WeeBugKnits

The sweater from hell is about to take a repeat impingement upon my time. Why? Mainly, because despite one's best visualization, things don't always turn out the way one wants. The long and short of it is that the end result was way too busy. So it is currently being frogged (not by me, thank goodness) and I will probably get it back in the mail way sooner than I really want it to be here. Oh well. I did a darn fine job of it too, but wasn't happy with the end result. I will be much happier knowing that it will be done correctly.

In the meantime I am floating merrily through Zauberflote. I am no longer weaving in the strands every two or three stitches, I only catch the float if it is 6 stitches or longer. Yeah, I know people go longer, but at the moment that is my comfort level. And boy, does it speed up the process considerably! I may even like this sweater despite myself. Good thing that my perspective on color has changed a bit!

Next on the horizon is to get that pesky bookmark finished for my last quarter's bookmark exchange. I've gotta relax on that perfectionism.

It's been a while since I have had the opportunity to post twice in a week. And I am suposed to be getting server space sometime soon, so it will be very nice to be able to actually post some pictures. Today in my younger daughter's 6th birthday. Kind of bittersweet actually, now that those baby years are but a memory. I miss having babies around, especially since it seems like a lot of people that I know are having babies, including my brother and his wife. So at least I will have plenty around to get a baby fix! I supose I should be greatful that I don't have to have sleepless nights because of feeding or diaper changes. But the reality is that Shannon is just now starting to sleep through the night, so I usually don't get a break from that either.

Knitting news. I finished the sweater for hilltop last night, I redid the collar and fixed a couple of other things on it and I feel much better about the final result. I am still plowing through the yarn company sweater, haven't figured out the sleeves as the directions on the pattern were wrong, wrong, WRONG! Did I say they were Wrong? I could just make it a sleeveless shell, but I personally think because of the striping it would look better with sleeves. Fortunately, sleeves are fairly easy to do. Guess what I will be doing this weekend?

There is a lace maker's meeting tomorrow in Kent. I really want to go. But tomorrow is Fiona's last soccer game and I really should go there instead. We will see. Maybe it will be raining and I won't have to go. Yeah right, they play soccer year round here. Even in the middle of winter when it is really cold and yucky.

I am knitting a hat for the homeless, a project that my friend Robbie and I embark on every fall. Currently I am making a hat from leftover sock yarn, one skein of Baby Uhl and left over Lorna's Laces yarn mixed together. It is turning out very pretty. I will probably have to hide it, the girls love to play with the darn thing.

Have a great weekend! I am going to enjoy the weather while it holds.

This isn't going quite the way I intended. But I am still around, just overwhelmed with things that are going on. I did get the Moonlight sweater done for the yarn shop, literally moment's before it was to be modelled. It went out with one sleeve basted in and a rather poor job of putting the buttons on. Fortunately for me, there was two shows with enough time to put the sleeve in properly and add the buttons. I somehow became one button short, so I skipped the top button that I wasn't going to button anyway. I think despite my best efforts to totally screw it up, the sweater turned out lovely. Wasn't at all helped by losing one of the fronts last monday. I am glad to know that I can whip out a simple sweater in a week, but really don't want to experience anything like that again anytime soon.

The fashion show at the yarn shop was fun, the shop was crowded and there was a good supply of beer and rootbear. Would have been nice to have something snacky though, I didn't try the beer because I hadn't had anything to eat since lunch. The rootbeer was good though, nicely served by a very nice young man in a kilt. I love a guy in a kilt, but I can't get my DH convinced that he should wear one. Oh, and there was a bagpiper too!

Tonight I want to finish up the cotton sweater for the yarn company, get pictures of that one and then fix the collar on Moonlight so that I can get the darn thing blocked. Friday night it was steamed and that got rid of most of the curl, but I will feel better getting it over to Hilltop in a finished condition.

I will probably be laying low on the knitting this week. Simple and mindless sounds like the most likely possiblity. One, I am tired from all the knitting I churned out last week. Secondly I think I cracked at least one rib on Saturday after making a less than gracefull exit off the top of the girl's bunk bed. Agh! I won't go into the details, suffice it to say it has been a rather painful experience.

Ack! Where did September run off to? Is it really October already? Must be because the leaves on the trees are all changing colors, and drifting down into leaf drifts. I love this time of year. I don't know if ti is because the splendor of color from the leaves enchants me or if it is just because it is cooler so I can wear more sweaters. Probably a bit of both.

