Progress...

The chickami is coming along nicely. I tried it on again today and for some reason it looks way more flattering. I think the fact that it's nice and snug though means I can get a good deal of wear out of it. It looks like a top sized for a littler person though, at least it does to me.



My husband is home sick and my nephew is taking his nap. I'm gonna take this opportunity and leave the house and go to fondle the yarns.... aka a trip to my LYS.

I really like the chickami pattern. I'm thinking more of my pattern dollars might get spent at ChicKnits. That's all for now. I'm wasting valuable yarn time.

Bored now.

Having the boys in school is boring. I tell you what.

I'm nearly finished with the front of my chickami, and then I just have to work the back and the straps. I still can't decide what sort of straps to do. It looks like I will only be using 2.5 skeins of cotton-ease for this puppy. It fits, but it makes me look sort of well, lumpy. The knitpicks shine skims so nicely over my not so smooth middle, but this cotton-ease seems to have lump-magnetism. Oh well. More incentive to have less lumps.

I'm trying to decide what to make next. I have six skeins of cherry red cotton-ease ear-marked for Donna. I think that will be a perfect fall/winter sweater what with the weather round these parts. But now I'm afraid that sweater will make me look lumpy too. I also have some random projects in progress. Two pairs of socks for the man, clapotis, etc. I guess I should really finish those before I cast on for anything else new. Oh yeah, and mariposa. One lousy strap short. *sigh*

Last night the man and I watched "Hide & Seek". That was just creepy. Not satisfyingly scary. Just creepy. Yuck.

I'm valuable dangit!

I've been thinking about value. And about free patterns. And about knitting of course. I wonder if knitting designers feel pressure to make their designs free. Why? Why should they? Why should they spend hours knitting something, and measuring, and frogging, and making it just so, and then typing up painstakingly perfect directions and then give it away? (Ok, so the directions aren't always perfect. But shut up. It's free.)

I'm starting to feel a whole lot of respect for the designers out there. I've been secretly trying to come up with some stuff, and man, it's tough. Tough with a capital T and a grunt.

I'm feeling kind of useless around the house. The man is dropping hints (ok hint bombs) that maybe I should go back to work. All of my money would be extra and then we could save up for a couple of years, get completely out of debt, buy a house, and then I could quit. Um, yeah. Doesn't he know that folks spend what they earn? I used to get along quite nicely, me and both boys for 25K. Three people, full-time daycare, on 25K. I don't know if I could do that now. Honestly. You spend what you earn. And sometimes more than that. I think the real answer is for me to become a better money manager, and then for me to find somethings to do out of the home to make money. (Knitting design is not on that list. Shoot, it takes too long and there's no guarantee anyone will like what you make.)

And the secret quiet part of all this, is that I don't want to give up another 2 years of my boys' life to some random daycare provider. I lost all the early years already. I'm selfish. I want to be there when they get home from school.

Brought to you by the letter P, the letter M, and the letter S...

Well not really. But that's what I'll blame that last entry on. Let's just say the P was for Post this time.

Things are not quite going my way. I'm a bad housewife and an even worse money manager. Not good at all. I really need to get off the computer and do some housework. No boys at all today. Just me, myself, and I. So....

It's just wierd and wrong. And it was tough having PJ all by myself all week. He's not as easy to care for without the boys to entertain him. Sure they have their little pint-sized squabbles, but those boys are danged good babysitters.

I might have to give up babysitting and get a job. Or something. I don't know.

snark fodder

No, not shark fodder. That particular phrase is what you call my big ole butt when it goes into the ocean round these parts. Course the sharks seem to eat more people in the gulf... but I digress.

A while back when I was crocheting the snood of doom, I joined the lj crochet community. Needed some help. Got some great help by the way. There are some super nice folks over there and my snood turned out uber gorgeous partly because of the great thread recommendations I received from some sweet girlies on that list. So if you are one of the sweet ones thank you! But then I found out about the crochet_snark community. Where they spend a good amount of time linking to posts off of the main crochet community and making bad fun of them. Not good fun, like I can’t believe IK paid you for that strange and disturbing design. Bad fun, like “what does that sausage-armed bitch think she is doing wearing a shrug?”. Bad fun. As I realized that quite a few of the crochet ladies were also snarkers in disguise, I decided I really didn’t need to be a part of that particular group.

But at least the crochet snarkers have the balls to do it in an open community. Not so with the knitters. Apparently there a bunch of secret places where the knitters who think their shit doesn’t stink go to talk about the rest of us. *

But now I feel kind of unsure. Like the friendly community of knitters on lj that I’ve come to love are really a bunch of stuck-up bitches who never got over when Billy didn’t ask them to the prom, so now they are practicing clique and pack mentality in any shitty way they can.

And also lately, there has been some very openly hostile stuff on the main list. What the hell is wrong with these people? Would you ever say the things you “say” online to someone’s face? I doubt it. So you hide behind your cartoon icon and your made-up name and get your jollies being really shitty to flesh and blood people? Then I have no use for you.

Like I said. Snark fodder. Of course I could have an overinflated opinion of myself and no one is reading this at all.

*Disclaimer: I don’t see much wrong with places like “You Knit What” where they talk about published designs. They aren’t snarking on whether or not Heather is skinny enough for that tank top. And it’s not secret.

Lace = gas

There's a reason you don't see a nice batch of new lace patterns every season. Because A. most of it has already been done and B. it's freaking hard.

I sat down today and decided it would be nice to work on my violet and butterfly designs. Bad move. I charted out the violet. It looked lovely. I worked it and made a huge mistake. But my huge mistake looked very butterfly like. So I did some more charting and knitted up my butterfly. Oh man. I won't post it. It's ugly. And not butterfly-like at all. Maybe I'll go back to the violet. *sigh*

Growing Pains

Big J wakes up in the middle of the night with his poor little legs just aching. Growing pains. I spend all day yesterday morose and lonely, eating ice cream sandwiches because BOTH of my babies are now in school. Also growing pains.

I'm working on the plan. The master diet plan that I can actually live with and will stick to. That green water nonsense was just that. Nonsense. I know better.

The chickami is coming along nicely. I've just finished the decrease rounds. SSK's and K2tog's do not mirror each other. The SSK is very noticeable where the K2tog is nearly invisible. It's on the sides so it won't be terribly obvious, but I don't know why they do that.



When I picked up my size 3 addi turbos the other day, I needed to spend $5 more to get a punch on my card. She does it in $20 increments. So I bought a ball of Kid Merino. I think the colorway is called violets. It's mostly purples and blues with some green mixed in. Oooh, wouldn't an african violet lace patterned scarf be just lovely? I'm still working on the butterfly lace pattern for that candy ball of kidsilk haze you see pictured. Candy is more of a fuschia than that picture shows. I'm curious to see how the kid merino works up. It's nylon instead of silk, but it's the same weight and a smidge more yardage. And it's $5.50 a ball instead of $13.95!!!

not so lovely

It's been one of those days. The man has been a total toddler. And I have this strange combination earache/neckache/shoulderache thing going. But the shoulder ache is on the other side. How does that happen?

It's 9:53PM on the night before school starts. And one or both of my boys is still awake. Tomorrow I will have both of my sons in school. Kindergarten (or kinTERgarten as my baby calls it) and first grade. It's just so completely unreal. That I am this old and that my babies are schoolage children who read and write and use very big words. Unreal.

I ended up having 5 girly beers last night. Which is unfortunate. Because if I had two left, I could down them and be asleep in like 20 minutes. But one just doesn't do the trick.

Lest you think I'm a lush, I very rarely drink. Like once every 3 months or so.

I'm working on a chickami. I think the size I am making is gonna be too small for me. But I'm hoping that will be incentive to diet harder. Cause I always lose upper body weight first. A chickami in white cotton-ease of course.

Woozy for a whole 'nother reason

Four O3 Bacardi thingies. I am the definition of a cheap date. Normally 2 drinks means lights out for ole rincaro. I probably shouldn't blog while I'm drunk.

I definitely should not blog while I'm drunk. Definitely. And online shopping while I'm drunk? Not the bestest of plans either.

I have edited this because I really shouldn't blog while I'm drunk. Sweet Jenna from thisgirlknits offered to refund my money because her page used to not have the sizing info. But the sizing info has been updated. Soo.... in summary: Jenna rocks, the hopeful pattern has been gifted to a teeny friend, and I shouldn't blog or shop while I'm drunk. That is all! :)

Woozy and yeah, very, very woozy....

I'm cleaning. Like a crazed woman. I am not sure why or what possessed me. But I am.

This is what I've done today:

Shined my sink (a la Flylady)
Scrubbed the kitchen floor
Wiped down all the lower cabinets, the oven, and the dishwasher
Did a ton of laundry (most of which is courtesy of he who shall not be named, but who really needs to stop sleeping so soundly in the morning and stop peeing the bed!!!!)
Scrubbed the kitchen counters
Cleaned out the toaster & the toaster oven
Scrubbed the entry way tile
Scrubbed the bathtub
Scrubbed the master bathroom floor
Purged the master bathroom countertop
Scoured the master bathroom sink (I've already said scrubbed too many times)
Cleaned the toilet (how does a 36 year old man still miss?!?!?!?)
Windexed the mirror

I still need to run the vacuum in the whole apartment, and water the garden. I'm hoping the rain will come soon though, cause that means free water.

I bought some Bam! and a magic eraser. The Bam! is powerful stuff. I used it on the tub. Hence the extreme wooziness. The magic eraser? Eh. It did bring up some tea stains on the kitchen counter and some hair color stains on the bathroom counter. But it did not remove scuff marks from the tile floors like it shows on the commercial. Oh well. You live and you learn.

