would be too easy, epically since I knit my last Swallowtail in less than a week.

So after fudging the numbers (so that's what knitting math is for) I think I have enough to do a shawl in between the two options.

I will be doing 5 repeats of the star chart and six repeats of the blossom chart, and the other three charts will be knit as written.

I've run the numbers through the triangle shawl calculator, (see side bar) and I know how far I will be at the end of each chart, and approximately how much I need to try to knit each day/weekend.

See you at the finish line!

FO: Katja

2008-07-29T15:07:00.002-05:00

Kaylee in Katja
Originally uploaded by Cynder

I'm testing out the "Blog this" option with Flickr, so if this a bit of a test.

I actually have a FO to show off, Katja from Knitty.com.

The size is 12 months, and knit in Berecco Linen Jeans from Delightful Hands in Celena, TX, about 1.5 skeins, and took about 2 weeks to knit here and there.
Its a bit big for the little girl, but as fast as she is growing, she will be crawling around town in this in no time!

This was a fun knit, and I think I'm going to have to make a larger size for her next summer, but in a cotton yarn, instead of this rayon and linen blend.

Things have been crazy in knitting land the last month. I've had a bad case of "Startitus", and have cast on for, and frogged, many items. Socks, Cowels, etc. I'm also trying to finish a few things before the start of the Ravelympics on August 8th.

In progress that I need to finish are the Wakame Lace Tunic from the Summer IWK (link to my Raverly project page in sidebar). I'm knitting this in KP CotLin, and I. Love. This. Yarn! Its perfect for knitting in 100+ Texas Summers! I have about one and a half repeats of the front left before it is time to start shaping the neck. I'm thinking instead of binding off and picking up the stitches, I'm just going to knit the stitches (for the bind off section) and place on a spare needle, and treat the front like the back. I need to get this finished before the Ravelympics, so I can have my size 6 Option tips back (and I don't get the front piece confused with the back).

Also on the in progress and need to finish list is Helena for Kaylee. I'm using Merino Style left over from my Deep V Argyle Vest, which was left over from my Pearl Buck Swing Jacket, which I over dyed using Kool Aid (photos on the Rav Project page, see sidebar for link) I still love how soft and smoochy this yarn is. Mmmm Merino. I only hope the little chunker doesn't outgrow the 18 month size before March.

And on the Waiting to be Cast on List, Laminaria, for the Ravelympics. I'll be knitting for Team 4815162342! I'm using the Lone Star Arts Catalist Lace that I picked up at DFW Fiber fest in April. I've entered her in the Shawl Relay and the Laceweight Longjump. I know that we are able to cast on early in the day when the opening ceremonies happen in Bejing, but since its a work day, I will wait until the ceremonies air on TV here before casting on, that way I don't lose two days of knitting (blocking and photos must be done before the end of closing ceremonies in what ever time frame you choose). The only downfall to this plan is the DH's birthday party is also the night of the opening ceremonies. I think he will understand.

I also have yarn for, and castonitus for Shetland Shorty, using leftover Yarntreehouse/Jojoland Melody from Venezia, Wicked (with bust darts) using the Brooks Farm Solo from the DFW fiberfest, Liesl, using MmmmMalabrigo, and the Organic Hoodie in a green yarn of some sort for Corwin. (So much knitting to do, so little time)

I do still exist

2008-06-26T10:15:00.005-05:00

And I do still knit.
And I do still take photos of my knitting.
I just haven't had much time for the blog of late.
Between working 40 hours, taking care of two children, taking care of the house while the DH goes back to school, I just don' t have time to blog on the same computer that I have my photos on.
I know I could download them on my work computer and up load them, and I intend to do that here later.
But for you Ravelry Peep's, there are pics up, user name is Cynder.
You know, or I could just link to the Raverly pages in my side bar. That might be easier in the long run.
Life is stressed. There has been so much going on in the last year that I haven't had the desire to try to put into words, so much pain that I have gone through, struggles in my marriage, that the blog suffered for it. Knitting suffered for it, heck, I suffered for it, and am still trying to find an internal balance in it all, but its nothing that I want to blog about, well, if I blogged about it, it wouldn't be anywhere that anyone I know IRL has access to read.

Kaylee is getting so big. She had her 4 month check up last week, and the little chunker is up to 16 lbs 12 oz. She is bigger than my friend's 9 month old son. Corwin is completely in love with his little sister, and wants to snuggle, kiss, hug, play with her any chance he gets. Its a good thing they get to spend some time together at daycare, or I wouldn't get any time with my baby.

I have done a bunch of knitting in the last few weeks. I think the Summer Interweave Knits has kicked me out of the knitting rut I have been living in since last summer.
I've already completed the Roped Shell, and have started on the Walakame Lace Tunic, and I have plans to knit the Apres Surf Hoodie, The Leaf Lace Kimono, and a few other things that I can't think of at this time.
I think what helped was that I finally realized I live in Texas.
Its Hot in Texas
We might get 7 days of Cold Weather a Year
and by Cold Weather, I mean Wool Sweater Weather.
So I need to start focusing on practical stuff for this area, like Summer Knitting
since its HOT 8 months of the year.
and by Summer Knitting, it means Cotton yarns, Hemp yarns, and blends.
I have been using Knit Picks, because, well, with two kids in daycare, and a DH in school again, we are poor. And I can get yarn for three tops from KP for the same cost as a higher end blend yard for one sweater. And, well, I'm frugal
But after DH is done with school, then I will splurge
I do plan to start putting back $25 a month to buy yarn (my sanity money) but so far, I haven't remembered about it until the end of the month, when that $25 will almost buy me enough gas for the rest of the week.
But yeah, I completed the Roped Shell on Saturday, and actually wore it out to a Girls Night Out with some friends.
I love Shine Sport, it's cool, easy to work with, and didn't feel like I was knitting with rope, like some other cotton yarns that I have used in the past.
I'm currently using CotLin for the Wakamie Lace tunic, and I think I love this more. Its so soft. It drapes. It's cool.
I will be using Pallete in a deep blue for the Apres Surf Hoodie. I know its a wool, I know I live in Texas, where it is Hot, but, I'm poor, and I think this will be a good, fall pullover in a happy color.
On top of that, I'm planning on making Lamanaria from the Spring Knitty for the 2008 Knitting Olympic Trials. I only have enough yarn for the smaller version, but I can't wait. I think the Estonian lace will be a challenge for me, plus Kaylee will be 6 months old and into everything, so that will be another knitting challenge.

So much knitting, so little time

FO: Nantucket Jacket

2008-04-27T15:24:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Nantucket Jacket
Designer: Norah Gaughan
Published in Interweave Knits Winter 2006
Size: 41 1/2 inches
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andies, Amethyst Heather, 10 12/ skeins
Needles, Knit Picks Options, size 6
Cast on December 2007, Cast off March 2008
(but didn't block and seam until April)

I LOVE IT! I had to guess at the size, since I was 8 months pregnant when I started, but it fits great (need to re-block for length). I think its one of my favorite sweaters that I have done to date. The pattern was easy to memorise, the ribs, cables, and seed stitch was enough to keep my interest. I think this pattern has actually had me fall in love with seed stitch (which has been something I hated since I knit Trellis for C), and I'm actually planning a sweater with a lot of seed stitch.
The only thing I don't like is how the front rides up a bit, but after I sew on buttons and re-block the front, it should be better.

I'm also loving DH's new camera. I can't use it for all my knitting picts, but I think I will be borrowing it for the FOs.

Life is slowly starting to get back to normal...

2008-04-15T04:33:00.002-05:00

After the birth of K. She is the sweetest baby, and such an easy baby. She is a good sleeper, good nurser, hardly cries, and has the cutest snort and giggle. I can't believe that she is almost two months old already. C is still in love with her, and asks to snuggler and hold her all the time, but is ready to hand her back after an hour.
I had to return to work at the beginning of the month *pout*. I wish I could have stayed home longer, or for good, but it wasn't something that we can afford at this time.
DFW Fiber fest was held the Saturday after my first week back. It was the first time I ever went to a big fiber event, and I thought I had enough money, but the $100 went real fast. I'm already saving up to go again next year.

