Knitting schmitting....

No Knitting to show on a knitting blog!? These ARE crazy days.

Well, I haven't picked up my needles in about a week I guess. I finished the baby items and ran out of steam. Not even a pair of socks in progress which is totally different for me. I've usually got something in progress in one bag or another, but I suppose everyone needs a break now and then.

I have been reading a lot lately. That's been sucking up my usual knitting time like crazy so it's been harder to miss it. I'm reading Monica Ferris's needlework mystery series.

Right now I'm on this one:

I'm enjoying this series because unlike Maggie Sefton's knitting mystery series (which I enjoy too BTW), I have a harder time figuring out who the villian is. I usually finish one book a night because I don't have the patience to wait and see if I'm right or wrong! They're like a good movie, I just HAVE to know who did the deed! I also slipped The Heretic's Daughter in as well (another good read). Thank goodness for the library because I seriously have been a reading machine lately. This series also includes a lot of needlework talk and that's something I've always been interested in learning as well some day. I never realized it's so diverse and that there are so many different techniques. It sounds like an expensive hobby as well, I better use up more yarn before I contemplate going down that path.

Reading's sort of been my escape lately. What do you do to escape?

I was feeling a little down in the dumps with everything that's going on in this crazy world. We've had our share of not so great things happening lately as well. Then there was a shooting recently at a mall here that we frequent often, so my mind was buzzing with worry about too many things. I had to just stop and chill out I guess. I did manage to get out for a walk on Saturday and that felt really good. You can't stop living, and worrying won't change anything. I guess I was just parked in a bad zone there for a bit.

My youngest has been having headaches and feeling sort of icked out off and on so now the worry transfers to her and she's way more important than anything else. I need to get her in to the doctor to see if she has a sinus thing going on, or maybe bad allergies or something. We're going to see how she's feeling in the morning and I may take her in. She's a stinker sometimes, but she's still my baby! Funny how these little people can make you focus.

I guess I better get back to my book now! I'm going to force myself to stop about half way this time so I can hopefully get some sleep for a change. Just like in knitting with my "one more row" habit, I'm always saying "one more chapter"....gets me into trouble every time.

Knitting will resume soon because I have my Knit Nite with the girls on the 28th which I'm looking forward to attending with project in tow. I have no idea what it'll be!!??

But I'll be there!

Another Quandry

With all the trouble in the world today, leave it to me to be worrying if I'm okay with how these turned out! (Is there a therapist out there?) With almost everything I knit to give away, I'm never sure it's good enough though. I worry, I worry, I worry. And then I worry. I made these Moc-A-Soc's for The Big Guy's co-worker but I'm undecided on if I'm going to send them or not...

Because the toes turned out to be sort of "square" on these and I'm not sure I like them like that. I don't know if blocking will change the shape. (I won't say how many pictures I took to get these shots! But it was A LOT!) I stuffed them to try to shape them but I couldn't get them to look how I wanted because of the toes! The reason is I made one of the "newborn" size before these, and it didn't seem square but more rounded and cute. I guess it transforms as you go bigger?

I used size 1 needles (which BTW I found -in my knitting bag- the day after I ordered another set!) and did the larger size (6-12 mos).

Yarn is Knitpicks Shine in Willow.

Mine are also technically "plain" because I didn't "attach" the sock part on top. I went ahead and bought socks (yes!! explanation forthcoming). I was going to knit (BLUE) socks but my wrist is "braced" again due to that same ol' pain that I get when I overuse it. I was scrubbing my kitchen before our company came and am now paying dearly. I told The Big Guy that I just can't clean house anymore! He thought that was pretty funny!

Anyway....I wanted socks that went all the way INTO the booties. For a baby I just prefer that they be comfortable regardless if they'll be walking in them or not. The seam is on the bottom as well so I just thought "what would I like for my baby?" So there they are...with store bought socks! Thanks Target! He may kick them off in 2 seconds flat, but they're totally Cute Overload! BTW, I wanted the Light Blue to match these:

I was outvoted by The Big Guy who really liked the beige socks better with the Moc-a-Socs! Must be a "guy" thing. Now my gift isn't as "cohesive" as a set (ooh, my ribbed blue socks would've been so cute!), but what can you do? (I'm sending a gift card in addition to/or instead of!)

