Harpy Holidaze

Pics would be nice, wouldn't they? Well Too Bad! I don't have any!

I'm all tuckered out after a week of non-stop running. Why do they call them holidays? They don't feel like a holiday! They feel like running around to please everyone else! We've been booked solid from last Sunday on . . . and tomorrow? . . . another gathering. Cripes.

Christmas was nice. I can't really complain. Well . . except that brother's wife was a real pain in the ass, all grumpy and whatnot. And as for Mr. Wonderful's family, I just want everyone to tend their OWN children! (Cross my fingers I don't turn into a hypocrite in exactly one year). Gifts were exchanged, merriment was made, etc. It was pleasant.

My mother paid me a very big compliment -- although not to me, and not in a way she thought I would hear either. She told my brother that she doesn't care for handmade gifts, except from me - because my workmanship is always so good. She said I'm the only one she knows who can do a better job than her. Dude, that's HUGE.

And in pregnancy news: Sprout is doing well, with no neural tube defects. (S)he is absolutely charming on ultrasound, and has very cute knees.

What's this? Am I back?

And for how long??

Last weekend, I lost my hat and gloves. Sadly, they disappeared one day at work. Let me tell you, that made for a chilly walk to the car!

So I went to my favourite LYS and bought myself some yummy Sublime - a sumptuous blend of fine merino, silk, and cashmere. I cast on for Odessa - I had to get more yarn, but I now have an absolutely wonderful toque. Mmmmmm . . .
Funny thing is, in the midst of knitting Odessa, my old hat and gloves reappeared - in my coat pocket - in the middle of the mall. Freaky, no? I can firmly attest that they were not there one minute (as I left the house) and then suddenly, they were! Bizarre.

But, I digress. The moral of the story? Since last weekend, I have been KNITTING! Yay!!! I have made my hat, and I have started on baby bunny slippers. I know 3 pregnant women right now, and all new babies need cute little bunny slippers ;)
I'm so glad to be back at it!

I haven't yet crossed the 14 week mark - where the chance of miscarriage significantly drops - but I think I may start knitting up baby things regardless. My brother's baby will need a gift. Mr. Wonderful's friend's baby will need a gift. My own baby will need to be covered in gifts. You know how it is.

The first trimester: a cruel mistress.

Oh. Wow.


I did not anticipate this. I mean, if I had known, I would have adopted. I'm only now beginning to come out of the fog of fatigue that has essentially ruled my every waking moment for the past month. And there are still moments...I have to say, on the whole... this sucks. But I hear it's worth it.

Hopefully I'll be back full force soon!

Rhinebeck!

I finally took some time and worked out the whole flickr to blogger thing! Woot! Now I can share my Rhinebeckian experience with y'all.

First off, it all began on Friday morning. We knew we had a long, long drive ahead of us, so we were on the road by 9 am. It wasn't long until we hit the border.

It was a little bit busy at the border. It only took a few minutes though, and we were stateside.

Of course, it was a kind of a miserable day . . . lots of rain, lots of grey. At one point, it was raining so hard, you could hardly see out the windows!

But Jen is a very level-headed driver, and she got us through it easy peasy.

It was just getting dark when we arrived at our motel and checked into our room. There were lots of knitters there, hanging yarn by the door to get other knitter's attention. It worked! I got totally busted fondling some yarn outside of one door. It was really soft, for what it's worth. *blush*

The next day, we got up really early. Etcgirl wanted to get her some STR, so we had to be at the gates when they opened. And we almost made it! We were just a few minutes 'late'.


There's Etcgirl looking pleased to be at Rhinebeck, and JennyP looking anxious to bust down the gates and get to the yarn! She was practically doing a 'let's go, let's go, let's go' dance in the parking lot.

The first day we hit a lot of tents and looked at a lot of yarn. It was absolutely lovely. Yarn Mecca, if you will.

We went to the Knitty meetup. Sadly, it coincided with the fleece sale, so there weren't many peeps there.

Now, I went with a set budget. I took cash. I told myself 'self, this is cash you can spend' I gave myself permission to go a little hog wild. Want to see what I bought on the FIRST day? Okay, I'll show you.