My scores from DFW FF included some lace weight for Laminaria. I was looking for something with shades of green, and was torn between two different lace weights, one of which would have taken half my yarn money. I wound up with some Lone Star Arts Catalist, in the Deep Water colorway.
I also found a sales table with yarn for $2 a skein. Most of it was cruddy novelty yarn, which my mom bought up like crazy, but I did manage to find 11 skeins of Tahki Tweedy Cotton Classic, which I think will be great for a summer top
I did get one more score, which will be covered below, in my knitting progress.
My biggest project so far this year, which has been stalled waiting to be blocked and seamed, is the Nantucket Jacket from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits. I can't believe how many items from this issue are still in my queue. I'm using Knit Picks Wool of the Andies, for the first time, in Amethyst Heather. The body and first sleeve were done before K was born, and I finished the second sleeve early on, but I haven't had the time, or energy, to block it yet. I'm thinking I might try to do a steam block this weekend, so I can get her blocked and edged sometime before it is AC season at work.
I've been working on the Rona Lace Shawl, in Alpaca Cloud Iris Heather, off and on since Thanksgiving. I have less than 20 rows left, but there are over 600 stitches per row at this point, and a lot of knit one through back loop, purl one combos in this shawl, every row, and I get burnt out on it easy.
I do have one FO for this year, a baby shrug by Debbie Bliss, that I knit in some leftover Cotton Ease. This was a fast knit, less than 3 days total. And I think K looks adorable in it.
I finally jumped on the Clap band waggon. I wasn't planning on it, it has never been in my queue, but while at DFW FF, the Brooks Farm display had several versions of it showcasing their yarns, and I fell in love. By that time, most of my yarn money had been spent, but I did have enough for two skeins of Solo, about 800 yards, and I cast on that night. This yarn is a single ply, and it feels like buttah. Drool.
My other big main WIP is Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights. This is a huge stole, and I'm thinking I'm crazy for starting this with a newborn, but I love it. I'm using Elann's Baby Merino, an alpaca/merino blend, and its dreamy. There are beads galore in this baby, a beaded fringe on the bottom, beaded edging, and beeds in the body of the design. The beaded edging keeps snagging on everything, the working yarn, K's fingers, and looks wonky now, but I am hoping to block the shawl out and fix the fringe.

That said, I'm going to take advantage of being up early, and K being happy snuggled with daddy, and get some knitting done before it is time to get ready for work.

First FO of 2008 (a bit late)

2008-03-16T09:46:00.004-05:00

Kaylee Rose was born Feb 14 at 7:43 pm.9 lbs 1 oz, and 21 inches long.
I was planning for a VBAC with her, but due to having Gestational Diabetes, and going past my EDD, she wound up being a repeat c-section after trying all natural ways to start labor.
Big Brother C is completely in love with her.

We will soon be back to our normal knitting content.

Not the Batteries

2007-11-26T13:17:00.000-06:00

but the camera that is dead. Grrr.
I've been a knitting fool lately, but not a good blogger. I kept telling myself that I couldn't blog until I got new batteries so I could post photos. I got new batteries, put them in, and have a black screen. *sigh*
I finished the Mock Harlet Wedding Shawl in 4 weeks!!! It went really fast, and was much easier than I anticipated. It took me a few nights of plotting on graph paper to figure out a bridge for the two patterns, and I think it is more seamless than the original, but of course, I can't show it off. I wound up doing 6 repeats of the Springtime design, weighing the ball after each repeat, and checking an online triangle shawl calculator to make sure I would have enough yarn to finish the 50 row border. I wound up with a small ball left.
I've also completed the first bit of baby knitting, a pair of Saartja's Booties in the left over yarn from my Monkies. I think I have enough to either do an other pair or a small hat for her.
Next on the baby knitting front, the Pea Pod Baby Set from Kate Gilbert. I got gauge in some Brown Sheep Natura Spun Sport, in apple green left over from Cromarity last year, and I think this is going to go fast. C is insisting that I knit a sweater for him out of the same green yarn, and I think I will have enough to knit something for him as well.
I've also cast on for the Rona Lace shawl, a Knit Picks Pattern, in some of the Alpaca Cloud Iris Heather that DH got me for my birthday last year.
I hope to get photos of stuff soon to show off, but don't know when/if the camera will be fixed.

I really need new batteries

2007-10-30T09:07:00.000-05:00

for the Camera. I now have 3 FO's that I need to get photos of, two of which need to be blocked still.

I finished the Peacock Feathers 2 shawl Sunday Morning, and cast on for the Mock Harlot Wedding Shawl in the black Alpaca Cloud. I got through the first chart and 1/2 through the first repeat of the second chart and decided the black color was too dark for the pattern. I convinced DH to take me down to Simpatico, hoping to find a nice leafy green laceweight yarn to use instead. Nada. I did find a cream/off white Merino Ono (cobweight yarn) and grabbed a skein of that. I have 1375 yards to work with, and cast on as soon as I got home. I also grabbed a skein of Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color sock yarn in shades of blue and cast on for a different pair of socks. The yarn I was using for the Bayerish socks is too splity, and they are going to weight until I either get brave enough to cast on in the Lorna's Laces, or get a few skeins of a good solid color sock yarn.

Two more FO's, A deadline, and a new Obsession

2007-10-25T09:52:00.000-05:00

This post is brought to you by the dead batteries in my camera. Never try to blog about FO's with them.

I finished both the Monkey Socks that I have been working on since July, and the Shedir that I started as a quickie two weeks ago. Do I have finished pictures? Nope, and probably won't until next month (unless Target has some AA's in the dollar bin tonight). Once I sucked it up with the Monkeys, and turned the heal, I finished them in less than a week. Two trips to Dallas (with DH driving) and my fear of highways helped. I still have to weave in the ends, and I want to get a good FO picture before I actually wear them, but so far I love them. Sheidr I cast on one night while sitting in C's room, and couldn't put them down. I love the yarn (Elsbeth Lavoid Siky Wool) and dream of knitting a whole sweater in it, but am torn as to which one.

I have cast on for another pair of socks for my "take and go" project, Eunny's Bayerriche Socks in some of the left over Bare from Venezia, making it my, um, 5th Eunny project this year. I have over 1000 yards of this yarn in stash, so I know that I will have more than enough to make a pair. Lets hope that it takes me less than 4 months to finish this pair.

A deadline- I am almost done with my second Peacock Feathers Shawl! After months of this shawl just sitting there mocking me, I have made it past the endless second row of feathers, jumped through chart 7 in a week, and just this morning, at 6:30 am, started the final chart! If all goes well, I think I will have a FO by the end of the month!

I also have a new lace obsession. Ever since the Yarn Harlot posted pictures of her Wedding Shawl last year (October 24th post) I have been in love with it. I currently have the books (First Book of Modern Lace Knitting, and A Gathering of Lace) checked out from the library, and the crazy plan to try to re-create her masterpiece. I know my bridge wont' be anywhere near as perfect as hers, but I have ideas, and plans, and I hope to cast on for this as soon as I am done with the PFS. The yarn, the black Alpaca Cloud that has tried to be so many shawls this year, the failed Alpine Lace Scarf (twice) and the MS3. She has held up well to the repeated frogging, and I hope to reward her with something so perfect. I think I have lost only a few dozen yards due to frogging, and still have one full skein left to wind. I am going to judge how big to make the shawl by how much yarn is left after the peacock is finished.

So far my pregnancy is going well. I'm at 24 weeks as of yesterday, and the little girl is kicking up a storm right now. We have started buying a few items for her, and I have plans for a baby sweater or two up my sleeves, but that is going to wait a bit. No names picked out yet. I have some I like, DH has some he likes, neither has found anything that we LOVE yet. It will happen.

A whole lot of FO's going on

2007-10-14T14:32:00.000-05:00

I'm behind on posting pics of my FO's, so I am going to try to cover everything I've finished in the last two months in one post. So fair warning, this is long, and photo heavy.

Pattern: Venezia by Eunny Jang

Source: Winter 2006 Interweave Knits

Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Peruvian Fingerling weight 2 1/2 skeins

and YarnTreehouse Melody 2 5 balls

Cast on: Easter 2007

Cast off: Sept 2007

Modifications: Changed to two color pattern instead of the 10+ colors in Eunny's pattern.

Added a scoop neckline instead of the boat neck.

I love this sweater, and wish that I could wear it this winter, but maybe if it is still cool after little girl is born in Feb.

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl (#2)

Source: Interweave Knits Fall 2006

Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace, petal pink

Cast on Mid-September

Cast off 7 Days later

Mods-none.

This will be a Birthday present for my sister in December.

I can't believe that I finished this in less than one week. This was the project that proved to me that my summer long knitting funk was over.

Pattern: Childhood by Natalie Wilson

Source: Knitty.com

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease

Cast on: September 29th, 2007

Cast off: October 7th, 2007

Mods: Added pockets for C, made the button band work, instead of snaps.

C loves this sweater, and wants to start wearing it now, even though it is in the mid-high 80's here in Texas.

Pattern: Mr. GreenJeans by Amy Swenson

Source: Knitty.com

Yarn: Ella Rae Classic Wool Print

Cast on: September 2007

Cast off: October 13, 2007

Mods: none

I feel that this sweater turned out way to busy for my tastes, and the button hole is much lower than I wold like. I still need to weave in the ends and sew on the button, but I'm not feeling the love for this sweater.