These were made with two skeins of Plymouth Jeanee. Ooooh, squishy!! Wicked Squishy!!! (That's why I made two!) I have to wash these still (and the booties) and block them - then I'll decide if they go or not. If so, they'll be sealed up and sent to Denver for the little guy yet to be born. His Dad is a UCLA alumni, so that blue should be well received!

Baby things are so much fun!! I just love making them! I'm keeping my first little Moc-a-soc to just luv or hang from my rear view mirror! Yes. It's that cool!

~*~My 1st Blogoversary!!~*~

...and here it is already after 10:00 pm and I've barely gotten on my laptop today. Whew! What a day! It wasn't a very fun day, just a busy, busy day! We're having company tomorrow so of course that meant major "house cleaning" since my nephew's allergic to cats and I'm paranoid he'll get really sick. We also ran errands and went grocery shopping. Fun. Fun. Fun. Seems like it should've been a way more special day with it being my Blogoversary and all.... I think I owe myself a present or something don't cha think? At least some cake.....

Ah well. I wish I would've done a contest or something, but honestly I'm functioning on "low" with my brain cells that do work this year - it didn't even dawn on me to start something earlier. Maybe someday in the future I can make up for that. That would be fun!

I want to shout out a huge "Thank You" to any and all who regularly read my blog, friends, or anonymous, and to those who just stop by once in a blue moon to browse. I really do appreciate you taking the time to read my crazy talk, knitting talk, and all my other talk. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to blog - then I make myself and I'm so glad I did. It's been fun.

Here's to another year!

Cheers!!

One Baby Item Done! whew!

This isn't blocked yet as you can tell, but when I do wash and block it, I plan on being very careful about the whole "Cat Hair" dilemma. I plan on wrapping it up and sticking it in a zip loc bag ASAP once it's dry. I will try to get a better picture of it then, we can only hope right? I just depends on how paranoid I get as I see cat hair floating past my face....


"Snuggle Up"
Bernat Softee Baby in Pink
2 skeins (I bought a third but didn't need it after all)
Size H Crochet Hook
Leisure Arts Leaflet 3015 "Absolutely Gorgeous Baby Afghans"

This is the third or fourth one of these I've made over the years. It must be my favorite for little girls because I always go back to it. It doesn't come out big for "regular" use, but as a "snuggly" or "special occasion" blankie, it's just precious.

Funny, crocheting didn't come back as easy to me this time, I struggled with that darn treble cluster stitch and on a couple of other parts (evenly space x number of stitches between here and there! Ugh!). Of course I was working on it during the season starter of Dancing With the Stars, so that made it MUCH harder to concentrate. (I love Brooke & Rocco for this season). I did little modifications here and there, fudged some stitches here and there, and it still came out okay for a little chick-a-dee to drag around and wrap her dollies in. I hope little Ella Rose likes it.


Dawn sent me a meme called RIGHT NOW. Meaning you take a picture of yourself RIGHT NOW. No make up, combing hair, changing clothes etc. Well....here's me!


My daughter got her new CookingMama 2 Nintendo DS game for her birthday last weekend and used me as her first character!! She was so PROUD of how she created ME, and I thought it turned out looking JUST LIKE ME! (Aren't I cute!? Notice the crown??) Now if I could just really learn to cook from this game that would be so cool.

I'm gonna pass on passing this one along because I think Dawn sent it to the people I would've. Plus, it was too much of a shock to see what I really looked like in a recent photo. (The sleeping schedule thing with me is still all wonky and it SHOWS on my face big time). I'll spare anyone that trauma. But IF YOU WANT TO DO IT- GO FOR IT!!!!!!!!

What a Mockery! & I Lost My Needles!

First, I'm talking about my socks of course!


Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock - Cool Colorway
Pattern: Mockery Socks
Size 1 needles (should've used size 0)
Eye of Partridge Heel
(These look really cool with the pattern carried all the way down the foot, but I got too lazy tired.)
These did come out too big and too loose. I forgot that I should always use size 0 needles with my Lorna's Laces. Sometimes I just operate on "Auto" and forget to edit for my needs. I'm not crazy about the stripes on these but they're done and "just socks", so I guess I can live with that. I was going to over-dye them, but "que sera sera"...life's too short and I have so much to do.

