Stumbling through the starting blocks.

Well I've cast on and gotten a couple rows done of my bag... unfortunately, it's not turning out as nicely as I'd hoped. I'm going to frog it and restart. I will make the stripes slightly more narrow, and make the bag a little smaller proportionally. I just did a few rows of Alex's sweater to restablish my bearings, and will take a pic of what I did so far before I frog it all. In the spirit of the Knitter's Pledge that Stephanie posted today, I will continue on, and not get discouraged.

Here is the pledge, borrowed {without permission!} from Yarn Harlot's site:

The Knitting Olympics Athletes Pledge
I, a knitter of able hands and quick wits, to hereby swear that over the course of these Olympics I will uphold the highest standard of knitterly excellence.
I will be deft of hand and sure of pattern, I will overcome troubles of yarn overs and misplaced decreases. I will use the gifts of intelligence and persistence (as well as caffeine and chocolate) and I will execute my art to the highest form, carrying with me the hope for excellence known to every knitter.
I strive to win. To do my best, and to approach the needles with my own best effort in mind, without comparing myself to my fellow knitters, for they have challenges unique to them.
While I engage in this pursuit of excellence and my own personal, individual best, I also swear that I will continue to engage with my family in conversation, care for my pets, speak kindly with those who would ask me to do something other than knit, and above all, above every stitch thrown or picked, above every cable, every heel stitch, every change of colour, I swear this:
That I will remember that this is not the real Olympics, that I'm supposed to be having fun and that my happiness and self-worth ride not on my success....
but on my trying.

Getting down to the wire here.

Well I just finished binding off the last knit stitches on my Skacel pinwheel sweater... YAY!!! I still have most of the seaming and ends to do, and I want to finish off the bottom edge better... but technically, it's basically done! This thing weighs a ton, and I couldn't wait to finish off the neck. It was a PITA of the worst degree to turn it around as I worked on the cowl!

Final decision on the HBC Booger won't be made until I consult with my guru tomorrow, but I'm leaning more and more towards actually going ahead with it all.

Getting ready to call in the farm team...

Well as I write this, I'm waiting for the swatches to come upstairs. They've been through the washer four times now, and if it's not felted by now, I'm afraid it won't felt at all. I may have to change events at the last minute. I've been wracking my brain since last night to try and figure out what I have here that would qualify as an event. There's the silk waves scarf... but I don't think that even that pattern would be *that* much of a challenge for 16 days. Everything else I have on hand is already started. I had my heart set on the HBC Booger, and I *will* make it... I just don't have the $50+ for different wool until at least the 21st. I'm heartbroken. Earlier today it hit me, I can do Lissa's cabled poncho as a replacement event. It's working with a difficult yarn {I'm assuming}. It's quite a bit of knitting for me for 16 days. It's got cables which I haven't done yet.

and the verdict is...

hung jury. I'll take a pic right away, but I still wouldn't declare it felted. It *is* beginning to start the felting process, so I have a few rays of hope here. There are so many variables involved, and I think that those were going against me today. The loads of laundry I had them in were regular sized loads, so between that, and the small size of the swatches, they may not have gotten the agitation they needed. Even though our hot water tank is very hot, I could add a few kettlefuls of boiling water to make it that much hotter. A little less soap, and a lot less clothes {a couple of towels tops}, and I just may have felt with a bigger amount going into the pillowcover. After this washing, the two swatches are close to the same size now. Not the big difference they had after washing #1 and washing #2. Even the cream Patons is beginning to felt, and it *has* to be bleached with how light it is.

Shrunk, but no felt yet.

The photo on the left is the one I took before the first cycle. The one on the right is the one I took after. You can see that they have shrunk a bit, but there's no felting in sight yet... still nervous here.

A-swatching I will go!

Dangit... blogger won't let me upload photos right now, but I got the swatches done as soon as I woke up this morning. They are in the washer, and I'm having a heck of a time trying to type with my fingers crossed! They are about 3x3 each, and I'm really hoping they will felt. I will post the before and after photos later on today. I did some searching at Ram's, and the only logical replacement for all this would be their Selkirk Wool. Since I'd need about 8 skiens, I'm looking at over $50 to do this... with no guarantees about felting either, since the natural white looks like it may have been bleached as well. I'm just heartbroken. I do have a back-up project, Lissa's cabled poncho, that I can do... but I've got my heart set on the Booger, so anything else just won't be as satisfying.

