Trying my hand at designing some slippers

Check out my new Meez on the side bar- She's knitting! She's also the closest thing that I could get to what I look like. I found the link to it through Lil' Knitter. This was fun to put together and I wasted some precious time that was supposed to be used for getting ready for a children's consignment sale.

To save my sanity I put the Circular Shrug down this weekend (it's about 50% complete) and tried my hand at some designing some slippers. The first one did not come out like I wanted and so I decided not to make the second one. This one was way too fiddly and I don't like the shape. Here's a side view:

Fiddly Slipper Sock

So I'm trying again. I've got the sketch:

consisting of some loose directions culled from another pattern that had a shape similar to what I wanted and some of the modifications I want to make to it. By the time I'm finished it won't even remotely resemble the other pattern instructions. That could be good or bad, we'll see. I'm going to try again tonight when I get the kids out of my hair. I tried to fiddle with it today during my carpool waiting time, but the acrylic yarn that I'm using for my prototype turned to yarn barf and I spent the whole time untangling and making it into a ball.

And to end today's post here's something just for the sake of complete cuteness or cute completeness:

Kickin' back Youngest Style

And not to be outdone by the above pic:

The Youngest doing Balloon Yoga on a messy couch

WooHoo! and a Question for you

My yarn stash is growing by leaps and bounds this year. I've got so much yarn and so little time. What a great problem to have.

Here's another wonderful problem:

A friend of mine (who has a gorgeous hubby and four perfect children) went on a mission trip to Peru. I asked her to bring me back some yarn. I didn't mention color or anything, just said "surprise me." Well, she did.

I got 20 skeins of an alpaca/wool/cotton blend. 10 are dark gray, 5 are a medium/light gray and are a bright pink. And get this - all 20 skeins were only $39.00! Woohoo!

Now, on to the problem. The label states that it is 5o grams. There is no yardage listed. I'm getting 13 wraps per inch, so I'm guessing it's either a light worsted or heavy sport, take your pick. I'm at a loss from there. I don't know how to figure out my yardage and I suck at math. Any brilliant math people out there who can help me figure this out?

I also don't know what to make with it. But I'm so excited about this!!!

I don't have a pic of it yet, but here's some sheep pr0n for you: ;)

Poor kid

This poor kid. He's at a High School Science Fair and his mom makes him wear a 3 year old's sweater. At what point are we knitter's responsible for our children's humiliation? Can you just imagine the bullying he's going through right now? If this was on a pre-schooler the comments would be, "Awwwww, he's so cute in that sweater." But at this age? "Dude, what a geek. Did your Mom pick out those clothes? Did Gramma knit you a new sweater?" How can he possibly pick up chicks dressed like this? Come on mom, face the facts. The boy's growing up and deserves a grownup sweater.

This is your sweater on drugs

Happy Camper

Call me a Happy Camper. Go ahead, do it. I got a "new to me" hand me down toy from my overly generous (a couple of months ago he also gave us a large screen rear projection tv) baby brother:

This replaces the dinosaur monitor that I had that took up the entirety of my desk. This is so cool. Notice the obligatory child's toy. There's not one space in my home that is devoid of one. How do you possibly "declutter" when there are children in the house that are 7 and 2?


Here's the progress on the Circular Shrug:


In the mock rib section, it takes four rows to make one vertical inch (row gauge for the beginning knitters.) I need 20 inches of this. 20 freakin' inches. I've got about 8 now. It's killing me. This project is monotonous and slow, so get ready to be looking at this one on the blog for a while. But it will look super cute when I'm done. I hope. I'd hate to spend this much time on it and have it suck, ya know? The colors are striping up super sweet. I love the colors to death and how the stripes are fairly thin.

Pig-Pickin' in South Carolina

The weekend was fun. The Eldest and I went to a family reunion/"Pig-Pickin'" in Florence, South Carolina. This was my Dad's family who I didn't know growing up. I didn't meet most of them until I was married and had one child. I took all my family genealogy stuff with me, but did little research while there. We just didn't have enough time and some of the key people that I need to speak with weren't there due to family health problems.

It took us 5 hours to get there. I got some more done on the Circular Shrug. I got about 16 rows done. It doesn't sound like much does it? But multiply it by 120 sts per row and you'll understand that it took a while. I was only able to work in the car for a couple of hours each way, so that is all I managed to accomplish. I am already very tired of doing rib and mock rib though. I am ready to be finished with this project already!

Besides the knitting, which I had to knock off after a couple of hours due to sore hands, this is what I had to look at during the drive:

Obviously The Eldest was not the best conversationalist on the ride up.

Anyway, back to the Pig-Pickin'. They had cooked a big hog on a humongous grill and it was quite tasty. The hog weighed around 138 pounds! The turnout was a bit of a disappointment. Only about a third of the people that were there last year showed up this year. I did get to wear my new Bella Paquita sweater though, so that was one consolation. :)

On Sunday, we took a drive out to the sticks (which is most of the area to be truthful - lotsa farmland) to see if we could find where the old family farm was and to find a couple of the homes my Dad lived in as a young child.