And a quick shot of a current WIP, Shedir from knitty.com
Cabely goodness. Yum! I'm knitting this in Elsbeth Lavod Silky Wool, and I'm in love with this yarn.

I'm behind on my posting

2007-10-07T09:02:00.000-05:00

And I have a bunch of FO posts that I need to do, but I either need to block or have help with taking better pitchers. But I will get there, I promise
C's third birthday was this week. It was all Star Wars, including a Yoda cake and multiple light sabers.
I was late in starting his birthday sweater, I actually didn't cast on until 3 days before his birthday, but as of one week in working on it, I am close to being done.
I'm doing the Childhood pattern from Knitty, but I added pockets in the front since , C like all small children, likes to put things in his pockets.
Monday we went to the craft store and he picked out Balloon Buttons for the front of his sweater. He has been asking if I was ready to sew them on ever since. Since I currently can't find any of my yarn needles, the seaming and adding buttons is on hold. All I have left on the knitting front is one sleeve and flaps to cover the pockets. Already he loves to wear the hood.
I've done some progress on Mr. Greenjeans as well. I've finished the body (mostly), and the first sleeve. I'm halfway done with the second sleeve, but C's sweater is taking priority right now.

Since it looks like I won't run out of yarn (like I thought I would last week) I think I am going to add one more cable repeat to the bottom before I knit the button band. I'm still thinking of over dying this with kool-aid but I will reserve judgement until I am finished knitting.

How many days does it take to knit a lace shawl

2007-09-23T15:08:00.000-05:00

If it is a super easy, super fast, super small shawl that you have knit before?

Swallowtail as of Friday Morning

7, including the day you take off of work for a "knitting sans DH and child" break. That's right, the second Swallowtail shawl shawl that I cast on for last Saturday, and knit on like crazy all week, is now a FO. Well, it will be after I block it when it is DH's turn to do bedtime tonight.

As soon as I finished binding off, I started swatching for for Mr Greenjeans. I started with my normal 2 needle sizes below the called for gauge, but it was too tight, so I went up to 7's, and it was still too tight, but almost there. Here's where I decided to throw caution to the wind, and just start knitting with 8's. I did stop and check gauge when I was a few inches in, and it was spot on, and since I am knitting a smaller size then I normally wear, any growing in the blocking will be a good thing. I got to the point where I separated the sleeves before I stopped for a progress pic.

The patterning on the yarn is really busy, but it is growing on me. This will either be the ugliest pregnant woman sweater that doesn't cover the belly, or it will wind up being over dyed with kool-aid to help tame the colors.

I also finally got a progress pic of the Monkey's that have been on the needles since July. I finished the first sock in less than 2 weeks, and have been on the second sock since the last week of July. Talk about second sock syndrome.

And second shawl syndrome. The second Peacock Feathers has also been on the needles since July (July 4th), and I'm only on chart 5. I know I only have a few charts left, but this has been an effort to work on more than a few rows a week.
We have been doing a lot of planning for C's birthday, and have started going out and looking at all the new baby stuff on the market. All three of us were going "Awww" at the cute little girl outfits at the store today.

100th Post

2007-09-20T14:12:00.000-05:00

And Baby News! Its a GIRL!

I'm working away on the second SwallowTail shawl. I cast on Saturday, and I am already halfway through the first Lily of the Valley lace chart. I think I will have this done either Saturday or Sunday, and then I can cast on for Mr. Greenjeans from Knitty. My yarn came from Webs last night, and I can't wait to cast on.

Venezia is finished!

2007-09-17T08:17:00.000-05:00

but I have no new photos to share, since yesterday was a busy day and I couldn't get DH to help me with non-bathroom mirror shots, and the fact that it was in the 90's and I didn't' feel like putting on wool.

Now I'm in the "Big project that has consumed my life for the last 5 months is finished, and I have nothing to work on" stage, even though I really have 3 other things on the needles.

The Peacock Feathers 2 shawl is coming along slowly. Since this is for me (I think) I have no real deadline to finish. Since it is a shawl, I can take FO picks any time of the year/stage of the pregnancy. I did finally get around to winding the second ball of yarn for this, but haven't started the second ball yet.

I have a pair of socks that I cast on for mid July, Monkey's in Jojoland Kaleidoscope, that I have been on the second sock for months, and really only work on in the car, with DH driving, when we are going more than 10 miles. I just started the 5th repeat of the leg pattern, and have quiet a bit left to go.

I did cast on for a second Swallowtail Shawl, in some of the Misti Alpaca Lace left over from the Cap Shawl, which might wind up being a birthday/and or/Christmas present for my sister. This is going fairly fast, and I am almost done with the 10th out of 14 repeats of the Rose Bud lace pattern. Then I have to face the dreaded nupps, but since I'm using my knit picks needles, I don't think it will be that much of an issue. At least I hope. I think this will be a fast knit, if I make it my #1 priority this week, and should have it FO by this weekend.

There are two patterns in the new Fall Knitty that I have fallen in love with, and plan to make. Mr. Greenjeans looks like it will be a fast, easy sweater that i should be able to wear (unbuttoned) all pregnancy, and during the early weeks after the little one is born. I was bad and ordered some yarn from webs to knit this (pics when it arrives). I also love Muir which is the first fairly complicated looking bit of lace I've seen in Knitty. I think I am going to use my much used/frogged black KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud (that has been put through such Frogged items as the Mystery Stole 3 and the twice started and frogged Alpine Lace Scarf) for this project. But I need to finish the other two bits of lace I have on the needles before I can cast on.

C's birthday is coming up in a little more than two weeks, and part of me feels guilty for not having knit him a birthday sweater this year, but he hardly wore the one I knit last year, and to be frank, the little guy likes being cold. It doesn't matter how cold it is at night, he will only sleep in a tee-shirt and diaper, and will resist any attempts of putting covers on him. Last winter he wore his birthday sweater twice, and only after much fussing, yelling, and screaming. If he wants a sweater this year, I think I will buy him one. He has become fascinated with all things Star Wars in the last few weeks, and I think his family party is going to be very Star Wars oriented, from the cake (Yoda), to the gifts (a new lightsaber and the one movie we don't have on DVD), with a bit of Little Einsteins thrown in.

Almost a FO!

2007-09-09T20:50:00.000-05:00

I finished knitting the last sleeve of Venezia tonight! And thought I would get some quick photos taken while I had time. Here is the body all laid out
Close up of the sleeves. While the stripes don't match up 100%, I like it.
A quick seaming later.... and I can fit it on over my 17 1/2 week pregnant belly. I sill have to finish weaving in ends and blocking, but I think she looks good.

And while I had the camera out, here is an official belly shot!

I do still knit, right?

2007-08-31T10:07:00.000-05:00

I just don't knit every day, or post about it that often.
I've had two great knitting weekends in the last two weeks, and I plan on having a third one this weekend. Sure, I thought I would get the second sleeve of Venezia done this week, but thanks to a killer headache that has lasted most of the week, which lead to a 8 PM bedtime, I haven't done any knitting since Sunday, but I did get a lot done last weekend. Not only did I get to the halfway point of the second sleeve, about one repeat from the start of the steak, I finally sewed down the neck bands, the first sleeve band, and sewed the shoulder together. Then I couldn't find my size D crochet hook so I could reinforce the sleeve steak, so I couldn't cut that and sew the should in, but I will go hunt up a new one this weekend.

I haven't done any lace knitting in the last week, but will go back to the 2nd peacock as soon as I am done with Venezia, then I'll think of something to do with the rest of the massive ammounts of lace weight that I still have in stash.

