A tale of two sleeves

I was gonna call this double the p-l-e-a-s-u-r-e but I don't want any more stranger dangers showing up round these parts.



Two lovely Rogue sleeves. They seem a bit wonky at the bottom, but I am assuming that's what blocking is for. I'm working them two at a time to avoid that other form of SSS - second sleeve syndrome. I'm itching something terrible to cast on for something else. Something lacy. Something that's a shawl. But I'm trying to resist the temptation and be diligent about working on this here "winter coat". It'd be a heckuva lot easier if the weather would cooperate. These balmy temperatures make me want to work on tank tops. And it's gonna be in the 70's here all weekend. Geez Louise.

To answer Mamma - the cascade 220 is a dream. So soft and nummy. And I've heard it gets softer even when you wash it.

In other news, I quite honestly won't be knitting any more tank tops. Or sweaters, or garments that fit my body. I've decided that until I lose this weight I'm gonna concentrate on accessories, and lace, and socks, and oh did I mention lace? Is this not gorgeous?

Because he's cuter than me.

He kind of looks like a druid or something. A toothless druid that is. Were druids toothless? That boy will take any opportunity to show off his latest tooth loss. (The top one if you were wondering).

I finally finished the Rogue hood. Just two sleeves and a zipper and we'll be good to go. I made one mistake on the decreases, but I decided I did not care. Most of the time the hood will be down anyway. This was very good for helping me to better understand cables. I'm wondering though, should I block the body before or after I attach the sleeves. Guess I better read the instructions.

In other news, Beauty Shop with Queen Latifah is cute and amusing and quite good knitting fare.

Not the year of the jaywalker...

I ripped it out. Again. I still don't understand this. Sometimes the 76 stitch version in sock garden on size 1 addi turbos is too big. This time the same version was too tight. Plus the ribbing was ruffly from the pulling in effect of the pattern. I give up on sock garden. I think I am moving on to pomatomus in this yarn. I think it will go nicely. I just can't stand the jaywalkers anymore. I don't understand how it works for everyone but me.

In other bad news, my making waves socks look like shit. They are crazy fuzzy. To the point that the texture is obscured. I guess the lesson from that is that superwash is a lie. A mad lie. At least in the case of these socks.

Deranged

So... I've been happily tooling along on my most recent Jaywalker attempt. 76 stitches, size 1 addis, stargazer lily sock garden. The leg is tight over the heel, but I can work it. And it's not a sock fit for King Kong.


So I should be happy right? Wrong.

This is what I'm thinking. Wouldn't the stargazer lily look just absolutely gorgeous as a flower basket shawl?

I never said I was normal.

Proof!

First off, Merry Christmas. We did the crazy present thing. I only got one knitting present - the 2006 pattern-a-day calendar. Lots of other neat stuff though.

Proof that my husband does NOT love me.


That would be the first nearly finished glove of a pair from Knitty's cigar pattern. Which he specifically requested. So I make him try them on, just to be sure. And he looks up at me with pleading eyes... "Can't you make a skull design on them?" *sigh*

Proof that my yeast is viable.


Even though my bread is not risen enough and my loaf is misshapen, my yeast is good. I tested it. See, it rose to the top of the cup. It's good.

Proof that my husband actually does love me.


A beautiful turquoise and silver beaded cross (one of a pair) that he got for my cross collection.

So many bad ideas.

You know what's worse than too much risotto? Too much risotto followed 5 hours later by too many oatmeal scotchies. Oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips. Quite delicious. But oy, my stomach is killing me.

I am not making any progress on boy socks number two. I'm just out of oomph. And the man comes home early tonight. Or I should say today - he'll be leaving the office at 2pm, which means less knitting time for me.

So I will go take a shower, hope my bellyache subsides, and try to straighten up before he gets here.

But I leave you with this cuteness.



Who says acrylic yarn doesn't have it's uses? Yep, big brother is teaching lil brother (the dark haired baby) how to knit.

Too. Much. Risotto.

Last night for dinner we had crispy ranch tofu, yellow risotto, and corn. It was the totally yellow dinner. It was the boys' idea, don't ask. Just now I decided I needed breakfast. Lemme just tell you folks. Leftover risotto is just way too danged heavy for breakfast. Next time I'm making waffles.