Countdown to Friday morning

Well I got some done on my pinwheel sweater today. I'm now less than 7 rounds of neckline away from being done the knitting. I still have the seams to do, and I think I'm going to add a round of slip stitch or single crochet around the bottom to neaten up the sloppy {IMO} way the designer had the shaping. This sweater is going to be gorgeous, but personally I'd never make another. There's so many things that could have been done slightly different to make this project more professional looking... such as not having such a sloppy bottom edge. Of course that's just my 2¢ CAD, and we all know that's worth next to nothing with the world exchange rates. Overall, I guess I'd have to say I'm disappointed in it because after investing so much time and money into this sweater, it's not pleasing me as much as the picture in the ad had enticed me.

Knitting Olympics Update

There was a comment today on my post to Team Canada about Peer Gynt behaving more like a superwash wool. Since I'm doing tons of laundry to try and keep up {pitifully} with Derek's cleaning efforts this week, I'll bite the bullet and knit up a small swatch of the yellow wool and try to felt it in one of the loads of laundry tomorrow. If it doesn't felt at all, then I'll have to hit Ram's on Friday morning. If they have no substitute at all, then I'll just use a smaller needle for a thicker fabric and try to felt the cream wool a bit to make it less stretchy. Wish me luck... this is not what I needed to hear less than 48 hours before cast on!

Busy, busy, busy!

Well it's official now, I'm a "sanctioned" member of Team Canada. I even got my best friend, Lyz, talked into joining up! I've been extremely busy the last few days getting things ready for the 16 day marathon. On Sunday, I got the girls to help me divide the last two balls of the Peer Gynt, so all that's left to do to prepare for the KO opening ceremonies is assemble my needles and the scrap yarn for the cast-on. I'll take a pic of it all on Friday morning after work before I cast on. I would use the cool yellow wicker basket I bought on Saturday for its WIPtainer, but this has to go with me everywhere for 2 weeks, so into the Payless tote it goes. Unless I find the spike tote in time... it would be nice to use a tote a made myself! Can you tell that I can't wait for Friday morning?

Some finished, or nearly so...

On Saturday morning I finished the poncho I had been working on for Lissa, which she proudly proclaimed as being "cutie"! I'll have to take a picture of it and let you all decide what is more adorable, the poncho or the sweetie in it. Today, I got the ends woven in on quite a few FOs that I had lying around, including the dreaded Eye Lash kerchief. I *still* haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do with it! I'm pretty sure it's going to Lissa, but not sure if it will be for her or a "Bah-bee". I did discover that bouclé is nastier to weave in ends on than it is to knit or even crochet with! Derek helped me to frog the HP scarf on Sunday, so that's another UFO on the extinct list. I've decided that the frogged balls of yarn are going to become hats and scarves for the Parent Centre at the school. The pinwheel sweater is getting closer and closer to being done in time too. I'm now starting the top and bottom shaping for the back, which leaves the seaming and the cowl neck to do next. I really want to have that for my SnB on the 21st, and maybe even the "Felting Show & Tell" at Ram's on the 18th. Once the sweater is done, then I need to count rows on Derek's socks so that I can note that on the pattern itself and get working on the heel for sock #2. I might even get adventurous and frog the Kroy sock... YA RIGHT!!! I might as well say that I'm going to get the Eye Lash cowl done before too!

Some started, or nearly so...

Of course I had to start some projects too... if for no other reason than to test out the new Denise's... which are totally fab BTW!!! I frogged Alex's scrunchable scarf and cast on a small HP for him. On Saturday I discovered that there was a shorter cable that I could have used for it, so I will probably frog it and restart again. As it is right now, it will be close to six inches wide, and that's still a little too wide for what I want. I've only knit about 5 or 6 rows, so it's nothing to frog it.

and Alex's pullover ...

Lately Alex has been asking me whenever I start something new, if it's for him. The look of disappointment on his face when I say, "no, it's for _____" is heart breaking! All he replies is, "oh", and he looks so sad and forlorn! It's obvious the kid wants me to make him something. I decided that I would make him a sweater or a pullover. I knew I'd be finishing Lissa's poncho early on Saturday, so Friday night I looked through a small pile of magazines I had handy to try and find him something before I went to sleep. I found 2 patterns that I kindasorta liked, and made a mental note that I'd need about 600-650 yards of either worsted or bulky/chunky yarn. I decided on a cool shade of RH Kids, and took a chance that 3 balls of it would cover the yardage... why in the hell don't these companies put the yardage as well as the weight on those danged labels??? When I got home I popped on to their website, and actually found what I was looking for {ya, I know... hard to believe on the C&C site!}. It works out that I've got about 750 yards of the yarn, so that's plenty. The pattern for the WW pullover is from the January issue of Creative Knitting. The pattern called for doing the back and fronts separate, but I decided to go ahead and do it in once piece... less seaming later = better chance of becoming an actual FO. I had to frog it twice since I needed to adjust the rib pattern at the side seams a bit, but it's looking good at about 2-3 inches completed. I'll have to take a pic of that too!

