One Crazy Fiber Lady

Back At Work

You know, the office is far less exhausting then staying at home with the two little people!  Oy.  They are tiring!   This post is probably going to be short on the crafts and long on the twins.  It was a long two days!

Monday was their 18 month checkup.  While they were a bit tired and didn't enjoy the shots, they were pretty darn good for the doctor.  They're both right on target for their age and are in the 50th percentile for both height and weight.  That makes this petite mama quite happy, means that my database search for the right daddy was a good one.  I wouldn't look at fellers who were under 6'0".  I really wanted to compensate for my 5'0" peewee-ness.  While I shan't bore you with the actual numbers, Alex is 2.5" taller and just under 4 lbs heavier than Kathryn.  It confirmed what I knew in holding the two.  Alex is way heavier!  He also doesn't hold on the way Kat does so he is harder to hold too.

Tuesday I spent the afternoon with the monkeys at the mall (Paramus Park) where we bought new shoes at Payless.  Two pairs for each of them, sandals and sneakers.  Alex is now a 5.5 and Kat is now a 5.  Lots of 5's going around as I am a 5 as well, okay a larger 5, but not by a heck of a lot ;)  I did get myself something at Victoria's Secret.  I went for a fitting and found that I've shrunken a bit.  I had a fitting early last summer and the bras I bought then were a touch large now.  Confirmed.  Shrinking.  Gave me an excuse to buy the Ipex though.  Nice.  Highly recommended.  Darn expensive ;)

Tuesday night I had to frog the Sigma Tank.  While I got gauge in the swatch with that lovely Habu Textiles Bamboo yarn, the actual garment was off again.  I swatched a 5st/in and was getting 5.5st/in.  Made for negative ease once again.  I finally took this as a message from above that I shouldn't make a tank out of this yarn that it really wanted to be something else. I just put it in a bag in the yarn cabinet until it told me what it was to be.  Instead I pulled out the Rowan Handknit Cotton in Flame and started the Ribby Shell.  I finished the hem last night and switched to the larger needles.  While it is true that I'm not a cotton fan, this Rowan is very nice.  I do find my hands are a little more tired than if it was wool, but still it is a nice yarn.  I wasn't fond of finding a knot halfway through the first skein.  Especially since the skein is only 90some yards.  It's not like it was billed as a 1000 yard skein, its a paltry 93 (or 97 can't quit remember).  And knots in cotton?!?!?!?  This yarn is far too expensive for them to be knotting it.  Shame on Rowan.  No pictures yet, maybe tonight.

I took the twins to the mall yesterday for their 18 month portraits.  While we missed our initial appointment time at The Picture People because they were off-schedule napping, the lady-in-the-know told us to come in whenever instead of waking them.  Smart lady.  My mother sewed coordinating sailor outfits for them and boy did they look adorable.  Kat wasn't overly cooperative and trying to get them both to sit AND smile for the photos was definitely a challenge.  They managed to do it though and I came home with 5 poses and a large framed picture.  I haven't cut the sheets apart and certainly haven't scanned them yet.  I should have that done in the next day or so.  I was so tired after chasing them around that I got into bed with a spot of tea, the last disk of season 3 of 24 and my Ribby Shell at 8:30 last night.  I was falling asleep sitting up by 10.

We did hit a milestone on Tuesday.  They fed themselves cereal.  With milk!  With a spoon!!  (well most some with a spoon).  Kix are sticky when they are wet ;)

Yes that is a Kix stuck to Alex's forehead. He's a relaxed eater, note the knee.  Kat doesn't go anywhere without her BearBear, including the table.  The picture of her was taken before she intentionally stuck a piece of cereal in her hair.  What's with that?

I finally got some good pictures tonight of the twins enjoying their new outdoor toys at my folks' house. 

The down side to being out of the office for two days is that the rest of the people are IN the office working.  I had one busy, busy day.  Not too busy that I couldn't go for a walk with Kevin over to Taco Bell near Union Square, followed by coffee at Barnes & Noble.  It was a nice afternoon for a walk and he's good company.  Shame he's married.  Oh well.  Not like I'm really looking anyway, nor have the time to date!

I'm off for some quiet time, probably cutting apart wallet pictures and putting together packages for the family.

Knit on.

Evicted

There was an eviction from my apartment yesterday.  No, not me.  While tempting on particular days, not the twins either.  Yeti was evicted.  Relax Chris, I still have him and didn't give him to a passing vagabond with a love for lagomorphs.  I just hit the point where I got tired of the hay everywhere and other detrius of bunnies being indoors.  The mess was a bit much and I decided that he (and I) would be much better with outdoor lodgings.  With my trusty internet connection, I went shopping online for a nice hutch for him and was off to Petco in Passaic county (again dopey Blue Laws in Bergen country make me spend my bucks elsewhere).  Mom and Dad had the twins so I had some freedom of movement, made a switch of cages when the initial one I looked at was not in stock, and returned with a cage much larger than what he was living in.  About a half hour later, Yeti the Abominable Snow Rabbit had some new digs.