Oh yeah. Knitting related content! I bought and downloaded the chickami pattern today. I'm back to wanting to make it along with a sitcom chic for a twinset. Call me fickle. I wish she had stated on the order page that you needed the size 3 dpns and circular. All it noted was the gauge with size 6 needles. So now I have to make a trip to the LYS to pick up a size three turbo addi. I've been eyeing the orangina pattern for awhile though, and it will work for that. But still.

Now that tivoli is finally done, I did some stash rearrangement last night. The romance twist colorway is flattering on me. So I feel like I should make something else with the remaining six skeins. But then to have two tops out of the same yarn? Seems a bit silly. I was thinking of trading it though. Don't know. I'd love to get some solid shine. In a perfect world I could get the right proportions to make Via Diagonale. Cause that's on my listy! :)

Tada! Tivoli Take Two Tee is done!

She's finished. And even though I questioned it every step of the way, she fits.

Here's a shot of her true colors on the ironing board.


And here is the requisite headless shot of me in my Tivoli!


Notes etcetera....

Pattern: Tivoli Tee by Grumperina
Size: 37" version
Yarn: Knitpicks Shine Twist in Romance, 6 skeins, with just a puddle leftover
Needles: Size 5 addi turbos, 32" to get gauge
Started: July 24th
Finished: August 3rd

I could have finished this sooner, but I had anger issues from my first failed attempt. I'm surprised at how loose it is, even around my bust. But I like the way it looks. I ended up just doing it exactly according to pattern. No extra rounds for length. It doesn't seem too short though.

I really did need to try it on.

I'm only 5 rounds away from finishing my tivoli. But I really did need to try it on. I needed to know how long to make it. I think I'm gonna add another 6 rounds (including a last increase) to give it a bit more length. Right now it hits the top of my shorts. But it fits. It's definitely a boobie top (which the man will like) but it fits.



**My bathroom is not blue with sailor inspired decorations. That is the boys silly!

It still fits.

I was a math major. I know how to use a ruler. Very well thank you. And my un-stretched tivoli does measure up at a 37" bust. My gauge is nothing if not perfect. But it fits. My 37" tivoli fits my 46" bust. I just checked my bra size (again) and it's a 42D. This is confusing me. Mucho confusing.

But I am plugging along. I'm almost done with the decrease rounds and then it will be time for the increases and finishing it off. It's actually coming along quite quickly.

In other news, I have recommitted myself to getting healthy. My husband came across a nice crazy diet for the two of us to do. I think this one will really work. Because if we don't cheat, and all of the food tastes like ass, we will quickly be down to eating nothing. Eating nothing makes you lose weight, right? Don't worry, when you are as fat as I am, it's not an ED. If you really want to read all the sordid details, go here.

And the beat goes on...

Tivoli is coming along. If slowly. I won't get much of a chance to work on her today. Today is Friday. Normally that means Friday Fun Day. But not today. Today is Friday run all over town to get school clothes for the boys and all of the supplies they need and hope you have enough leftover to pay the rent day. That's what today is. Um, yep.

I can't believe I will have two boys in school. Two boys. They are getting so durned big. So big, so fast.

I need to print out the supply lists and figure out exactly what I need to buy for them. Shoes, shorts, nice polo type shirts. *sigh* I'm not buying any jeans today. Nope, not, never. Last year I bought Big J's jeans at the end of July. And by the time January rolled around, none of his jeans fit him. Their legs do this whole thing where they grow three inches overnight. Gives a whole new meaning to growing pains. The good news is the boys won't need jeans for at least a couple of months. We are talking about Florida here. I'll wait and buy jeans around the first of October.

So yep, no fun knitting day for me.

Please cue Ren & Stimpy....

The song of the hour is....

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

And why am I singing so joyously? Well because it seems like my tivoli tee is gonna fit. I just finished a few "underarm rows" and then put it on the brightest red acrylic yarn you ever did see for a try on. And it fits! Woo-hoo! Happiness.

But now I have to go do story duty. And be happy.

Just for the wierdness archives. My tivoli tee which is for a 37" bust is gonna fit the size 18/20 top, 46" bust me. Go figure.

I'm wearing a wip on my head

And it's not a hat. It's T-2 aka Tivoli take two. I put it around my neck, still on the needles, to see how it was neckline wise. And of course you can't tell while it's all scrunched up on the needles. I know better.

I'm only a few rounds away from the armhole bindoff. After I get a few rounds under my arms, I will be able to put it on scrap yarn and try it on. If it doesn't work.... well if it doesn't work, I don't know what. It's such a cute pattern. And I still don't quite know what I did wrong.

And also, I can't make a blueberry/pistachio via diagonale. I only have one ball of each. I need two balls of one or the other.

What fresh hell is this?

Actually the pain is just too raw. The pain that comes from a WIP that you realize will *never* work, unless you gain about 150 lbs. And I really don't need to gain weight. You've seen the pictures. You know.

I re-cast on for my tivoli tee and today while my knitting friend came over, I worked on it. But it was all too clear in my mind. The disaster that was the first tivoli tee. I think I'm gonna have to put it away and not look at it for a long while. Or at least a few days.

Hmmm... I wonder what else I'm working on. I will try hard to resist the urge to cast on for a pistachio blueberry via diagonale. Cause wouldn't the minty color and the navy color look nice together?

Please call the paddy wagon...

Because I seem to have gone insane. I'm sitting on my bed, happily watching clean sweep and knitting tivoli take two. The boys are all playing happily in their bedroom with their cousin.

And then it happened. I got the overwhelming urge to do housework. So now I am mid-way through spic and spanning the kitchen and feeling all sorts of domestic urges. Dagnabbit. I'm probably gonna end up with some sort of cleaning related injury. Mark my words.

Corn-fused in my flashdance days...

I had a science teacher in 8th grade who used to compare confused and corn-fused. I can't remember the witty story he told, but corn-fused was the worse of the two. And right now I am corn-fused.

Is Knitpicks shine twist made of some sort of super stretchy material that grows by leaps and bounds when touching human flesh? Let's review.

I did the math for my 44" bust version of the Tivoli tee. I consulted grumperina. She advised that my neck might be a little low. I ignored that wise advise. Grumperina rocks by the way. She's on my list of folks to buy patterns from when she starts selling. She was super helpful with all my sizing questions. But I screwed it all up. And this is what I end up with.

First we have the oh so unflattering flashdance neckline. Immodest does not cover it.


And then we have the space where the boobs of death could fit. Cause if my boobs filled out this space, I'd be a what? A 40M bust? I'm already a 40D. Geez louise.



That is not fully stretched out. That is "gently" stretched out. The sweater measures 44" at the bust, which is exactly what I was shooting for. My bust measures 46" at the biggest point. And I wanted a little hug for the girls. My gauge is perfect. But this shirt, when put on my body is a shiny twisty flashdance tent of gargantuan boobiness.

I know. That doesn't make any sense. But I'm peeved. Three days of work down the drain. Right now I have cast on for the 37" version of the tivoli tee as written. I will try it on every other round to make sure it fits I guess. I was really hoping to nail this pattern. I have my cotton ease stash to think about you know.

Proof of just how lazy I am.

This is my cast-on and first 7 rounds of the tivoli tee in knitpicks shine twist. I am soooooo lazy.... (how lazy are you?) I am sooooo lazy that I didn't even frog the raglan tee I had worked it into before. I'm just knitting right out of that project.

I like to call it efficiency.

And if you are "in it" with me on the yarn diet diet, please do not look at this next part.



Do you know what this is? The above is the results of two trips to Jo-Ann's. Uncharacteristically I was carrying cash. And the cash got spent. Let me just tell you what. This is $42.70 (including tax) of the elusive (and discontinued) cotton-ease. What does a girl get for the money?




Besides the vanilla/white, all of the multiple balls are the same dyelots. Who would have thought that pure white could be so different. But I think two balls of white can make very cute things. Check out my boobholder if you don't believe me.

If the tivoli tee works out as cute as it looks on everyone else, three of those balls (maybe the candy blue) will be for that. Some of you may remember that yellow and I have a long sordid history. Trust me, you don't want me to post a picture of myself holding yellow yarn up to my skin. It will curl your hair. (Or give it the lovely Florida humidity haze that I'm dealing with right now, and trust me, that's even worse). So why did I buy three balls of pineapple yellow? Leverage my dear people. It's all the same dyelot. And not everybody hates yellow as I do. I will swap it for better colors. Yes, I will.

There are two kinds of people...

People who use the snooze button and people that know that the snooze button is just a sorry-ass excuse to rob yourself of precious sleep.

Sorry. I'm a grumbly woman this morning. My husband now has to be at work at 8:30. So he needs to get up at 7:30 and be out the door by 8. Ok, that's wonderful. A half hour is a perfect amount of time for me to brew coffee, fix his morning egg sammich, pack his lunch, etc. I'm a housewife. That's part of the job description.

Having the alarm start at 6:30 and ring every 9 minutes until 7:30 is not part of my job description. I don't wanna play smack the alarm clock. I want to sleep blissfully until 7:30. There is no reason (especially on Thursday) for me to get up before 7:30. I can promise you that he will not actually get out of bed until 7:30. Trust me. So why do we play this game? Does it help him wake up? I don't understand it. I'd rather really sleep until the last minute.

Audio books are the bomb. Sorry. I'm a 33 year old white woman. I know better than to say "the bomb". But last night I finished an entire Mariposa strap (aka the intarsia strap from hell) while listening to HP1 on audiotape. It was very nice and peaceful. It makes me wanna really turn my office futon into my knitting nook. This could be a very nice solution.

Magic is boring.

Subtitle: I am a one-armed bandit.

