creative versus practicality war

I have tried tons of crafts over the years. I was searching for that one ultimately satisfying crafty hobby. I've driven my husband nuts by jumping from one project to another. I have crocheted off and on for about 30 years. God, that makes me sound old. I've done cross stitch off and on for about 15-20 years. I've avoided scrapbooking though, I knew I'd never stick with that one. I've quilted, I've painted (not very successfully I might add - I just don't have my Mom's flair for that), I've sewn, I've been all over the map with my hobbies. Everyone of them has been extremely useful in some form or other in my life. But I don't think any of them have been as fulfilling for me as knitting.

I'm a product knitter. I don't care about the d#mn process, just give me that sweater to wear! It feels so good to be able to slide that sweater on and say "Look what I did!" to anyone who pretends to listen.

My husband however, is the Anti-Hobbyist. If it doesn't come from a technical manual and there is not a need for something, it does not get learned or done. The man is not spontaneous. He can't even go poop without a list telling him it's okay too. He's gonna shoot me for sharing that one with the world.

When I've brought a new hobby home to learn, you wouldn't believe the comments and questions that I get. Does your new hobby have a practical application? Is it something you can use? Does it cost a much? (That just might be the most important, in his mind, question in the whole lot.) But what are you going to do with it when it's finished?

It's the creative versus practicality war. It's a constant thing at my house.

He wasn't real enthused when I brought knitting home and announced that I was going to teach myself to learn this craft. It's just another one of her crazy hobbies was his thought. That was two years ago. I'm still going at it full tilt.

It may be the first time that I've been able to answer most of the questions up above to his almost full satisfaction. The only real complaint that I get from him is that he has to compete with the yarn and needles for my attention. Practical? Can you get more practical than hand creating a garment to be worn for years?

The only question that I have to tiptoe over is the "but does it cost much?" question.

The "But Honey, It was on SALE" methodology has not been particularly successful. So instead I came up with my Knitter's Math to answer the question. It kind of goes like this:

Step 1. See yummy must have yarn at LYS.
Step 2. Check price tag of the one skein.
Step 3. Panic and then begin division. $40.00/2 = $20.00. Still too much to explain for a 100g. tiny hank. That doesn't mean I'm not going to buy it, just that I don't want to explain the price.
Step 4. Subtract $10.oo. That $10.00 becomes my so-called "lunch." (not really, that's just what I tell him.)
Step 5. Purchase Yarn.
Step 6. Decide that he still wouldn't understand and subtract $5.00 from that. That $5.00 becomes the "I needed a milk shake on the way home" piece of fiction.

See? It's simple really. Actual purchase price/2=first total. First total-$10.00=Second total. Second total-$5.00=Just right total.


It's okay. My Mother-In-Law told me to do this on my Wedding Day. I have full and total approval for lying to my husband about shopping expenditures. Have I told you how much I love my MIL?

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.