This was my first time trying the Eye of Partridge heel and it's WAY TOO BIG for my ankles/heels. Maybe I'll try it again with a smaller needle someday. I think I prefer the regular heel flap better, it just feels snug and comfortable. These are SO saggy as you can see in the picture! Oy. The truth is, my heels and wrists are probably the only skinny places left on my body so I'm going to enjoy that while I can and do right by them!

Second -My Next Dilemma: I'm trying to work on some baby things now except I can't find the size 1 straights that I was using for the baby booties! I'm thinking they must've been thrown away by accident!! I Know! GASP!! I've looked everywhere and can't seem to locate them for the life of me...I usually only knit in one place - although I have several knitting bags around here, they aren't here. They just aren't. I keep hoping one will poke me in the behind sooner or later, but no such luck. Oh well....guess I'll have to place another order with Joanns.....

bummer!

When it rains...it pours...

Is it "Opposite Week" or what? Cause my lovely week has been totally sucky. I accidently was overdrawn 90 cents (gotta confiscate the big guys debit card) and my bank charged me $35.00. (Yes, we have $$ sitting in other accounts with them, they just suck big time-can you tell I'm a lit-tle bit miffed???). Our upstairs air conditioner broke down AGAIN (every summer/winter like clock work -another $80+ bill). And Yay! It's fundraiser time at school again! Yippee!

Oh yeah, we're also going to have another gasoline shortage again in the coming days/weeks to add to our stress. We just got through one last weekend and already prices are going back up and pumps are getting covered up again. I can't believe how wonderful things are going, what DID I do to deserve all this joy? I know, things could be a LOT worse, but when you're already feeling the pinch of stress, it doesn't take much to push you over the edge. I just want to crawl under the covers and not come out for a bit.

So leave it to Miss Anna (Diary of an Eccentric) to cheer me up by bestowing this to me:

A blog award!! Thanks Anna!! I needed this upper and HOW!!! You don't even know!

Here are the rules:

If you've already received the award, great! That means you really, really deserve it! And feel free to pass it on again!

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

Let's see, I nominate:

Dawn (KnittinWolf)

Jeanne (NatRedKnits)

Julie (Julieanne's What's Up Page!)

Anna (again cause she's so cool!)

Cass (Shut Up I'm Counting)<

Kay (From The Back Yard)

Ariel (Ariel's Knitting)

I read a lot of blogs but don't always comment much (bad blogger-bad bad) so I'm going to be brave and pass it on anyway. I REALLY love nice comments so I have to work on that.

Gretel #2

She's done!

Gretel
Caron Simply Soft Heathers in Gray
Size 4 needle for the ribbing
Size 7 for the rest
Regular Size

I used my cable needle this time instead of working it without one. To be honest, it just "flows" better for me WITH it than without it. I don't dig cabling without a cable needle for some reason. (Probably because this works cables back/front in same rows at times. It took me more time to look up the directions again and again for each than to just use my needle.)

It wasn't blocked in these pictures. I washed it tonight in All Clear since my cousin is very allergic to detergents, then stuck it in a plastic bag (loosely) to finish blocking on a plate since she's also very allergic to cat dander. (And that's ALL over my house!) I'm praying that it's okay for her and I'm going to tell her to wash it herself when she gets it to make sure no stray kitty hairs are on it. I don't want to be the cause of a bad reaction! Gulp!

Again, I have to say I love knitting this pattern, it's fast & really fun to make. This is actually my third one but #2 was made out of Red Heart Soft in a pretty purple color and came out too snug, (I was experimenting with needle sizes) and too "shaggy-fuzzy-frizzy-pilly" (eww!) It's buried somewhere around here....

Today was spent clothes shopping for my girls, cleaning (blah), laundry (blah blah), and cooking, so no fibery things were worked on (yet!-that baby blanket is bugging me). The seasons are changing around here slowly but surely, so my girls were hinting lately that the need for longer pants was arising. It feels like school just started and we just finished clothes shopping for capri's and shorts...where does the time go?

It's slowly been getting darker a little earlier each day and the terrible heat & humidity went bye-bye a couple of days after Hurricane Ike passed by (whew!). Can you see autumn? I sure can. The "sunshine" during the day has a whole different look and glow to me. Amazing.

Here's an early"Happy Autumn" to everyone.