I bought some Moda Sassy Stripes on clearance. It's one of those magic striping yarns. It's the storm colorway, all greys, etc. It's for man socks. I started on them, and waited for the magic stripes to appear. It's kind of disappointing. Course that might be what I get for buying cheap yarn on clearance that isn't really sock yarn. I might have to actually splurge on some Lang for myself, so I can see what real magic yarn works up like.

I'm trying to be a finisher. That's why I'm one-armed. Or more specifically one-strapped. I had to do some fancy seaming, and it's not a wrap top, but my Mariposa is about 85% finished. I need to weave in a few ends, and make one more strap. The intarsia straps are a royal pain in the patootie. And then some. But I have a working strap and it seems to fit. I asked for the man's opinion. He just leered at me and said, "It makes your boobs look large." Hmmph. Now I'm not tiny, but I'm definitely not busty. So I don't know if that was a backhanded compliment or what. Or if he's just being a guy and in his esteemed opinion anything that accentuates the boobs is a good thing?

I'm still trying to make up my mind about the shapely tank. I only have a few inches on the front, but it seems like a very dense fabric. Dense heavy fabrics are not so happy here in the land of hot.

And that knitpicks shine. It sits in a pretty basket on my nightside table. And taunts me. I'm toying with the idea of knitting a tivoli tee in it. The designer hasn't offered one in plus size, but I'm feeling pretty confident about the whole math thing. So I think I could totally swing it.

What color shorts should I wear with my "melon and fuschia" mariposa top. White would go, but my ass in white shorts? I'd get arrested for scaring people.

The case of the missing notebook.

Where is it? I saw it yesterday. It was sitting on the step stool. Course I did use the step stool after I saw it. This is all my fault. Cause I can't master the housework. Therefore I lose things that I shouldn't.

I've eaten 4 points of food today and I need to write it down dagnabbit.

In other news.... have you also lost the ability to write? I do so much of my "written" stuff on the computer that my penmanship now sucks. I just had to fill out the mountain of paperwork for my baby to go to kindergarten (sob, wail) and my hand is killing me. Seriously. And it all looks like chicken scratch.

I can't believe I will now have two children in school. Where did the time go?

Particular or Persnickety...

I'm not sure if we've completely established this, but housework is not my forte'. Before I met the man I spent my life working like crazy, at first to move up, and then just to support the boys. So housework? Not big on my list of things to master.

But now I'm a housewife. I guess I should know some of these rules. But I don't. Like the bed covering rule. You got the bed. Then you add a mattress cover. Then you add a fitted sheet. When making the bed, apparently you first add the top sheet, the light blanket, and then the decorative comforter. At least that's what my husband says. He seems to know more about housework than I do. Or seems to care more. Let's ignore the fact that we live in Florida and really don't need to sleep under three layers. But yeah, he gets a little crazy about the whole bed thing. But being a kept woman, I just do as he asks on that one and smile. (And rebel in small childish ways. But that's another show.)

I spoke with my mom last night. In exactly three months she will be here. I really need to be thinner in exactly three months. I've dropped 20 since the first of the year, but it needs to be more. I'm bringing out the little notebook today. So I can write everything down. *sigh*

I'm trying to be patient with the proactiv. The info says results in 3-6 weeks. I can't really tell if my skin is better or worse. I've had some flare-ups, but "people" say that the flare-ups are my skin clearing out the gunk. Dangit people, I've been clearing out the gunk my whole life. Now my skin is not terrible. Folks don't see me and ask if my face hurts or anything awful like that. But it's not clear, and it's not smooth, and at 33 can't I have at least a blemish free week?

Obligatory knitting content: I worked a bit on my version of the shapely tank. I'm getting skeered. That it's gonna be too darned heavy. I need to buck up and finish up my mariposa but I'm still don't want to. (Childish rebellion again). And the knitpicks shine... It's so pretty. And I fondle it frequently. But I still don't know what to do with it.

Math: A very lazy weekend equals...

...a very busy Monday.

Saturday morning I shopped. For groceries, and shampoo, and health food items, etc. And of course what should I find at the K-Mart while looking for some jet dry? You've guessed it. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. So there you go. It was only $18 and it had a very pretty cover. And I had planned to resist the buying temptation, but that was not to be.

So after I put all of my purchases away I settled in with it. The man had guy plans, something to do with soldering and hex wrenches. So the boys played quietly for awhile and I read. But then they got the ants in their pants. So we went to the pool and I read. And I read while I fixed TSP barbecue sandwiches. And while I poked holes in the baked potatoes I was baking for dinner. (Yes I cut my finger). And finally I read (and bawled) after the man desserted me and went to the bedroom to watch car shows. So on Saturday, basically all I did was read.

On Sunday there was church of course. And then the beach. We took the top off the jeep and drove out to Hugenott. Where you can *drive* on the beach. And the man does love any opportunity to drive the jeep off-road per se. So we beached it. And the boys and the man did the wave splashing thing while I sat under a big umbrella and knitted. I made amazing progress on my shapely tank.

And then we came home and the boys went back to the pool (supposedly to wash off sand but whatever) with the man and I took a very, very, very long shower. After which I watched Mystery! and discovered two things.

1. Even if you spend most of your beach time under an umbrella coated in sunscreen, the open top Jeep ride will guarantee you still get a bit of a sunburn.

2. The shapely tank I was knitting was not going to fit my shape. So I had to do more complicated math to put together a pattern that was gonna fit me.

Which led me to conclusion the third:

3. I am freakishly misshapen. I mean I always knew I was a pear, but holy cow. When I got out the measuring tape and proceeded to draw my little shapely tank diagram it looked more like a pyramid than a tank top.

Oh and busy Monday? I have mountains of laundry, and doctor appointments and all manner of fun housework. Which I loathe. Yes I said loathe. Loathe is not too strong a word for housework. Trust me.

Tada! It's a boobholder!

This is the minisweater in all it's glory along with the dress that I wanted it for. The dress has spaghetti straps and is not appropriate for church. So I needed a coverup. Also I'm gonna cast on today hopefully for a matching shapely tank to make a Florida style twinset.

Pattern notes etcetera...

1. Worked in vanilla cotton-ease on size 8 needles.

2. The raglan increases are done as kfb's which resulted in the open lacy look of them, which I love.

3. Only six rows of garter stitch were worked for the top, the bottom, and the sleeves. This is to match the shapely tank. Also only 4 stitches of garter were done on the sides for a balanced look.

4. The sleeves were worked on dpns. I had to darn the armpit holes that resulted.

5. I cast on 68 stitches and divided them 12-11-22-11-12. This was for two reasons. One was to accomodate using smaller needles. Two was for a slight size increase. All the other boobholders I saw were on teeny people and I wanted to make sure this would fit.

6. I modified the sleeve decreases that the cuffs would perfectly fit my arms. I didn't want gapey sleeves.

Why do I love this sweater so? Well for starters, I finished a garment! And also it fits me perfectly. I did "the math", I bravely made the appropriate changes and it worked. Perfectly.

I'm not super happy about the way the cotton-ease shows every stitch detail and increase on the size 8's. Those are the recommended needles and I think the resulting fabric (which is perfect label gauge) is too open and airy.

But all I need now are some strappy white sandals and I'm ready to go!

It's confession time.

When I was 13 I spent a lot of time at Missy's house. Missy was my BFF. And we always signed things LYLAS. Of course, I liked her a heck of a lot more than I liked my real sisters at the time, but that's another tale for another day. She had a big house. Five bedrooms, three bathrooms, full basement with computer with print shop loaded on it for goodness sake! She was rich and I was poor. Her father drank manhattans and all the girls drank diet pepsi.

Missy was little. Like 5'3" and less than 100 pounds little. I was thin enough, but I was 5'10" and I felt like an amazon around her and all the little people I went to school with. I hit 5'10" at around 12. I was the second tallest person in the whole school for awhile, except for one boy who either failed a few grades or had a glandular condition. So I "felt" fat. I felt big and huge compared to all the little girls. So I decided it was a good idea to drink diet pepsi as well. And thus began the addiction.

I'm 33 now. I have been drinking diet soda for 20 years. Mostly diet pepsi, but a good amount of diet coke as well. Two and a half weeks ago I swore to give it up. There were headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and a hell of a lot of sleeping.

But last night I caved. I decided that life without diet soda was a sorry state of exsitence. And believe it or not, I stayed up past 9pm. My fridge is full of shiny cans and I am a happy girl. And I'm pretty sure that I have completely altered my genetics in some sort of mad scientist fashion with this stuff. But I don't care. I'm not tired, I'm happy, and excuse me, I am going to go open a can and let the fizzies tickle my nose before I drink it.

It's all about the math.

Sunday evening I did quite a bit of "the math" in preparation for the twinset that I'm working on right now. And holy crap a duck, it seems to be working.

The boobholder is coming along nicely and I think it's close to half done. I'm almost ready to separate and try on the sleeves. Then it will be time for the shapely tank.

In other news the lifestyle changes are about 50/50. The kitchen is sort of messy this morning. Because last night instead of doing my "before bed routine" ala Flylady which includes cleaning up the kitchen, I drank a girly beer and fell asleep at 8:30. I needed the sleep though. The nap yesterday did not happen.

I counted my points all day yesterday and of course there was the humid walk of doom. Right now I am gonna get my booty off the computer, get ready to face the day and the kitchen. And once the house is nicely straightened and there is some laundry a-going, I am going to knit. All the rest of the damn day.

Knitty Monday.

It's been a good Monday so far. I got up and took my walk. Ate a low point brekkie. Drank a good amount of water. Did some minor straightening and then Miss Karyn came over to knit and have lunch and felt her bag. So that was soooo nice. I like it best when company comes over cause then I can't be a hermit and stay home. Made a bunch of progress on my boobholder and now I think I will take a nap. Cause I didn't sleep so well what with living out the adventures of secret agent amazon woman (um, that would be me.) The boys are settled in with some scooby cartoons, the little one is napping, and I'm pooped. Later gators.

