Alive

Hey ladies - I've not fallen off the face of the earth - promise!

I've still not been knitting and have felt very "eh" about it. Maybe I just need some time off?

I've been blogging on a new site I started w/my girlfriends - check it out :)

Cute on the Cheap

Rain rain go away

Ugh. Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL and today is just gross. Hugs and kisses Ohio Valley! Your weather sucks! :( Not like I'm not used to it, right?

I haven't been knitting much. My socks are in time out and I'm not speaking to them. They're SO BIG and I just don't know what to do. I screwed up my dropstitch shaw too. I needed to have 74 stitches after my YOs and well, I have 77. Pretty sure that'll not drop correctly. *sigh* I was almost half way finished too.

I am working on my ISE6 scarf. I'm using some soft alpaca yarn and doing a nice dropstitch pattern. I should have learned my lesson about dropped stitches but at least w/this pattern you drop every row and not at the end. Less of a recipe for disaster.

My wrist has also been giving me trouble. I think I have a touch of carpal tunnel b/d HOLY SHIT. I can't even pick up a frying pan w/my right hand w/out it hurting. I don't have much grip in it and everything hurts it. Some days are far better than other and I'm learning if I don't knit then its on its best behavior. Go figure.

Baby's bit the dust it seems.

I've come to the conclusion I'm a shitty blogger. I read my Google Reader feeds like life depends on it, but I can't possibly be bothered to update my blog on a regular basis.

I haven't been knitting much in the past couple of weeks. I'm pissed. Pissed at my sock for being too effin big and pissed at my ability to totally eff up stockinette. Seriously. I'm just over it for a week or so. I thought I'd do a simple stockinette project (a drop-stitch shawl) to serve as mindless knitting. Obviously that was too involved b/c I have three extra stitches and that's just going to ruin the whole thing. Gotta start over. *sigh*

Maybe I should start something a little more involved? Oh wait. I bet I'll screw that up too. I'm just in a knitting funk and I'll get out of it. Promise.

xoxo

Drats!

Last I posted I was all "ooh I have a project to tell you about" and I never did. Whoops. I totally thought I blogged it but I didn't. I Ravelry'd it but sorta forgot y'all over here.

What'd I make that was so exciting and thrilling? Oh nothing much. Just a pair of socks.

A PAIR OF FREAKING SOCKS. They're super cute too:


Whose favorite part is that one is significantly larger than the other? I now have to make Sock #3 so that #2 has a friend that's wearable. I don't know what I'll do w/#1. Despite the sizing/gauge issue, I'm damn impressed w/my ability to line up the stripes.

Another thing I love about socks? My teeny feet. I'm usually pretty stoked about it anyway b/c cute shoes don't hurt as much and they're always available in my size but this...this is huge. I can knit and knit away and it won't take as long.

The major drawback to this all is I generally hate wearing socks. Go figure.

Snow babies

In unusual form, Louisville was dumped with 11 inches of snow Friday night/Saturday morning. In my life, I can only recall getting enough snow to play in four times. In '94 we got 24 inches, in '98 there was 22. Fast forward to '04 and I nearly missed Christmas because of 14 inches topped with an inch of ice.

Al, Maddy and I built my second-ever snowman:

We spent the afternoon making snow angels, throwing snow bricks at each other's heads, wallowing with the dog, and acting like 8-year-olds. And it was perfect!

The view out our front door when we got up:

The view out the back:

Maddy had never been in this much snow before but she loved it. Came up to her belly :)

Proud of our hard work (check out my orange scarf - my first knitted project!):
And my new favorite picture ever - the two things I love most in this world:

Al's wearing a crochet scarf I made for his birthday LAST year. We'd only been dating 2 weeks but I knew he'd be around to wear it :) Maddy's such a sullen teenager. Too-tight tshirts, dirty looks...she's got it all. Even the eye-rolling :)

Exciting knitting news to come... hold onto your britches!

Finally...

...the tree is down, y'all. PRAISE JESUS, right?

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, Al self-motivated and started ripping the tree apart one night. I, thankful, jumped into action and w/in 20 minutes The Tree was disassembled in the nick of time. I had already begun plans to cover it in shamrocks and mini pots of gold for St. Pat's day.

Good logic would tell you I haven't been knitting much either. Good Logic would be wrong, my friends. While Baby doesn't give a rat's ass about The Tree, she does care about The Knitting. It's a shame that Ravelry sucked the blogging life out of me though. I so enjoy this blog but I spend the time I used to devote to it (albeit only for a couple of weeks) on Ravelry now. I spend hours and hours looking at projects and patterns and yarn. Oh my!