I'm pretty sure he's happier outside, his cage is certainly larger, and well, it's probably quieter than in a household with two toddlers.  I'm stocking up on empty soda bottles so as to have ice packs for him during the heat of the summer.  He's not in direct sun, my large fleece cabinet is immediately next to him (black object on the right in the picture) blocking him to the west.  I'll definitely keep an eye on how he's doing, but he should be okay.  Heck, Chris has oodles of bunnies outdoors and this guy was among them.  Now just pray I don't get evicted by this outside addition!

I really must remove the Cheap Stingy Bastards from my bloglines.  They're killing me with their deals for a frugal lifestyle.  Frugal my arse.  I've never needed so much stuff before!  One consolation is how cheaply I'm getting this couldn't live without stuff for.  The bargain hunter my mom raised is definitely pleased by this latest coup.  Take a gander at what was waiting for me Friday night upon my return from work:

Okay, so I've never posted about cooking and I'm not entirely sure why I need this little honey.  I just know you can't have a fully stocked kitchen without one!  Would you believe that I got it for $114.99 DELIVERED.  That kind of deal you don't walk away from and I'm sure it will get some good use.

The holidays were very nice and I thank everyone for their holiday wishes.  It was a nice time with my family, even if the twins melted down during the Seder.  We didn't get started until late and they are still transitioning from two to one nap each day.  I wound up having to put them in their cribs upstairs while the rest of us carried on with the festive meal.  They nicely slept the night there and I stayed as well.  Enabled me to indulge in the proscribed glasses of wine, though I did have a bit of a headache yesterday as a result. 

Saturday my father went off to Toys R Us alone and came home with a large sandbox (with attached bench/table/umbrella) and a playhouse for the twins to use.  I don't have pictures of them using it yet as the weather was too wet outside when I did have my camera and gorgeous when I did not.  Rest assured I'll have them shortly.  The twins really enjoyed the playhouse and the sand too, after they got over the initial weirdness of it all.

I didn't have much crafting time this weekend.  Though with what else I accomplished, that isn't much of a surprise.  I finished the first sleeve for A's sweater during my uneventful commute home on Friday (thanks for the good vibes for that!).  I also managed to get another repeat done on Stonington.  I hit my first screwup on that and had to tink half the row as I wasn't paying attention and had forgotten to do the lace entirely thinking it was a plain row.  I did spend some time Sat night chatting with mom about the hood portion of A's sweater.  The more I thought about it, the more it reminded me of nothing more than a huge heel off a sock.  I could either do a short-row hourglass "heel" for a hood, doing the math of course to figure out how many rows are necessary to get the height necessary, or I could borrow the hood off another sweater which reduces along the centerline.  I'm half tempted to go with the non-traditional "heel" hood.  I have one more sleeve to knit so I do have some time to decide.

Anyway, I'm off tomorrow and Wednesday as the kids are off from school this week and I couldn't get anyone to watch them.  I'm praying for nice weather on Wednesday as we're planning a trip to the Bronx Zoo. 

Finally Friday

After what seems like a week much longer than others, it is finally drawing to an end.  I went from my summer clothes at the beginning of the week to a jacket again yesterday and today.  Phooey.  Does give me some breathing room though on finishing (or starting even) the summer clothes that I want to knit.  In that respect, I'm sort of glad the high temperatures were just a sneak peek at some future condition.  This week also saw much aggravation in the public transportation system.  From the subway adventure trying to get back to the office from Purl, to the fire along the tracks that night to my train breaking down just before leaving Secaucus last night, I've been less than happy.  As Deb pointed out in an email, at least I had knitting with me.  Damn right!  One of the reasons I always carry knitting.  You never know when you are going to have free time and would otherwise be idle and tempted to chew your own foot off to do something!  I'm just hoping that tonight's commute home is uneventful for anything other than finishing the last 4 rows of Mr. A's little sleeve.

Speaking of said little sweater in the super wonderful Jaeger Shetland Aran, I was reading further into the pattern to see what the directions were past the sleeves.  I was looking at how badly the nice stockinette components were curling and hoped to see a "block pieces, sew together, pick up for hood, etc" direction someplace.  Nope.  After the sleeves (make 2), the hood is knit separately from the front edge down to the neck, binding off a host of stitches over several rows to form a back seam.  The hood is then sewed to the assembled garment.  I'm going to invoke my opinionated independent knitter skills and not, NOT, do it that way.  I find no reason to sew the hood on when it can picked up from the neck edge and worked up to the front.  I'll have to reconstruct what it is trying to do (maybe use Rogue as a model) and work it the logical way.  I hate sewing pieces together and will avoid it at all costs.  I've actually been working on in my head a way of doing the thing in one piece for Kat's version.  I don't like all the fiddly little pieces with lots of ends dangling about attracting both kitten and toddler nuisance at all turns.  Sewing together pieces is up there in my book with swatching.

