The New Year

Wow. I'm SO behind! January is almost over and here I am with next to nothing "knitting related" to post. I've worked on a few KAL things but the first was a BUST (rarely do I just THROW something AWAY - but this HAD to go - wait! I may have a pic of it before it went bye-bye! ).

Here it is:

Pattern: Duet 
Yarn: Simply Soft in Cranberrry
This was an UGH! if there ever was one. My Bad. I didn't check gauge, but I honestly didn't like it as a cowl OR hat anyway.  Even if it had been bigger to fit, I'm sure I'd have never used it. Caron SS just fuzzes so much too, way more than I remember in the past when I used it for projects. Something shouldn't look 100 years old after you just finished it!

Another unfinished KAL:

I've never done colorwork like this before and it's been quite a learning experience. It really humbled this old knitter. If there was a way to mess it up, I found it! Thank goodness the designer is a friend and was patient with my crazy questions! I think the pattern will be up for sale on Ravelry soon.  I'm now done with the first mitten and have started my second. I'll get a finished pic after they're blocked.

**Notes: I went down a needle size for the ribbing on the second glove, this one was way too loose. I also switched to Magic Loop, it's just way easier as I carry both yarns in the right hand, so yarn readjustments weren't constantly going on. Overall I may try this type of knitting again one day. Maybe on a hat.

The last project I have going is still in the finishing stages. I have to have something to blog about in February! :P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life has worked it's way into my knitting time somewhat (I know, what's new!), and the COLD has worked it's way into my spinning time! Brrr! (When that lottery comes through I see an electric spinner in my future!) My thoughts and life have been so jumbled with all we've had going on, I just didn't want to post about the sadness and worry because I didn't want to bum out or chase away the few readers I have!

I promise to be back again posting happily one day if things ever seem to settle down.

Update on my FIL: After what felt like being in the hospital forever, they've finally released him to go home yesterday. He's getting therapy and is watched by a nurse everyday it sounds like. Even being home now sounds like a busy time for him! We're continuing to pray that he can live the rest of his life as he chooses and as pain free as possible. That's all we really want for him.

Update on my Mom: She's hanging in there. They're still trying to get her medications adjusted for the maximum benefit so that's an ongoing process I wish would hurry up. Even on her worst days she manages to always help bring ME back up. Mommy's are wonderful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And a BIG HUGE Thank You to my knitting buddy Dawn for the nice Christmas package she sent me!
We're old blogging buddies who like surprises. Thank you so much for thinking of me Dawn. Honestly, this was the worst holiday season we've ever had, but there are ALWAYS bright spots that remind us
of God's love and grace.

Thanks so much for your friendship. (I'm really enjoying my soap and lotion! ;O)

Thank you Again. ((((Hugs))))

Here's to a better year down the road!

By George! There's some Knitting going on!

I finally dusted off my needles and got a sock going.

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug
I think this is the "Jay" colorway. (My LYS wound it for me back when I bought it and I can't find the label.)
64 St Cast on
Just my basic recipe, a plain ol sock!

I love this yarn, it's really soft and squishy and a pleasure to knit with. I've read the negative reviews about it on Ravelry, but so far I haven't had any knots in my skein. I'm not done with the second sock so I don't know if they'll felt with use yet, or if they'll bleed really bad when washed. So, my rating on "knitting" with it is 4 out of 5 stars, but the rest is still up in the air. We shall see. These will probably go to my Mom for her birthday next month. She loves blue and greens and the colors in these are really pretty even with the striping. It's hard to capture the vibrancy with my camera but I'm pretty happy with them.

The Big Guy took the girls to the Smokey Mtns last weekend. They're on Fall Break from school this week so we're just going to lay low. The trees haven't hit their peak for color changes yet, but you can see Fall is definitely here. It got cool overnight it seems like. One day we're all sweating and the next day we're digging out sweatshirts and jeans! But boy does it feel GOOD!

It's still very pretty up in the mountains. And they brought me fresh pecan fudge on the way home again so I can't complain!
They hiked different trails this time and found some really good spots. Cooked their hot dogs and didn't get eaten by bears so I was relieved! They're going again later in the week and then we're off to the in-laws for a visit. My youngest will be hitting the "double digits" next weekend and I can't even believe it. This momentous occasion in MY life (cause where the heck did the time go??) means I deserve to stop by The Yarn Patch on the way there! You gotta work it when you can baby!!! Happy Knitting.

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!

What's up?