But I'm a secret agent.

And there I was. In my secret agent life. With rippling muscles, and long shiny hair that was full of volume. And the evil mastermind wanted me to tell the secret. "You have 30 seconds to comply." And I knew if I didn't tell him, I'd be dropped into a tank of alligators or shocked by the electro-ray-gun.... but I was a secret agent damnit, and I was keeping my secret. I watched as the seconds ticked by, my perfectly lined and glossed lips sealed. And then the timer went off. The timer of doom. What horrid fate awaited me?

Much worse than alligators or electro-ray-guns... it was the 6am alarm. That carried with it all the promises I'd made to myself about exercising and eating healthy and dusting ceiling fans and oh for the love of pete where the hell is the snooze button?

But I got up. And put on my exercise clothes. And my new balance runners that I've only run in during the pouring rain. These are the things I experienced on my 25 minute walk.

1. Even if you're fat, if you put the girls in a tight workout top, ugly construction men will leer at you.

2. There are too many lizards in Florida.

3. The outside of my apartment grounds smells like polecat.

4. Four dogs taking their morning dump.

5. Did I mention about the lizards? Holy cow.

6. Even at 6:16 A.M. the humidity is like a heavy blanket that doesn't really like it when you try to move. Or breathe.

But I did something. And now the order of the day is to do some kind of housework and only eat my points. Luckily a knitting friend is coming over and that kind of forces me to straighten up.

Oh yes, and I have knitting content! I finally figured out what to do with my vanilla cotton-ease. I made a real honest to goodness gauge swatch (actually two of them on different needles even) and figured out some math. I'm gonna make a Florida friendly twinset. Nothing heavy or too much. Just a shapely tank with a boobholder to go over it. I'm modifying the boobholder pattern to match the shapely tank more and I'm working it all on the same needles so it looks like it goes together. Wish me luck!

And all of the sudden, life is daunting.

I made big promises to myself about tomorrow. About eating healthy, exercising, being a better housewife. Did you know I was a kept woman? I am. But I'm a bad, bad, bad housewife. Today after church my hard-working man was vacuuming my hair up in the bedroom and sorting laundry cause I don't do it right. But I digress...

Seriously though. Now I don't want tomorrow to come. I want to live in today. There's some girly beers in the fridge. And some ice cream in the freezer. And I plan on making some french fries and some fried fake chicken sandwiches for dinner. All kinds of unhealthy. The only healthy thing that might happen is that we might have canteloupe on the side. Cause it's ripe and if I waste another melon my husband might just leave me.

Also I need to decide what to do with my white cotton ease. I find myself wanting to have more of it so I could make a cute little twinset. But I don't think that's gonna happen, since it's all discontinued and crap. Bummer.

I can so hide from it. Can so.

I had a bad dream last night. All my wips used the knitting needles attached to them as scary pseudo limbs and starting crawling out of the wip basket (which is a cracked plastic laundry basket that has seen better days) and then they were marching in scary wip formation towards my bed to come and attack me and make me knit them. It was unsettling to say the least.

And I'm not sure how many times you can frog cotton ease without it disintegrating. I mean it's just not doing good things for me at all. Last night I used to cast on for the Cream Tea camisole from knitnet and this morning I frogged that and cast for the minisweater again, except resized to fit my boobs and not someone else's. Right now I am trying to think of something better to do with it.

So many wips just sitting there all forlorn. I really should get my ass off the computer and attend to them. Or at least lock them up so that they can't escape.

Finally.

The snood is completed. It took forever. It's gorgeous and it's worth it, but still. That is it on my son's head. I can't very well take a picture of the back of my own head, now can I?

In other news I have a very primal need to knit something now. And nothing in my pile is calling my name. Nothing. And I still have those 6 balls of white cotton ease and the 12 balls of knitpicks shine twist to do something with. Something summery. Something garment like. Oh man.

I picked up two balls of Moda Sassy Stripes the other day. They were on clearance and I'm gonna try to make man socks out of them. They are the "storm" colorway which is varying shades of greys.

I need something exciting to write, but my head is blank. Plus I'm annoyed at the man for the whole flower thing yesterday so I just want to piss and moan. Oh well. More later I guess.

Significance.

Monday is a significant date. It's the 2 year anniversary of meeting the man. Since I met the man, I have gained, you guessed it, a significant amount of weight. Fifty pounds of significance. I've been trying to be all healthy and count my points and all that, and I've actually lost twenty pounds, but I fell off the wagon. And um yeah, I needed to lose some before I met the man.

But folks the fat wagon is coming on Monday. Because well, it's a date with significance. And for the love of pete, it's a Monday! Diets are statistically proven to go better if you start them on a Monday. Or maybe that was the day you had the highest risk of being hit by a bus in your own front yard. But I digress...

So starting on Monday there will be little blurbs about my eating, and my exercising, and maybe some sort of really cheesy thermometer graphic with the pounds lost all lit up in red!!!! Ok, maybe a big no on the graphic. But healthiness and weight loss will abound!

I'm still working on the snood. It's much bigger. And it's very red and very beaded and very gorgeous. But by my excellent math calculations I have nine more hours of work to do. I probably should do less calculating and more snooding. Because my friend needs it in her hot little hands on Saturday. And um, I'm in sunny F-L-A and she's in well, I guess it's sunny in NY too. The pressure of a deadline.

After I get skinny, I plan to write a book on the knitting diet. How if you spend too much money on fancy fibers you will A. not have enough money for food and B. be deathly afraid to eat for fear some of those ramen noodles will get tangled up in your perfect ball of overpriced silk. It'll be a bestseller. I'll include lots of wrap patterns that will be adjustable as you get all svelte-like. It could happen.

Smallish knitting rant.

Two things.

1. Knitty is awesome. And it's free. So bitching and moaning because not every single issue has something you "must knit" is poor form. Very poor form.

2. Read the instructions. If you are using a pattern, read the instructions. All of them. That way you won't ask stupid questions (that are clearly answered in said instructions) and I won't have the overwhelming urge to hand you a dunce cap.

*Disclaimer on #2. I know folks can overlook things. But I think way too many people don't take the time to look at the pattern completely and thoroughly before asking the same question that someone else asked five days on the same damn list. I honestly wonder how some of these folks can knit at all.

And for mamma - this is a snood.

I am NOT knitting.

I am crocheting. With size 10 crochet thread (which really is thread) and a very teensy hook. But it's gorgeous. Gorgeous I tell you. It's the beginning of a snood for an online friend who needs it for a convention. I'm actually quite a bit further along than that now. I can't believe how pretty it is. It's really more of a true red, and I'm using silvery beads on every other round. But that teeny hook? I'll probably never pick it up again! :p

It's called a slump people.

A personal slump and a knitting one.

Personally: I gave up diet pepsi and diet coke. So I am now in the stronghold of the meanest caffeine/nutrasweet withdrawal headache/lethargy/vomiting mess... I feel so completely wretched. And it calls my name you know. Actually it more accurately screams for me to drink it, along with threatening more horrid side effects if I continue to deny myself the evil chemical cocktail.

We'll talk about the other crap later.

Knitting. Well this is a story that is best told in pictures....

First we have the sitcom chic. AKA give it up sister you didn't buy enough yarn and cotton ease is discontinued so they ain't getting any more at the store you cleaned out of the white. This will be frogged in the near future.



Next we have the mariposa nightmare. I still don't know what to do with the sides that don't work in the back. But here is my pathetic strap progress:



Remember the 12 skeins of knitpicks? I still can't figure out what to do with it. I cast on for the Raglan Tansy Tee, but decided I didn't like it. This also needs frogging and re-winding.



So now I need some happiness. Some instant gratification. So I head to my LYS, buy a ball of berrocco plush and make this cutie for the girlie downstairs who has a girl on the way:



After that quick knit, I get the bright idea to make the boobholder from glampyre. Sorry sweetie, one size will not fit all in this case. And I don't think I really wanna fuss with trying to figure out how to get it started, much less the math for the rest of it. Back to the frogpond.



I'm also working on a crocheted snood for a friend of mine. This is my practice snood starter. The real one will be in shiny red crochet thread with beads!



And we end our story in pictures with the only thing that makes me happy. My clapotis. The pattern is impossible to screw up and it's seven shades of gorgeous.

Are knitted garments not for me?

*sigh* and double *sigh*

Mariposa is not working. There is entirely too much fabric on the top. And the bottom is just all wonky. I haven't finished the straps yet. I may knit an "A-frame" type back panel and just stitch that in. I can't decide. I'm so disappointed.

I saw the light...

At least I thought I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I swear I saw it. Wasn't that the light?

The big pieces of mariposa are all done. And quite lovely thank you. But now I have to do the straps. The straps are done in a kind of intarsia I guess. And a total fricking pain in the ass. I got an entire inch done last night.

But today I will work harder. I will wear this top. I swear I will.

the long ugly weekend...

The weekend did not start out well. There was the scary green poop episode in the tub courtesy of my 2yo nephew on Friday. On Saturday we headed out to the blueberry festival in small town bfe. Apparently it ended at 4pm. We arrived at 3:50 pm. Not good. That night was capped off by the pineapple puke party provided by my 5yo son.

My poor husband ended up having to clean up both messes by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Which is why I did not complain as I sat in the pukey smelling jeep at 9pm on Saturday night with the boys while my husband perused the liquor store for the perfect bottle of Scotch. He deserved some Scotch. Besides, it was rolling around to Father's Day.

I did get a surprising amount of housework done though. The man washed all the laundry and I got it all put up. So today I can knit. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on Mariposa. I'm about half done with the left back panel. And after that I just have to make the straps and do the seaming and blocking. So yay.