Next we present still life with bicycle and mini-tramp...



No not a short hooker, a mini-trampoline. *sigh* Lil dude's socks are done except for weaving in ends. I fixed the too short toe and the ribbing. So they are all nice and done. Big dude's socks are slow going. I picked a broken rib pattern. I figured I couldn't do solid straight stockinette socks, now could I? I have 5.5 inches on the first footie. I need at least 6.5 before I do the short row heel. I need to get my booty OFF the computer, do a smidge of housecleaning and then settle back in for some serious knitting.

In other news, it looks like my husband's Christmas prezzies might be lost in delivery land. Not good, not good at all. I have about zero dollars to replace them. I'm contemplating a nervous breakdown. I'll get back to you later on that.

Slow and slower...

Very slow progress on the boy socks. I haven't even started Big J's. Here you see Little J's....



They look nearly done, don't they? But looks, my friends, can be decieving. I screwed up the ribbing on the socks. One is k2,p2, and one is k1,p1. The k1,p1 stays up better. The one with the finished toe is too short. So there will be ripping and reknitting of those areas. *sigh* I have quite a bit of laundry to do today, so I guess I will launder and knit. And launder and knit.

Here's the super strange part. I bought the knitpicks parade and totally missed the part where it was only 137 yards per ball. But both of these socks are from the first ball. I started using this yarn for boy socks because I thought I would run it. I think I might be able to get two pairs of boy socks out of this yarn. Strange, no?

Not much knitting going on...

But I really need to finish up the boy socks. The boys are fulling expecting hand-knit socks under the tree. I have one of Justin's done. Jeremy's will be solid red and I'm trying to find a good pattern/texture for his. Thank God for little feet.

I've decided that 2006 is the year I will get skinny. And my motivation will be to knit things like this... Fat people just can't wear stuff like that. And I want to knit myself cute LITTLE stuff.

I had leftover birthday cake for breakfast. It's a good thing that it's still 2005.

Huh?

Pray for me sisters (and brothers) in knitting. Today the man has a day off. And a list. Can you hear the whip cracking? He's in the shower. It will begin soon. I only pray that he will let me have some Starbucks before he starts the day. It won't be good.

And in other news. Since when does Harry Potter sport a mullet?

In lieu of...

Instead of handknitted gifts, the teachers are getting very nice ornaments from pier one. I had great plans to crank out scarves yesterday, but life had other plans. Which included cutting out 40 kindergarten size handprints, making a chinese dinner that made everyone sick and gassy, and the mama (that would be me) throwing a tantrum and showing her ass in the span of oh let's say 15 minutes.

So.... this is what they get!




They are pretty, they are handpainted, and they come in lovely gift/storage boxes. Can you tell I'm extra super tired?

The center one with the sleigh actually comes in a red box. Now I have to pack up 3000 pounds of Christmas party supplies and write out cards for said teachers and fix my hair and makeup and get my ass in gear.

Yes, I am a tired mama. And tomorrow the man has a day off. That never bodes well for me.

Master Procrastinator

I am the queen of procrastination. Bow down before me.



What you see there is half of an Airy Scarf. With beads! Actually I used smaller needles, so it's really only a third of an Airy Scarf. It knits up very quickly. It's quite lovely. It's for my sons' teachers. And it needs to be finished soon. I could have finished it last night, but instead I went to bed. And this morning I've wasted two hours on the computer - most of which I spent planning out my 2006 budget. Yes 2006 is just around the corner, but these presents need to be finished yesterday.

There is definitely something wrong with me.

Unbelievable.

The first unbelievable thing. I had to turn on the heat. It's actually only 46 outside. It will probably heat up to the mid 60's today. But that's danged cold for here. The crazy people will be breaking out the parkas. Last year I only turned on the heat maybe 5 times. We live in a third floor apartment and heat rises, you know?

The second unbelievable thing. I went into school this morning to deliver 27 pounds of Holiday party supplies for my 1st grader. Then I checked in at my kindergartner's class. What does she need help with for the party.... You won't believe this. The party is Thursday. She's gonna write a few phone numbers in my son's planner so I can make calls and figure out the party. She's done nothing! The other teachers have been planning their party since 1972. This totally peeves me off. But if I blow it off, my son's class gets no party. You know?