We found the remains of what was once his Grandmother's house:

(I always told my Dad he came from trash and there's my proof, a huge pile of trash!) Seriously though, it always makes me sad when I pass by old homes that the owners have let delapidate. She was incredibly poor, so I guess noone wanted to do anything with what was essentially a shack by the time my g-grandmother inherited it. She died in the early 1940's.

It was cool to be able to find it though. At one time this was part of a plantation that had 450 acres of land and that was after the Civil War. Now why couldn't someone have taken care of and held onto all that land so that I could inherit it? Why?

Progress on Circular Shrug

I love my mailman. He brought me more yarn today! This is the yarn that I will be using for my cabled pullover:

Wool of the Andes - Iron Ore

As I said last time, progress is slow on the Circular Shrug. It takes way to long to make one row. There were 240 Stitches cast on. I am working on the 5 inches of k2p2 right now and then I will go into the mock rib section and do that forever and then another 5 inches of the k2p2. The stripes will be vertical on the finished product. Maybe this will make me look skinny? I can only hope.

Isn't the colorway pretty?

This is my last post for the week. I'm leaving town early tomorrow morning for South Carolina for a family reunion type thing. I'll see you on Monday. Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Yarn!

I told you there would be a knitting/yarn post next didn't I?

Well, slow progress is being made on the Circular Shrug. When you cast on 240 stitches, it takes a while to make a row, but it is coming along. I'll have a pic of it tomorrow for you.

I do have some yummy pre-Valentine's Day yarn pr0n for you though:

MMMM! Yummy!

This weekend I went to the Knitting Emporium in Kennesaw, GA. This was my first time in that shop and I loved it. It's in a tiny old house and every single room is filled with yarn. It's a great place to explore every nook and cranny. I found this Colinette sock yarn (colorway - Bright Charcoal) in the back room. It's so soft and squishy, love it.

The Valentine you see is destined for one of the Eldest's teachers at school. I found the idea on a blog a week or so ago, but can't for the life of me remember where. If this was your idea, please forgive me! Let me know in the comments so I can give you full credit for this really cute idea.

It's so simple to make. Cut out a heart. Then take a hole punch and go all the way around the heart with it. Next, grab some yarn and a crochet hook. From the front, insert your hook through the center top hole and grab the yarn and pull it back through. Then do it again in the next hole and the next and all the way around. It was super easy to do and is an easy teacher gift for Valentine's.

Political Rant

If you dislike Political Rants, please skip this post. More adventures in Knitting will be appearing in the next post.

Today I felt that I had to write a letter to my Senators in protest against them voting to give the Telecoms retroactive immunity. I feel passionately about the issue of spying on the common everyday "Joe". This is not about whether I am a Republican or a Democrat, but how I feel about my Telecom collecting data on where I visit on the web, who I send email to, what I post on my blog.

While I know that the information that they will collect on me will be useless to them or anyone else for that matter (does the Government really need to know about knitting patterns or stitches or yarn or me lolcats to my Mom?), I dislike that they will be doing it at all.

I believe in my freedom, and I believe in my Senators upholding my Constitution which grants me my freedom. Here is a copy of what I sent:


Mr. XXXXXXX,

I'm disappointed that you would choose to vote for giving Telecoms retroactive immunity. Do you remember the Constitution, which you swore to uphold?

According to Article 1, Section 9:

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law (ex post facto laws are seen as a violation of the rule of law as it applies in a free and democratic society. ) shall be passed.

The rights of the people that you serve are being violated Mr. XXXXXX. All citizens must have legal recourse when their rights are infringed upon, and companies must bear the responsibility for breaking the law.

I feel that the you and your fellow GA representatives have completely lost touch with their constituents (as in "We, the people...", not "We, the corporations and PACs who gave you cash...) and all of you who have voted for this legislation have completely lost my confidence and my future vote.

The saying that "Big Brother is watching" has never been true or appropriate. After writing this letter to you I fully expect to be watched very closely. It is unfortunate that the government will be wasting it's money by spying on a middle class American Housewife, don't you think?

Sincerely,

SHEA

I am positive that I have wasted my time in sending the letter and ranting about it here, but I feel better now, thanks.

PS - I would like to hear about what my fellow knitters and bloggers think about this issue - please leave me a comment and let me know!

It never rains, but it pours

It never rains, but it pours. That saying is so apt in regards to my knitting. I was complaining a few days ago about how none of my little projects were satisfying me and that the projects that I want to work on needed the needles that were supposedly in the mail from KnitPicks.

Well, I found a project that I wanted to tackle in the meantime. The Circular Shrug from Craftster. You can paw through all 55 pages about it on the forum (and they are very informative- you can make it like the one pictured below or you can make a vest, change the stitch patterns - the possibilities are endless), or you can just go here to the pattern from it. It is a pattern that was created to look like this one:

Retro Cool

The problem now? My needles came in, but now I don't want to put down this project. I'm using Patons SWS for this. I believe it's the Natural Earth colorway. Not sure, but it's definitely "earthy". Also, I'll be needing the needle this project is on, so I guess I'm just gonna have to hurry this project along huh? I'll be traveling this weekend and this will be going with me. If I can avoid car sickness, I might even work on it in the car. Dramamine here I come.