I'm not sure what my next project will be. I need to finish my clapotis and the man socks. But I don't think sitcom chic is gonna make it. I must have not bought enough balls of yarn, and I'm thinking a shorter, lighter, lacier cardigan type jacket will be more appropriate around here.

And then we have the twelve balls of knitpicks shine twist. And since we've clearly established that Soleil is *not* an option, I'm not sure what to do with it. If you have any ideas, I'd surely appreciate them.

Kidless and forlorn...

Backstory: My church is being remodeled this summer. Therefore, there is no VBS this summer. Therefore, there will be four summer fun days, each spaced two weeks apart on Thursday.... yada, yada, yada.

Yesterday was fun day the first. Summer Splash. I packed the boys, sunscreen, chairs for the three of us, my mariposa in progress, and dropped the man off at work. Then we arrived at church at 9:30. After checking the boys in, I realized that I was supposed to leave. I'm not used to leaving. I felt suddenly very lost.

So what did I do? I went to the LYS of course. And I browsed. For two hours. Because I was broke, but the man got paid yesterday so today I can go back and buy something for my sp.

Fortunately the girlie at my LYS is very understanding and did not seem at all worried that I spent two hours fondling her yarns. I can't believe in two weeks I will have the entire morning to myself again. Strangeness.

Mariposa is coming along slowly. I'm nearly finished with the first back panel. Which means I have a whole nother back panel plus straps to do. *sigh*

Progress not perfection...

I have a couple of places I'm not perfectly happy with, but the front of my mariposa is done. And by all appearances it is actually gonna be flattering. So I'm all in my knitting happy place....



And no there's not toothpaste on my new mariposa, it's on the mirror.

Fred.

Do you know Fred? I hate Fred. For many, many years Fred was the bane of my existence. Once a month. Or more specifically for about 12-13 days of the month.

And if you are a man and for some strange reason you are reading this... Fred is the name I give my monthly visitor. Feel free to run away screaming now.

Anyhow Fred was very mean. Fred would come and drain me so badly of blood that I would have to take iron supplements. Seriously. Wearing double protection and changing that every hour or so. It was soooo bad. And during the draining or more specifically the hemorrhaging, it hurt. Like someone was just churning my insides. But I coped. I am woman. Hear me roar. And hey, I wasn't getting any. The last time I got any from my ex was the conception of my now 5.75 year old son. And we didn't get divorced until January 2003. You do the math.

But then when I met the good man (the current husband) being "incapacitated" for 12 or 13 days was not cool. So finally I visited my doctor. And since we knew that hormonal birth control did not A. prevent pregnancies* or B. stem the red tide, he suggested a handy dandy surgery. Long story short (too late!) I now have no actual Fred to speak of. Like I haven't bought anything more heavy duty than a panty liner for over a year. So yay!

But not yay. Fred is not happy that I stopped him from draining me. I think he was doing something evil with all the iron he sucked out of my body. Something dark and having to do with vampires... (or else I watch too much buffy/angel).

So now Fred punishes me in new exciting ways. Because hormonal birth control does not prevent pregnancy*, my tubes are tied. But mid "cycle" I get ovulation cramps now. WTF? I never knew there was such a thing. It's like the old days with Fred, but without the hemorrhaging. Nostalgic even.

But wait. There's more. Right before I don't bleed, Fred delivers more cramps. Like walking down the aisle at Publix drop the wheat thins and fall to your knees cramps. And no I'm not exaggerating. Scared the bejeebers out of the man.

So now the cramps come twice every 25 days. Cause I'm so blessed to have a short cycle.

I never used to have the mood swings. The crazy, everything sucks, I'm gonna bite your head off because you left your turn signal on for an extra nanosecond mood swings. But now I do. I messed with mother nature, or more specifically Fred, and he makes me pay.

I hate Fred.

*Big J is my depo-provera baby - Little J is my ortho tri-cyclen baby. And no I didn't do anything "wrong" according to the sucky birth control rules. They were just meant to be. :)

Stuff and junk...

In a fit of misplaced guilt, I decided to knit up something quick for the baby of the people who I am pretty sure don't like me. So presenting...



It's an umbilical cord hat from SnB. I worked it entirely on size 7 dpns, cause I didn't have the right size circ and I refused to spend any money. And it's knit from some Bernat Denim Style that I had picked when I first started thinking it was soft. Working on the size 7 dpns was no problem at all.

The socks are worked on size 3 dpns in the same yarn. They turned out really cute. They have a modified rib stitch pattern on them. I used some sock patterns I had, but basically made them up as I went along.

This whole set worked up in less than 6 hours. It didn't even use an entire ball. Bernat makes a pink version of the denim style as well. So I'm thinking this is my fall-back quick baby gift.

And more importantly.... secret pal stuff. This arrived on Thursday, but they had it at the office and y'all know how much I just love going to apartment office to see the mean people. But without further ado....



Look at this cute striped project bag. Totally my style. I have a good, good SP. But wait, there's more:



The bag is reversible! And it contained 12 skeins of knitpicks shine twist in romance, a gorgeous blend of pinks & purple; 3 cute knitting buttons; an i-cord making dolly; a little measuring tape dude; addi turbos in size 5 to work my shine one; and an adorable Knitters' Anonymous patch. So much fun.

Pardon me. I have no time to talk to you imaginary people, I have to go and research projects that will work with my new shine twist.

Stupid QOTD...

Is it somehow "uncool" or tragically doofus-like to be A. knitting a clapotis and B. participating in secret pal?

I've actually seen buttons out there anti both things. And then there's this whole thing where folks are all like "well I don't like to knit anything that *everyone* is knitting." WTF? If everyone is knitting it, couldn't that be because it's a nice, fun project that looks pretty?

I'm in a mood. I'm PMS'ing and the man brought home pecan pie instead of chocolate. Someone needs to check him and make sure his brain didn't fall out on the jeep ride home.

I'm having one of those days where all of my internet interactions have been of the junior high variety. And I'm pretty sure most of the folks I'm dealing with are within 5 years either way of me. Sad and pathetic.

Woo-hoo! My first tag!

MyMy MeMe! Courtesy of stacyo

Here's how it works:
Pick 5 of the following questions and then complete the sentences. Then pass it on to 3 more of your blog friends! (No tag backs allowed.)
If I could be a scientist?
If I could be a farmer?
If I could be a musician?
If I could be a doctor?
If I could be a painter?
If I could be a gardener?
If I could be a missionary?
If I could be a chef?
If I could be an architect?
If I could be a linguist?
If I could be a psychologist?
If I could be a librarian?
If I could be an athlete?
If I could be a lawyer?
If I could be an inn-keeper?
If I could be a professor?
If I could be a writer?
If I could be a llama-rider?
If I could be a bonnie pirate?
If I could be an astronaut?
If I could be a world famous blogger?
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world?
If I could be married to any current famous political figure?

Here are my choices:

If I could be a musician? I'd love to be able to sing. I can sort of carry a tune. I mean I do a mean version of the B-i-b-l-e with the 2yo's in my sunday school class. But yeah. I suck. I remember when I was a kid and I thought I was an amazingly versatile singer. That I could sound just like sting, or just like madonna, or any of them. Then I realized I just had very bad hearing.

If I could be a gardener? Dagnabbit. I forgot to water the garden again. The man is gonna crap a duck.

If I could be a chef? This I'm actually considering. Being vegetarian, going out to eat sucks. Big time. I'd want to have this amazing restaurant where all my veggie friends could eat safely (vegans too!) but everyone would wanna come just cause my food was so scrumptious!

If I could be a librarian? This is kind of one of my dream jobs too. I’ve actually considered picking up a part-time job there when both of my boys (sob-cry-sob) are back in school in the fall. I could spend days in the library. In fact, everyonce in a while, my sanity break is to leave all the guys at home and just go and be there for a few hours.

If I could be a professor? I never wanted to be a professor. But I had rampant hormonal induced dreams during college of sleeping with my professors. I had a “serious boyfriend” so I was a good girl. He was a butthead. Trust me, I married him. (And divorced him). Damn wasted opportunities.

And yay! I get to tag people. So the lucky ducks are.... Deb the Yarner, Chicklit, and TabbyTuxedo.

Diets suck.

Food diets AND yarn diets. The food diet is because you guessed it, I'm fat. The yarn diet is because the man and I have been kind of spending way too much money on things that aren't essential. Me at the yarn stores, him at Harbor Freight. I guess it's his yarn store equivalent. I think it smells funny. But men all seem to love it. So there.

The good news about my yarn diet (if there can be any) is that it comes right after a yarn binge. And I have enough projects to last me a long good while. A very long good while.

Right now I am actively working on too many things. Such as sitcom chic.



I think it will be nice. I'm only having one eensy beensy problem. The curly needles. I did the whole "soak 'em in boiling water" trick. But once I got yarn on them they curled right back up. I'm gonna work the project off onto a pair of size 8 straights and see if I can make them not so curly. Cause they are giving me gas.

Mariposa & Sitcom Chic

BLOG QUESTION? Does anyone else have the HTML progress bars like I do? Sometimes they show up fine, but sometimes the bars cover my face. Maybe it always look fine to the rest of the world? I don't know.

I cast on for Mariposa Friday night.



I'm doing it in the recommended microspun, but in melon with fuschia edging. I've given up on soleil. Anyone wanna swap for or buy 8 balls of Endless Summer Sonata in mauve? *sigh*

I also bought 7 balls of Cotton Ease in white for my sitcom chic. I'm hoping that will be the perfect little sweater to throw over sundresses for church. I hope. We'll see I guess. $28 isn't too bad for the yarn for that though.