I did some quick net research and found some good party ideas. But it just jacks up my week. There's no way I will finish a shawl for the holiday shindig at this rate.

The third unbelievable thing. If you lose thirty pounds, last year's party dress will be too big. Ok, maybe that's not unbelievable. But it is annoying. Especially when you have neither the time nor the money to buy a new party dress. Watch this space for my amazing duct tape seamstress skills. Just kidding. Well sort of....

Well crap a duck.

I was at the craft store today and I totally spaced picking up ribbon or buttons for my Sweet Mary Jane.

A week from today is my husband's fancy ass holiday shindig. And I have made absolutely no progress on #19. I'm half wondering whether or not I should cast on for the leaf lace shawl and see how fast that goes. Cause I know #19 is gonna take me for frigging ever. *sigh*

Oh my. Plus all three boys, two little guys and the big one, really would like hand knit socks for Christmas. I guess I better go measure some feet.

All Hail Queen Mary Jane!

I needed knitted happiness. So I did something quick and dirty. For the Sweet Mary Jane cardigan, your gauge swatch is a little sachet. How cute is that. So that is Celeste's Sachet blocking. I'll post a finished pic of her today.

I do see a problem though. The sachet is 54 stitches knitted on size 6 dpns. Despite being really careful, I got some pretty serious ladders that didn't seem to wash out. The sleeve is about the same number of stitches worked on the dpns. I don't want ladders in my sleeves. Course I'm only really seeing the ladders in the stockinette. It might not affect the lace pattern. I'll have to wait for it to dry.

The majority of this knitting was accomplished while waiting for the dentist yesterday afternoon. I just finished it up this morning. Talk about quick and dirty! This would make cute little Christmas ornaments. Done in a hollyberry red with some cinnamon potpourri stuffed inside.... Hmmmm.....

And then there were four...

Well, my sock was giving me gas, and I didn't have the heart to re-cast-on, so I made three more stitch markers.



Thanks again turtlegirl for the photo lesson! I'm off to the dentist here in a bit.

Scorecard: Jaywalker 75, Me -10

The jaywalker kicked my ass again last night. I finally had turned the heel and was getting ready to knit up the reverse heel flap. So I tried it on again. (I've done this about 75 times during the process). This was the moment when it went from "kinda loose" to "too damned big". I should have known better than to use the stargazer lily. It's sock garden you know. Of the curs-ed sock garden variety you might say.

I now have a very misshapen re-wound skein of stargazer lily. Bummer. I might have to abandon this pattern. I don't know.

Smarter than me.

Turtlegirl76 is way smarter than me. She wisely suggested I take a step back, and not hold the camera right on top of the stitch marker (in my non photo genius mind i thought i needed to get closer) and voila!



The top bead is sort of a flat gunmetal-ly purple, the middle bead is amethyst, and the bottom is kind of amber purple. Isn't she pretty? And my first try even.

Poor Unphotogenic Stitch Marker

She's much lovelier in person. I swear. We tried so hard today to get her good side. Poor girl. We can't even show the outdoor shots. Natural sunlight is so unforgiving.

First off, if you'd like to read my palm...


Thinking maybe she has bo...


Yellow is not her color...


Is this an ox?


Maybe a lovely sock will help...


Or some snuggly kool-aid yarn...


Snuggling with Santa...


Trying to get that star treatment...


And finally, resorting to posing with pez. Cause everybody love pez. Right? Right?


I hate my freaking camera.

Like I need another obsession.

Ah Tuesdays. Drop the boys off at school. And then me and lil dude are off to run errands. He's so good. All he wants is a hot wheel if he's good at the store and all is right with the world. So we go to the evil Wally World. Trash bags, candles, carpet cleaner, etc. And then he's so good that we head over to BAM. Cause at BAM they have a Thomas set. And I can peruse all the knitting mags and books and PJ can play. He loves it. Plus I don't end up buying knitting mags that I really don't want. I found two books I really want though. Geez. Handknit Holidays and Alterknits. Add that to the Sensational Knitted Socks book that I'm drooling over and well...