By the way, My kitty made it onto StuffOnMyCat.com again! here's the link: Tiger's pic

The Power of 7

ACK! I've been tagged by two different people for the Power of 7. I don't even know if any of the people I tag will respond, but here goes:

Lil Knitter and Knitasaur both tagged me.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. New Years' Eve has a special significance for me. The Eldest was conceived on New Year's Eve (that's what giving your hubby one glass of champagne while you consume the entire rest of the bottle will get ya) and the Youngest was born on that date (wasn't allowed to have any alcohol then when I really needed it, dammitall.)

2. I'm a major SciFi/Fantasy Bookwormaholic.

3. I heart mint tea.

4. One of my nicknames for my hubby is PudderF#cker. He's slow as creation when it comes to either making a freakin' decision (he moves nowhere without a list) or getting ready to get out of the house.

5. I am a female nightowl who lives in a testosterone poisoned environment with three male early birds.

6. On the day I got married my Mother In Law pulled me to the side and gave me some very wise advice - "When you come home from shopping, hide the receipt and then tell your husband you spent half of what you actually did spend." Thus, giving me permission to lie to her son. Cool!

7. I tried to marry for money but failed miserably.

I now tag these 7 victims people in revenge for me getting tagged:

The most fantastic lace knitter ever: Fleegle

Adrienne

Jeanne

Knit Me to the End of Time

In an effort to get her blogging again: Wonky

Another California Chick: Where Angels Fear to Treadle

Tienne Knits

Okay, there's my seven!

Cast-On-Itis

I've got some serious cast-on-itis going on here. The problem is that I've been knitting like crazy lately and now I'm getting all fidgety without a really good project to work on.

I thought that a pair of socks with some Noro sock yarn would help. My MIL had asked for some socks a long time ago so I started on one. Nah. It's not helping. Been there and done that and it's just not doing it for me. It'll get done, I'm just not burning to get a pair of socks done.

I started a dishcloth. Again, not doing it. I'll probably save it for car pool time when I'm waiting for the Eldest to get out of school. It will be perfect for that time.

I've been waiting for some needles from KnitPicks to come in so I can work on a hat that I've been itchin' to do. The poor postman thinks I'm stalking him. I could start that project without the one needle that I'm waiting on, but I'd just have to put it down again when I get to the part where I need it.

I also ordered some Wool of the Andes yarn from KnitPicks in a beautiful brown/red color called iron ore. I'm going to use it for the Zara Cabled Pullover designed by Cornelia Hamilton. So, I'm waiting there too and I'm dying to start it now!

Something that is not helping is the yarn that I won from Adrienne at Knitting in the Bellybutton of California on her blog contest. It was a secret until I opened it up:

Opal Sock Yarn! Thanks Adrienne!

Opal sock yarn with the cutest little card. And she said my son (the Youngest) was cute - I happen to agree, but I'm biased. Now the Hubby has decided that he needs socks from this. *sigh*

I've got another shawl project that I might start. It will be a quick one. This one might be good for while I'm waiting for those damn needles. Stupid postal service.


***I forgot to mention in the last post, you know, the one where the Youngest has been crude and crass without really trying with his vocabulary? Yeah, I forgot to tell you that he can't pronounce his brother's name and calls him Doo-Doo. But he does it lovingly at least!***

Youngest's Vocabulary Translation

The Youngest has his own vocabulary and sometimes it's necessary (nay, vital) to have a handy translation at your fingertips, especially when he's screaming at the top of his lungs in public and you find it essential that you tell perfect strangers what he's really meaning 'cause it sounds crude and vulgar and crass. You must also be able to translate this while your face is bright red and you want to dive under the nearest handy object. This is also why I have turned into a hermit and do not take him out in public if I can help it.

Examples:

He screams "Poo!" or "Oh Poo!"
He really means "Winnie the Pooh"

He screams "Doo!"
He really means "Scooby Doo"

He screams "Poo Poo!"
He really means "Little People"

He screams "Potty!"
He really means "The mailbox from Blues Clues" (don't ask me why he associates the word potty with mailbox cause I still haven't figured it out.)

He's a little too addicted to his favorite movies. Can ya tell?

When Markers Attack

Bella Paquita - Finished!

I finished the Bella Paquita Sweater today! Not exactly sure how I like the fit. It's a little too tight across the stomach, gonna need a tummy slimmer for this one. And I think I need a boob job to successfully fill out the top. Maybe stuffing with tissue would help? :)

Here's some pics of it in it's unblocked state:







Now I've got a whole new problem: What to start on next?

Many thanks to the 7 year old photographer!

Bella Paquita Steeks Complete!