Round Ripple Babyghan #2

No, I am not making another one of these for Daryl... the fire already taught me that that blanket was not meant for him. I would know when the time was right to make another one, since I really liked this pattern. Well Sunday morning I got my excuse. My friend and fellow geekette, Sandi, told me she was preggers. Congrats Sandi!!! even though it only took me 20 minutes to figure out what you were saying... what do you expect from me right after work? Anyhoo, I get to make {and probably design too!} all kinds of cool schtuff for her baby-to-be. Before that I have to make a cheap-crap/love-it-to-death acrylic babyghan for her. I'll let her pick the colours out of my stash, and I'll crochet away on it happily... knowing that I get to replace those huge balls of RH Comfort with something smaller, more expensive, and more yarn snobby! More than anything else, it's going to be nice to have a crochet hook in my hands again... I know they'll be very happy to have a different kind of stress on them.

Denise's in da house!!!

Well I got my set of Denise's today finally! I haven't set them up yet, BION. I'm going to frog Alex's scrunchable scarf and cast on a mini-HP for him. He's been asking me so nicely to make him something, that I'll make one of my first projects with this set, something for him! I'm also going to try it out for my HBC Booger. A frogging I will go...

A better finish for a bad week.

Well when I woke up this morning, my back was feeling quite a bit better... not *all* better, but better enough that I will be able to work tonight.

Once my hands decided to cooperate, I got going on the sleeve again. I just finished it about an hour ago, and the difference between sleeves is now less than an inch. I'm leaving it as is, and will wash the remainder of the yarn a little later on, since I intend on using that strand for the neckline. I am now working on the back pinwheel. I found a small spot of coffee, but I'll blot that off later on when I'm done knitting on it for the day. I got it off the dpns and on to the circ, so that's really good progress. I'm in really good shape to finish the knitting on this sometime over the weekend. That will give me *my* weekend to do the finishing on it before the KO start on Friday.

I am supposed to be getting my Denise's today, and I can't wait! Depending on how short the shortest cord is, I may get started on Alex's mini-HP. I'm not that enthused about his scrunchable scarf, so I'm gonna go back to my {2nd!} original plan of the HP. If the cord is too long, I'll either use two circs, or I'll go pick up an Addi, and not let the clerk talk me out of it this time.

My first SnB!

I nearly forgot! I went to my first knitting "meeting" last night at our local Chapter's. It was great getting together with other locals that knit {and some crochet too!}. We took over about a third of the Starbuck's coffee shop and were definitely a sight! I was thrilled to finally get together with them all after being a member of our local board for about six months. Every other time there's been a get together, I've either had to work that night, or the weather was crappy. One of the best things was that I finally got to meet one of my list-mates from CANcrochet/we_crochet. We've known for at least 3 years that we lived in the same city, but hadn't ever met. Our next get-together is on the 21st I think... I'm hoping to finish the Skacel sweater before the KO so that I can wear it there!

A frogging I will go...

I finally bit the bullet and started frogging the sleeve for the Skacel sweater. I *had* started working the second pinwheel this morning, but that had to be set aside after coffee got dumped on it, and it was subsequently washed. Hopefully it will be dry by the time I finish the sleeve... which one end of the yarn has perogy cheese mashed potato gunk on it. That's another story, which explains why I decided to try and frog the shorter sleeve backwards. Since I didn't cut the end of the wool off, and I will need more wool to reknit with than the sleeve currently has in it, I figgered what the heck, I'll just unknit it from the beginning, and then wash the rest of the wool later. MUCH easier said than done. I slipped the first stitch of each row... which creates a knot of sorts when unravelling backwards. Then each increase and decrease was a new lesson in four letter words which I won't repeat here! I can't believe how difficult it was to do! I got about half-way through reknitting the sleeve, and I decided to frog everything left on the first sleeve. Now I have a pile of yarn beside me, that I can't touch or else it will end up into a hopeless knotted mess. I don't think I'm going to work tonight since I threw my back out on Tuesday morning, and it's still not better. I'll see how much I can knit before I have to go *try* to lie down without freaking in pain from the necessary position adjustments needed when getting comfortable in bed! I need to stay up at least another hour before I call in, so I should be at least up to the armhole decreases by then.

January FOs

K- Mittens for Jackie and Rebecca; these mittens were mostly knitted back in November, but were waiting for their thumbs. I found the pattern just in time for them to go back to school after the holidays... Rebecca promptly lost hers. =o(
K- Eye Lash kerchief scarf; I thought this scarf would be a cute one to have inside my jacket when I go out, but alas, it was too small to be practical for me. I will be giving this to Lissa {probably} for either herself or her dolls.
K- Granny dishcloth shawl; this is the first UFO eradicated in 2006. I may add another ball of the Light & Lofty, but I'm still undecided at this point, since I won't be able to get any more of the same dye lot. I'm thinking that the blended needle with the Bernat Softee Chunky might hide some of the imperfection.