Yes, that's right . . . I bought myself a lovely drop spindle, and a few ounces of fibre to go with it. I spent less than $60. Not even 25% of my budget. See, I have this problem. I won't spend money. I just won't. And then all of a sudden, I'll go crazy and spend way too much money. Saturday, I was not spending money. I had a chat with my companions, and they promised to help me spend my money on Sunday.


We went to the Ravelry party, which was sadly kind of a bust . . . it was PACKED and impossible to move and this was all I saw . . . .

Well, that and the smoking area. But once it cleared out a bit, I got to say hello to Jess - Mama Rav. That was pretty cool!

Sunday I bought yarn! Etcgirl and JennyP helped me plow through my cash, and I'm really pleased with my purchases. I'll have to show them off later. We met more knitties. We left the festival, and hit Target for a little more shopping. There are some truly interesting chocolates on the shelves of Target. I brought Mr. Wonderful a Choxie with peanut butter and pretzels. He loved it. I also bought the now-famous pregnancy test, which I took at the motel. You know the results. :)

Monday we headed back to our regular lives.

Generally I don't like to be away from home. I'm far too much of a homebody to be 27 . . . but there it is. I have to say, at Rhinebeck, I did not pine for home once. I missed my husband, but I was really glad I went. I met some truly awesome people, ate some delicious peanut butter cookies, and got some great yarn. I'm sorry I'll miss it next year, but I think a festival of this magnitude, an 8 hour drive and a three - four month old baby may not be conducive. Sad but true.

Alpacas in scarves!!

I'm pregnant.

Wait, let me say it again. I'm pregnant.

Mind-blowing, right? Terrifying? Exciting? Thing is, I feel like I'm going to get my period tomorrow, so I'm scared to get too attached to this pregnancy. I guess it's disbelief, or denial, or whatever. But I'm taking a prenatal vitamin, and eating right, and what not . . now that I know.

I'm pregnant. Crazy.

Thing is, Mr. Wonderful and I just decided, just this month, to relax our birth control standards, and let nature take her course. If it's meant to be, it'll be, we said. Apparently it's very much meant to be.

How do you get over the fear of miscarriage? And why am I so afraid that I'm going to miscarry?




Rhinebeck post to follow . . . once I work out how to blog photos from Flickr. Any input??

Look what I did!
Take that Etcgirl! Only a few hours away from finished now . . . I suppose. Honestly, I'm not sure if I can get it done by the end of the weekend, but I AM sure it will be done for Rhinebeck.

Let me share the journey of the Tangled Yoke. First, it took me just over a week to get from cast on, to the yoke. Then it took me a whole week to get the cabling done!
First, I read the chart backwards.
I made the cables go like this:
//
.//
..//

Rather than like this:
\\
.\\
..\\

So I had to rip it back. It took me one whole night to rip back, and then one whole night to re-do and correct one row.

And then I went crazy on the cables! I did them in 2 days. In fact, I did 5 straight hours of cables this morning.

This was the view in my lap this morning:


Don't let her fool you -- she's pure evil!

JEBUS!

Did I seriously drop off the face of the earth for like . . . almost a month? Cripes, that's significant!

Here I am, tooling around the internet and I think to myself "hey, what's my blog url again?" . . . Good thing too, otherwise, I might never have remembered that I forgot!

Catch up?
I have a new shift at work, which has messed about with my/our routine. I have to get used to being at work in the morning, and Mr. Wonderful has to get used to me not being at work in the evening. It's been a little awkward, because we're both total creatures of habit. That, and I likes me a good sleep in. Now I can't sleep past 8. Dammit.
I also won a prize at work - a shiny new cell phone. I was so excited! I worked my tail off for that prize! And then I opened the box, and my heart sank a little. It had been opened and tried out previous to me. I cried a little in my heart. Then I found out the phone didn't work. It's now been 2 weeks since I was awarded my 'prize' and I'm still waiting for the replacement. It shouldn't be so difficult! Gimme my phone!!
That, and my 7% raise is now 4 pays (8 weeks) past due. They owe me! I want it!
That sums up work.

Mr. Wonderful and I will be celebrating our vacation and 2ND anniversary in just one short week. Wow, I can't believe it's only been 2 years. The wedding is such a distant memory. It was so beautiful.