It's. Done. I've cut the steeks. My first steeks. I'm sorta proud. Who knew I'd be able to take a pair of really sharp scissors and just start choppin' through hours of work? I think I may go throw up now.

The remnants

So this is what it looks like now. I moved the steeks from the shoulders to the back because I could never get them to lay right on my shoulders. This was much simpler. I also figured that if I really screwed it up, my long hair would cover part of it anyway. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.

Back part of neck on Bella Paquita

Now I have to finish the last inch or so at the bottom of the sweater and it'll be finished. I can't tell you how happy and relieved I am to have gotten past this part of the sweater. I've been agonizing over it.

Margaritas anyone?

Good Things/ Bad Things

One Good Thing:

My knitting library is growing. This came in the mail today:


One not so good:

Steeking. Need I really say more?

I'm working on the shoulder part on Bella Paquita. The part where the lace doesn't lay right because there's too much of it. So, you have to put in a dart on each shoulder and cut off the excess fabric. That part gives me hives. And it's not working so well either. I'm having a lot of trouble with it. It's making the shoulder pointy. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. It looks like the sweater was put up on a hanger and left for a while and now has a bump in it.

I'm not going to cut anything until I'm sure it's right. So far, I've pulled out the sewing stitches twice and will probably do it a few times more. It's just me and a mirror. I don't have anyone to help with this.

I'm all game for advice! Please! (This is a small cry for help if you haven't noticed.)

EDIT: I moved the steeks to the back of the sweater. They've been sewn, but not yet cut. I think I need to build my steeking mojo a bit. Maybe with a Margarita....

On Hairdressers

Why is it so hard to find a good hairdresser? I mean, there are people who cut hair and there are people who cut hair. I want one of the latter.

I have very naturally curly hair which I sometimes style straight, sometimes curly. It's the best of both worlds, if it's cut right. To top it off, I'm blond. Evidently, thick curly hair is not the norm for us blondes, so most hairdressers just don't know what to do with it. They're used to thin, fine hair on blondes.

When I get my hair layered correctly, it's like the angels come out of the heavens and all sing a rousing chorus, "LLLLAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!". When it's not though, my hair turns into the envy of all poodles.

I live in a very affluent area. Notice I didn't say I was, just the area where I live. There are tons of great hair places around here if you have the moolah, which I don't at the moment. I've been to one that is fantastic, but they charge $55.00 just for the cut. not the style and blow dry, that's extra. If you decide to do anything with chemicals, expect to cough up a wad of cash.

So today I went somewhere else for a cut that was a bit cheaper. The cut was okay (barely), the style was horrendous. I told her I wanted it styled straight. Her idea of straight was a "late 80s" type of straight where she employed curling irons. Um. FAIL. She was amazingly out of date for today's styles. You wouldn't believe how many waves were still in my hair when she quit. She told me, "It's as straight as I can get it on a day like today." uh-huh. Humid, but normal for GA. At that point I just wanted her to quit so I could leave.

I ran home, and re-styled it. Perfectly straight. In 5 Minutes. It took her an hour to do everything that she did: cut, blowdry, style.

It will do for now, but I won't be going back there. I haven't tried letting it go curly with the cut she gave me and I'm a little scared to try. I'm sure it will be fine. I hope.

Half a Sweater

I'm feeling much better. Antibiotics are wonderful things. Thanks to those who chimed in to wish me well.

I finished the lace portion of Bella Paquita and attached it to the top of the sweater. This part of the grafting went much better than attaching the sleeves did. Not sure why, but I'm much happier with how it looks than how the sleeves look.

Look Mom - Half a sweater!

On to the next portion. I am built like a pear (and I freakin' hate it, but that's neither here nor there,) so based on my measurements, I decided to use the small size top and medium size bottom to the sweater. Lord how I wish I could say the opposite, but child rearing has done me no favors.

Now if I had known how much math was involved with knitting, I might not have taken it up as a hobby. really. It's simple math that always messes with my brain, not the hard stuff. Why me? Why was it so hard today for me to figure out how to get the number of stitches I had on each side, front and back, down to the starting number of sts. on each side? Why? It's not hard, but for some reason my brain refused to wrap itself around these numbers. A calculator wasn't even that much help. And to top it off, I had to figure it out and make sure that the k2p2 ribbing came out even. The first time I did it I ended up with a k2k2p2k2 kind of thing. Not pretty. It was a total BLONDE afternoon.

I like being blonde. When I do stupid things, I get to blame it on my haircolor. :)


I got some new sock yarn in from Knitpicks. I'm playing around with a new sock design idea (cross your fingers that I can figure it out) and it was a good excuse for getting in these colors:

Black, white, pink, soft yellow and green

Narcissist Boy

In my family room there is a large mahogany armoire with bevelled mirrors on the doors. This was a gift from my father in law to us a few Christmas' ago. In it's found condition (on the side of the road) it had many coats of green paint and was damaged. He took it and refinished/refurbished it for us. It is now one of the centerpieces of our home.