Speaking of swatching, what's this?  Could it be?  Why yes it is, a SWATCH!  You can't say I'm not trainable.  I do learn from my mistakes and promise to swatch from hereonin.  I pulled out the larger needles, in this case the 7US and cast on some 20 stitches.  What you see here is a perfect 5st/in as the pattern called for.  The fabric has amazing drape and feels glorious.  I just with the yarn was cheaper or I'm just going to have to hit the lottery so I can make more out of that Habu Textiles Bamboo yarn. 

After swatching, I spent the rest of the evening (well until bedtime that is) working on Sigma.  Okay so I had been originally going to do Chickami, and I will eventually, but I feel the yarn would be better served by some swingy little number.  Sigma hits that mark.  I'm about  1.5" to 2" into it with 10" total before dividing for the front/back.  You can see my knitting companions cuddled on the couch.  I love how these two boys get along.

Since Cassie specifically requested it and Nancy has remarked about it as well, I give you Stonington.  The photos are actually showing the slight color variation in the yarn that my eyes just aren't picking up in person.  You can see the lighter color seems to appear to be orangey.  Interesting.  It does look nice in person and honestly, the knitting is somewhat mindless.  I'm now to the point where I don't need to even consult the pattern.  So far so good.  I've been fighting the urge to schlep it along with me, thereby pushing Mr. A's sweater aside.  I'm so close to finishing that I should just keep working on it.  I'll be good.

This weekend brings the start of the Passover holiday.  Tomorrow afternoon and evening will be spent with my family, enfolded in tradition.  One of my nephews will do the Four Questions as the youngest son is still too young to ask.  I doubt I'll have much craft time this weekend, which is a shame as I have two sealed boxes with freshly shorn fleeces in them.  One is a shetland, the other is a first shearing of a CVM.  I picked that box up at the post office this morning!  Every year I swear off adding any more fleece to the stash that is probably at SABLE levels already, but every year I also succumb to the lure of the freshly shorn.  I have reserved one more shetland from Laurie and hope to get to next year's shearing with no more than one after that.  I'm trying to content myself with already prepared fiber (besides Yeti's of course) so as to have actual spinning/knitting time and not preparation time. 

I look at fiber prep the same way as I look on swatching.  While they are indeed part of the process (Ohhhmmmm), I am not a huge fan of them.  While the shortcut to spinning can be had with buying the prewashed and prepped rovings, I've learned the same doesn't hold true for swatching.  See.. I did learn.  I had been lulled by recent successes where I had swatched and came out exact on the first go around.  Now I know better.  SWATCH!  Back to fleece prep, there are some things in spinning that are just better done with a prep other than combed roving.  One of them is lace yarn. That is best done from slightly greasy locks (ergo my shetland collection this year).  You can also do much more color variation work if everything hasn't already been so homogenized by the processing (again ergo my shetland collection).  I'll probably post some pictures of the new fleeces over the weekend.

Happy holiday to those observing. 

Craft on.

To Swatch or Not To Swatch...

...that is indeed the question.  As many of you dear readers probably expected, I raced home last night to play with my new Habu Textiles Bamboo Yarn and start Chickami.  Well I actually tried to race home, but the brush fire inconveniently located near the Amtrack rails running to the city messed up my commute.  Naturally I got out of NY late, missed my normal Secaucus connection and got home some 40 minutes later than normal.  A sure fire sign that the evening was not going to go my way. 

As I was sitting on the train waiting to leave Penn (sat at the platform for 30 minutes..at least I had a seat) I worked on Alex's sweater.  I thought I was two increases away from finishing that section of the sleeve.  As I double checked the stitch count against the pattern, I reread that section that pertained to increasing (naturally) and found that I hadn't quite paid attention the first time through.  It is a many size in one pattern with the larger size stuff in the ().  I'm making the largest size.  Can you guess what's coming next?  Yeah.  I was doing the increase directions for the smallest size.  So instead of increasing at each end every 6th row like I should have, I was doing it every 4th row.  I thought the sleeve was looking a bit odd, I should know better.  Thank goodness for the extra train time as I as able to use up all the pulled out yarn by the time I got to my final destination.  As of the end of my commute in this morning, I'm back up to the stitch count I had when I double checked yesterday, and yes, I'm two increases shy of done.  Then its just straight knitting until the end of the 10 inch sleeve.  I love kid clothes.  They're QUICK!