What a disappoinment.

Colour me *very* disappointed... I finally finished off the second sleeve for my pinwheel sweater yesterday. I was very dismayed to discover that the sleeve I had just completed was at least three inches longer than the one I had done back in November to check my tension. Normally I would have done both sleeves at once, but I didn't have time to do more than just one sleeve after I had purchased the wool. It's gonna probably kill me in the process, but I will frog the older sleeve even though it's closer to the size called for in the pattern. I'm really wondering now if I'll be able to finish this before starting my KO project.

I still need to check that I have the needles I need for my booger. Lyz did her belt in the Patons Classic Wool with a 5 mm needle and it felted to about a ¼ inch. She says that she can't see the stitches on it either. I'm wondering if using a bigger needle will make it felt fuller or not. I also need to divide up the other two balls of wool, as well as practice my provisional/ crochet cast-on. Just ten more days until the festivities start!

I did get something productive done yesterday... actually two things. But the first was organizing and partially frogging my Homespun sweatercoat. I untangled the yarn and balled that up. I also frogged the last bit of knitting on my sweater. I cast on the stitches I needed to do the fronts and back together and got about an inch knitted. For right now, I'm just knitting off of the old sweater. It looks pretty neat seeing a sweater emerge from another sweater! Surprisingly, or not, the Homespun isn't kinking up like a lot of frogged yarns would. I guess since it's already kinked up, you can't tell! The only circ I could find in a 6 mm in my stash was a 24 inch, so it's tough going with all those stitches on the one needle. I tried using two circs, like having two straights that were 24" each, but that didn't work out too well at the ends. I hope that I can get my Denise's very soon so that I can try them out on this. I'm thinking of using two cords together to make about a 40" would be good.

I also got some work done on the review blog. I signed up for Amazon, so hopefully I can get a kickback or two on all this stuff I've been buying and reading! I added a few reviews, and have a few more to do. I can't afford the stress of knocking myself out on them, so I'll add them as I feel up to it.

Why do I do this to myself??? Part II: The Sequel

Well last week I finished the kerchief scarf I made out of one ball of Bernat Eye Lash. I wasn't totally pleased with the way it turned out... too small for my tastes. I guess I'll end up giving it to Lissa or the girls for them or their dolls. So what do I do Friday morning? I pick up another ball of the stuff to make myself a cowl. I don't even add it to my project planner... I just cast it on! To make matters worse, we also got some cool self-striping Bernat Baby Bouclé. There was a tear-off sheet for a cute little poncho, so I picked up two balls in a cute pink and lilac colourway, and off I went! I cast that on, on Friday too... SHEESH!!! What was I thinking anyway?

Well most of my work on the weekend was on that poncho. I've got about 7 inches or so of the bottom done. I altered the pattern slightly to make it worked in one piece. The pattern orignally called for it to be made in two pieces, and then seamed at the centre front and centre back. I thought that the nature of the stripes would make the seam really obvious, and that it would lend itself better to being worked in the round. So that's what I did. I'm extremely pleased with the way it's turning out. It's not the most fun yarn to work with, but the finished effect is worth it. I brought it with me to work instead of socks, and it gave me a chance to show off that I *can* make something else other than socks, as well as some of the cool stitch markers I've been making. Everyone that commented on it thought that the colours were working out really nice too.

I've only got an inch or two of the cowl done. I'll probably pick that up more once the poncho is done. I also started on my fuzzy "favourite" mittens... dunno why they called them favourites... the pattern is written for the birds. I got the first one done {sans thumb}, and should be able to get the other one done sometime this week... including the thumbs!

It's done!!! I think...

Just a fast post before I run off to bed...

Well I *think* my first UFO extinction project is done. All it took me was one evening... geesh... you mean I've been *that* close to having a warm, fluffy shawl?!?! Anyway, I just finished casting it off. I'm not sure, however, if it's going to be big enough. I want it to sit on my shoulders without the need for me to hold it at all. It sorta does, but it doesn't really cover my arms very much. I know it will grow a bit, but acrylic ain't gonna grow enough to make this that much bigger. I'm going to look at work to see if by some strange twist of fate, I can get another ball of the Light 'n Lofty in this dye lot. I have enough of the Softee Chunky for nearly another ball of that, I'm sure. I'll get someone to take a pic of this tomorrow, and y'all can let me know what you think.

WAY too true!!!