I've been knitting my hands off. I cast on for the Tangled Yoke Cardi exactly one week ago. I will show you my progress thus far:This is the body, up to the armpits, and one sleeve. Not bad for one week, eh? I'm hoping to have it finished for Rhinebeck.

Yes, you heard me right, Rhinebeck. I'm going! And I'm going with 2 of the funnest people I know! You know how there are some people you just don't click with? I mean, they're alright, but you wouldn't go out of your way to grab coffee with them? Well, these 2 ladies are not in that column at all. They are awesome!
Etcgirl has the most amazing life experiences under her belt. She's a talented artist, great story-teller, and all around inspiring woman.
JennP gets me. She's a great listener, great enabler, great friend, and I find her . . . well, intoxicating, I guess. I always want to spend more time in her presence. In fact, Mr. Wonderful and I are hoping to have her and her man over for dinner next week. Now, that almost never happens.

And I got my Ravelry invite today, which is exciting! Now I can share this with the world:

I just got it yesterday, and wow does it ever make my mouth water. It's the embodiment of autumn to me. Look at those colours. I'm going to make the Column of leaves scarf with it.
Actually, I stumbled across it whilst looking for an alternate for the Knitty board's not so secret scarf swap. I have some Lamb's Pride, but I was thinking I could send something more interesting, you know? Well, I saw this, and it really grabbed my ass . . . but I can't send it away. I want it to be that scarf - not just any scarf, or some scarf, but that specific scarf. And it's against the rules to demand a specific pattern. So I'll send the Lamb's Pride and hope it doesn't make my not so secret pal sad inside.

Photo smorgasbord

Okay, our mouse is screwed up and it's driving me bananas!
For every click you operate, the mouse registers 3-10 clicks. It's maddening!! So forgive my wacky, order-less post. I can't move the pictures.

First off, this is an end paper mitt. (You don't know how hard it was to make that link. Stupid effing mouse!!)


Oh yes it is!! Un-focus your eyes and take 2 steps back. Yeah, I agree, it's a great pattern, but this is not the yarn for it. Note to self: No Koigu endpaper mitts - or, if attempting, reverse the background and foreground colours . . . maybe that would help.

The Dashing Challenge! One pair of Dashing in 27 hours. I'm most of the way there.

I sort of neglected to remember that my dad's birthday is today. Well, it was a combination of neglecting to remember, and not really knowing what to get him. So I decided on Thursday night, as I lay in bed, to make him some fingerless mitts. He has a paper route thingy, and I'm sure his hands get cold in the fall. So I bought the yarn at noon on Friday, and need to have them finished by 3 on Saturday (today).

This is the progress after a shift at work. I'm so glad I can knit at work.

There were a few mods - I cut some rows out for my own sanity, and I screwed up the thumb opening . . had to kitchener it . . . it all worked out, but the thumb placement is not ideal.

This is how much I had done after 12 hours. I think I can finish them in about 90 minutes.

And now for yarn. I finally found the camera - yes, Mr. Wonderful took it with him. Then he brought it home and hid it in plain sight. Sigh.
Here are the yarns I obtained last weekend.


A lovely colour, wouldn't you agree? Mmmm . . . can't wait to knit with this.



Silky Tweed. I'm really on the fence with this yarn. I want the Tangled Yoke Cardi, but I'm not 100% on my choice with this yarn. It's kind of the same colour as my jeans. Okay, so I could wear the cardi with my cords, which are brown, and it would look amazing. But do I want to shell out that kind of cash for a cardi I plan on wearing only with one pair of pants?? Do I?



And my new Clapotis! Underway and lovely. I'm really looking forward to wearing this with pride! And I love how the pattern breaks up the pooling, because I thought I was in trouble with this yarn at first -- I really don't like the pooling . . . but the ladders give the eye a break. Wonderful!

Gotta get back to dashing through Dashing!

Sweet Jesus, I think I need a cigarette

And I don't even smoke!

After the orgasmic goodness of the Knitter's Fair yesterday, though . . . whew!

Never have I seen so much yarn in one room before. It was amazing, and it will definitely be a yearly thing for me. No matter what. No Matter What!

Jen and I met at the doors at nine-ish. We were both Knitter's Fair virgins, so completely unaware of what lay on the other side of those doors . . .
Man alive, when they opened those doors, it was a veritable flood of humanity, pouring in, paying admission, and squeeing away through the building.