I wish I had a fun answer to that question!
Since I'm about ready to be put out to pasture (same old pain, I know, I'm so tired of myself !) I haven't been knitting on much of anything lately. Well, ONE sock, but that seems to be turning out kind of "icky" so I'm not going to be braggin' on it anytime soon. The pooling is turning me "off" (and I refuse to start over-just too tired!) so I may just knit the socks up and over-dye them a darker blue. We'll see, and I'll show pics when I decide.

I did finally get this in the mail last week:



My new Ott Light from Joann's. It's taken some getting used to, but to read or knit by it really helps. It's not as pretty as some of the other (much more expensive) ones they have, but I'm "Mrs. Frugal To The Max" at times, especially if I'm not sure I'm going to like something beforehand. I miss a more "sunny" glow (this is super-WHITE) but it works well for it's purpose (to help these OLD eyeballs!)

I've been reading up a storm since my pain level has been on the high scale again. In the past few weeks I've read:

by Mary Kruger:
Dyed in the Wool
Knit Fast, Dye Young

by Maggie Sefton:
Dying to Sell (not a knitting mystery)
Knit One, Kill Two
Needled to Death
A Deadly Yarn
A Killer Stitch
Dyer Consequences

Fleece Navidad is coming out September 30th so I sure hope my library gets that one in as well.

I've already read all of Debbie Macomber's Blossom knitting series, The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (both terribly depressing in my view). I never even bothered with "Knitting: A Novel" by Anne Bartlett because it outright tells you it's about grief, and I don't do so good with that. I want to feel good by a read, not worse off than when I began. I guess I'm overly sensitive about that subject, it deeply affects me and stirs up too much pain.

I'm now reading Death by Cashmere by Sally Goldenbaum (will be done today, most I can finish in a day) and I have the three Chicks With Sticks books (It's a Purl Thing, Knit Two Together, and Knitwise) waiting in the wings for their turn. They're geared toward girls my daughter's age (tweens) but us old fogey's seem to really enjoy them as well!

I have to admit, these are all fast, easy reads but very enjoyable for people who love knitting and like me can't get enough of it. I usually figure out who the "murderer" is (in the mystery series') by the middle of the book, but a couple of times I've been wrong!! LOL! I just grab what's available at my local libraries and that's what I read. Checking out Amazon today though, I see a few more I may have to try to find....

Outside of Knitting, I also just read "Mistress of The Sun" by Sandra Gulland. It had me crying by the end, but in a good way I guess. Sad, but good. That's different than overwhelming grief. Next up is "The Heretic's Daughter" by Kathleen Kent. Looks like a good one! It takes place during the Salem Witch Trials. So much to read, so little time....if I could only enjoy audio books I could knit at the same time, but getting lost in my own imagination with the printed word is what I REALLY enjoy most of all.

I better get back to my books!! I miss them already!

UPDATE: Thank You Girls for all of your prayers!! Grandpa Ken was released from the Hospital today and is feeling stronger bit by bit!! God is Good.

I Will Get This Right...

I've spent most of this afternoon on some basic technological stuff and I'm THIS close to losing my mind.

I finally got my little boom box hooked up to my desktop computer (thank you Radio Shack, I have the right connector) and it must be right because my sound check works. Yay! I found some free software online to use to record files on my computer. That's what's not working for me. I've rechecked my settings too many times and still can't get sound recorded. Time to step away, I'm too riled up right now! grrrrr

I've really been meaning to do this for a very long time. I have cassette tapes of my girls from "infant years" on. First words, baby babble, singing, etc., it's so cute to listen to but I want them on CD now. Taping them was just another weird thing I did besides having a video camera in front of their faces most of their lives. They just LUV me doing all this stuff. Anyway, I recently saw a "cassette to cd" converter in JCPenney's catalog for $150.00, (the way things are going today I may just buy the darn thing) so I figured it's about time to at least try the cheapest way. I just don't think my brain is fried enough ya know? Gotta give it more pressure.

Not a whole lot of knitting going on. My pain scale has been high for quite a few weeks now and it's just been something that hasn't been much fun for me. That's one reason I thought I'd finally try to get to another "project" like working on the tapes. (Oh Joy!)

I've been slowly knitting on this:

Just a Noro Scarf. I'm not even sure what colorways I'm using, just stuff that was buried back in the stash. Honestly, it's a fun knit for someone who needs something easy and relaxing, but I think I would've liked darker colors. The k1, p1, with wool is easy on my hands right now. I may even finish it one day.... I do wish the cat hair floating around here wouldn't stick to it like a magnet so bad tho!