Preggo

No silly bunny, I'm not preggo but Cindy is!

(March 3rd, 2013)

Hair

I've been waiting for my hair to grow long enough to qualify for the Locks of Love donation. About 3 weeks ago it finally reached my 12" goal (and I can no longer stand having it always in my face), so off to the salon I went.

Before:

After:

(I accidently deleted the original picture I took right after the haircut, so this is the most recent. I added some "effects" to mask the horrible lighting!)

Best thing is that showers are about 30% faster! And no more hair in my mouth/eyes/food/everything!

A hand-made gift

My BFF Sandy made me a small project bag. LOVE IT!!! I squeal every time I see it!

The dimensions (7.5" x 8" x 4") are perfect. Oh man I love bags!

Happy End Of The World!

Ok, I know it was yesterday, but whatever.  Happy Day-After-End-Of-The-World! Did you celebrate? ;-)

And now since we've survived the Mayan/Zombie/Space Alien apocalypse, I have updates!

First, I've been in a baking/cooking mood.  I baked a pumpkin marshmallow S'mores the other day to bring to a friend's Christmas party.  I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com; it was super easy to make! (and the party was super fun!)

(It tasted better than it looks in the picture)

And yes I've been knitting!  Some of what got done recently:

A sweater for Moose! (I felt bad seeing him shiver while he peed. Seriously, no one should have to pee like that!)

Glamour shot #2

A hat for me, from left over yarn

Pumpkins need hats too. 

Socks for Timmy (Note: dark yarns are pains in arses to work with) 

And a few others that I can't show.

On a closing note, if you actually got down this far: Am I the only one who gets hung up on grammar while writing? My inner editor yells at me whenever I type...

Catching up

Man, so much time has past since my last "real" post.  Since we don't have kids yet, I track the passage of time by 1) how old Moose is, and 2) what I've knitted.

Moose is 3 1/2 years old now, and boy I've finished a ton!  

1. Completed March 27 2012

http://ravel.me/prymnumber/s2bc

2. Completed April 13 2012

http://ravel.me/prymnumber/sys2

3. Completed April 18 2012

http://ravel.me/prymnumber/sm

4. Completed May 24 2012

 http://ravel.me/prymnumber/rwws2

5.Completed May 25 2012

http://ravel.me/prymnumber/fotl

 

6.Completed May 13 2012

http://ravel.me/prymnumber/dt

7. Completed September 8 2012

http://ravel.me/prymnumber/lnc

8. Completed September 18 2012

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/prymnumber/clapotis

9. Finally, what's on the loom:
http://ravel.me/prymnumber/fw

Holy Moly!

Has it really been 6 months since my last update?  Where have I been?  What have I done? How can so much time pass in (fill in some cliche about time)??

My precious....

Two weeks ago I made my annual pilgrimage to Stitches West.  I took Barry Klein's "Complete from the top down" class yesterday. He is one of the best knitting teachers I've had! I learned new things even though I have knitted a few top-down sweaters before. If you ever get a chance to take one of his classes, DO IT! He is worth every bit of your penny and time.

This year I also saw more weaving and crochet related classes and items on the market floor. There were also spinning, felting, and peripherally related things like irons, shoes, and makeup (I know, when I saw that I thought makeup?! boy....).

Lastly, the market, ah lovely market. Definitely the traditional favorites were there (like Webs, Yarn Barn), as well as many of the local businesses (like Carolina Homespun, Purlescence Yarns, and many I didn't even know existed!). Personally I lost all budgetary control at the Drops yarns booth. Their Delight sock yarn were on sale and of course I NEEDED all of it. Purrrrrty...yummy...

Something is better than nothing (??)

Ok, I'm a blog slacker.  So sue me.  If I had one wish right now, I'd wish for Hermione's Time Turner.  Wouldn't it be neat to travel back in time?  (No, I'm not talking about "fixing" regrets, I'm talking about being able to do more because you can essentially be in multiple places at once!)

So to make up for my past blog-slackerness, here are some of the stuff I've done/am doing in the past few months (in random order)

 

My first mystery KAL (knit-a-long)!  I'm currently addicted to socks. SOCKS!

iPad cover for Tim (his design, I'm just the knitter)

My new hobby, boy it's a challenge learning a new craft/skill

Socks for Steven

Single-skein, garter-rib hat

My new hero....

Thanks to Sister Diane for sharing this picture from Allison Hoffman!

A few weeks ago I attended my cousin's wedding in Hawaii.  It was an elegant and touching celebration, with a bunch of fun sprinkled throughout.  To this day I'm still amazed by how gorgeous Stella is.  All right, I confess, I'm a little envious too.  I mean, look at her?  Who wouldn't be?

There was a special special photographer just for the guests during the reception.  This picture should give an idea of the mood of the occasion (I'm the one red, on the left).

Oh what fun we had!

Our friends Elaine and Craig just welcomed their first baby into the world. So cute!

Sweater so far

The pattern is a take off of Pink by Wendy Bernard. I added the cable down the front; most likely I'll do something similar to the sleeves.  The raglan sweater is knit top-down, in the round (read: no seams!).  Yarn is Malabrigo Merino Worsted in the Stonechat colorway.  (It is s SOOOOO soft. I kept petting it as I knit.)


I'm hoping to finish this in another couple of weekends.  The weather has turned and I can't wait to wear it!