I intended to take pictures, but the camera, sadly, is MIA. I suspect Mr. Wonderful took it with him for his weekend with the lads.
Let me describe -- there were rows of vendors, tables piled high with the finest luxury yarns, bins overflowing with fiber . . . it was amazing.
There were spinners and dyers. There were designers. There were kits, and books, and just about everything. It was incredible.

I, of course, spent far too much. I bought a lovely hand-dyed blend for my own Clappy. It's the most amazing colours -- it grades through deep teal to yellow, and hits mint and aqua . . . it will be gorgeous with my black coat this winter. I bought Zephyr for my Secret of the Stole, in a lovely teal, and a sweater's worth of Silky Tweed . . pricey, but I have found pricey sweaters to be ever so worth it. I'll make the tangled yoke cardi with that. Yum! It's the colour of denim, with some tweedy flecks of brown and white thrown in for good measure. I'm not 100% on the colour at this time, but I got it from my LYS's booth, so I should be able to exchange it if I change my mind.
But my favourite purchase of yesterday was a swift and winder combo. I spent last evening winding stuff. I now have more wound yarn than I can possibly work up in a reasonable amount of time. Dreamy . . . I'm in love.

My mother opted to put in an appearance, as well. She bought herself 3 different skeins . . . OF 100% NATURAL FIBRES! Shock part 2: Laceweight natural fibres! I was completely astounded. Then she called me in the evening to say how wonderful alpaca is. I think the pod people have taken my mother. I was so surprised, I drove all the way back into KW to wind her yarn (okay, that was a little self-serving . . . it's still new and fun), and loan her my addi lace needles, and some Brittany wooden needles. Of course, by the time I left her house, she was talking my ear off about her quilting and needlepoint and what she's going to sell at her next craft show.
So, while there was a glimmer of hope for a moment there, it was quashed. Fast.

Free to breathe again!

Well, the wedding is over - went off fairly well. It was strange, but it's done now. Thankfully.

In fact, the August madness is over now!
Now we head into the September madness. And then the busiest month of the year for Mr. Wonderful and I -- October.

But we have a lot of catching up to do here!

Knitting Roadtrip!
In the midst of the August madness, Jen and I went to Toronto for some shopping. Yarn shopping! And while she bought (seemingly) one of everything in every store, I found a lot less to love.
I did, however, purchase a drop spindle and some lovely silk/merino roving.
And then some merino roving. And some more pink yarn. And a delicious angora/silk blend. It was white, but then I dyed it.
All in all, the trip was a roaring success, and we definitely plan to do it again. I hope we plan to do it again soon.

The Shower:
Well, a bunch of people showed up who hadn't RSVP'd, so that effed things up a bit. But it went well, all things considered. Mom was highly offended that no one spent all their time fawning over her.

The interim week:
Pure. Madness. Emergency training sessions cropped up at work, so I had to cancel the day I had booked off to catch my breath pre-wedding. I took Thursday and Friday off, though, and did this:

How cool exactly is that? I mean really?? It rocks my socks. Mr. Wonderful even thinks it's cool.

I don't think I'll do the suggested repeated skulls, just one on either end.

And on Saturday, I cast on for this:

Yep, that's right . . . Clapotis.

And the yarn is the Angora/silk blend with my crazy dye job. I think it's destined for over-dying after knitting.

And then we were off to the wedding.