Once I finally got the twins down, I eagerly grabbed the bag from Purl, dug for size 3 circulars (not listed in the cover of the pattern mind you) and cast on for Chickami with the Bamboo.  Now do I do the responsible thing and swatch or just jump right in there?  Swatch?  I don't need no stinkin' swatches! My gauge is always spot on.  Right?  No?  Of course it is and here I had a yarn that was a DK/Light Worsted as the pattern calls for, I had the right needles, how could I not get gauge.  Pipe down nay-sayers. 

I opted for the no-swatch, jump in with both feet and cast on.  Not like the ribby cardi cotton version which if you remember the right front was my swatch, no, Chickami is knit in the round to the armpit.  So deluded I continued.  As to not waste a single yard of this delicious yarn, I did a knitted cast on.  Not my favorite cast on but definitely can be more yarn efficient than the long-tail.  Took quite a long time as there were 190 stitches and Baron kept grabbing at the cable for the circ and hooking the yarn.  Pest.  After I counted 4 times and got the same number twice I was content to join and knit the 5 rows.  Not so fast.  The needle I was using was one of those cruddy metal interchangable ones, while the tips were staying put, the yarn was grabbing on the cable join.  Crap.  I went on a massive search and rescue looking for another size 3 circ that wasn't too long not a goofy 12" that I bought on a whim last year for socks.  I founds 5's and a couple of 2's, but a 3 was proving quite elusive.  I finally found one and spent far too long working the first row, forcing the yarn over the join, though right now, I vaguely remember not being able to find a substitute.  Short term memory is not one of my strongest suits. 

I get to the end of the hem bit and switch to the larger needles and the straigh stockinette.  Meanwhile, I'm happily catching up on programs that my beloved ReplayTV has been keeping for me and sailing through round after round of 190 sts.  Oh the yarn is super fabulous.  It feels SOOOOO good flowing through the fingers and the fabric is just dreamy.  Worth every penny of its high price.  It was about 2" into the stockinette that I decided for giggles to check my gauge.  {Insert snicker here.} I pulled out the nifty new needle sizer/gauge checker that I bought yesterday at Purl.  I counted.  Ugh.  I fiddled with the fabric and counted again.  Ugh.  I fiddled some more and counted.  Ugh.  Instead of quitting at the inch mark like I usually do, I was somehow deluded that it would be better if I went all the way to the two inch mark, like maybe the second inch was a different gauge.  Yeah, doesn't work like that.  Instead of 5st/in for a beautiful 20st/4in as the pattern calls for, I was getting 6st/in for a whopping 24/4".   Yeah gauge is important.  Instead of a 38" finished chest, I was going to get a 31.66.  Negative ease is not a good thing in a drapy cami.  With great disgust I pulled the needle out and frogged the whole thing.  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do next.  I might swatch with larger needles and see the resulting fabric at 5/in.  I did spend some time searching for alternate patterns and did find the gauge it yourself Sigma Tank at Knitty.  I did want something more swingy that would take full advantage of the drape of the bamboo so if there is a bright side to this (not to mention reinforcing the MUST SWATCH rule) here it is.

I crawled into bed far later than I should have (spent some serious time flipping through the pattern stash  looking for tank alternates).  I did some more work on Stonington and got through the first "repeat" of chart A.  I really like how it is coming out.  The colors are subtle and in the dim light of the bedroom, they read almost as one.  I know there are those of you who are now questioning the wisdom of lace as bedtime knitting.  I'm one of you.  I just can't stop myself.  Not to mention I needed something to go right knittingwise last night OR the opportunity to be 0 for 3.  It remains to be seen if I screwed it up.  I don't think so as it is easy to read this lace as it is going so in that respect, not all that dangerous.  But then again, with the way things were running yesterday, I wouldn't be very surprised.

I'm going to chant Margene's mantra "its the process" {stupid} --(Edit:  the {stupid} is yours truly's addition to the mantra).

Knit on.

Spring has Sprung

Well maybe more than Spring right now.  Today's high is supposed to 87F.  That's way above the average for April which is somewhere in the 60's.  I am not complaining mind you, I do so like summer, I would rather a smoother transition.  I vaguely remember sending the twins to daycare in their winter coats last week.  Its crazy!  More seasonable weather is expected for the rest of the week though. 

I have most certainly been taking advantage of summer while its been here for its early preview.  Yesterday I took a trip up to School Products to get a couple of Addi Turbos.  For some odd reason I got it in my brain that they were at 23rd street and got off the subway there.  Boy was I surprised when I popped out of the station to find a completely different scene than I'm used to.  I'm now at the corner of 5th, Broadway and 23rd street.  I headed uptown.  Guess where they really are:  28th street!  Thankfully it was a nice day for a walk.  I had opted to walk to the office from Penn Station yesterday morning (today as well) instead of taking the subway so I've been enjoying the outside a little more than normal.  Today I'm off to Purl for a visit and a fondle. 