Mariposa makes me very happy. Know why? Because I get to make the medium (Duchess) size. It just tickles me. So much nicer than making the 2xl size of everything else.

Holy moly....

Well Soleil has been put out to pasture again. I don't know what my damage is, but I just can't seem to get it going. I had all three lace rounds done and was working on the make-one increases and made eyelets instead. Grrr.... So I recast on and screwed it up again. And again. And again.

I'm considering swapping the stupid yarn and getting it out of my sight. Like I've said before, it's giving me gas.

I cast on last night for Mariposa. I'm hoping that project works better for me. Honestly. I'm doing it in microspun in melon with fuscia as the CC. Right now I've just cast on and started the seed stitch for the bottom border.

Today is my husband's company picnic at a waterpark. Yeah. So I get to go swimming with his bosses. Won't that be fun? Actually I picked up a new striped tank suit with some matching swim shorts so I look semi decent. The suit makes a nice shelf for the girls so maybe that will distract from my tree trunk legs... lol. Oh well.

Issues

You want issues? I got 'em. But let's stick to the knitting issues for right now.

I'm still working on Clapotis and I'm about half done. Yay.

But I'm about a third done with man socks now, which are coming out awesome btw.

And then last night I decided to cast on for Soleil. One lace repeat down.

I am a knitting slut. I jump from project to project.

If she only had an attention span....

I have a notoriously short attention span. It's like I'm doing something A, and then ding-dong, that little inner doorbell rings and I realize that I would much rather do something B. Or I'm walking through my livingroom on my way to the office to do something and I totally forget and plunk down on the couch to watch a Buffy rerun. But then a commercial comes on and I go to the boys' room to fold some clothes.

Flylady says this is why I have a messy house. She says that I have to fight that urge to flit from thing to thing to thing to thing... Well you get the picture. She says the timer is my friend. And that I can stick to anything for 15 minutes.She's kind of right. If I apply her principles I get things done. But dangit, you have to pay attention to have the stick-to-it-ness to even get started applying the stupid principles.

Wait. Why was I typing about my short attention span? Oh yes. I was in love with my Clapotis. I had dropped everything else to work on it. But then I cleaned up my knitting corner. And realized that I really wanted to start on the man socks. So I did. I'm hopeless you know.

Warning: Lots of whining in this next section!

In other news the baby came. The dad called us. But that was because my stupid husband left a msg yesterday on behalf of an out of town friend to find out how things were. Did he not understand that we weren't supposed to call them? Now, I know there is a baby, that the baby is definitely a boy, and now I have to spend money. Or else whip up stupid baby socks or something. I don't know. This whole situation is still giving me gas.

And right now, being in this city, and not having to work, and getting to stay home is *not* wonderful. We're broke. And the friends that he grew up that I thought were so wonderful? Not so wonderful. Either that or I'm just hateful. Let's recap. Not invited to the baby shower by Friend A. Friend B only calls me when she needs me to watch her kids. Friend C now has figured out that hey, she can also call me when she needs a babysitter and no time else. Friend D lives 5 minutes from us and we haven't even had lunch with them. Friend E we had lunch with once when we moved here and then nada.

I joined a bible study at church. Not feeling the connection there with these ladies. I was really hoping to find some friends. The lady at my LYS is so sweet. But I'm not sure if she's sweet cause she really likes me, or just because I spend so much money with her. I haven't really clicked with anyone I've met at SnB. Although I've only been to a few. I don't know.

So that leaves me with my sister. Who I love, and who is a wonderful friend. But that's it. One year in this city and I have one friend. One who *has* to be friends with me or my mom will yell at her. End of story morning glory.

For the meantime... in between time...

I updated my sidebar with cute pics of all my WIP's, my FO's, and the projects just sitting there in my stash all forlorn-like. I'm gonna make a nifty page, but right now this is whatcha got. Here's a nifty review:

My passion right now is my clapotis. Being worked on lantern moon 8's with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Watercolors.

These gator mittens are a labor of love for my boys. Worked in different acrylics on size 5 and 7 dpns. This pattern is from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. Notice on the snout of the later gator mitten how I used to purl before I learned properly. Um yeah, I need to whoop it up on those. My boys have been waiting for those forever!

This was bought long ago and far away at my first trip to my beloved LYS KnitWitz. It's just a simple garter stitch scarf worked in Splash fun fur on size 13's. But it's a bitch to knit. I had to frog the entire thing because I had subtracted and added so many frigging stitches.

This is my very first completed sock. From the book Knit Socks! the Starter Stockinette pattern worked on size 3 dpns in Cascade 220. This was very easy with the good instructions and pretty fun.

Soleil -I have started and frogged many, many times. But I’m still gonna do it. It will be worked in Elann Endless Summer Sonata in Mauve, on Addi turbos size six.

The man has been pining for socks. Now that I made a successful sock, I think I’m gonna jump ship on the first pair and start on these dress socks for him. The heavy ones won’t be useful for me for a while. And I’m hoping he will love these. Size one dpns and Opal fingering weight 100% wool superwash.

These are all the things I’ve finished since I started knitting around the first of the year, give or take….

Orange & Pink Booga Bag - fun and easy. I liked this one even better than the Noro version. Worked in Peace Fleece on 10.5 circular and dpns. Pattern here.

Knitty’s Branching Out - beautiful and fun. My first lace project was a Mother’s Day gift for my Mom, who loved it. For first-time lace makers though, don’t choose Rowan KidSilk Haze like I did. Choose something more froggable. Of course the beauty of this is the reason I’m working on a lace scarf of my own design. Stay tuned for that!

Sophie - Fun and easy. This is by the booga lady who designs cute bags. Done in peace fleece. Personally I think you need at least a skein and a quarter of this for the pattern, whether you use peace fleece or Cascade 220.

Booga Bag - Done in Noro Kureyon #95. Only took maybe 2 and a quarter skeins. Cute, but not as sturdy as my peace fleece version, and pilling very badly.

Messenger Bag - for my sister. Based loosely on the Meema tote from Stitch ‘N Bitch. Not my favorite project.

Meema Tote - Besides the evil marsupial pouch, this was fun. I carry it around all the time and always get compliments. Also made in (you guessed it!) Peace Fleece. I loves me some Peace Fleece!

Baby Hat - Done in Red Heart baby clouds. Cute but now I wish had done something snazzier for the baby who received it.

Baby Blankie - Matching blanket in same yarn. Using the pattern off the wall at Michael’s. This and the hat were my very first FO’s.

I'm a trendy girl!

I find myself drawn to the same patterns that *everyone* else is doing. All the cool knitters are doing it. You know you wanna to!

*Sigh* And here I was priding myself on the fact that at the ripe old age of 32, I was finally starting to carve out a self identity. Nope. I'm a follower.

So in that spirit, we present, yep, you guessed it, clapotis.



I'm working it on the recommended size 8's (my overpriced lantern moons), in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Watercolors. The yarn is a sport weight of course, so it's making for a lighter, slightly airier clapotis than the others that I've seen. But hello. I live in Florida. I don't need a parka.

The yarn however, is a dream. It dropped the stitches perfectly, and it's soft and wonderful and beautiful. I ended up with some pooling in section one, but I'm not worried about it. I figure it will be much less obvious once all the stitches are dropped.

I need to go listen to some obscure Indie rock so that I don't feel so clique-ish and dirty.

Completed Striped Booga

This was made in Peace Fleece - Perestroika Pink and Firebird Orange. Less than one skein of each. And at my LYS Peace Fleece is only $6.50 a hank, so this is a nice inexpensive bag. I used the free Booga Bag pattern from Black Sheep bags and the random stripe generator found here.

With a measuring tape for reference.



And all done up!

One down, a million to go...

My pink & orange striped booga bag is blocking. So yay.

But apparently this led my husband to believe that I spend all my time knitting and none of my time properly organizing his socks. No. Don't laugh. I'm serious. Apparently he arranges his socks in his drawer. Dividing them into long white socks, short white socks, and dress socks. And he was actually having quite the sh*t-fit this morning because his short and long white socks were mixed up. And it took him three entire extra seconds to find a pair of long white socks. Cause you can't wear short white socks with high top Docs to work. *sigh*

So today instead of knitting I have to make some things around the house extra shiny so that he will shut the eff up.

Not knitting - Fruit!

Were you aware that there is a gray area concerning the line between a fruit and a vegetable? I was not. I mean there's that whole tomato thing, but I thought everything else was pretty clearly defined.

Not so.

True conversation in bed last night. Keep in mind that I truly believe my husband thought he was getting some.

Him: Did you notice the squash is flowering?
Me: Yeah. Wait. I thought only fruits flowered.
Him: Nope.
Me: Tomatoes flower. What's the difference between a fruit and vegetable again?
Him: Name a fruit.
Me: Tomato
Him: Name a fruit that isn't in the gray area.
Me: Strawberry.

And this is where my husband lost his mind. Apparently strawberries are in the gray area. And me choosing tomatoes and then strawberries was me being contentious, hateful, and taking the whole fruit/vegetable debate to a "personal level". (In his defense I did call him crazy for suggesting that a strawberry was not clearly a fruit). I begged him to drop it. You would not believe the ramblings the man made about strawberries, tomatoes, personal fruit & vegetable attacks, and something about vines and trees. Which I totally could not hear cause I was laughing so hard. Which just pissed off my crazy husband even more. Finally I told him to shut up. But no.... he just kept going. So this is the reason why:

A. I slept on the couch last night and

B. I didn't speak to my husband this morning. I figured if he talked I would laugh and then I would be in more trouble.

FO-palooza!

Yes, I do realize that it's so out of date to call anything a "palooza" but that's exactly what I'm shooting for. I have a bunch of stuff in my pile that just needs to be finished. So I will finish it. I will finish (or frog if necessary) all the half-done stuff in my pile(s).