Here's a few more results:

You Are Likely an Only Child

At your darkest moments, you feel frustrated. At work and school, you do best when you're organizing. When you love someone, you tend to worry about them. In friendship, you are emotional and sympathetic. Your ideal careers are: radio announcer, finance, teaching, ministry, and management. You will leave your mark on the world with organizational leadership, maybe as the author of self-help books.

The Birth Order Predictor

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything. You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey. You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Your Blogging Type is Pensive and Philosophical

You blog like no one else is reading... You tend to use your blog to explore ideas - often in long winded prose. Easy going and flexible, you tend to befriend other bloggers easily. But if they disagree with once too much, you'll pull them from your blogroll!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

You Are a Strawberry Daiquiri

You're a fun, playful drinker who loves to party. You may get totally wasted, but you're always a happy drunk!

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Check out Blogthings!

I found this cool site thanks to Lyz! I've been taking a few surveys, and here's my results:

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

You're An Alcoholic

Time to go back to step one.

What Kind of Drunk Are You?

I've got swag!!!

Well I signed up for a cafepress.com account! As I get more images and such, print-ready, I will be able to add more items available in the shop. For now all I have is a magnet with the Nicole's Crochet Bistro logo on it. It was a pretty painless process, and I figgered... what the heck? might as well have some cool "other" stuff along with everything I'm already offering on my site. If nothing else, it will give me a kick in the pants to get working on the new images for both sites.

Been busy!

Unfortunately, I haven't been busy knitting as much as I'd like. I got some cleaning done on Monday, and some laundry done yesterday. I still have tons more to do around here, including the fish tanks *ugh* today. At least the fishies will be happy!

I got some more markers made yesterday and got them all up on The Purl in the Oyster. I even made a few for me! I made 5 knitting markers that are destined for my silk waves scarf. I'm not sure how many repeats that is going to have, so I might need to make more. I really want to get my Denise's and use those for the scarf... I'm going to have to work on Derek a bit to get that, I think. He's really dragging his butt on them, and he already got his nerf bars on the truck... I WANT MY DENISE'S!!!!

I finished the damned Eye Lash scarf, and even survived having to frog the last row because I didn't have enough yarn to finish it according to the pattern. I just need to weave in the ends on it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it since the "tails" aren't as long as I was expecting/hoping for. It won't tie or double up around my neck, so I'm afraid of it falling off. I might just give it to Lissa for her to use, or one of her dolls as a shawl. I might make myself a cowl out of another ball since I was really hoping to have something for me out of this horrid stuff.

I'm seriously considering frogging my Kroy sock. I started it *way*back when I could barely follow a regular sock pattern, and now it's looking way too plain for me. I want something with cables or lacy or I don't know! I'm only about seven inches into it, so the roof won't cave in if I frog. I want to finish the second sleeve of the Skacel sweater this week as well as my granny dishcloth shawl. I'm really not inspired to finish it for some reason, and my Homespun sweater yarn is getting hopelessly tangled. I'm considering frogging that and restarting it since I originally started it nearly a year ago, and my skills have progressed so much since then. I want to do the two front panels along with the back panel... unless the seam is going to help it from sagging too much. But then again, if it's going to sag, it would look really funny with the seams pulling it up at the sides.

Wow! A week gone already?!?

I just checked my last post, and it was nearly a week ago. Holy crap! Where did the time go? At least my "week" at work went by fast and relatively uneventfully. First time for everything! I *think* I got a lot accomplished... including *some* sleep.

I didn't quite make my goal for the YOTS-KHKAL, but I did about 75% of the sleeve, so that still leaves me in good shape. I really want this sweater done in time for the Knitting Olympics. If you want to see what I've chosen for my event, check my previous posts for the details. If you haven't heard about them yet, click on the Olympics link in the sidebar to get to Yarn Harlot's Olympics page.

I finished Derek's first "Hockey Sock" and have made good progress on the second. I'm done the striped band, and am working on the leg/calf. I'm waiting for when his feet are actually CLEAN to put the sock on him for the final viewing and photography! When I showed him the first sock all finished, grafted, and ends all woven in, he was properly impressed. He even noticed the grafting... or rather... didn't notice it, because he commented that you couldn't see the seam. YAY!!!

I spent some time on Friday getting some more stitch markers made. I can't recall how many sets I did, but I'll know later on today when I do the photography. I bought a sheet of this cool foam stuff to take pictures on, and ended up using it to *make* the markers on. It's a *great* surface for the beads and stuff. They don't scatter all over the table that way! I bought another sheet of it today that I will keep pristine for pics.

In other notes, I finished off the horrid pink yarn for the charity/school scarf, and I'm about half-way or better done on the Eye Lash scarf. I haven't bothered adding these to the progress charts/bars on the sidebar since, IMO, these are little add-ons that don't really count. I also moved a few more pages of Nicole's Crochet Bistro over to the new home at The Purl in the Oyster. It wasn't without a few glitches, like the last time, but I think/hope everything is hunky dorey now.