Oh that should make for good google skewing.  Its amazing what my cross stitch project name has been doing for my google hits recently.  Scary.  I'm very close to changing the name entirely.  Yesterday I saw in my referers a google hit for this:  "respectable ladies in complete frontal nude".  Oh my.  Imagine the disappointment when that link opened.  Snicker.  Sorry pervs, knitting blog.

Moving onwards...one of the new addi turbos was used last night to cast on Stonington.  Nifty bit of knitting that one is.  I'm using the handpaintedyarn.com laceweight in bergamota colorway.  The color shifts are ever so subtle and not glaringly obvious which I think will work out nicely.  No pictures yet, but maybe some tomorrow.  I did get through the first section of Chart A and am into the first repeat go 'round.  Okay, I need a better way to phrase that, but not today ;)  I also need to come up with a spreadsheet calculation to chart progress.  Until that happens, I ain't putting up the standard progress meter in the sidebar.

{Talk amongst yourselves, I'm off for lunch and a trip to Purl }

I'm back.  Marina and I had a blast playing in Purl.  Love the store.  I spent far too much time fondling yarn, playing with all the yarns that I see on the 'net.  I considered the Rowan Denim for a Chickami, even carried an armload of it around before returning it to its shelf for some Rowan Handknit Cotton in shade 254, which a websearch reveals as the color "Flame".  Whatever you call it, its a gorgeous summer orangy thing that will look wonderful as Chickami.  While wandering the store with my armload of Rowan, I made the mistake of petting a skein of the Habu Textiles Bamboo yarn that was on the table.  OH. MY. GOD. I. MUST. HAVE. IT.  The nice lady there is such an enabler.  I made the mistake of vocalizing my approval of the yarn and she immediately showed me this 10.5 oz hank of it in white.  Okay, so I'll have two Chickamis ;)  I was strong and resisted the Lorna's Lace, sock, sport, etc.  Nothing bad in that store.  Dangerous place to go into!  Rowan everywhere!  I could fondle for hours.  Alas, I had to get back to the office.

I did finish the second front piece for Mr. A's hoodie.  I cast on for the first sleeve on the train last night.  Probably would be a bit further along on that if I hadn't of been distracted by the shawl last night.  So much yarn, so little time.

Knit on.

Insert Title Here

There are just some days where I struggle for a title to the posting longer than it takes me to write the rest of it.  I don't feel like the fight today so you can imagine a clever, witty, on point topic header and insert above please.  Thank you.

Once again there is a several day lapse between posts.  What's with that you ask?  I'm not entirely sure.  Yes, work got a bit hectic recently, especially with my boss out and my covering for his on call duties.  I had just come off my own on call week and nothing happened.  Naturally since I was covering for him, the world crumbled.  Figures.  That didn't stop KB (new coworker feller) and I from enjoying the nice weather and venturing further afield for lunch.  We did indeed go to Chinatown on Thursday.  MMMMMMMM it was Marvelous!  I'd highly recommend Tasty Dumpling if you are ever in the area.  The food was ridiculous cheap and just downright excellent and worth the long line and small dining area.  While returning to the subway, I snapped this view looking up Mulberry Street.  Okay, so it isn't only Chinatown, but also Little Italy, you still get the area's ambiance.

Saturday, the twins and I were graciously invited to fellow blogger Deb's house to spend the afternoon with her and the famous Chappy!  This was the twins first real exposure to a dog.  While they were initially hesitant by this barking thing that was much larger (and louder) than their cats, they did get to be pretty comfy with him. Deb had a great writeup of the afternoon so I'll just lead y'all over there.  My favorite picture from the day is one Deb took of the twins.  You can see it here.  No, I'm not getting a dog, but if I did, I'd want one as sweet as Chappy.  The current lifestyle wouldn't be fair to a dog.  While we are indeed out of the house some 10 hours a day, cats deal with that far differently than a dog.  Someday.

Trucking onwards, I finished the Cable Rib Socks that were a cause of much consternation!   The second one was amazingly faster (well not including the initial knitting of the cuff) than the first one.  That seems to break all the rules of sock knitting as I know them.  I guess in my supreme desire to not fall prey to the dreaded SSS, I'm doing them faster?!  Mine is not to question why, its just to knit some more.

Which is exactly what I'm doing.  I started the hoodie for Mr. Alexander.  The back, the right front and half the left front are now complete.  I hit the cast off point for the armpit this morning on the train and the second front should be done by tonight.  Mom and I agree, I will be finishing with buttons and not a zipper.  Mr. Adventure knows how to open a zipper but can't as of yet handle buttons.  I haven't started the button quest yet, but should really do so soon as this project is a quickie. 