It is also the favored piece of furniture of the Youngest. The boy has a great imagination and his twin (one good lookin' guy) lives in the mirrors. He speaks twin speak to him and they have a great time dancing together.

Narcissist Boy

You'll notice in the pic that there is also a little tykes play cube w/ slide in the family room. He loves this thing and with being stuck so much inside with the cold weather, we brought it in. He will also stand on it in front of the mirrors and try out poses with his favorite phrases too.

It looks like I've got an inner ear problem. I've been having bouts of dizziness. It's kinda like getting a really good buzz, but without all the fun parts. I'm on antibiotics and have 8 days left. Hopefully these will fix the problem and I won't have to go back to the doctor. Meanwhile, the lace is being repaired very slowly. This sickness has really thrown me off. Knitting is not getting done, but neither is clothes mountain being climbed nor dish mountain. I have managed to make a meal or two and chase the Youngest around, but that's about it. Somebody pray for me. please?

Stupid freakin' cold meds.

I'm going to blame it on the cold in my head and the medications to cure the symptoms of said cold.

The last few days have been a total blur for me. Everyone else had a weekend. I had fog. Even when the cold remedies wore off I was still in a fog. I still persevered with the lace work on the Bella Paquita. And let me tell you, it was agonizingly slow lace work. I shouldn't have even bothered really, but I have someplace to be on Feb. 16th and I want to wear this thing when I go.

I was so proud, I had finished all the lace work despite the cold. Heh. yeah, right.

Once I sobered up, I took another look at the pretty lace. And, well, it's not so pretty. Tonight I get to rip back two repeats to fix the very noticeable hole in that lace. A d*mn twist is missing and I don't have a clue how it happened since I don't remember much of the past few days anyway. Wanna see it?

Stupid freakin' cold meds.

Belly Button Knits is having a contest

Hey guys! Belly Button Knits is having a contest. Go over there and guess her knitting secret or tell her one of yours and you win a prize. Make sure and mention that I told you about it. Contest ends Monday Jan 28th!

My Good Buddy Mr. Nyquil

Note to self for future reference: When spending quality time with your good buddy Mr. Nyquil, perhaps you should avoid trying to set sleeves into the sweater you are constructing.

What did I do try to do last night? I finished knitting the sleeves (two at same time) and began setting them into the sweater. Care to guess how that went? My buddy, Mr. Nyquil (remember him?) was a huge help in this endeavor. The kind of huge that a two year old might be with a needle and yarn. As a matter of fact, that's what it looked like. It looked like I had given the Youngest the project and said - go for it!

So. This afternoon I took another go at it and it's much better. Far from perfect, but better. I've decided that I really don't like doing sleeves this way. Next time I will alter the pattern and pick up the stitches and do sleeves in the round in order to avoid this whole disaster.

Next time, I will invite Mr. Dayquil over and forbid Mr. Nyquil from being in the vicinity of the entire project.



Tonight I will begin on the lace and we'll see what happens. Wish me luck, being sick really sucks.

On the way to the LYS

Kids crack me up, they really do. I know I've mentioned that the Youngest has a vicious temper and he's very demanding, but what do you expect of a 2 year old?

In the past couple of days he's learned some new words and phrases. One of those being the word please. I've been working very hard to get that one through his little brain. The other one he picked up on his own. I am forever telling him to "wait a minute" when he is demanding something. In his world everything he wants must be done NOW.

So what did I hear today?

Today I was on the way to the LYS with him riding in the back of the minivan. At the top of his lungs he began fiercely screaming with his eyebrows all scrunched (he was deadly serious): "JEWESS.....INAMINUTE.....PEEZ!!!!!!"

Hurray! He said please while demanding his juice! Wait a sec, What was that in the middle? In a minute? I must have looked like a mad woman driving down the interstate and laughing like crazy.



I got some new toys while at the LYS:

Sock Blockers!

Noro Sock Yarn!

The price of the sock yarn almost killed me. I hate spending that kind of money on only one skein of yarn, but hey, it was a gift certificate that I was spending so that makes it okay. Right?

I'm going to finish those sleeves for Bella tonight if I have to stay up all night to do it. I went and got sick again and have been nurse-maiding the Youngest while he's sick and was just wiped out last night. I got zero knitting done, but that won't be the case tonight. I promise!

quick post

This is a quick evening post for today guys. I've got issues with one sick kid with a two year old evil temper, one kid that needs a serious discussion and discipline for lying and damaging other peoples' property (minor, nothing serious) and one Pain in the behind spouse to deal with. Mommy/Wifey is not a happy camper tonight.

The sleeves for Bella are progressing slowly for obvious reasons. If I can ever get two seconds alone to myself tonight, I might make headway on them.

Drinks anyone?

My Weekend

We got snow this weekend and it was so beautiful. We dodged a big bullet and got little to no ice. Usually when we get snow in the south, it snows a couple of inches and then melts part way and then everything is coated with ice. This makes the driving especially treacherous. Snow good, ice bad. So we got really lucky this time around.