Some Blog Cleanup

2007-08-21T10:12:00.000-05:00

I've cleared out some abandoned/frogged items from the WIP bar. The Mommy Snug, while it looks like a good idea, isn't working out in the yarn I had for it, and the more I thought about it, the worse the idea of a knit sweater in Texas while pregnant sounded. That's 4 or 5 abandoned projects that the box of Cotton Ease has been through, and probably not the last.
The Mystery shawl was going well, but I wasn't loving it. I think working on that was part of where my non-knitting has come from. I had to force myself to work on it, and when I saw the direction that clues 5-7 were taking, I was less than motivated. To make matters worse, I lost track of where I was in the pattern, and repeated a 10 row section 30 rows back from where I was. I tried tinking/frogging to that point, but wound up frogging the whole stole in a spray of black beads of doom.
Instead, I have been working on Venezia, thinking maybe I can get the sleeves done to get a FO picture done soon before my belly gets too huge. I kicked out the rest of the first sleeve in a weekend, and know started on the cuff of the second sleeve this weekend. I couldn't remember the mistakes that I made in the first cuff, so they won't match 100%, but I think with careful blocking, it shouldn't be too bad. I don't think I'm going to worry too much about getting the stripes on the sleeves to match up, I'm just going to go with what ever surprise the ball of yarn I pick gives me.
The second PFS does get some work, here and there, but not as much. Maybe its because I have already knit the shawl once that the mojo isn't really there, but I want to get this done so I can use the salvaged black yarn from the MSA to knit something for my twin for Christmas/birthday time.
I haven't had DH take any recent belly shots, but its there, somewhere under all the flab that is getting pushed up and out. Ugg. I told myself that I was going to be in better shape and thinner when I got pregnant again, but oh well. We had a good midwife appt last week. Finally got to hear the little stinker's heart beat. S/he was hiding under the pubic bone, and didn't want to be found.
The Fall semester is getting ready to start on Monday, so this is crunch time (and overtime season) at work, so there won't be much knitting going on.
My parents sold their house, and are signing the paper work today. And I am in a bit of a funk about that, but since they are both retired, there is no way they can afford the old house, and now they can move to the beach and be bums for the next few years.

The Pregnancy Blogging Blues.

2007-08-10T10:13:00.000-05:00

I'm still around.

I just haven't been knitting that much over the last few weeks.

DH and I have has some issues come up that are taking up all my brain function, and I have been spending hours in deep thoughts instead of with yarn and needles in my hand.

I am falling behind on my MS3 clues. The first 3 clues I had done before Sunday night. I was almost done with Clue 4 when C hit the needles out of my hand, while I was on a border section, and the lace laddered all the way down to the life line 50 rows back. I have done some work on it, but I'm only 1/2 done with clue 5, and clue 6 came out this morning.

The second PFS shawl gets maybe 4 or 5 rows worked on a week. That's it. I was hoping to have it finished this summer, but I don't' see that happening.

I have been working on a pair of socks. Monkey's in one of the yarns I picked up last month. I got the first sock done in 10 days, and have been working on the cuff of the second sock for just as long.

Venezia is still in hibernation. With us hitting the 100's here in Texas for the foreseeable future, it is going to be another few months before she will be picked up again, and knowing that I won't be able to wear her, or even try her on when she is done is a real downer.

In some ways this pregnancy is harder on me than when I was pregnant with C. Maybe its because I'm in my 30's now. Maybe its because it is a second pregnancy, but I was nauseous for most of the first trimester(even if I haven't thrown up), and have been so exhausted every day, that I come home from work and take a 20 minute nap while C is watching a cartoon off of the DVR.

I'll try to be a better blogger, Heck, I'll even try to remember to take photo's every once in a while.

Is it nap time yet?

750 pages in 12 hours.

2007-07-22T07:55:00.000-05:00

We got back from the bookstore yesterday morning at 9:45 AM and I started reading.
I took a few breaks, driving C over to my dad's for the afternoon, lunch with DH, picking up DS from my dads, but I was offically done with HP by 9:45 last night.

My head hurts, but today I have to keep C occupied so DH can read.

And knit.

Finally, an update.

2007-07-16T14:39:00.000-05:00

I have been knitting along, mostly first thing in the morning, and on the weekends, not so much in the evenings or on my lunch break. Its too hot at those times, and I'm too tired most of the time.
Work goes on on the MS3 stole. I am almost done with clue #3, and so far, so good. I don't think this is going to wind up being too big, maybe a nice wide, short scarf size, but that cool. Depending on the actual theme, this might wind up being a birthday/Christmas gift for my sister. Work is going slow and steady on the second Peacock Feathers shawl. I only work on it when I have the energy at night, after I am done with that week's MS3 clue. I am almost done with the third chart, and so far I haven't had the massive tinking and frogging issues I had with the first Peacock Feathers Shawl, knit last year. (What are the chances that I just jinxed myself, and will have to frog by the end of the month?)
I did some yarn shopping today at the Woolie Ewe in Plano. I picked up two skeins of Jojoland Kaleidoscope 100% Merino Wool. This colorway is very close to the results of my one experiment with Kool-Aid Dying, and I think they might become a pair of Monkeys.
I also gave into temptation and picked up a pair of Lorna Laces Shepherd Socks in Somerset. The pinks and greys kind of suit my mood these last few days.
So far, the pregnancy is going good. I'll be 10 weeks on Wednesday, and I have my first midwife's appointment that afternoon. Just for laughs, here is a belly shot. I bought a pair of maternity capris today, which is good since my one pair of jeans I could button suffered a horrible rip this weekend.
As usual, please pardon the messy, ugly bathroom and my fat gut.

The Knitting Blues...

2007-07-02T09:05:00.000-05:00

For the last three weeks, ever since I found out #2 was on its way, I have had the knitting blues. I'd knit some, but quickly lose interest in what was on the needles. I'd have to force myself to get to the end of the row. Sure, I finished Rusted Root, but really, it is too short, and I really don't care right now. I have had some progress on the first sleeve for Venezia, but more often than not, it has sat there, on the arm of my couch, the next balls of yarn rolled and sitting all alone on the coffee table.
So Friday, came the first clue for the Mystery Stole 3, and I printed it off at work, and spent the next 9 hours looking at the charts (because I left my knitting stuff at home, silly me) and trying to guess what it would look like knitted up.
I cast on as soon as I got home from work, between snuggles from DS and all, and managed to get most of chart A done before bed time. I had a few struggles with putting the beads on, wondering what the heck I was thinking, getting beads that were smaller than the ones called for in the pattern, but they were the only ones the craft store had that were the right color that I wanted. Saturday I finished chart A, and started on chart B, when the perfect way to handle the beads, and not break my tiny hook, came to me. I started licking the yarn before I put the bead on. Not only did it make the beads slide on easier, but the yarn was less likely to split in the process. It went from taking me 5 minutes to put each bead on, with much yelling and screaming, to less than 1. I finished chart B last night, and with it, clue 1, and I realised that I missed knitting lace.
I haven't had a finished lace project since March, just two attempts at the Alpine Knit Scarf, that both wound up in the frog pond. I decided to break my one lace project at a time rule, and ran to the stash for a skein of the Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Tide Pool Heather that was waiting to be cast on for a second Peacock Feathers Shawl. The only problem was my favorite lace knitting needles were in use with the Mystery Stole 3, and my size 4 options were in use with Mommy Snug. But, I remembered something about the options, I could just put the Mommy Snug on hold, and "borrowed" the size 4 tips for the PFS2. So I did, and I cast on last night, and I feel the lace knitting groove starting back up.
Will I return to Mommy Snug before the bump is born next year? Will I finish the sleeves for Venezia? Who knows. But I will say, most likely not while it is Summer in Texas and way to hot to knit sweaters.

FO: Rusted Root

2007-06-24T10:19:00.001-05:00

No photo of me wearing it, but I am done with Rusted Root!

Pattern: Rusted Root from Zepher Style

Yarn: Cotton Ease Sugar Plum, 4 skeins, has been in stash for 2 years.

Needles: Size 5 for body, 3 for ribbing

Size: Large

Cast on: May 2007, Cast off June 2007

Modifications: After 4 repeats I changed the leaf pattern to make both sides look neater. I left out the waist shaping on the body so I could maybe wear it for a month or so in pregnancy, not going to happen. Might go back and add another inch or two later on.

Its not a knit I see myself wearing out that much, maybe next spring and summer, but it was a popular pattern that I had stash yarn to knit.

There has been some knitting on other projects as well.

I'm about 60 rows in on the front of Mommy Snug. This has been my main week day knitting project this week, but I haven't done much knitting on it. There is something about rows and rows of 2X2 ribbing that drives one nuts.

I did get my new 16inch size 3 needles Thursday, and have done 2 repeats of the Venezia sleeve pattern since then. I think the longer stripes will work with the body, but I don't think I can get both sleeves to match up.

DH and I went and saw Spamalot Friday night for our anniversary, it was a riot, and not a complete rip off of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. My parents have had C since Friday, and they are due to drop him off any time now. While I loved having a child free day last night, I can't wait to have my little boy in my arms again.

Yes, I'm pregnant!

2007-06-19T08:23:00.000-05:00

Sorry, had to get that off my chest after knowing for 2 weeks. So far, I'm feeling good, really tired, but no MS yet (knock on wood). Right now we are looking at a EDD of mid February.

I haven't really felt much like knitting lately, but I've been getting a little done.

I finished Rusted Root, but I haven't got any photos yet. I need to "wash and block", but since it is knit in cotton ease, I figure running it through the washer and dryer will be good enough. I did modify the the pattern a bit by leaving out the waist shaping, that way I would be able to wear it a little bit this summer, but I don't know how long.