To destash, or not to destash... that is the question...

My stash has been on my mind a lot lately. It seems that for every project I actually finish, I start two more. For every project I start, I buy supplies for two more. Houston, I think we have a problem. I'm thinking back to all of my recent purchases starting with the wool for the Skacel sweater which is now nearly half done.

On the needles {from recent purchases}: Kerchief scarf out of Bernat Eye Lash. Bernat Sox Army Hot for the girls. Briggs & Little Tuffy socks for Derek. Scrunchable scarf for Alex out of two strands of RHSS.

Waiting in line {recently purchased}: More army socks. STR socks now that I've chosen patterns. I have the Fibre Trends mittens kit. There's the silk waves scarf kit. HBC bogger bag. Lissa's cabled poncho. Fuzzy mittens in Bernat Softee Chunky and Eye Lash. Beaded bag for me.

I won't even begin to get into the other items around here. There's enough sock yarn to make us each a pair for a month, I'd bet. I have a ton of RH Comfort pounders for making the kids their winter stuff. More WIPs and UFOs than I can count. Plus I want to make items for the girls' school out of leftovers.

Then there is my WIM list of things to buy. I desperately want to make the circular shrug from Vogue Knitting. There's a dreadlock poncho kit from Ram's that I've been eyeing up. Can't for get all the designs I want to make as well.

I don't know where to begin. They say the first step to overcoming an addiction is to admit you have a problem. I'm not sure if this is an addiction or not. I truly *do* want to make all these things, but where to find the time? Add to that, that my hands have been bothering me a lot. I know it's because I've been doing so much knitting, and not enough crocheting. I need to come up with a solution that I can actually live with and follow.

I'm competing in the Olympics!

Today I was cruising the craftster site a bit while my connection to KH wasn't working. I stumbled upon a post about the knitting olympics that Yarn Harlot is hosting. Leave it to a Canadian to think of something like this! *ROFL* I've chosen to do my HBC Booger for my event.
This is my wool before I started prepping it. I got four cream coloured balls of Patons Classic Wool for the main colour. The HBC stripes will be done in Peer Gynt, a wool imported from Norway. I got it all on sale at Ram Wools on Friday along with Lissa's poncho yarn and my silk scarf kit.
I've done a bit of research, but still need to write down everything I will need to do. I may do a small swatch prior to the start of the project so that I can decided on stripe width and such. I got a great suggestion to use a provisional cast on for the beginning of the bottom. I think it will make it easier to pick up my stitches later, as well as making the stripes look great all the way around my bag. I've got two of the balls of Peer Gynt divided in half, and still need to do the other two. I also need to check that I have the needles that I require to make this. I am also going to have to pick up a zippered pillowcase for when I do the felting itself.

A (counter)productive day...

Well Shaw went and did it to me again... the damned servers went down as I was working on my web site this morning. ARGH!!! At least this one was shorter, and it only seemed to affect new pages... like it was running on a backup version of stuff.

I woke up just before 4 am today and started to "work". I tried knitting a few rows of my charity scrunchable scarf, but quickly gave that up as my hands realized what I was doing! I decided to do some web work. I took a quick peek at the Bistro site and saw that the holiday patterns page would be an easy one to switch over. I haven't worked on the new crochet graphics at all, so this was a good choice. It took a few hours, but I got it all the way I want it. I even found a web tracking service to use for it. I liked the page stats I got at GeoCities, and hopefully this one will give me similar results. Only problem now is that I've discovered a few coding errors in the transfer. I will have to take some time now to go and correct the files for the correct links. Especially since I deleted all the images off of GeoCities!!

I've gotten quite a bit done I think for it being not even 11 am yet. I spent about 15 minutes or so in Alex and Lissa's room looking for more yarn for this scarf. I didn't find any suitable yarn, but I did manage to get rid of a big garbage bag full of trash. I'm nearly done this ball of yarn, so I think I will get it done and then go back to my Eye Lash scarf. My goal for this week for the sweater KAL is to get a sleeve done, so I'll probably cast that on later today after this yarn is gone.

Why do I do this to myself???

When will I *ever* learn *not* to buy or use Bernat Eye Lash yarn??? I made Lissa a scarf out of this last winter before my hands gave out. I cursed nearly every stitch saying, "you're damned lucky I love you kid!" I've gotten better with the novelty yarns. The scarves I made the girls out of the LB Boucle and Fun Fur were relatively easy. It may also be that it was more manageable since there was two yarns held together, and it was on much bigger needles. This stuff is a fairly long fuzz -- about an inch -- that is also curly/kinky.