The yarn for Stonington arrived over the weekend and it is gorgeous.  After a quick field trip to a yarn store for a set of Addi Turbos in size 4 and I'll be ready to start it.  I gave the instructions a quick look over last night and it seems like a nice straightforward project.  I just love EZ.  I added a few more of her books to my collection.  I picked up Opinionated Knitter and Knitting Around last week from Knitpicks.  Speaking of knitpicks, they've now added cotton yarns!  Sport weight so far, no I don't count the texturized stuff, but it sounds like they're adding more.  Maybe a nice DK or Worsted.  Yarn yarn yarn yarn yarn.  Why is that running through my head on an endless loop???? Baby blanket yarn has arrived, pattern is ready, have to check what needles it needs, maybe a set of Addi's for it too, and I'll be ready to go on it too. 

Where to frolic for lunch today?  Decisions, decisions, decisions.  I think a trip to School Products for Addi Turbos is called for and Purl tomorrow.  I love NY in the spring!

Knit on.

 

Sunny Day, Sweeping the Couds Away

Tuesday at lunch, Bridget and Amy remembered something about the first cable sock that I had completely forgotten.  I had been working on it using my brand new Rosewood DPN's that had just arrived.  Somewhere through that sock, I switched to the pointy metal ones, probably after reading the page in Stephanie's book that I took as license to like my pointy metal dpns again.  (As an aside, I also feel better about preferring a flap heel to a short row heels thanks to her as well.  If its good enough for the Yarn Harlot, it should be damn well good enough for me.)  Looking closely at the first sock, you can indeed see where I switched needles, it's about a 1/3 of the way through the foot.  Not terribly noticeable unless you are really looking closely.  The cables from thereon and the ones on the second sock matched exactly.  I agree with Nancy that it would be a bit dodgy to add repeats to get the length to match up.  Preponderance of fraternal twins notwithstanding... here's how the socks looked by the time I went to sleep Tuesday night:

Yup.  I had to frog it.  I don't frog all that much, and I'm not exactly a perfectionist, but I really had no choice here.  Thankfully, I am also a fast knitter!  Here's the second sock as of ...NOW:

Yup.  I turned the heel this morning on the train to Secaucus and was picking up the stitches along the flap on the way to Penn Station.  The very large cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee precluded any further knitting though.   I will be tucking the sock in my purse for during my lunchtime trek with the new coworker to Chinatown.  I have my camera so maybe a picture or two later of the outing.

What's that hanging off the needle you ask?  Here's a closer view:

That's a beaded row counter.  I have ten beads separated by ten jump rings.  As I finish a row, I slip the next jump ring on the needle.  This was sooooo incredibly handy when knitting the cuff of the sock.  The cables are on a 10 row repeat and instead of stopping to count rows, I could tell immediately where in the repeat I was.  Those little plastic row counters don't work with dpns, and are slow.  You have to stop and twist.  Blech.  The beads are fast!  I also got some beading practice while making this too!  I think I'm going to make me another set, this time with a different color bead each 5th bead.  How can I tell one end from the other you ask, well the 10th bead has a small seed bead stopper instead of a jump ring.  Ingenious if you ask me.

The best yet, I knit that sock while watching my ReplayTV!!!!  Woooo.  That thing will change your life.  I've had it one day now and I ain't ever getting rid of it.  Ever.  Never.  It was so very cool to pause the movie I was watching on TCM last night (Holiday with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn) when Alexander cried out.  Sweet.  I have it set to catch 24, House, Grey's Anatomy, ER for me and Barney and Sesame Street for the kids.  With the new DVD recorder I can burn all this stuff to DVD to play on the new portable for the car!  I love gadgets :)

As a quick informal survey, which do you prefer, large images in the post like today's versus the smaller thumbnails like Tuesday's.  Personally, I'm not quite sure which I like better and will vary from one to the other, sometimes both in the same post.  Just checking if there is a blogging etiquette that I'm missing.

Knit on.

While I've been happily busy at work, I've lost my primary blogging time.  I haven't posted, nor read in far longer than I care for.  While I have every intention of doing some of this after work, I just am so tired by the time the twins go down that I really want nothing more than to park on the couch, if not call it a night right then.  Weekends have been no better energy-wise.  I should probably start taking my vitamins and iron supplement again, but I don't have the energy ;)

This past weekend was absolutely glorious.  Sunshine and warm temperatures!  Saturday was for running around doing the errands that we can't do during the week, nor Sunday as I live in the one county in NJ where we still have Blue Laws.  No shopping on Sunday.  Swell.  Makes Saturday one busy ass day.  Still, we did get plenty of outside time.  Sunday was one of those spring days when you just can't stay inside.  The twins felt the same way and were just downright antsy in the house.  We went for a couple of walks in the stroller, played with the neighbor kids, learned to enjoy grass under bare tootsies and just enjoyed the 70+ temperature.  Ahh glorious indeed.  I'm closing my eyes (yup I can do that and blog at the same time.. I do touch type ya know) and transporting myself back there and ignoring the fact that it was 38F this morning with temps only going to the low 50's.  Spring indeed. 