The Wedding:
Cripes . . . where to begin?
Most disorganized affair ever. Guests didn't know where to go or what to do, bride went MIA, stuff and people milling about, DJ up and left . . . yikes.
Let's begin at the beginning. 11am. Mr. Wonderful and I are showered and dressing, thinking we're doing great and will be super-omega early. Wedding at 3, ETA: 1:30 or 2.
The phone rings.
Brother: PANIC
Me: Calm down
Brother: PANIC
Me: slightly less calm
Brother: PANIC
Me: Alright, alright!!
We leave. We drive really fast because we are apparently about to hit a huge traffic snag. No such snag was ever encountered, however a speed trap was. We got a ticket. Damn. It.
We arrive chez Brother at 1:45ish. We get the pertinent info, and then head to the yacht club for the wedding. And let me just say YACHT CLUB MY ASS!! That was a marina with a shitty motel. Period.
Where is the bride? No one knows. But, as I'm supposed to be seating people I need to know what the hell is going on. No one can tell me. I seethe. I get uncomfortable. I find my parents room. Inside, my parents are far more relaxed and groovy than they should be. Mom is in the bath. Dad is in shorts and a t-shirt. 10 minutes to wedding. I flash back to my wedding day, when they made me late. Mom complains of being dizzy. It's always about her.
People are seated, weird-ass ceremony begins.
LONG time later, guests are still sitting, but now it's raining. Outdoor weddings, eh?
Kiss, wedding is over, thank god . . . now the pics, and then a LONG wait until reception. Hang out in parents room again. Mr. Wonderful goes for coffee -- and comes back about 45 minutes later. He took my knitting bag with him.
Reception: the MC thing went well. I drank a little. 10:00, we go home.
We hit a raccoon on the way home. Yuck.

Oh Dear God!

Has it really been a week!? I'm losing my mind!

There is so much going on . . . The shower, Yarn hop, and clothing shopping all has to happen this weekend.

This week has been really busy. On Wednesday, I thought it was Tuesday, or maybe even Monday. Wishful thinking. Time is flying by . . .
I got my downstream SP's package packaged, and into the post. I did a lot of administrating for the shower - games planned, prizes picked, gift purchased and wrapped. I did some thinking about it, and I'm excited to get it done! Then there's just the wedding left!
I planned out our yarn hop route -- I can't even wait! At this time tomorrow I'll be wallowing in awe inspiring yarn. Sigh.
I have to buy something to wear to the shower yet . . . I'm thinking just a pair of nice black pants, which I can pair with my "I feel like Ten Thousand Bucks!" shirt, and some black shoes. I'm hoping I can work that in tomorrow, during or after the yarn hop. I also need to acquire something to wear to the wedding.

My brother finally sent me the reading for his wedding ceremony. It's from the bible. I take offense. I am not even slightly religious. Alas, it's HIS wedding. Groan.
The other MC for the reception is being completely silent. Like, completely. I'm worried. Preparation is key . . . I want it to go well.

I booked next Wednesday off. I just need a minute to catch my breath!

Busting out of a slump?

So yesterday, I had a meeting at work, 2 hours after my shift finished. How to kill 2 hours?
Well, I have to find a dress to wear to an upcoming wedding, so I went shopping. Now, dress shopping is not the best way to break out of a foul mood. HOWEVER, right across the hall from the clothing store in the mall, there is a yarn store. (How telling is it that I always typo yarn to be yearn?)

And that yarn store is having a sale!

Now, I wouldn't say it immediately lifted my spirits, but I will say this:

Yum.
Destined for an illusion scarf.

If I have time, I'm going back for some needles. Who can resist Latern Moons on sale??

In a slump

Life is getting me down, y'know?
There's way too much on my plate, the weather sucks, and we lack A/C. Even my knitting refuses to co-operate with me lately -- and I can always count on my knitting!

Projects that are stalled and pretty much forgotten:

Leda's Dream, and my toe up sock. Why? Because I can't figure out short row heels. I printed off a recommended pattern, but it has been misplaced.

Project that is just killing me:
Swan Lake stole, formerly MS3. It's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but this whole thing has been an uphill battle.

Now the short rows are calling mutiny and I think it needs a time out.












End of my rope events:

My brother is getting married for the third time in 3 weeks. He has asked me to distribute programs, do a reading, and MC his reception. I have also been volun-told to throw the bride a shower - decided about a week ago. Fifteen invites, one week of planning, 2 weeks to the shower date. I'm hoping no one can come.
I was also asked to do his engagement portraits. I said no. Take advantage much? Seriously.
And the kicker is, he's the older one. You think he'd realize he's impinging on my goodwill.


Work is also tipping me closer and closer to the edge. I got a new job at work. I'm a temporary trainer for the next three months. It's good experience, I guess . . . but it means I have a very up in the air schedule. I don't know, for example, what I'm training, or what shifts I'm working this week, even.

But amongst all this aggravation and despondency, there is a light. . . called Knitty SP!
I got a package from my silent and sneaky pal!
Here you can see a lovely breakfast tea (it really is a wonderful tea), some coffee - sadly, pre-ground, so likely to be fine . . . I'm hoping we can use it, regardless. A really cool tea for one pot - the top is a tea pot, and the bottom is the tea cup! And some yarn.