I have done a bit more on Venezia, but I had too many stitches to do DPN's right, and way too few to use my one size 3 circ needle (even with magic loop), so I'm waiting on a 16inch needle to come in from KP before I do much more. I have lost steam on this sweater knowing that I won't be able to wear it this winter,

I did start my Mommy Snug, from the Summer 06 Interweave Knits. I'm using more yarn from stash, Cotton Ease in Popsicle blue, and I am pretty close to gauge, but not 100%. I figure since it is a maternity sweater in ribbing, the extra bit of room won't be too bad. I cast on Sunday and have 50 rows done already, so this looks like it will be a faster knit than I thought it would be.

I'm still waiting for the start of the Mystery Stole 3 knit along, which will be next Friday. I need to get back in the lace mode. I haven't finished a lace project since April.

I'm also looking forward to Friday night when DH and I are going to see Spamalot. The tickets were our anniversary present to each other for 5 beautiful years together.

Finally, a week for knititng.

2007-06-10T20:53:00.000-05:00

After taking a week's break from Venezia, and with many stupid mistakes that shall not be repeated, I have finally started the first sleeve! I decided to save my sanity and not P2tog the hem, but will slow it down when I am finished knitting. There isn't much to see yet, but it will look better in the next photo.

I have been working mostly on Rusted Root this week. I have finished the ribbing on the neck and the sleeves, and only have the rest of the body to finish. I think I have three repeats to finish until the bottom ribbing, and I may have it done by the end of next weekend.

The Alpine Knit Scarf has once again, regrettably, been sent to the Frog Pond. Not for any mistakes with the pattern, but because I hadn't touched it in two weeks, since we were waiting to see Pirates 3, and I needed the yarn for something better.
The Mystery Shall 3 was announced this week, which I signed up or, and the called for colors are either white or black. Midnight Heather Alpaca Cloud would be perfect. I went out and found beads, and bought a small enough hook. It can been seen here, since I accidentally deleted the picture and don't know how to re-upload it with out having to start the whole post over
Cast on is at the end of the month.

I have one other project that I am excited to start, but not ready to blog about yet. I think the photo will give a hint: The yarn has been in my stash for the last two years, since Cotton Ease was first discontinued, and I bought enough of a dye lot to make a sweater, which has been abandoned. I think I have enough yarn for my size, but I'm not 100% sure.

Knitting under the influence.

2007-06-05T21:27:00.000-05:00

Yeah, not a good idea.

I had to frog the first sleeve of Venezia twice, and many times over on the color work.

I missed 10 stitches when I cast on, and it really threw off the color work.

Venezia is in time out for the rest of the week.

Rusted Root has come out to play this week, with a little bit of Alpine Lace, but I really haven't done much knitting this week.

I have been working on setting up my Ravelry account and reading the new Anita Blake book.

Did I mention I now have a Ravelry account? Its so cool!

Body Works.

2007-05-30T20:44:00.000-05:00

I finished knitting the body of Venezia last night! Since I am subbing for non-Shetland wool yarn, I decided to take out some steek insurance, and crochet them before cutting. C was most excited to watch me cut the steeks this afternoon, and I think he likes the finished product.
I like it too. I "tried" it on the best I could without having the shoulders seamed, and it fits! Most susprising, I think the neck mod looks real close to Eunny's last teaser sweater, but I can't be certain until I have this bad girl finished and blocked. I am going to finish the neckline like the pattern says, with the short-row shaping, but I need to wait for payday to get a size one circ needle, and if I can't find one in town, that means placing a KP order.

Until then, I've started on sleeve island, trying to fit the cuff on my size 1 DPN's.

Black Lace and a Dark Movie Theatre Don't Mix.

2007-05-26T09:34:00.000-05:00

DH and I took off early yesterday to go see Pirates 3 while C was still at daycare. Thinking we were going to stop off at home before heading up, I didn't bring one of my main knitting projects with me to work on before the show.
DH had other plans, and we went from work to Wendy's and straight to the Cinamark.
He had the Harry Potter books with him on his PDA to read, and he told me to go ahead and knit something.
The only thing I had with me was the Alpine Knit Scarf, which is on size 2 needles, in black lace weight. While we were standing outside the theater in the light, it was fine to knit, and I got a good 3 rows done. After we were seated, it was a different matter. They had the lights turned to the almost off, and hadn't started playing the onscreen pre-movie adds that theatres play now.
I managed to wedge myself in the seat so I at least had the white screen as in front of me without holding my knitting up to my eye level at all times, and got another two rows knit.

The movie ROCKED! Both DH and I left the theatre saying we HAD to go back and see it again after we got paid, (Or Monday and put it on the CC, and its been a long time since we felt that way after seeing a movie.

I'm still podding away on all three knits, and looking ahead to what is next.

Next lace will be the Peacock Feathers Shawl, again, but this time for me, in KP's Alpaca Cloud Tide pool, but I need to finish both The Alpine Knit Scarf and Venezia, since I currently have my size 3 cir busy with that.

Next Fair Isle will be the Bauhaus Fair Isle from the Spring 2007 IWK (Unless Eunny publishes another amazing pattern before then). I've been looking at Subs, and I think Knit Picks Telemark will work best, but it leaves me pondering. If KP Telemark is a sport weight yarn at 103 Yards per 50 grams, why does KP WOTA, a worsted weight have 110 yards? But it looks like the Telemark knits up to the same gauge as the called for Heilo, at $3 less per skein.

Next "Anytime" sweater will either be Wicked or maybe Saharah or the Simple Knitted Bodice, or any of a thousand projects that will come across my eyes between now and then.

*ETA*- Black Lace, Work, surfing Bloglines while knitting the row where the pattern changes don't mix either. I lost count completely after I read about Glampyre's good news. Since I don't have a Word Press Account, and can't commit on her blog, I wanted to say CONGRATS! here.

Now with Photos!

2007-05-24T18:17:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of progress on Venezia since I last took photos. Saturday I got up to the start of the arm steaks, and decided to try on for fit one last time:
I am not happy with how the hem keeps flipping up, and if it doesn't block out flat, I am going to rip it out and re-knit on size 1 needles, after I buy them.
I did another 3/4s of a repeat before I decided to modify the neck. I put the center 60 stitches on waste yarn, and grafted out a gradual scoop.

I'm thinking I will have the body done by next Thursday (if not earlier), and will start on sleeve island in June.

I also started Rusted Root on Sunday. I have about 20 rows before I separated the sleeves, but I am running out of room on my needles already. So far the pattern is easy, but I am wishing that I had used the Rose Leaf charts from the AKS since the lace charts are written odd.

C is doing better today, and went to day care for the first time all week. I think he had a good day, and I hope he goes to bed early since DH and I need to do some major house cleaning tonight.
Tomorrow DH and I are taking off early to see Pirates and do lunch.
Today is the anniversary of the day we first saw our house. If we had to chose again, I don't know if I would pick this house again, but right now, it is home.

FO: Leaf

2007-05-24T17:59:00.000-05:00

Well, its not one of my favorite FO's, but its a FO.

Pattern: Leaf by Stephanie Japel

Yarn: Mystery Green Wool bought on Ebay.com, my first wool yarn purchase, 3 hanks.

Needles: KnitPicks Options, size 6, various length cables

Time: About 3 weeks, with working on other projects

Size: I started planning on making the 45" bust, but changed to the 40" after holding it up to me. I'm glad I didn't make it the larger size, since this thing is already big.

Modifications: I shortened the arms a bunch. I was going to skip the i-cord all together, but the neck was rolling way to much.

What I learned: Top down- this was my first top down sweater, but not my last, in fact I cast on for another top down about 5 minutes after I finished seaming this one. I-cord- in two years of serious knitting this was my first attempt at doing i-cord. I think I only minded it when it was time to attach the i-cord to the neck.

Depending on the dress I get to wear on our anniversary, this one might actually get worn once. or twice.

I've Been a Bad Blogger Lately.

2007-05-22T10:09:00.000-05:00

Not only am I not updating the blog as often as I would like to, when I do its at work and without any photos.
Since I broke the screen on my laptop, and have to use a monitor screen, its just not as easy to get on the computer at home, and now I find that C has taken the cable that allows me to download photos and hid it somewhere.

Saturday I did a lot of knitting on Venezia. I started the arm steeks, and am almost done doing the decrees rows there, then I have 48 rows without any increases or decreases before I start the neck. I think I might be able to have the body done in a few weeks.

Sunday I finished Leaf while watching the Ninja Warrior marathon on G4. I do have some cruddy bathroom photos to post as soon as I can. I sucked it up and did the i-cord edging around the body, and except for a few spots where I missed a pick up stitch, it looks pretty decent.