But not the blanket. I am not knitting a blanket for people who apparently don't like me. Backstory: My husband has three "best" friends. One is female and I get along with her (and her husband and kids) just fine. Two are male. Midwestern male best friend is ok, nice enough, and has a nice wife and cute kids. No prob Bob. Local male seems to like me. But I could be wrong. I like his wife. At least, I thought I did. They invited us to stuff. My husband has had these same friends for like 25 years. I don't know. They were supposed to come and play cards about a month ago. But they called off. I've been to busy to reschedule re-inviting them to play cards. Geez. But this whole baby thing is quite upsetting. I asked the man if he minded if I shirked off on the blanket. He said no. He understood. I knitted a blanket for the new baby for Midwestern male. And a hat. I think they just don't like me. Which sucks. Because it's my husbands good friends. But I'm sorry. I'm not gonna slave over this blanket and grit my teeth on every stitch for a baby I might not see til it's two. I told the man if and when they call us regarding the new baby we'll just buy something. But I ain't holding my breath for that.

So stay tuned. Soon there will be a veritable plethora of FO's for your viewing pleasure! (Is plethora better or worse than palooza?)

The crappy realization...

So I'm slaving away on this beautiful two-toned sage green big bad baby blanket for some "friends" of ours. The baby is due in like two weeks. And I'm way behind. But then I realize I wasn't invited to the baby shower anyhow. So yeah. I'm re-thinking that whole present. *sigh*

For your amusement...

So I'm a vegetarian. In case you were wondering. Now I know you weren't, but it does give me some good story material. My husband is a vegetarian, and so are my kids. And for the record...

MY KIDS ARE NOT MALNOURISHED!

Sorry to shout, but I get that a lot. Since we went veggie over a year ago I have carefully weighed and measured my sons (5 & 6) to make sure they didn't magically stop growing since we went veggie. They didn't. And they eat healthier than any McDonald munching, lunchable for lunch every single day kid you'll ever meet. But one time, a room mother told me that big J (my kindergartner) bites his nails. (Um, yeah, I know that. It's a terrible habit, he got it from me.) But then she went on to let me know that he bit his nails due to a dietary deficiency (wtf?) and that it was most certainly because we were vegetarian. Um, yeah. Sure. (And of course I came home and looked it up and even called my doctor who actually laughed me off the phone.) But it's not true. No one bites their nails because they are vegetarian.

Wait. There was a funny part to this story. When we were newbie veggies we headed out to the only place in our former hometown where we could get strange vegetarian food. Trader Joes. And we loaded up our cart with all sorts of interesting sounding vegetarian goodies. (Most of which taste like ass btw - you live and you learn.) And we come to the chip aisle. Now my boys love pirates. They have pirate playsets, and pirate hats, and the whole shebang. So I spy something. Something cute. Something that certainly my boys will get a kick out of.



Trader Joes was packed that day. In fact just seconds earlier I ran into a couple of reporters from the paper that I used to work at. It was loud and it was bustling. And I say to my sons, "Hey boys! Check this out! You wanna get some Pirate's Booty?" And that's when it happened. For some unknown reason a hush fell over the store. A hush that did not extend to my younger son, who was four at the time.

"MOMMY! WHY WOULD YOU FEED US A PIRATE'S BUTT?"

I'm pretty sure it showed up in the next day's paper under the heading of "Seen and Overheard". I was afraid to look.

Sock success!

Ok, so I only just finished the ribbing, but I am feeling pretty darn confident. And working with Cascade 220 is a dream, even on the size 3 needles.

I have 300 other projects I need to do, but I seem to have new-itis. The newest project is the most exciting!

m-i-c-k-e-y m-o-u-s-e

This past weekend was Disney. It was amazingly fun. And if anyone wants a rec for the perfect weekend to go, pick Mother's Day. No lines and great weather. Perfect I tell ya!

I didn't get much done on the Big Bad Baby Blanket on the trip. I had to frog it awhile back and the seed stitch made me carsick for some reason. Who knows.

I swear that I am gonna get this sock thing. I bought the Knit Socks book and the yarn to make the Starter Stockinette socks. Wish me luck!



In other news, I feel the need to make myself a cute button. And to be amusing enough that folks A. read me and B. steal my button! So I'll be back when I'm button loaded and more fun. :p

Gratuitous Booty Pictures...

Trust me when I assure you that you don't wanna see my bum. No these are booty, as in loot pictures.

First off the beautiful glass marbley magnet thingies....



And then the rest of my loot!



I'm pretty darn sure I have the best Secret Pal ever. Plus, the travel mag she got me has Disney tips. And of course we're headed there this weekend. So yay!

I'm getting ready to go take a nice long bubble bath and read my new book! Thanks SP!

I feel so relieved...

Now that she's finally done, blocked and ready to go.



The boys were fighting this morning over who go to wear it for the picture. My baby looks like my baby (5) in his incredible pajamas. But my 6yo looks way too old in that picture. He's getting too big too fast.

The boys painted a treasure chest and a birdhouse that we're sending off to my mom as well. I miss my mom. Something terrible. And in other news...

Curly? Curly wood? You don't say.

Yesterday I was sitting in the car line at school. By the way, I get some of my best knitting done in car line. Stuck in a car, not moving, nothing to do. It's good times. Anyhow, I'm working on the very last repeat of my branching out when I feel a gentle "plop" on my lap. Plop? What the heck? What in the world could be plopping on my lap? And I can't see through the haze of the kidsilk....

Now this all happened very quickly, but in my mind it was that painful sort of slow motion. Oh no. It's a bug. A big bug. Maybe one of those bugs that Florida people say aren't roaches, but they really are and it's on me and if I jump out of the car like a freaking maniac, all of the other moms are gonna talk about me. Big time.

So I take a deep breath, part the curtain of kidsilk haze and peer down into my lap. It's not a bug. It's worse. Way worse.

It's a three inch piece that has broken off the end of my Lantern Moon Needles. The needles I paid $20 for without blinking an eye because they work so well on the kidsilk haze.

And that gentle readers, is when I started to cry.

And my windows were open so damn it all, the other moms are gonna talk about me regardless.

The bright side is my LYS. I took the needles in and showed her. She said it was made of funny "curly wood" and that she had another pair that she had to exchange with Lantern Moon. She handed me a new pair (made of straight wood?) and sent me on my way.

And as you can see, the scarf is gorgeous and finished.

The End.

Bite me baby.

Actually the design bug has bitten me. The designing my own knitting type things. It's slightly frightening since I've been knitting for like what, 3 1/2 months or so?

But I'm kind of disappointed in the types of plus-size knitted garment patterns available and I'm thinking - damn, I can do better right? Right?

Which leads me to the current project - branching out. I'm almost done. And it's completely beautiful. It has an ethereal feeling to it. Gorgeous I tell you. You've seen the pretty green scarf. Today it will be finished, blocked and then tomorrow packed up and sent to my mama in Ohio.

But I bought another ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. In candy girl, which is this awesome burgundy/magenta/fuschia color that I have good intentions to take a picture of. To make some sort of fun and lovely scarf for myself. But I don't wanna do the branching out pattern again. I have a book from the library, with some lovely lace patterns. So I think I'm gonna pick one, modify it, and make myself a scarf pattern. And then maybe I will post my free pattern on my blog or somesuch. And other people will think it's so gorgeous that they will make it and post pictures on their blog and I'll be pseudo famous and....

I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to go finish my mama's scarf.

In other news I think I've been sleepwalking. And doing strange things. More on that later.

Blessed progress...

There is a mistake, near the top. But frogging this Rowan KSH is a nightmare, so I'm pretending it isn't there. I have nine repeats done, out of a suggested 36. So I'm about 25% done. I really need to send it on Thursday at the latest, so I need to buckle down. But it's gorgeous, no?

Pardon me while I ramble...

I signed up for SP4. I am having a great experience. I repeat, no troubles here. I've heard from my SP quite a few times, and I'm doing my darndest to be a good SP to my girlie. Already sent a mini-pkg even. I'll probably shop for her today.

But all across the net I hear the tales. The tales of the bad SP's. The ones who never sent their girly a darn thing. Or the ones who get amazing things but still go all "my SP sucks" on the boards. Also, I'm a little concerned at the amount of "neediness" evidenced. I feel like I should start keeping track of all of the contact I initiate with my girly to make sure I'm not sub-par.

Who knew SP could cause so much angst? Angst I tell ya.

RIP Soleil

I had to frog it. Again. For about the 27th time. I'm gonna start making hashmarks in my arm each time I frog it. Honestly. I'm not gonna pick it up again for awhile. I'm partway into branching out and that's for my mama. I really need to hunker down and finish that up over the weekend.

Isn't she lovely?

My first two repeats of the lace in my soleil. Notice the uniform stitches. Notice the lack of crazy curling edges. I think I'm finally doing this right.

And in the oh my goodness what was I thinking category....



This is the first repeat of the lace for branching out. I think I like lace. I think I completely hate Rowan Kidsilk Haze. But that might just be me. I bought the peace fleece joint venture needles to work on this. Don't repeat my mistake! The tips of those needles are just too blunt. For anything. I tried sharpening and waxing them. Still no luck. So I went back to my LYS and picked up a pair of Lantern moon needles. Oh my goodness. They were so expensive. Anyone know of lace patterns that I can work on these size 8's? I need to get my money's worth out of these.

Denial is the first stage...

I don't have a problem. I'm not addicted to the knittyboard. Not at all. If I was addicted, truly addicted, could I have left the house this morning and spent an entire afternoon at the park having a picnic with my son, my sister and my nephew?? No way!