Want to see more of the yarn? Okay.


Closer? You got it.


Lookit those yummy candy colours! Mmmmmmm . . . .

Another post sans photos . . .

This week has been a real kick in the ass.

Starting with Sunday: wherein an oil change is needed.
We went to Canadian Tire, we bought $50 worth of stuff to get my oil changed. Sunday evening, we settled in to DO the oil change.
It's discovered that the oil plug gasket is ripped. We need a new one, or the oil will leak everywhere. Per Murphy's law, it is past business hours -- drama ensues. Mr. Wonderful seems to have what I can only describe as the common male reaction - yell. I know that there is sweet fuck all we can do until Monday morning, but in I go, on his instructions, to start calling every auto parts place in the phone book. Wal-mart is still open. A 45 minute drive later, we are no further ahead. Aggravating.

Monday morning:
Mr. Wonderful gets up early to go the parts store in town and finish my oil change. He is going to make himself late for work but his employer is much more flexible than mine. I am still sleeping, all cozy in bed.
Suddenly I'm being paged at the top of Mr. Wonderful's lungs. It's 8am. A 4L bottle of motor oil has been upset in the driveway, and we need to mop it up NOW. He sends me in his car for more oil, and something to suck up the spill with. I go to the wrong place. More drama ensues. I go to the right place. Mr. Wonderful is 2 hours late for work, but the oil change is finally completed. We're still trying to get the oil out of the driveway.

Tuesday:
I lose the pattern for the sweater I'm making - Jane. I've never seen this pattern for purchase without the full kit. Groan.

Wednesday:
Mr. Wonderful's car goes into the shop for some brake work. $828 later it comes out.
While I sit at my sewing machine, making a lovely dress, I hear a squeal of tires, and then the impact of two cars. There was an accident right outside our house. No, it didn't involve me or any of our stuff - but drama, nonetheless.

I'm a little worried for the rest of the week. I mean, yesterday was the staff BBQ I planned at work, and it was also my day off. I wonder what horrendous things happened? And then what more is coming my way?

Harry Potter - finished. Not to worry, no spoilers.

So I've just finished reading the final Harry Potter book.

Actually, funny story. I turned down 3 people for plans for today, as I was expecting to be reading all day. I pre-ordered from Amazon, and was expecting delivery this morning. Well, turns out we're in an ineligible postal code - which I discovered this morning. If only I had realized, I would have canceled the order earlier. Alas.
Long story short, I went to Chapters, bought the book ($$) - spent the afternoon with my mother-in-law - and then settled in for a read.

My thoughts post-read:
1- I feel guilty for ignoring Mr. Wonderful all day. Seriously, I feel pretty terrible about it.
2 - The epilogue thingy was . . . icky. I didn't like it. I would have preferred to draw my own conclusions - they may have been identical, but that was laying it on a little thick.
3 - I cried a few times. Lots of sadness going on in this one. The sheer number of deaths was astonishing.
4 - All in all, a very satisfying end to the tale, although some of it felt a little 'cop out' in nature. That's alright, I have to remember it's a kid's book . . . it can't always be the hard answer.
5 - Certain characters impressed the hell out of me. While some of them were barely touched on, there were others that were revealed to a depth we've never seen before. I love Minerva - she's awesome!
6- It's almost too bad it's over. I mean, I'm fine with that, I hope there's not a spin-off series or anything . . . it's just that now I don't get to speculate about the prophecy, or Snape's allegiances anymore. It's all been laid out.

I will soon be in possession of two lovely copies of this book . . . anyone wanna trade for one? ;)

Josephine - Fini!

I spent hours on the couch this morning, plugging away at finishing Josephine - and I think it's safe to say it was worth it!
I also think it's safe to say that taking photos of your own handiwork is fairly difficult. Ignore the blurry.
And perhaps it's safe to say that Mr. Wonderful's camera work is not quite as arty as mine -- but he's not restricted to armslength images. (Hey, look! MS3 chart in the lower left corner)

Details: Josephine from the Summer IK, in Patons Grace, Sky. I bought precisely as much as the pattern said to get, and returned 2 full skeins! WOO! (I was very happy with that).
Decided not to make the tie - I don't think it needs it, and did the neck variation suggested on the IK KAL. Other modifications? Well, I don't think I did the sleeves exactly right, but then I don't think I exactly care. Design feature.