I then cast on for Rusted Root in some old Cotton Ease that has been in the stash for 2 years. While I love how the knitted fabric feels, I forgot what a number the cotton ease can do on your hands. I think this is going to be a slow knit for the most part, but that's ok with me.

C has been sick all weekend, I stayed home with him yesterday, and DH is home with him today. Since C has gotten worse last night/this morning, DH is taking him in to the Doc's in about an hour.

I finally got a chance to look through the Summer Interweave Knits, and it just reaffirmed that this is one issue I won't be buying. The few things that looked like I might knit didn't look as good to me in print.

Artistic Licence.

2007-05-16T09:48:00.000-05:00

One important part of knitting is to pick projects that feature new techniques that will challenge us, and teach us new techniques. One of the reasons I picked Leaf to work on is the i-cord, which I have never done before.

I started the i-cord edging on Monday night after finishing the first sleeve, and got a few inches in before deciding that the I-cord was coming out way to thick, about the size of my thumbs.

Ok, So I frog it all out, and re-start on size 4 DPN's, about two sizes smaller. The i-cord is still a bit thick, but it looks better, and it takes me a little over an hour to get to the 11 inches called for before starting the attached i-cord.

The directions state Now work applied i-cord around neckline as foll: *k4 on DPN, then knit last st tog with 1 st picked up from right front neck edge—5 sts. Slide sts back to working end of needle and rep from *.

I got two inches in and decided it looked like crap. Frog back, and try again, still looking like crap and I've been attaching to the left side.

Frog again, attach to the right side this time, but still looking like ass.

Third time's the Frog. Decided to just knit the i-cord solo and sew on. Work on the i-cord for another half hour this morning hating every inch of the lumpy tubular thing that was coming off of my needles, thinking there must be something easier.

Like crocheting the ties and the edging.

Frog for the forth time, look through drawers to find an appropriate crochet hook, modify the leaf so I start with three stitches, and start whipping out a chain. Had the 11 inches done in 60 seconds flat. Started attaching to the body (from the left, because I am feeling rebellious) and get halfway done with the front before I remember that today is a work day, and I do need to get dressed and get C up and moving.

I think I will be done with the i-cord this evening, and then all I have left is the last sleeve and seaming.

Happy Mothers Day

2007-05-13T19:20:00.000-05:00

To all the Mothers and Mom's to be out there!

My Mothers day present was a day to myself yesterday, of which I spent a large chunk of time knitting on Leaf. The body is finished, and I am working away on the Sleeves. I think it might be possible to have a FO on this by the end of next weekend.

I did some knitting on Venezia today while we were at my mothers.

I am about half way done with the fourth chart repeat, and about 23 rows away from starting the steeks for the arms, again, I am thinking by next weekend.

I did break my "No more than two at a time" rule and re-cast on for the Alpine Lace Scarf last night. This time I am working on the size 2 Knit Pick options that I bought last month, and the P2tog's are going a lot smoother.
DH also bought me the pattern for Rusted Root, which I am planning on knitting with some Cotton Ease that has been in the stash for over two years, when I bought up tons at half price.

Computer problem fixed...

2007-05-09T10:03:00.000-05:00

Sort of.
DH mentioned the problem with my laptop to his boss, and his boss gave him an old 17inch flat screen monitor that they had no use for other than collecting dust.
So, we got the monitor set up to the computer, same size screen as the lap top had, so no real change there. Now I have to type on the laptop, and turn my head to look at the screen. DH and I are thinking of hooking an external keyboard and mouse up as well, and just using my laptop as a CPU unit. But that would be silly looking, wouldn't it?

It was late by the time we got it hooked up last night, and I didn't' get any photos shot or uploaded, but I will try to do that tonight while cooking and DH takes C to the park (weather permitting).

What also made it late last night was the dogs both got out while C and I were going out front to wait on DH to get home with dinner. I set C down in our front yard and took chase, since both dogs were headed to the park. I cornered Ying, and got her back home, but Yang was across the street and running fast. I went in and grabbed the quick leash, since Yang can't seam to keep any collar on for more than 5 minutes. So, I grab the collar and C, and we head out the door running. A group of guys playing basketball in the park said that he took off running to the left. As I was looking that way, I saw DH driving up, so I flagged him down, put C in his car seat, and hopped in the passenger seat. We drove up and down the street calling his name and asking anyone we passed if they saw a orangish brown dog run by. Nothing. Its at this time that it sinks in just how close we are to Hwy 377 (Carroll) and that my baby could be hit by a car. C kept asking where Yang was, was he hiding in the leaves? on the roof? in that garage? After going the full length of the street DH decides to drive by our house to see if he showed up on his own, nothing, and we drive down the the cul-de-sac to turn around, and there we see him, running after the car. Thank god! I got out of the car and gave Yang a big hug, put the leash on him and walked him home. I'm so glad he is safe, but he gave me a major scare.

I'm an Idiot.

2007-05-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

I broke my laptop on Friday, so I am temporally unable to blog (or post photos!!!) from home.
How did I break it? I forgot that I had a pen resting on the keyboard, and I went to close it, cracking the screen. DH thinks we can hook the laptop up to a monitor so I'm not completely without Internet action at home (he will not let me touch his laptop after this), but until then...

I didn't get much knitting done over the weekend either. I think I have done 20 rows on Venezia since last Monday. I am almost done with the third repeat of the chart, only 3 or 4 left to go, plus the sleeves.

(This spot marking where a photo would bee)

I did manage to get a bit more done on Leaf. I put the sleeves on holders Thursday night while watching Grays, and started the increases for the front by the ties yesterday. Now I just have rows and rows of stockingnet stitch left to do for both the body and the sleeves.

(Marking off another would-be photo)

I did spend part of Saturday night teaching D how to knit. She seems to be picking up the knit stitch really well, and I have her practicing until the next time when I will show her how to purl.

More of a longer update, and photos when I have the ability to blog from home again.

Thank you all so much!

2007-05-01T17:44:00.000-05:00

For the kind comments of the Cap Shawl! I can't tell you how pleased I am with how it turned out!
Now that I am done working on that, it is back to the much neglected Venezia. I am a little over two pattern repeats in, and just joined the second ball of yarn for the background color yesterday. I know that I will have more than enough yarn for the entire sweater now.
I do have a dilemma though. I know that I won't be able to get the bands of color to match from the sleeves to the body, and that doesn't bug me too much. I'm just trying to figure out which will be better.
I could just do the sleeves with the wider stripes and have them not match at the shoulder.
I could knit both sleeves as one big tub, incorporating a steak seam like in a cardigan, cut and sew.
I could knit both the body and two separate sleeves up to the steak, and join as one, and work the decreases as indicated in the pattern.
The first option sounds easiest to me, and I can always do that and if I decide I don't like it BEFORE I cut the steaks, I can frog back and do one of the other options.

I did cast on for another project Friday night to give me a break from stranded color work:

Its the Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties that Knitty.com has as an excerpt from Fitted Knits. This is the first top down sweater that I have attempted, and so far, it makes for great mindless knitting, with wonderful style. The yarn is mystery wool that I got off of Ebay two years ago when I discovered there was yarn other than Red Heart Super Saver. Its a bit scratchy, and smells a little, but I like how the color is ties in with the leaf theme.

FO: The Cap Shawl

2007-04-29T15:50:00.000-05:00

Its finally done! After 7 weeks, and one big frogging incident, I am finally finished with the Cap Shawl.

With the magic of Blocking, the shawl went from this: To this:
Pattern: The Cap Shawl from Victorian Lace Today

Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace, three balls

Needles: Knit Picks Options size 4, the two standard size cords that came with the pack, plus 4 size 4 Susan Bates DPN's.

Size: Blocked out to 5 feet, which is smaller than the one in the book, but since I downsized both the yarn and needles, I'm happy with the size.

Time: A little over 7 weeks.

What I learned: Circular cast on and circular shawl construction. I loved working on this shawl, since it was (mostly) comprised of knit stitches. There were a few rows of purl stitches on the outer edge that drove me crazy, and I did leave one row off completely.

Pinning it out was less of a hassle than I expected it to be. One of my tape measures had a hole at the start that I was able to pin in the center and I used that to get all my points to the same length

Just a few more pictures before I close.

(Pardon the bad hair and the big gut)

Which will be done first?

2007-04-27T08:18:00.000-05:00

The endless edging of the Cap Shawl, or my ball of yarn.