I've hit a problem with my darn cable sock.  Here I was happily cruising along on the second one, getting excited when I counted the number of repeats done and looking at starting the heel flap in the next session or two.  Yeah.  Well last night I pulled my knitting into the bathroom and did one more cable cross while otherwise occupied.  Knitting time is knitting time :)  I wanted to double check the number of pattern repeats that I had completed on the first sock as I had cut the number from the actual pattern.  I pulled it out of the bag and counted.  9.  Good.  I just finished the 8th on the second sock.  Sweet.  Umm.  Errr.  I held the two together and my gauge is so different on the second bad boy that while it is one repeat shorter to the ankle, it is two repeats shorter lengthwise.  Holy crud.  I've never had my gauge change so darn drastically in such a short time.  I'm really at a loss as to what to do with the thing.  Do I just go for the length and pretend not to notice that one sock has 9 repeats while the other has 11?  I can't seem to find any mistake in the patterning in either sock so I can't just rip and redo correctly or mirror the error.  I can't just rip out both socks though I'm seriously tempted to.  Yuck.  I've got to spend more time analyzing both sock to see if there is a difference somewhere besides more aggressive yarn control.  Sigh.  No pictures of this as my little purse camera has no flash and doesn't like the office lighting.  This all leaves me less than enthusiastic to knit.

I started the hoodie for Alex on Sunday during their morning nap and actually had the back finished by the time I went to sleep.  I really like the Jaeger Shetland Aran.  What a wonderfully soft yarn that just knits up beautifully.  I'm glad I bought enough to make them each a sweater, and one for myself.  I actually have a sweater pattern picked out for me.  I'm going to use it to make Rogue.  I'm not going to make the pullover version, but hot off my success with adding the zipper to Ribby, I'm going with the cardigan mod to Rogue.  Neat.  At the rate I'm going, that should be my July knitting ;)

Thanks to Nancy's help, I've settled on a baby blanket for my coworker.  I'll be making one of the afghans from Leisure Arts' Knit One For Baby.  If you have this little nugget which contains 4 baby afghans, I'm making the one on the back cover... or it is also known as the "Lace and Fans Baby Afghan" from LA Beginner's Guide Knit Stitches.  I bought a package of the Rowan DK Handknitting Cotton from my new friend Jannette's Ebay Store.  I bought the Nautical and it should make a lovely, but non-standard baby color blanket.  In full and fair disclosure, this is exactly the same yarn and same pattern that Nancy's mom used to make a blanket for little Emily.  Hey, I don't have to reinvent the wheel.

While I was searching my pattern stash for a baby blanket pattern, I tripped on a couple of the Minnowknit patterns that I bought on eBay years ago in hopes of having little kids to knit for.  If I didn't have a daughter, I figured I could find a little girl to wear the stuff regardless.  Anyway, I found a few and there was this one.  I bought a bag of the cotton in the Rose color to make this for Kat. I might leave the big dots off of it and work it in one color (might?  will.)  So that stuff should arrive this week.  Jannette promised to get it out airmail on Monday.  The last packages she sent on a Tuesday were all here by Saturday.

Well time to get some work done...

Knit on.

 

Plodding Along

Its been a very long week, though judging by the calendar, I still have one more day.  Not much knitting has been going on though there has been some.  I've mentioned the first cable sock being completed and the second one has been started.  Yup, have done some work on it, but not as much as I would have liked.  I just came back from the weekly Office Stitch 'N Bitch where I have at least managed to get through to a respectable 4 of 9 repeats of the cable pattern on the cuff.  No pictures because the second sock looks very much like the first sock. Which is good, right?

Tuesday night I actually pulled Summer Ribby out of the corner and finished the second front while watching House.  Last night you ask?  No knitting.  I had Kat company instead.  With house nice the weather has been the last two nights, we've (mom, dad and I) had the twins outside running about before dinner.  Well last night we had our first skinned knee.  Poor Kat.  She has her first boo-boo band-aid too.  Not too sure about it either and really wants to rip the offending piece of sticky stuff from her leg.  Yesterday was also a "school day" which involves a serious nap deficit.  Both contributed to an overtired, cranky toddler who just didn't want to go to sleep but instead wanted to be cuddled.  Rather than conking out by 8:30 on a normal night, I had her clinging to me, huge owl eyes looking up at me, until just shy of 9:30.  Yeah, a full hour into my knittin' time.  After getting her down in her crib, I was so exhausted that I could just manage to lay down on the couch and flick the remote to Comedy Central.  While I did stay awake for the South Park repeat, I fell asleep as the new episode started.  Naturally I woke up with the closing credits.  Sigh.  I'm hoping she's back on track (and stays there) tonight. 