I foresee a lot of wearing in Josephine's future.

Oh Josephine . . .

Why must you be so very difficult? Hm?

After a series of ongoing pattern confusions, I'm up to the neck finshing -- but there's something about the words 'pick up and knit 170 stitches' that makes me feel a little nauseated. Well, that and the whole 'cast on 300 stitches' for the tie.

I just keep telling myself it's going to be beautiful.

MS3

Well, I admit - I'm completely impressed with myself. It may take a lot of time, and a lot of ripping, and a lot of tinking, but I'm doing it! I'm really doing it! I'm knitting lace! I have no idea how to photograph it, since it's unblocked and kind of general mess . . but there it is. I can do it!

I realized a few nights ago that I would knit 10 rows, and rip out 5, knit 10 rows, rip out 5. This was becoming demoralizing and time consuming. I discovered a cure -- obsessive life lines! In fact, yesterday when I attempted 15 rows without life lines, I paid dearly. They all got ripped back. It seems that one is necessary every 4 rows, because invariably, I miss something, and when I go back to fix it, stitches get dropped. Madness.

In other news: Josephine is almost done! I'm knitting the cute little cap sleeves on, and then the neckline finish. I'm really happy with my cast on for this one, so I don't want to do the bottom 'finishing'.
I'm at the heel turning portion of my toe up sock. That's at least a little daunting. I don't think I'm any good at short rows. I suppose I'll get LOTS of practice. (This photo embodies everything I don't like about socks. See how long it looks? That's how long it feels too!)

My Knitty board SP sent me some mail. I find it very, very cool. Check it out:



All in all, it was a very full weekend. We cleaned our basement

I got new wheels for my Longboard

This is my side table right now. As you can see, it's a mess.

The Blue pile is Josephine. The pink is Leda's dream. The tan is MS3. The Bing Christmas album is for added ambiance. It came out of hiding during our cleaning spree.

Lazy hazy days of . . .

I've become lazy . . . oh not with my knitting! But with just about everything else. I blame my formative years. The ones where I had summers off. Sigh. I miss those years. Sometimes.

So here I am, with photos to share. Yes, you heard right, there are photos today! Lots of them.

Let's begin with the Montego Bay scarves. Since they've been done for a long while now . . .
First, I made one in Handmaiden lace silk. It's really light and thin. I feel really tall and thin when I wear this scarf. I'm sure I don't LOOK tall and thin, but there it is.



When that one was done, I liked the pattern so much I made another! Round 2 was done in the called for yarn, Handmaiden Sea Silk in the berry colourway. It's a much more dense scarf, with really different stitch definition.

There are no photos for this one, but let me tell you about the MS3 mis-hap. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now. I was all the way up to row 85 - just 15 rows to go on the clue - when I dropped a stitch. It unraveled three rows. I painstakingly picked it up, convinced myself everything was fine, and moved on to row 86. On row 87, it became apparent that everything was not fine. The whole thing was off. I started tinking. I tinked about 4 rows, when approximately 10 more stitches jumped off the needles. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and started ripping. It only hurt a little. Now I'm back at row 30-something, working with beads I like much better. I can even see them! That was Monday morning.

In further Monday tragedy -- I was almost done Josephine! I even caught the at the same time in the decreases on the pattern, and I was feeling so pleased with myself . . but the stitch count wasn't adding up. Something was wrong. I checked the internet - no help. I posted on Knitty - oddly enough, no help. So I went back to the pattern, and read more closely. I had caught the 'every four rows', I had missed the 'and every other row'. I got lots of ripping practice on Monday.



I don't have the opportunity to focus strictly on Josephine on weekdays, but this is how much I have done now. And it's done correctly.



And to make me feel better, here is the back, completed.



And, even though I haven't touched it in weeks, I photographed my toe up sock . . see? Isn't it lovely?

I fall in love so easily . . .

Tonight I found this pattern, and now I think I need it!