The kids were thrilled of course. They got to have snowball fights. All was well and good until the Youngest got a snowball in the face and then things went downhill from there. To make matters worse, it was his dad that did it to him.

Mean 'Ol Daddy.

I have finished the first part of the top of the Bella Paquita Sweater. I'm working on the sleeves now and the lace will follow after the sleeves are attached. I'd be doing better on this sweater if I could frickin' read directions though. Obviously, not only math are hard, but reading are hard as well.

Bella Paquita w/o lace or sleeves

You'll notice that you've seen this yarn before. I frogged the minimalist cardigan I was working on and decided to use it for this project. The cardigan just wasn't doing anything for me and this yarn is so lovely I just couldn't waste it.



I'm joining in on Blogstalker 3 from over at the Knitty Coffeeshop forum. This week is all about something in your favorite color, which just happens to be red. So here's an action shot of a two year old boy playing with my red Cluster Stitch bag:

Knitting and the Alphabet

The Meema Files is running a really fun creative contest. A combination of knitting and the alphabet. Read more about it here.

Here was my entry: (slightly PG-13 rated)

A is for advanced, something I'm not.
B is for blocking, whether a sweater or sock.

C is for cables, some small, some fat.
D is for D*mn, my yarn became a victim of my cat.

E is for extra, as in stitches I've got.
F is for frogging, I get extras a lot.

G is for gauge, it can cause me to age.
H is for hooch, for when knitting drives me to rage.

I is for idiot, which sometimes I feel.
J is for joy, Look! I turned a heel!

K is for knit, more fun than purl.
L is for lost stitch, makes me want to hurl.

M is for Make one, occasionally on both sides.
N is for not much, asked how much I've spent on yarn, sometimes I've lied.

O is for object, finished or un.
P is for project, boy this sure is fun!

Q is for quick, mittens, scarves and hats.
R is for reevaluate, the adoption of the yarnball chasing cat.

S is for SEX, Stash Enhancement eXpedition.
T is for trip, to gain more yarn attrition.

U is for unstoppable, knitting is such an addiciton
V is for vowing, when my friends vow to give me a knitting intervention.

W is for weather, Oh good, it's snowing, I can stay home and knit.
X is for Xstatic, my hand knit gift was a hit!

Y is for yelp, I stabbed myself with a needle, now go get help!
Z is for the zzz's I can get, after a project well knit.

Bella Paquita for beginning chart knitters

My needles came in and now Bella Paquita begins!

I'd been waiting on my KnitPicks order to arrive on my doorstep and it finally happened yesterday afternoon. Yeah!

I cast on today for Bella Paquita for the Sexy Knitter's Club KAL. Technically I'm jumping the gun as the KAL is not set to begin until the 21st. I'm not sure that 3 days head start is really going to matter. I'm not a super quick knitter, so we'll see what happens.

I immediately began reading and then re-reading Marnie's pattern. My comfort zone is really with long drawn written out directions, not charts. Guess what this pattern is all about? Charts!

So here's what I did to start. I'm working on the Top chart in a size Small.

Reading charts is a little like reading Chinese (okay, I'm exaggerating, but bear with me) you need to start at the bottom and read right to left.

First thing I needed to do was to count how many sts to cast on. That would be 128.

Second, I wanted to know how many rows total that I would be working on: 69.

Third, there are decreases on either side of the pattern. I needed to decide what kind of decreases I wanted on each side. I chose to do ktogs on side A and and ssls on side C. You can choose as you like.

Fourth, to help me keep everything straight, I marked up the chart a bit (I'll show you that in a sec.)

Fifth, I marked what kind of stitch I would be doing in what direction on the chart. This helps me know which way to look on the chart. This won't always help with other stitch patterns, but it works on stockinette done flat.

Sixth, I marked what rows I would need to decrease on in a little chart at the top.

Seventh, I know that on row 23 I will need to move from one ball of yarn to three and marked that in the chart.

Here's my working chart notes:

Click on pic to enlarge (edited due to me being an idiot - math are hard!)

Now to experts with charts these steps will seem a no brainer. But I know that others, like me, have difficulty with charts and I hope that by doing this "out loud" so to speak, I can help the chart newbies.

I got the chart written up and then ran into the provisional cast-on. This is officially my first provisional cast on. You can go to Knittinghelp.com's cast on page and scroll down for directions on the invisible provisional cast on.

I cast on the 128 and began knitting. I placed markers between A and B and then B and C. For those who don't know, you can work this section in one piece if you want. You begin from the bottom up. You ignore the white space in the chart from rows 1 to 22. Pretend it's negative space and doesn't really exist. (ETA - except for the increases, don't forget those, they're kinda important :) ) easy peasy. When you get to row 23 though, you need to work each part, A B & C, in separate pieces which calls for separate balls of yarn.

Then, I had an attack of poor self confidence. I began second guessing myself. What if I was all wrong? So what did I do? I emailed Marnie and asked her to hold my hand. She answered back really fast and calmed me back down and sent me back out to knit. Whew!