I've completed quite a bit since October:

I made a shawl:

The pattern was easy as can be and a super quick knit but the yarn wasn't ideal for this project. It tends to be a little fuzzy so dropping the stitches irritated me. It sheds worse than my dog though. I can't wear it w/most anything I own b/c I'll be covered in fuzz. I should try washing it to see if that'll help. I don't wear it often b/c of this and b/c you can't see the pattern now. It tends to draw up on itself so it just looks like a wide scarf in stockinette. Bummer.

I made a red red red scarf. It's a basic 1x1 rib except I used three kinds of red yarn held together. It's beautiful and I Love It but OHMYGOD is it hot. It's great when it's cold but if it's above freezing, it's too much scarf. Also, my winter coat is green so I always look like Christmas in it. Perfect in Nov/Dec, not in January:



Al's Basket weave scarf was finished JUST in time for his birthday (1/15). I love it more than anything else I've made (except for the fleur de lis purse) b/c it's all sentimental. Best of all, HE loves it and is always sure to pass along compliments he receives. I got lucky and was off work the day prior to his birthday so I was able to finish it and make an attempt at knitting an earwarmer. That didn't go as well as the scarf :)

My model is less than thrilled yet easily bribed:

I'm just thrilled with this:
The headband is a little teeny but I'm able to squeeze it on my huge head. Fortunately Al has a smaller grape but thinks it's a little fruity so it doesn't get used. My feelings are far from hurt b/c I spent all of 20 minutes on the thing and he loves the scarf:

And one more b/c it makes me smile:

I finished Baby K's blankie and it's SO CUTE. Not as cute as Baby K, but cute nevertheless. Oh! Despite his early arrival, I still finished his blankie EARLY. No last-minute knitting this time!


I laced a sheer blue ribbon around the edge but realized later that it wasn't machine washable so it will have to go. Bummer. Mama, Daddy, and Baby all seemed to like it. Yay!

I jumped on the My so-called Scarf train and HOLY SHIT. Baby's over this pattern. It's so so slow and I don't know if it's me (likely) or the yarn or the pattern but at this rate, it'll be finished in time for NEXT winter. I'm using Noro Silk Garden in #227 and it's so so stunning. I'm in love with the colors. I do like how the stitch pattern shows off the yarn w/out overpowering it.

My current major issue, however, is the curving of the work. See:
What the hell? Look at how straight my needle is and how the scarf is making its way toward the wine rack. I feel that it will all be okay once I'm finished, but we'll see. In the mean time, it's bugging Baby.

That's my current project. I have a 1/3 of a dishcloth I started in November on the beach that I'd like to finish by Saturday for Grandma's birthday. We'll see.

I did finish a small project last night. I made a Baby Genius burp cloth from the Mason-Dixon book. Easy pattern, cheap yarn, great travel knitting. It's evident, however, I worked on this start-and-stop b/c one end is 1/2 inch wider than the other. Whoops.

In progress:
*Note the cute, green coat that doesn't go well with red red red scarf*


Notice how wonky the left side is. Killer :)

And finally, an injury and a near-casualty. Al, in dramatic fashion, leaves his empty lunchbox on the kitchen counter for me to fill with lunchy goodness. Most days I just roll my eyes and ignore his sad notes and pitiful behavior. Last night, however, I was feeling benevolent (American Idol was on) and went to make lunch. I saw a piece of plastic (or possibly ice as I had just filled up my cup) on top and brushed it away with my finger. OWIE! Yeah. That wasn't plastic or ice. It was glass and Baby got hurt :(

The offending object:
*Note the pink sheen to it. That'd be Baby's Blood.*

I quickly fashioned a bandage out of papertowel and tape and went about my business. Part of my business was now NOT making Al lunch since his lunch box tried to kill me.

Back to the couch and American Idol! The bleeding stopped (you'd be surprised how much a little cut like that will gush!) and I began to bind off the burp cloth. Noticed the needle felt sticky but whatev. That happens. Looked down and whatthehell. I bled on my bind off edge:
Granted, it's not THAT much blood, but it's still blood. My DNA is IN this burp cloth. Looks like we have a new kitchen towel!

Baby's not happy about her injury and word on the street is she's milking it for all it's worth:

That's one sad Baby. And yes, that's a Knight Light behind me. Clever, no?

Oh, kittens...

It's nearly March and my Christmas tree is still up. Baby's been THAT BUSY.

Some knitting has been done, however, and I will post all that this week.

You know, once that stinkin tree is down.