My knitting plate is really rather full at this juncture.
On the needles I have:
Josephine (scroll down a little)
a fair isle mitten (not sure I like it. I may actually frog it in favour of a . . . well, not fair isle mitten.)
My recycled cardigan
Leda's dream
A toe up sock (Have to use that lovely yarn)
And swatching for MS3

This is way more on the needles than I am actually comfortable with. I prefer to have 2 things on the go at a time.

I'm also gearing up for MS3, of course. And I'm awaiting an ebay shipment of lace weight yarn for a shawl that my mother-in-law was quite taken with. So that's soon to be 2 more projects. I need to start finishing things! And there's a waiting list of things in the pool. Geez, if I'm not careful, my planned projects could become stash! And I don't want that . . .

. . . crap sakes!!

There were meant to be photos! There should be photos! But something always seems to interfere. This morning it was batteries. The batteries in the camera were dead, and needed to recharge. That takes time.
I have finished my two Montego bay scarves. I can show you one, partially finished. This is how much scarf I can knit up in one day.

Tomorrow I'll try to get pics of the two scarves, for comparison.


They're fabulous scarves!

Josephine is well under way as well. I'm loving the knit. It's FAST!

Interesting non-knitting news:

We have owls. That's right, owls.
Late last week, I was driving home from work, rounded the corner, and threw on the brakes so as not to run over the four owls sitting in the road. Sitting! In the road!!
Owls are cocky little birds. They don't move for the cars. The cars will go around them, and they know it.
Our owls are adorable. Unfortunately, they only come out at dusk, when it's just too dark to get photos. I suppose we could try the flash.

Here is Herr Owl, in the dark. It's shocking just how close I got to this owl. Fearless.

Last week in knitting

Let's see . . . what did I do??

Well, I finished my first Montego Bay scarf, and bought some delightful Sea silk for round 2 -- which is about halfway done. The stitch pattern is ideal mindless at work knitting. The first one was done in Lace silk, in the straw colourway. The new one is the called for yarn, in Berry. The two scarves look very, very different.

The entrelac socks met a froggy end. I wasn't getting gauge and I was thoroughly hating the process. I have since cast on and knit a bit of a toe up sock - but I'm not sure I'm feeling this one either. I found some really inspiring sock patterns, but the book is a little too precious for me at this point.

I found some yarn I can definitely use to make Josephine, now I just have to purchase it and make it! That top is so pretty!

I finished the acrylic feathers and fans blanket, and gave it to my co-worker. So that's off the table now.

I decided I need to get over my lace block since I have a wee collection of lace weight yarns, and I really want them to be useful. I sat down this week and determined to tackle it. I knit up a little section of lily of the valley lace - and that was a pain in the butt, but it worked. And since I was sitting on the couch, watching TV with idle hands last night, I cast on and went for it with the Leda's dream scarf . . . and I have to say, it's going remarkably well, touch wood and all that. I'm 60-some rows into the lace pattern, and it's not giving me any problems. I've signed up for Mystery stole 3, so I really want to get this under my belt, so I can play along!

I'm into the bit of the year where I want to knit, but I don't know what. I'm afraid to put it down altogether, because . . what if I don't pick it up again? And if I'm not knitting, what do I do with my hands? I think lace is almost certainly the way to go. It's light, it's time consuming -- the only problem is that I have to concentrate so heavily. I think perhaps Josephine will make for reasonable 'in front of the TV' knitting.

Yarn-a-hoy!

first things first! My peonies -- look at the lovelies! They smell so wonderful . . . ah, peonies - you make me so very happy!!


Free yarn! Can't argue with free! I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but there it is . . . I'm thinking of swatching Josephine with the tan. I think it's too light though. And the green is just a bit of a shock. Still, free is free.

Here is delicious yarn #1 - in a photo I adore. Earmarked perhaps for a mini clapotis. Perhaps for some socks. I like the new knitty patterns . . .

Green loveliness - this will be the Jane sweater so many people are apparently making right now. It's very cool . . .

And this, well, this is my entrelac socks . . . I'm already 4 tiers in. The knitting of entrelac socks is a little odd. Fantastically complicated, and then colossally dull. It doesn't take long to catch on. I'm considering frogging. I sense an uphill battle, and I like this yarn far too much to fight with it.
At the same time - the socks just look so cool! I'm very much on the fence on this one. What to do?