The only problem I had after that (so far) was the 2 yo. grabbing the ball of yarn, throwing it and eventually unwinding it. That one, I can handle. :)

Cluster Stitch Shoulder Bag Finished!

I finished the Crochet Cluster Stitch Shoulder Bag last night. Although I don't have a pic of it, it is lined with some cute contemporary red fabric that has little white hearts drawn on it.




Tips for working on this pattern:

How to do a Cluster Stitch in this pattern: Yarn over before you put the hook into the center of the SC (Single Crochet) stitch. Then, grab the yarn draw up about one inch worth and pull it back through the loop. Do this again for as many times as the directions specify. Then you will put the hook back through the SC stitch, grab the yarn one more time and pull it back through all the loops on the hook. One last chain stitch will gather the loops all together to make the cluster. Your first cluster is made! Now, skip the next SC and do the cluster again in the following SC. Basically you'll be doing a Cluster in every other SC.

Also pay attention to the X times more directions. You don't want to be a few rows too short at the end of the pattern. Printing out the pattern and placing little tick marks on it is an easy way of keeping up with how many rows you have completed.

It may seem tedious, but going back and counting your sts in your row fairly often will guarantee that you keep the 29 sts that you are supposed to have. You won't believe how easy it is to leave one stitch off a row and add two others onto another row.

I hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I have!

Snow!

We got SNOW today! I know you people up North and in Canada and Russia think this is no big deal, but it is here in the deep South! These pics were taken early on, we got about and inch or two of snow later. Snow only comes once maybe twice (and that's pushing it) a year here. The kids were so excited.

The back yard

Blurry back porch. Looks much more focused in person, I promise.

The Youngest trying to catch and eat snow flakes.

More proof of early snow

Resolutions Contest Results

The Contest is now officially over. I'm feelin' sorta sad about that. This was so much fun! Thanks to everyone who participated!

Would ya like to know the winner?

Well, just to string you a long for a second, I'll tell you the resolution that I've already broken. Mine actually started a couple of weeks before the end of the year, but I'm counting it anyway.

I resolved to cut out all the sugar that I've been drinking in my hot tea and coffee. At one time I was putting two to three teaspoons of sugar in my mug. When you multiply that by how many mugs of hot drink it takes to keep me warm and happy during the day, well, let's just say it was way too much. I got a sugar substitute and got to it. This was so hard for me. I hate the taste of all the substitutes. I have yet to find one I like. I tried Splenda and Equal both. I prefer Equal, but it still yucky. It's easier to take in coffee, but not tea. I've already blown the resolution with the tea, but the coffee is still getting by with Equal. Oh well.

So there you have it. You are not the only ones who have little to no willpower.

As soon as I get her address details, the following:


will be sent post haste to:

KNITASAUR!

Congratulations Knitasaur!

Contest ends tomorrow!

Don't forget - the Contest ends tomorrow. The winner will be announced on the 16th. Good Luck!

Shea

Mohawk Beanie

Now I know why I see so many hats and bags and small projects on everyone's blogs. The instant gratification of completing a project in just a few days is so awesome.

This is not my usual thing. I tend toward sweaters and socks mainly. I'm taking part in the KAL over at the Sexy Knitters Club for the Bella Paquita sweater. However, I realized that I'm missing some needles that I need. I headed to KnitPicks and ordered some more, but now I'm at the mercy of the US postal service.

Thus, the dog sweater and hat kick that I seem to be on. I need fast, easy and fun projects to while away the time until I can start Bella.

That all being said, I finished the Mohawk Beanie for the Eldest on Sunday afternoon. As goofy as he looks in it, He is totally loving it. He couldn't wait to get to school to tell everyone his Mom had made him a hat (and I heard him do it too.)

Showin' off the 'hawk.

My wannabe skateboardin' punk rocker

It ended up being a bit too big for him as you can see in the second pic. I adjusted it by sewing a small seam in the back and now it fits perfectly.

I found a few errors in the pattern, but if you count carefully, you can correct them as you go. On her site she also has directions for doing this hat in the round, but they're not very clear. You are going to have to carry the fuzzy yarn on the inside. I don't think I could stand to have that much fuzzy stuff on the inside of a hat, so I made this one flat instead.

But this is perfect for silly 7 year old boys!

I-Matey Dog Coat

I finished the I-Matey Dog Coat. This is so cute. It's perfect for my little "Bad Girl".

I made two changes to what the pattern called for.

First, I used acrylic yarn. I refuse to use good yarn on a dog that's going to go out and roll in poop and GA red clay. Acrylic is so much more washer and dryer friendly.

Second, I used two size 6 circs. instead of the dpns called for. I seem to be allergic to the use of double pointed needles. yuck!

Aargh Matey!

Tough Girl!

Coolest Tin Evar!

I escaped from the mad house this evening. It was time to get away. Too much time around the testosterone poisoned house (one hubby, two boys) is never a good thing for a chic. I took off for JoAnn's and threatened to stay there til closing time. It was that or pack a bag full of books, yarn and needles and move to Tahiti. Actually, that doesn't sound so bad. hmmmm......