But I didn't buy any of the books today. I resisted. But then on the way out I saw some sort of beginnner's beading kit. Which included enough beads and notions to make ten different projects with step by step instructions. I was so very tempted. But then I opened it up (just to look inside, I didn't damage the packaging) and the colors of the beads were just bleah. So again I resisted.

But then I headed to Michael's and picked up a beading tool kit, a bunch of head pins, and a packet of variegated amethyst colored beads. For what? For hand-made stitch markers of course. My very first one is so cute. So cute. But I can't get a good picture of it to save my life.

I do have some nice pics of my kool-aid experiment. Here it is all wet and squishy.


And here it is "Sherbet" all balled up. It's very soft. And will make a nice pair of tutti-frutti socks.


And finally, I leave you with this. The man and I were gonna buy a TV for Christmas. Maybe a nice 27 incher. We even considered HDTV. But instead we got this. For free. Used but very, very nice. For free. It's good to have a sister who works for the cable company who has customers with more money than they need.

Pooling defined...

I've seen many knitters - especially sock knitters, who complain and bemoan all the pooling they see. Well honey, you ain't seen nothing yet. This is pooling!



I'm working on the gusset increases and they still feel a smidge loose. But the 76 stitch version was too tight. So there you go. I could have tried for size 0 addis, but I don't have any of those yet.

Also for your viewing pleasure the half hooded rogue...



Yep, that's all I got done in my marathon knitting session. But Beth sweetly offered me her "Pokey Purler" button for my sidebar. And yes, I put that baby right on my server. Cause Pokey is me. And isn't the turtle cute?

Well my sidebar is updated, and my house is a wreck per usual. So I need to shower, feed the boys (doot doot is home sick again) and then clean like a maniac so I can justify my knitting time.

Veddy interesting...

I think I now know why I don't finish anything. Not only do I flit from thing to thing but I am the slowest knitter in the history of the world. Seriously.

Last night I knit from 6pm to 4am with only short breaks for munchies and bathroom. And a half hour for the Starbucks run from hell. But other than that - what is that? about 8-9 hours of knitting?

You wanna know what I finished? Nothing. Nothing. I worked about 25 rows on my rogue hood. I still have I think 30 to go. No sleeves. Just neverending hood.

And I cast on for jaywalker socks in the stargazer lily. Only got the better part of a figure eight toe on that one.

Why am I so freaking slow?

In other news, the knit-in was great! An amazing variety of ages and experience levels of knitters. And everyone was so nice and fun. And we laughed. And just had a really, really, good time.

Since then I have had two hours of sleep. I'd love to take a picture of my pathetic rogue hood progress for you, but I really must sleep. Now.

Anticipation is making me wait...

Tonight I get to go to a knit-in. Actually I don't know what she's calling it exactly. All I know is I pay $10, get pizza, and then get to sit around all night knitting with all kinds of other knitting chickies and supposedly work on my holiday projects. Um, yeah.

I'm not really knitting much for Christmas per se. The boys' teachers may or may not get airy scarves. Actually they probably will. Tied in a pretty bow on a basket of homemade goodies. Shoot, I might as well say buckeyes, cause that is what they are getting. Everybody loves buckeyes.

I'm cleaning today and trying to convince myself not to knit, since I get to knit all night. But it's hard. I have laundry going now and the boy who is home with me has been fed. (The other boys are at the base on a boy scout go see it.)

I'm so very tempted to cast on for my jaywalker socks. So very, very. But they've been not so nice to me so far. Of course I did have some wierd sizing issues with tivoli many moons ago. And that is a great little sweater. So it will probably be worth it.

But what should I take with me to knit? I really should work on #19 if I expect to wear it to the man's big holiday shindig. It would be perfect for something "semi-formal". But it's been chilly here too. And rogue needs some serious attention. I'd love to bring my stargazer yarn and try the jaywalkers, but I kind of feel like I should bring projects with yarn from her store. Not that she would probably mind, but still. Can I just bring a large suitcase of projects?

In other news, Doot Doot really needs a haircut.