Rows and Columns

Oooo.  It's been a while.  I've been knitting but haven't had time to put up pictures.  Here are 2 of the most recent projects.  The bunny is a gift, and the hat is unclaimed.  I made it on a whim to try a new technique.  Isn't it cool how the colors came out?  In knitting, it's easy to make rows of changing colors but columns are harder.  This "knit-one-below" technique I used on the hat allows me to make columns with relative ease.  Neat, eh?

But now I'm done,  I'm not sure what to do with the hat.  I'll probably donate it. 

Ruffles

About 3 weeks ago I had to fly to Florida for work.  The 7+hours-each-way flight gave me plenty of time to knit. Prior to the trip, I had restarted a pair of socks I first tried to make 3 years ago.  Back then I didn't have the best of instructions and I messed up several times before finally putting it aside. But I never gave up. Recently I decided to try again, this time armed with a better understanding of socks and a good technique book. This trip provided the necessary opportunity to focus.

Result? Hee hee.  I learned lots and had lots of fun making up the pattern as I went.  Maybe I'll wear it out to dinner next time.  I mean, who doesn't love a bit of frilly ruffles on their feet?

Finally, a picture!

I finished Sandy's cardigan a while back but finally I have a picture to show!

Sandy looks so naturally cute!

Quick one to share

Work, work, chores, chores, Tim, Moose, and perhaps knitting.  My life in 9 short words.

Did I mention last time that the cardigan was finished?  Sandy promised me a picture when the weather becomes bearable for the wearing of a wool sweater.  I must say it looked nicer off the needles than on the needles.

Now I'm making myself a pair of toe-up socks.  I tried on the first sock last week and, boy, it's too big (again!). While I love the colors of the yarn, I'm not so happy with my gauge.  Oh well, I'm not ripping this sucker out again.  I'll plow through and give it to the first person whose feet fits.  This pair taught me a lot and I (think) I will be ok letting it go.

And one more for the road (I did not make this):

From Mochimochi Land
http://mochimochiland.com/2011/07/simons-family-photo-crew/

Time proves elusive once again

One of my favorite quotes is by John Lithgow.  He said "Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug."

Two whole months zips by in the blink of an eye, and yet I never seem to quite grasp this reality.  Can someone please make people quantum mechanical?  Then it'll be natural for us to be in two states at once. No more having to decide between chores and knitting, walking Moose or relaxing with Tim at home. Yes? Please??

Back on Earth, some knitting updates. I am still, yes STILL! working on Sandy's cardigan. I'm almost done with the second sleeve, and next I need to block and sew the pieces together. A few more weekends...sigh.

My knitting time has been relegated to a few hours on weekends, and I spend a lot of that trying to figure out where I left off.  Not very efficient, and I'm so tired of this project. But the dogmatic finisher in me plows on.  I will do a happy dance the day the cardigan is DONE!

I am also knitting a creature.  Sometimes I want to keep my hands busy, but I need to pay attention to something other than the pattern. So brainless projects like dish towels or creatures come in handy.  I've cast off a dish cloth already.  Wanna see?

Creature needs a name!

Dish cloth

Oh, and some pictures of past sweaters.  They were Christmas gifts, and finally I got to upload them.

Mike, my Father-in-Law

Francine, my Mother-in-Law

Lastly, my brother a new baby girl.  Everyone in my family is going nuts over her, and the women have lost control at stores buying every girly outfit ever made. Melanie is a cutie though, and her baby powers are immense.  Behold!

http://eliandjen.blogspot.com/2011/05/mikey-holding-melanie.html

The dryer just buzzed; back to work...

Wow

Is it really April? Did I blink one too many times yesterday? What happened?!?!

This seeming-time-warp is marked by my progress on Sandy's cardigan.  I started the project 2 months ago and it is still not done.  I've worked on it fairly steadily almost every night, but man, it iss slugging along and I so want it to be done.

So here it is so far.  Back, left side, and most of the right side are done (picture was taken last week and I've progressed).  Now I have to power through the sleeves then sew it all together.  Then I will do a little happy dance!

Late night mistakes

Wow...it is March.  I am reminded of a quotation I read a while back: "Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug." (John Lithgow).  Any who, moving on otherwise I'll start anticipating Christmas (in 293 days by the way).


I was working on Sandy's "Lace and Cables" cardigan yesterday.  I knitted most of the day, then some more before bed.  At about midnight, I looked down and...woah...where are the last round of cables?!?!


I started to "fix" the problem by dropping the stitches down 4 rows then reknitting the cables.  But my eyes were droopy and the lacy yarn-overs got in the way.   So in a fit of frustration I ripped the stupid thing back.   All the while mumbling to myself "don't fix mistakes when you are tired.  Go to bed. Tomorrow it'll be less tangly and easier to fix."  But I can't leave a knot or unfinished business alone, so how can I let a mistake be? 


Well, my brain went on strike so I had to set it down.  And it was a good thing.  


This morning I woke up still thinking about the cardigan.  (I'm not obsessed....I'm not!).  I reviewed the offensive row and it's not so bad!  1/2 hour later the cardigan is fixed and all's right with the world again.  Yeah!  Wanna see?

Also, I took a break last week and made myself a cowl.  It was cold and I wanted something warm around my neck.I made up the pattern and used up some left-over yarn.  2 New Years goals in 1 project.  How awesome is that?