This edging is taking forever. Besides the mass frogging incident of last Friday, I lost an entire nights knitting on Tuesday due to the massive storms that hit Denton, leaving us without power when we got home from work, and later when the thunder kept waking C up, and I curled up with him so he wouldn't be scared.
I was sure I would be done last night, but no, I have two repeats of the edging left. Uggg. If I didn't know better, I'd think malicious elves or gnomes were coming into our house at night to frog this piece, and put everything back on the needles.
I have very little yarn left in this ball of yarn, but I think it might be enough to get through the shawl. If not, I still have the fourth ball of yarn.
Barring an act of God, the knitting of the shawl will be done tonight, but I might hold off on the grafting and blocking until tomorrow when C is at his grandparents.

Knitty Surprises are up. I think I really like Leaf, and might have to cast on for it tonight. I think I have yarn that will work, even if I have to knit a smaller size for someone else.
I also like Airetta, but is it wrong of me to wish they had fair-isle instructions as well? Mosaic knitting just looks to fussy for me. I can't see myself knitting the other two patterns, so they won't be mentioned.

Out of Time Out...

2007-04-23T09:56:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning I left the Cap Shawl sitting in DS's time out spot to remind me that I was taking a break from it. I forgot to move the shawl before DH's buddies came over Saturday night for gaming, and B** went and sat on the cushion, on the shawl, and started eating a sub there, getting lettuce all over my alpaca softness.

He couldn't understand WHY I was telling him to get up, I guess he didn't see the pale pink fluff before he sat down on the black seat, but still..

**Grr**

There was no further harm done to the cap shawl with his actions.

I spent most of the weekend working on Venezia, and have managed to get quiet a bit done on here. I am on the second repeat of the chart, and it is taking me less than half an hour to do each 300 stitch row (again, why can't I stick to a diet long enough to be able to knit a smaller size?). I did give the Cap shawl some attention yesterday, and have 4 more repeats done. I think if I can keep up with doing 4 repeats a day (don't know about tonight, I have WW WI), then I should have it done by Thursday.

Thursday seems to be a milestone day with this shawl. I started on a Thursday, began chart 2 on a Thursday, and started the edging on a Thursday, so I guess its right that I finish and cast on on Thursday. She will be blocked on Saturday one way or another. C is spending the night/weekend with my parents, so I can devote all my attention to the shawl, and take over his bedroom floor for blocking.

DISASTER!!!!!

2007-04-21T08:16:00.000-05:00

I was closing in on the home stretch of the Cap Shawl last night, when I spread it out to get an idea of how big it was(n't) going to be.

And then I noticed...

8 edging repeats back, over 240 rows, and 4 hours of knitting ago...

I had missed one of the stitches where you attached the edging to the shawl...

and there was a huge hole.

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH

I called DH in from the other room to bring me my tiny crochet hook, and to hold my hand and wind the yarn as I began to frog back.

Progress was slow since I had to recapture the live stitches of the shawl. Some of them laddered back one row, ok most of them, but I didn't care at the time. I had to get to the hole before it became unfixable.

Rip-it
rip-it
rip-it

With an occasional pause to put the live stitches back on the needle so I wouldn't have a bigger disaster.
I got to the end and found only one stitch had laddered back, but since it started at an eyelet, I was able to fix it with the hook. I'm going to have to fix the ladders as I work on the shawl, but for now, all is fixed.

In the light of day, it sunk in. I was almost done with the edging, I could have finished it today or tomorrow, instead, I had to rip out two days worth of work.

The Cap Shawl has been flung aside in disgust for now....

I will come back to her soon, but right now the pain is too fresh.
I will spend the rest of the weekend working on Venezia.

This edging is going slower than I thought...

2007-04-18T08:20:00.000-05:00

For some silly reason, I thought that it would be no problem to get through at least 7 repeats of the edging each day, which would mean having a FO in a week.

WRONG!

Each repeat is taking a little over 30 minutes (I must be a slow knitter if it takes me a minute to do a 17 stitch or less row), most of it comes from the rows that get smaller. In desperation last night, I hunted up the knitty tutorial and taught myself to knit backwards.

While it was a bit awkward at first, and takes about the same time to do a row as purling would, I am saving time by not flipping the shawl every minute.

I should reach the half way point this weekend, and unless my parents kidnap C this weekend, have a FO early next week.

Venezia is currently lunch knitting only, a row a day, and super slow progress.

Living on the Edge

2007-04-14T17:17:00.000-05:00

* Grrr Some days I hate blogger, and the lack of copy/paste*

I have made it to the edge of Venezia! There are 49 repeats of the edging, and so far I have 8 done. The chart is really easy, and I don't have to look at the chart any more.

Right now I am thinking I might have a FO by the end of next weekend...

That is, if I don't get too distracted by Venezia.

I think I'm addicted to two color knitting! Since we got in on Sunday night, the only thing I have wanted to work on was Venezia. Don't let the picture use fool you, I am only using two colors of yarn, but the Yarntree house Melody has a slow variegation to it which makes me think it is perfect for my "fake-isle" sweater. It took a few tries to get a photo that was clear enough to show everything, but I'm more than happy with how this is turning out so far.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to warm up, and DH, C and I are going to get dress up, head out, and meet my family at Scarbrough Faire. Turkey legs and fried ice cream, here I come.

Testing

2007-04-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

I've been messing around with the template and commits section for a while, and I'm just testing things out right now.

I've upgrade to HeloScan, and can't read any of my old commits, but should be able to respond to newer commits now.

*sigh*

ok.

Still Sick

2007-04-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

Have spent the last two days sitting on the couch going "Shoot Me" and knitting in a sleepless haze. I got through a lot of the plain purl rows on the Cap Shawl, I have 2 1/2 rows left of purl, one row of knit (738 stitches per row) and then the edging that will never end. Actually, looking at the edging, it looks like each repeat is longer than the Print O the Wave Stole, but each row is shorter, so it should only take two weeks if I push myself.

I'm about six rows into the color work of Venezia, and right now it looks like the 46' size is going to be too big. I want to finish a few more rows an try it on again to see if it tightened up after I switched to color work. I don't want to have the same problem that SuperStitch had with hers, so if I catch it now, I can fix/modify it before I want to pull my hair out.

Photos soon. DH still has the camera in his backpack at work.

"I don't need to pack another ball of yarn"

2007-04-09T19:43:00.000-05:00

The cap shawl has been growing by leaps and bounds. The second chart has been so much more interesting than the first part of the shawl, and the fact I didn't have anything else on the needles helped me get through the long, long rows in 10 days. That and a 6 hour long car trip each way, where DH drove half and I drove the second half, to go visit MIL for Easter. I don't know what I was thinking while I was packing my bag, because normally I am overly obsessive about bringing extra yarn, books, hobby of the month stuff to keep me busy in the boondocks of the Texas Panhandle. I don't know what I was thinking this time. Probably that the first ball of yarn took me over 3 weeks to knit up, and I had just started the second ball of yarn last Sunday, but sure enough, we get halfway down the road and I realise that I have about 1/2 of a ball (about 100 yards or so) left. The delima was to knit to my hearts content to drown out the boredom of the Panhandle, or to knit conservatively so I would have yarn for the drive home. Knitting to my hearts content won out, and the knitting bag was packed away in my suitcase for the drive home. Thank goodness I had a book that I am only halfway interested in thrown in my bag as an afterthought. I have finished the pattern part of chart 2 for the cap shawl. Now I have 9 rows of either pure knit or pure purl left, with 738 stitches per row. Slow going for now. After that, I have the border left. 49 repeats of a 30 row border. I need to learn how to knit backwards fast.
I did have my shipment from Knit Picks waiting for me when we got back last night. It was hard to decide between knitting the long plain rows of the Cap Shawl or casting on for Venezia. Venezia won out, but I plan to be done with the body of the Cap Shawl before the end of next weekend. I am almost done with the facing on the hem, and will take some pictures after I start the color work.
C and I were both feeling down this morning, so we stayed home. He was down all morning, but after a long (3 hour +) nap this afternoon, he was his normal Toddler of Terror self. Me, my head is still killing me, and I am having drainage from heck, but back to work tomorrow. Have to pay for the yarn habit and the house.

FO: Deep V Argyle Vest

2007-04-03T19:13:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Honey and Storm, about 10 balls total
Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 5
Size: 44inch bust
Start to Finish: About 3 weeks.
New Techniques learned: Stranded knitting on a larger scale, Steaks.

The top of the vest turned out way to big for me. I probably should have switched to a smaller size after the end of the waist decreases. I don't know if I will wear it much, but I think I am pleased with it.

I do plan to do another Fair Isle type project soon.

What was I thinking?

2007-04-02T09:18:00.000-05:00

When I cast on for a summery, short sleeved tank top in wool yarn?

Isabella has been frogged.

I really want to knit this pattern, but it will have to wait until I finish the Cap shawl or after I get tired of working on Venezia. This time, however, I will buy the proper cotton yarn to knit with.