Anyway, while I was there I came across this little tin of green apple mints. I fell in love and had to have it. How cute! And it can hold my stitch markers when the all the tiny little mints are gone!

Coolest. Tin. Evar.

So now that I'm back in the testosterone filled atmosphere I am cozying up to a new drink that I created. Sprite, Triple Sec, Absolute Peach. It tastes like summer. Yum! Have no clue as to proportions. At the time this new drink was concocted all I wanted to do was pour. Measurements are for the birds.

Intarsia Central

There's only 6 days left of the Contest. If you haven't left your resolution yet, better hurry!


Being the complete idiot with crafty projects that I am, last night I decided to take on another project that I had no idea how to do. Intarsia. You'd think that I would be happy with the few things that I know how to do with knitting and would combine them and make something wonderful and quick. Well. I don't do things the easy way and let's just leave it at that.

Usually when I tackle something new, I become the master researcher. I learn all sorts of things that I never wanted to know about each project that I do. I learn to ad nauseum. But! I didn't do that this time. I had a pattern, I had yarn, I could do this.

Heh. Heh.

I just about pulled my hair out last night. Truly. I was wading in the deep end without a paddle. I read and re-read the pattern and then re-read it again. It didn't take long, it's a short pattern.

I got up and went to the computer to verify what I thought they were asking me to do. I was right. Yeah! So, I began. and stopped. verified at the computer. began again. Every row that I did was done in this fashion. It was incredibly tedious. I gave up and went to bed.

This morning, I logged into Knitty and did more research and then googled some more. By mid-afternoon I was ready to tackle it again. And this time the project started to really move.

It's not all completely intarsia. I did a little bit of stranding in the middle of the intarsia pattern. I just didn't feel like that part of the pattern warranted me started yet another freakin' strand of color there. Other than that, I think I've figured it out.

I can honestly say that I don't hate intarsia. It's okay, but I probably won't be doing tons of these projects in the future.

I am proud of myself somewhat. One of my knitting plans (I refuse to say resolutions) was to work with more than one color of yarn this year. I've tackled all sorts of things in the past year: lace, people sweaters, dog sweaters, socks, stoles, shawls, etc. But it's all been with one color/colorway of yarn. I can now say I've done it.

The project will take another couple of days, but here's the current state of the knit (from the back) all laid out on the table next to my cup of mint tea next to my big comfy chair where I like to sit while I knit:

Lot's of pink and black!

I'll see you tomorrow. I'm gonna go dive back in now.

Roxie's Impersonation

Roxie's Impersonation of a Drowned Rat:

Where's all the cute fluff?

Roxie says "I am not amused."

Larry Boy Cake

Thank you to everyone who has commented so far in the contest! I haven't been able to reply to everyone yet, but I will. Read on and you'll see why:

We're still recovering from the crud that we picked up at Christmas. The kids didn't have near the trouble with it that the hubby and I did. We've been walking dead for several days now. I started perking up just in time to panic about the Youngest's Birthday party. I'm still coughing my head off, but other than that, I feel fine. Hubby's voice is much more deep than usual. He lost his voice one night and it was so funny. I've never seen him do that before. Anyway.

Friday afternoon I decided to make the Youngest a birthday cake. He's really into Larry Boy from Veggie Tales so I figured that would be perfect. I really did not want to work with icing bags or tips. Nor did I want to just smooth icing onto it. I decided that the best thing would be to make a fondant cake. The only problem? I had never worked with fondant before.

Well, God bless the internet. I'm just sayin'.

Using this site and this picture of a cake that someone else did with fondant, I began. The recipe was super simple and tastes fairly good for fondant. I will definitely be using this again. All you need is a lot of powdered sugar and mini marshmallows. Sounds yucky huh? and sticky.

This was so much fun. I felt like I was playing with modeling clay. The hardest part was creating the fondant and adding the color to it. My kitchen aid mixer is mega tough though and handled the job nicely. I didn't have tons of time to spend kneading everything in. The birthday party was going to be on Saturday.

I wish I had taken some step by step pics. But since I was learning something new and didn't have much time, the camera had to stay on the shelf where it's kept.

To get the Larry Boy shape, I baked a 9 x 13 sheet cake and let it cool on Thursday. Then on Friday afternoon, I trimmed off all four corners to make a rocket/cucumber shape. The extra was used to make the nose and the crest for his helmet. I used licorice for the belt. Fondant was used for everything else. A pizza cutter works great for trimming the fondant. I also used the lids from some of my spices to get the right circular shapes too. The plunger ears were made from cutting a piece of shortcake in two and coating them with red fondant icing.

Make sure you use some buttercream frosting on your cake before you put the fondant on it. It acts like glue and holds the fondant on the cake. I had to use extra for the licorice. It really didn't want to stay where I put it.

Here's how it turned out. Please forgive my camera, it likes to make all dark purple turn to blue and I haven't figured out how to correct it yet.

Meet Larry Boy

See the Youngest's Reaction? I did good.