Me thinks I may have overcommitted myself. And why is it when I am knitting something that has a deadline, it always seems to require ripping out and re doing. The sweater I am working on for Cascade yarns is that way, and I think that I am about to rip it out again. It would be easier if one of the colors blended a bit better, but I may just have to leave it in the color sequence that I have now. Sigh.

I came home from my knitting group with a garbage bag of yarns that I have yet to bring in the house. Not that DH ever complains about the yarn stashed in odd places, but since we are really trying to declutter, I supose it is a bit counter productive to bring some more into the house. I need a space of my own for my hobby, kind of difficult to find in a two bedroom, one bathroom 1909 bungalow type house. Oh well.

I am about to just the computer down here at work. Going home and sitting in the couch knitting sounds wonderful. But I need to stop at Fred Meyers for a couple more storage bins first.

Even though the circular needle that has been cut in half is still usable, I don't recommend knitting that way for long. The yarn kept getting caught on the rough ends and I ended up getting this huge tangle. I really don't need any help in that department, the kids, dogs, cats and husband are way too available to help. As well as my own general klutzyness.

I dug out a shawl that I had started way back in April I think. The last time that I worked at it was at the guild meeting that month and evidentally I had dropped it in the parking lot on my way out to my vehicle. Some nice soul picked it up and took care of it, posted it's finding in the news letter, and I fortunately was able to get it back. It is the Elfin Shawl, pattern by Cherry Tree Hill, Inc. I am making it out of a skein of helen's lace that I bought quite some time ago and alas I don't rember the name of it. But it is very muted teal, taupe, lavender and green varigated and I think that it is going to be beautiful. Once again it will be a gift, but that is part of the enjoyment of knitting. I am wondering though, the top of the shawl I am suposed to just bind of loosely, but I think that I might do an I-cord bind off so that it ends up being a bit more stable. I dunno, I will have to check my yardage on the pattern and see if I will have enough extra to be able to do that. But after doing a couple of repeats of the pattern, I think it is pretty much the same as the bulk of the last shawl that I did for my friend Tracie. I will have to hunt down that pattern and do a quick compairison.

Other projects in the works at the moment are the Moonlight Sweater from this fall's Rowan, I am on the second front of the cardigan, a pair of socks that are somewhat on hold due to the circular knitting disaster and I am making some christmas stockings for a customer. I need to swatch, then I can start figuring out the patter. Never a dull moment is there?

My friend Anita laughed when she read my blog from last week. She absolutely loves toe up socks. Sigh. At least I know that somebody reads this! My current sock in progress just came to a screeching halt. Some imp, who at this point in time shall remain nameless until I figure out who it is, broke my circular needle cable. I still could probably use it for now, but what a pain. I was just cruising on the heel flap too. Darn it all anyway.

My hubby and I went to the Seahawks game yesterday. I surprised him by buying tickets. Actually surprised my self as well. The weather was beautiful, low 70's and sunny. An added plus was that they actually pulled off the win. I was begining to wonder there for a while. Got lots knit too, which worked out just fine with me. That is my number one reason for not minding when he turns on the tv to watch sports, I can sort of watch what ever it is that we are watching and knit too. Kind of nice to multitask once and a while.

I have been home with a sick kid today. One would think that I would get caught up on some chores around the house and get some progress made on the knitting I can't take with me everywhere. Like zauberflote from VY (virtualyarns.com) I still don't really like the colors, but I am going to finish the darn thing anyway. Maybe it will grow on me. Who knows. But I haven't gotten a lot done. I did make the bed and start some stew for dinner. And I am about to turn off the computer and go knit awhile. I guess I will have to be responsible and work on my stuff for the shop!

My apologies to those of you who revel in doing toe up socks. In theory they should be a snap, and much easier. But I can't seem to get the hang of it! Me, who's first pair of socks had the warning not to use them as my first pair because they were really lacy. I still have them somewhere I think. But for now I am going to shelve the idea of toe up socks and give it a nice long rest somewhere nice and quiet, the circular file comes to mind!

So it was back to negative knitting. Not to be confused with the lack of knitting in planned out patterns that constitutes lace. I frogged the sock that I started in August after trying the heel 4 or 5 times yesterday,only to find out that the foot was way too long and I was going to have to rip out even further. It is now in a nice tidy ball, ready to be metamorphed into a workable sock (for me at least)

To those of you in Isabel's path, I wish you safe harbour from the storm.