*Shakes head*

Crazy.

I finally blocked the Deep V Argyle vest, and with all the rain and humidity, she should be dry later this week, and ready for her close-up.

Swachity

2007-03-31T19:20:00.000-05:00

The Camera has been found!
As previously mentioned, I did a test swatch for Veniza using yarn from my stash. I had this wonderful multicolor yarn, Yarntreehouse Melody 2, that C gave me for Christmas. I was swaching for another project when I realized that the yarn was the right gauge and stickiness for a color work fingerling weight project. I grabbed some grey palette, leftover from my Endpaper Mitts and used the computer to make the charts easier to read in two colors. I like how the two yarns work up together, but I am going to go with a different color for the actual sweater. I ordered 5 skeins of the Palette bare (2200 yards) and a set of size 2 circular needles this afternoon, and I should get the package in the next week or so, and then I will cast on.

I've also swached and cast on for Knitty's Isabella in some green sports weight wool from the stash. I don't know if this is going to work out to a wearable item for summer in Texas, but it gives me a shawl break until the other yarn shows up. I did alter the directions a bit and did a provisional cast on using Knit and Tonic's tutorial posted earlier this week. However, apparently in the YoK2tog row, I dropped a stitch. At first, I paniced, raced to find a crochet hook to fix the damage, and then realized that this is going to be on the inside of the back of the sweater. No one will ever see it.
Picking up the stitches was a bit time consuming. and my spar size 2 needle is bent, so that made for an awkward lying project prior to knitting the rows together. But the actual knitting two together didn't take that long.

And in the end, I had a nice, scallopy finished edge... Except for where I forgot a YO on the turning row.

I've still been plunging away on the Cap Shawl, or the Cotton Candy Shawl, since the posters on the Victorian Lace Along have said it reminds them of the sticky sweet fluff. I am on chart two, about 103 rows in, and have 70 rows plus the edging left to go. I am still on the first ball of yarn, and I'm quiet certain that I will have more than enough yarn to finish her. I did have a moment of panic with her this evening as I was switching over to a longer circular needle. I stretched her out to see her full size... without putting protection on the needle ends, and had 10 stitches fall off the needle. Visions of the Peacock Feather Shawl falling of the needle, and the resulting Frog of 3 weeks worth of work flashed through my mind as I bent over to examine the damage. Everything that fell off was a section of YoK2tog's, and I lost the yo's (no biggie) and one K2tog dropped back one row. I think I did an ok job of picking up the stitches, re-knitting the stitches with a crochet hook, and when this baby is blocked out, I don't think anyone will be the wiser.
*Phew*

I've been swatching...

2007-03-29T09:12:00.001-05:00

I have been making some progress on the Cap Shawl. I am on the last row before I start Chart 2, which the first few rows will be more of the same. I am maybe 1/4 of the way done with the body and starting to get a little bored with this. While the Cap Shawl has been the only official WIP since Sunday, I have been working on doing some swatching for future projects:

While swatching again to Knit Lucie with the YarnTreehouse Melody that C gave me for Christmas, I realized that it was a fingerling weight yarn, that was sticking to itself rather well. So I had the idea grab a ball of leftover Palette and do a quick swatch for Venezia... They worked well together, and as soon as payday hits, I'm going to order 6 balls of KP Fingerling Bear to pair with it.
What, you want to see a picture... um, DS hid the camera on Sunday, and as soon as I find it...

I also did a swatch for Isabella using left over Brown Sheep Natura Sport from Cromarity. I got gague on size 2, and cast on last night. I am modifying the pattern a bit. How it is written, you knit the hem, and later go back and sew it down. I had the bright idea to knit the hem down (like in the Venezia pattern), and cast on with a provincial cast on. I am one row past the turning row, and it looks like instead of doing k2tog's for the hem, I'll have to p2tog across 141 stitches. Oh Joy.

My parents are taking C all this weekend for my Dad's birthday present, so aside from the normal house and yard work, I should have plenty of knitting time.

I need a Vacation after my Vacation!

2007-03-25T10:03:00.000-05:00

Its been a super busy week. Last weekend DH and I did yard work, and ripped out our old shrubbery and their root systems, on Monday, we planted nine new rosemary plants in their place. They don't look like much now, but they should fill out later this year and be a nice, pleasant smelling hedge by fall.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent painting and re-arranging C's room. We went from boring white to brilliant blue, with a wall of sunny yellow. We also finally moved his crib out of our room, and into his room. We are working on sleeping in his room, C will spend half the night there, but will come looking for us around midnight. Where his crib was in our room is now a sitting/reading/knitting nook that is too far from the bedroom TV to be of much use.

Friday we took C to the Dallas Zoo. While it is much nicer than I remember it being from 15 years ago, it is still a crappy zoo. But I have been spoiled by the Ft. Worth Zoo,which is one of the top zoo's in the south, and by seeing the Singapore Zoo last March, which is one of the top 5 zoos in the world.

I also finished knitting the neck and sleeve bands of the Deep V. Jenny Raye asked where and why the green yarn shown in my last photo of it came from, and while I could try to explain it, Eunny did a great job on explaining the use of the crocheted steek here. In fact, that article was written while she was designing the Deep V.
All that left is to wash and block her, but since we are going to be wet and muggy here for the next few days, I'm going to hold off a bit.

I've also made progress on the pink blob that shall transform to the Cap Shawl. It is so hard to photograph the details of this shawl, but the yok2g pattern spirals from the center like a flower. I love working with the Misti Alpaca so much, I hope that in the end she blocks out close to the original measurements in the book. This is currently my only WIP, and I will probably work on this solo for the next week or so, but plans might change.

Snip, Snip

2007-03-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

I finished knitting the color work portion of the Deep V Argyle Vest this morning. Not bad considering I only started the neck steak last Thursday. DH and our friend L have been teasing me all weak about the horrid color combination here.

I expected crocheting the steekes would take a lot of time, effort and tears, but I had them done before DH was up and ready to go today. The yarn is used is some of the left over yarn from Cromarty, truly making this a leftovers vest.

Then, It was time to take the plunge. I gathered up my good scissors (the ones kept hidden in my craft drawer) and made the first cuts, holding my breath and biting my lip the entire time.

A sigh of relief to know that I was able to cut the steaks without cutting the crochet. See how pretty the inside of the vest looks!

I finally tried her on to see if she would fit: DH said that he liked the neckline. The armholes seam a bit wonky, but I'm ok with that. My first steeks cut!

Afterwards DH kicked me out of the house to go knit at Simpatico yarns, and I picked up a little reward to swatch with.

I'm thinking of using this yarn to knit the Weekend Pullover from the Fall 2006 IWK, but the colorway will depend on what Mary Jane has in stock durring the Fire Cracker sale.

FO: Pearl Buck Swing Jacket

2007-03-19T16:58:00.000-05:00

After much procrastinating on finishing this one, she is done! Please ignore my big fat gut
I finally got DH to help me take photos, but I forgot to make sure my hair and outfit were photo ready.

Specks:
Pattern: Pearl Buck Swing Jacket by Kate Gilbert from the Winter 2005 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Honey, Christmas present from my MIL, 11 balls
Size: 44 inch
Needles: Knit Picks Options, Size 4, various length cables.
Start: January 12 End: March 13th
Modifications: None. I hit gauge spot on for this baby. I love everything about this, from the color, to the sleeve lengths, to the seaming, yes even the seaming! I think this is going to work with me next week to be my work sweater, since the building is kept on frigid all summer.

Ahhh... Vacation

2007-03-18T16:23:00.000-05:00

DH and I start a week of Spring Break this week, but I have been productive during the last work week. I finished seaming and blocking the PBSJ: But since I have been unable to get a half way decent mirror shot, the final photos of it will have to wait until DH is back from his D&D game.

I am now 78 rows into the Deep V Argyle Vest, and almost to the arm steaks:

See, I figured out how to rotate photos

I hope to get almost done with the vest this week. I am still having fun doing the stranded color work, and I think I am ready to progress to a "real" Fair Isle sweater done at a smaller gauge. The diamond pattern is much easier to see onscreen than in person. I wonder why that is.

I also started the Cap shawl no 4 DPN's, and just today had enough stitches to transfer to a circular needle I love how the center of this looks like a flower. You can see where the DPN's put extra stress on the stitches (marked by the yellow and green stitch markers), but I have hopes that this will block out. I am almost done with the first chart, and to the "uncharted" area where you add a Yo, K2tog every 4 rows.

In addition to all the knitting I have planned for this week, we are also going to buy and plant new shrubbery, take the lawn mower in to be fixed, paint C's room and bathroom, and take C to the zoo.

Have a good knitting week!