Well today I caved in and bought 3 balls of it. Two of them are to be combined with some Bernat Softee Chunky to make me a pait of mitts. The other is on its own to make me a kerchief scarf. Well I cast on, and immediately remembered why I never made Lissa a hat or anything else to match her scarf last year! It *is* progressing, but I fear that it will either consume all my knitting time on my weekend, or be put aside to work on other items. It's only about 45 rows total to make it, but it's gonna feel like 450!

I don't hate Mondays!

Well no offence to the Boomtown Rats, but I don't hate Mondays. Why, you ask? Well that means that it's my weekend!!! I have three whole days away from work!!!

I finished the front of my sweater on Friday, but I fell asleep before I could post it. Here it is:

The colour is a bit off compared to the picture of the sleeve in this blog entry. The colour is actually a nice light cream and denim. At least I made my goal for the KH "Year of the Sweater" KAL. I haven't checked in at KH yet, so I don't know what this week's assignment/my goal will be yet.

I could just scream!!!

When I got up this morning, I couldn't knit or crochet... as usual. I decided to work a bit on my web site switchover. Specifically, creating an actual home page for The Purl in the Oyster so that it will be easy to add my various pages over to Shaw as my time allows. Well after I get it set up the way I want, I go and try to upload it. It wasn't accepting my password! I tried about 3 or 4 different ones, just in case I had changed it... nuttin. Then I tried my personal space, and that wouldn't come up either. I'm thinking... geesh, what's going on? Then I try to load the page that's there, and I get the dreaded "page is unavailable" message. ARGH!!! I am *NOT* a happy camper right now. I even called them up, and they had a canned message on there... "we are experiencing technical difficulties"... ARGH AGAIN!!!

I updated the home page of Nicole's Crochet Bistro a bit to change the copyright date, and add the info for the new sales division. I'm too mad and frustrated right now to try and work on anything more than that.

Gotta love big needle projects!

Well I went through all the posts at craftster about the Skacel sweater, and I got a lot of good information. I would say that in about 4 hours work, I've got the pinwheel to about the 16 inch diameter point. I used my 10 mm dpns for the first part, and then switched to a 12.75 mm 29" circ when the pattern told me to switch. The first few rounds with the huge circ were a bit of a pain, but not *that* bad. After going through all the posts, and checking my pattern {and the pic!} again, I realized that there isn't a side panel on this sweater. The entire front or back is the pinwheel. That makes it tons easier to modify. One lady that finished her sweater added about 6 rounds to the pinwheel before the instructions that convert the circle to more of a rectangle, and said that was enough to give her the ease she needed. Well, if I'm only on round 22 or something similar, and have about 10 more rounds to go before dividing it into top and bottom, I might be okay just the way it is. I'll have to check the measurements again as I get closer to that point. My math may be wonky, but I'm guessing in the range of 10 rounds to 6-7 inches. That will give me about 20 inches across when I hit the round 32 mark. That gives a finished measurement of 40", and that's not too bad. I'll see when I get there.

I will need my other circ soon, and I need to decide what I'm going to do with the shawl that's on it. At the rate I'm going, I will need the circ tomorrow, and I don't think I feel like finishing the shawl first. Since it's a specialty size, I really can't justify having *three* circulars in this size, as well as the straights... decisions, decisions...

Knitting and crocheting for charity.

Well I decided today to use up some of my "unwanted" yarn, and make it into stuff for charity. Well not exactly "charity", but I am giving it away to those that need it. I started a scrunchable scarf in some dark pink acrylic I had kicking around. As I find yarn, I'm going to make it into scarves, hats and mitts for the Family Centre at my daughters' school. They've always been very helpful to us, and this is my way of saying thank you to them. They will be able to give the stuff to kids that need it for recess and such at the school. It's also a great way to get rid of my odds and ends that I don't want. I've also been known to give balls of yarn to the school for them to use for the classroom craft centres.

Geeks get distracted *way* too easily!

My excuse for not posting on Sunday was that I slept... I really needed the 11 hours I got after 2-3 days of only 2-3 hours. Well my excuse for the last two days is that I got distracted! On Monday it was by what has to be the most inane game on the Interweb... Badaboom! It's stupid, it's silly, and it's addictive! Yesterday it was by the new strategy game that Derek and I bought during the Boxing Week sales. It's called "Rise of Nations" and it's very similar in nature to "Age of Empires", another strategy game that Derek got me hopelessly addicted to!

At least I did get a bunch of work done on Derek's B&L socks. I was hoping to be done the first one yesterday, but I'm still about an inch short of the toe shaping. The kids had *helped* me on Sunday by taking the needles out of it while I was sleeping, so it didn't go with me to work that night. I'm doing the heels and toes in the cream as well, to make them look like a more traditional work sock. Derek didn't want the leg to be as long as called for in the pattern either, so I may end up with enough leftovers to make Alex a pair too!