The office stitch n bitch has somehow fallen apart.  Once upon a time, we could fill the conference room to capacity and would occasionally need to bring in chairs from other rooms.  Now?  Only 4 people bother to show up.  We even changed days from Friday (always a popular day to go out during nicer weather) to Thursdays in hopes that more would attend.  No such luck.  It's just sad.

While I posted this on the related bulletin board, I'm going along with the next main project for the EZasPi group, namely the Stonington Shawl.  I've always liked the thing and do enjoy group knitting.  I'm sure I blogged this in the past, but I was planning on using some of that HandpaintedYarn.com lace-weight that I bought a while ago.  However, being basic math challenged, I got the yardage wrong once again.  I'm 100 yards shy on any of the colorways that I have more than one skein of.  I'm scared that if I simply bought another skein of one of the colors I have, I'll have a "dye lot" issue so I've been hesitant to buy one.  Not to mention, I couldn't actually decide which of the colorways to choose.  (We all should have such problems, no?)  Problem solved.  Buy more.  This time, buy three skeins so I don't come up potentially shy.  Stonington will therefore be done in this:

More lace weight from HandpaintedYarn.com, this time in the Bergamota colorway.  I think it will make for a rather special shawl.  The others are going into stash and will someday come out, probably for something out of the Icelandic shawl book.  Oooh, now there's an idea.  I'll start Stonington when this yarn arrives.  In the meantime, I hope to clear some of the other wips off my plate, and maybe start a baby blanket for my coworker.

Speaking of which, thanks to everyone for their color suggestions for the baby blanket.  Now to find a pattern!  I just saw Stonington done as a baby blanket in sport weight wool-ease which is tempting me to do the same.  I could even do a multi color thing with it by doing the main body in one color and the border in another.  something to think about.  I still need to check the massive library of books at home but I'm sure I could find something.  Any suggestions for a pattern in the meantime?

Finally some excellent news.  While I'm more than likely NOT going to Maryland this year for the festival, I will be going to Cummington for the first time!  We (the little people and I) were invited to stay with Cate and go to the festival.  Woo hoo!  Meeting a fellow blogger is downright exciting, but when the blogger is also a spinner AND best yet a mom of twins, I'm just giddy with anticipation.  That's even before we get into the whole going to a fiber festival excitement!  Can't wait.

On that note, I'm off to find some drinkable coffee as there is nothing but swill in our kitchen.

Craft on.

Blue Horizon

Blue blue, all I see is blue these days.  Lets lead off with the big kahuna of the blueness, PI.  Sunday she was indeed blocked and is now a very happy shawl.  I too am a very happy knitter.  I enjoyed the project very much and actually avoided the resentment towards it that I felt while knitting the Icelandic shawl last year.  I actually quit knitting for a while rather than working on that beast.  In the end it took almost 4 months to finish it and the secret was to knit other things while working on it.  Looking at the work of Cassie, I'm going to have to dig that book ("3-Cornered and Long Shawls" by Sigrídur Halldórsdóttir - out of print) out again.

But I digress....

May I present to you:  Pi. (and a closer look at the now blocked border

That circly thing is a penny.  My camera alternates between wonderful and not being capable of taking a simple shot.  I'm not entirely sure why either.  I have ordered a tiny little digital camera for me to carry around in my purse (thanks again to the Cheap Stingy Bastards and Cate).  Anyway, Pi is completed.

The first of the cable socks went down last night.  Comfy cozy.  Love it.  Believe it or not, the second one has been started.  I cast on for it this morning on the train after battling the skein for the end.  Hate that.  Getting a skein that doesn't play nice giving up the inside end and spilling half its guts out.  Sitting on the bench at the station I had to fight the evil thing.  I won, in the end, as expected ;)

As if I needed one more reminder that the twins are no longer babies and are full fledged toddlers, I've now gotten one.  They've offically turned into picky eaters.  Once upon a time they ate everything I gave them (with the exception of Kat who had some texture issues).  Now, they are rejecting most meats and sticking with the veggies / fruits and plain old carbs.  They'd be happy with nothing but saltines, bananas, french fries and milk.  I did introduce them to beans (pintos) Sunday evening for dinner and they just loved it.  Good.  At least one protein source that they'll eat.  Must be something in the hardwiring that makes toddlers crave the carbs.  Probably fueling their active lifestyles and switching from the protein based dieting for their massive growth in the first year and a half.  I guess a balanced diet is a thing of the past for a while.  Last night's dinner, french fries, a bite of beef stew and vanilla pudding.  My father is incorrigible when it comes to feeding them.  Seems a junk food diet is okay by him.  Oy.