But now that I'm home.... Well knittyboard is down. And I'm feeling all lost and bereft. But it's NOT an addiction.

a smallish whine

When I created this blog, I signed up to join the knittyheads. I'm decently savvy when it comes to computers/web stuff, so I'm pretty darn sure I did it right. I waited a month. Nothing. The queue over there seems to turn over pretty quickly. I've had the code on here the whole time. So I resubmitted. A little less than a week ago. So I'm waiting. I hate to bother the ringmistress, and I'm trying to be patient. But then I think maybe I'm just denied for some odd reason, like I posted something wrong or I don't know.

If you are a part of the knittyheads, do you happen to remember how long it took her to add you?

Sweet Memories

It was beautiful while it lasted, wasn't it? I frogged it. It being soleil. The whole damn thing. Yes I said damn. I found a hole last night. And then another. And then another. And then I knew about one mistake in the lace I was *choosing* to ignore. But then I found a couple more. Plus I think I cast on too tight and the edges weren't ever gonna "un-curl". *sigh*

So now we have a very misshapen ball of endless summer sonata mauve (which is not really mauve but periwinkle) sitting in my project bag. It's quite depressing.

Also winding up all the frogged yarn made my left wrist hurt something fierce.

What other WIPS do I have?

The striped booga - about 30% done.
Later Gator Mittens - one mitten done, but not connected or decorated. 40%
Thick man's socks - about 20% done. Only down to the heel on the 1st sock.
Man's dress socks - about 5% done. Still working on the cuff for that.

Things I need to do:

Baby present for baby boy S. who will arrive near the end of May. Thinking a big bad blanket in Encore still.

Queen of Hearts bikini for skinny friend D.

And sigh of all sighs, I guess I need to recast on for Soleil.

Grab that WIP!

I know. Everyone has used devo with the whole WIP thing. It's early. Gimme a break.

Soleil is coming along, if slowly. I'm about 2/3 done with the decrease rounds. And then it will be back to increasing. It's just slow going.



So I've been cheating on poor soleil. With another booga bag. This one is made up of leftover orange & hot pink from my meema. It's for the teeny girl who helps out at Sunday school. She's a sweetie. The stripes will be variegated, although you really can't tell at this point.



There is a baby boy coming near the end of May. So I need to get my bootay in gear and make up a baby blanket or somesuch for him. I can't decide what at this point. I was thinking of making up the Big Bad Baby Blanket from SnB. They use two strands though, and I'm leaning towards making it with one strand. Maybe out of plymouth encore.

ahhh sweet relief...

After too many mis-starts to count, soleil is finally progressing. I have finished an entire round of lace. I put stitch markers every ten so that I can't mess up.

Things I've done wrong so far:
1. Cast on so tight it made my fingers hurt.
2. Twisted my join
3. Forgot to knit the first row before the lace
4. Twisted my join again

And other various mistakes.

Here is my gorgeous yarn from Elann. They call it mauve, but it's truly a periwinkle.



And here is the first round of lace.



And a detail of the lace and my nifty drinking straw stitch markers!

Socks and me are unmixy things.

Just so you know. I tried to work some in woolease on 5 dpns for practice. Nope. Not happening. I thought maybe trying them with such a splitty, cheap-ass yarn was the problem. So I sucked it up, bought the opal and the recommended 1's. I cast on, knitted some k2p2 ribbing and frogged I think a total of 5 times. Bad times.

Ugh. My beloved man really wants socks. So I went to the not-so local yarn store and got #2 dpns. I eyed their regia stock, but there were no "manly" colors. I bought a regia simple sock pattern, since regia & opal are supposed to be interchangeable. I also bought the #10.5 dpns that I need to do i-cord.

The not so local yarn store was interesting. They had a wall of hand dyed stuff that ran about $25-35 per skein. Ouchie-wa-wa. They had a massive, and I do mean massive stock of novelty yarns. I remember reading somewhere that rich people like novelty yarns. This is one of the ritzy beach communities aways north. I'm starting to believe that rich people really do only buy novelty yarn. She also had a lot of sirdar, and tons of different suedes and dks. Nothing I was interested in. She carried lamb's pride, but her stock was seriously depleted. I might go back to get the encore colorspun and use it to make the Big Bad Baby Blanket in SnB though.

In other news right outside her store John Travolta was filming a movie. I've always crushed on him. Not enough to stand around and wait for a glimpse, but still. Besides my 3 guys were waiting for me. Sure would have been cool though.

We're S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G, we're shopping!

No one remembers the Pet Shop Boys but me. *sigh*

Lookie, I have pictures!!!

Sophie unfelted, and rather floppy....



A close-up of the prettiness that is peace fleece....



I hope she keeps the nice "raspberry" flecks after she's been felted. This bag is so cute already!

I went to two yarn stores today. Ok, so there's only two in town, but who the heck is counting? Look at what I bought....



I bought the addi turbos at the first shop. They are for my soleil!!!! I was also gonna buy some variegated regia sock yarn, but the girly was kind of strange about it. I felt like she was trying to sell me everything she had in stock. I also had a crochet hook and some 10.5 dpns (cause I think I might be addicted to sophie and booga). After she gave the heebies, I put everything back but the addis. My favorite LYS doesn't sell addis.

So I scootched on down the road to my favorite place and alas, she did not have 10.5 dpns. So I guess patience is a virtue? *sigh* I got a lovely wooden crochet hook for my soleil which is not in the picture. Crap if I didn't leave it in my sister's car! But I got my size 1 dpns to make my beloved man socks. As well as the lovely green opal sock yarn. Wish me luck. The color doesn't look quite right on my monitor to me. It's kind of a cross between olive and forest green. It will match lots of his clothes.

Now I'm off in search of a zippered pillowcase.

cue the pointer sisters...

Singing "I'm so excited!" Stage left please.

After much anticipation, the new Spring knitty is up. I've been on the hunt for a pattern to do for myself. A tank or a summer sweater. And I have found it.

Soleil. Yes, I realize that she named it that probably because it was yellow. I can't wear yellow. Yellow makes me turn funny colors. I have nothing against yellow. But I think in a former life I must have sullied yellow's good name, because yellow does bad things to me. So....

I will be making the beautiful Soleil in the recommended Elann yarn in mauve. My first online yarn order. I almost ordered the needles as well, but I have a pair of the clovers in size 10.5 that I need to return to Jo-Ann's so I'll just exchange me thinks.

This is not gonna get my husband a pair of socks anytime soon.

This is what I get for being cheap.

I found a free pattern for basic socks with a ribbed cuff worked in woolease. So I was happy. Figured it would be a good practice pair, cause my hubby wants some so badly. So I'm practicing right? But now after working 6 inches of the leg part and halfway through the heel flap I realize the directions I am using are seriously flawed. They are unclear and missing important steps. I found some help by referencing a pattern from diynetwork.com. But now I have to frog the stupid thing. Woolease splits awfully easily and I can't seem to get the stitches back on the needle. Grrrrrr.....

Do you wanna knuckle sammich?

My knuckle hurts. The one on my index finger on my right hand. From knitting. Arrgggh!

So I'm still working on Sophie, but it's slow going, cause, yeah, my knuckle hurts. Also it's after 10 and I'm still in my robe. DST is kicking my ass.

My husband is just pining for some socks. So I got to get to work on that. Seriously.

In other news, I was in a craft shop the other day. And I saw a book of patterns that I was flipping through. And one in the bag (a little evening bag) looked strangely familiar. It was a pattern that the teacher at my first (and only) knitting class had passed out in class. Isn't that illegal? It was photocopies. With no note as to where it came from. In fact, she claimed it was her very own pattern. Now the book said otherwise. And her pages came from the book. So unless there is some wierd pattern property rights thing going on where the teacher lady designed it and someone stole it from her, printed it, and said they designed it and the teacher lady is just printing out copies aka stealing it out of principal.... Well you get the gist. My teacher was a big fat liar.

My very first SnB....

...was yesterday. It was supposed to be at a local coffeshop, but it wasn't open yet. So we went to Starbucks. I drank a caramel frapuccino and spent the rest of the day in super hype mode. Coffee and me are unmixy things.

I worked on my sophie bag and talked too much and ended up having to frog like 2 inches of it. Very embarassing.

I can't decide whether to try to knit myself clothes. I'm a big, big girl. Who is trying to not be. I've lost about 15 lbs. on WW so far. But I need to lose oh say about 90 more. Yes, you read that right. 90. So I kinda sorta wanna knit myself a pretty tank for the summer. But then what? If I lose all the weight I want, I'll frog it and use the yarn to make a smaller tank and a matching cardigan (or at least a matching capelet???). I don't know. Garment knitting seems so complicated for something I truly intend to not be able to wear a year from now.

But how many purses can one girl knit?

I've been flashed!

By all the stash flashers! Oh my goodness. It makes me wanna go out and buy things. But I must focus. And not get all crazy with this. Or I'll be lost and in the poorhouse. Do they still have debtor's prison?

One later gator mitten is almost done. All I need to do is the french knot teeth, attach the eyes, and then put it all together. I've made it out of very squeaky acrylic, but I think it will wear well as the puppet it is intended to be. Hopefully the second one will go much faster. I was thinking that if I did the ribbed cuff in Florida colors that it was make cute prezzies for all of the alumni I know. But it didn't work super fast to be honest. All I really need is two. One for each boy-o.

I have finally decided what to make out of my blue peace fleece. I had bought it to make another meema, but I think I'm gonna make a sophie bag instead. It's a beautiful blue that tends to periwinkle and it has hot pink flecks in it. So I think it will be perfect.

Also my husband really wants socks. Badly. He needs to feel the knitted love I think. So if anyone knows of an easy beginner sock pattern that would be nice and manly.... send it my general direction!