My goal for today is to finish the first sock, and cast on the second. I also need to go through the KAL postings at craftster.com to check on any more corrections to the Skacel sweater. Then I can restart the first pinwheel. I've joined a sweater KAL at KH to help me finish this as well. Wish me luck!

When will I learn? *sigh*

When will I learn to call in to work when I have a day from hell? I didn't want to go in last night... I felt like crap. I hadn't gotten enough sleep, I'm still not over my cold, and things have been going lousy {as usual} there. Well, true to form, I got called into the office and was lectured for over 20 minutes on a trumped up complaint of my manager's. She obviously doesn't like me, and is trying her hardest to make me miserable enough to quit. I *REALLY* need a new job. Every day it gets more and more difficult to drag myself there... I just wish that Derek and I were as rich as the daycare subsidy board seems to think we are so that we could afford daycare for Alex and Lissa, and I could get a day time job.

More than ever now I want to go shopping. Derek isn't awake yet, and I better not go without him! He wasn't *that* upset last night when I told him how much I spent at Ram's and why/ what for. When I told him that GST came in, he seemed even less concerned. Problem is though, I didn't tell him how much I wanted the stuff I *did* see there... I might have mentioned the scarf, but nothing else. I was exhausted, so I just went to sleep. What I *REALLY* needed was a big hug... still do...

I'm heartbroken.

Well I went to Ram's today to pick up some stuff for friends and such. I was pretty good all considered, and spent less than $10 on myself out of a $100 tab. Problem is, I dunno how Derek is gonna react when he finds out how little of that $ I'm gonna get back directly. While I was there I priced out my shrug... and the wool that I can use is on sale... which will make a difference of around $25. Even without the sale, I can make it for under $100. I still have my Skacel sweater to make though. I also found a gorgeous scarf kit that was on sale for $10 off, and a matching top that was at least $20 off. The scarf is relatively reasonable at $30 for a silk and chenille kit... but that's still a lot of money. The top is about $90 I think. GST cheques are in, so *technically* I *could* afford it, but I *did* spend quite a bit already. Plus I need to buy a few supplies for my stitch markers... yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm very proud of my restraint at only getting 2 balls of clearance sock yarn for the girls, and a pair of 2.25 mm needles. It's just that I could buy soooo much if Derek lets me! I also found out that the Selkirk wool *will* felt, and I can make an antique-looking HBC Booger. I just don't know *what* to do... I feel like crying.

The Purl in the Oyster revealed!!!

Well yesterday was a productive and a frustrating day as well. I got a bunch of stitch markers done... which is the productive part. I got the pictures taken, edited, and uploaded... which is another productive part. I got the buttons created, descriptions written, and web page moved and tested... which is yet another productive part. Then, Geocities crashed on me... my bandwidth limit will only allow 4 page views of the markers page per hour before shutting down my entire site... which is the *extremely* frustrating part. Then I tried to get my web space at Shaw set up, and it just wasn't working out right... which was another terribly frustrating part. I'm thrilled to say that I've got it all fixed now, and I've got new web space with a *HUGE* bandwidth limit {for me}. I can now concentrate on getting pages reworked and no longer worry about space or transfer limits. Plus, it's another place where I've got "nicolethegeek" reserved! *teehee*

I've been thinking more and more about The Purl in the Oyster "brand" name, and over the next while I'll be working out just how I'm going to fit that in with my vision. I'm working harder at all of this, and with more commitment, than I ever think I had. I know that I had high hopes when I first launched the Bistro nearly 3 years ago. Part of that ideology was being pushed into actually starting the site by someone that was a very good friend at the time. I will never EVER regret starting it... perhaps my only regret is not giving it the attention it deserves. That is one of my motivators in making it over. It's like the Bistro was a tiny speck of sand stuck in a shell... an irritant. It was ignored until the aggravation became too much. Right now it's getting layer upon layer of nacre added to it... making it smoother and shinier... until at long last, a beautiful, precious pearl is revealed. I hope {and pray} that you will all be there with me as the oyster shell is opened.

Okay... where are my beads?

Since I spent a lot of time on my web site yesterday, I decided that I would get some work done on some markers today. I have beads ALL OVER!!! Some are in my containers, some are still in bags *somewhere* in my room! Plus, I bought a few findings on Monday when Derek and I went out. I still need to figure out a way to track what all I have, and what I don't, so that I don't keep buying duplicates at work. I still want to get a few different colours of stuff, and earth tones are always popular, and I tend to be lacking in that department for my bead stash.

Web burn out!

Well I think I've had it for today with my web site. I got quite a bit done, and am pleased with my results. I think I will leave it as is until I get a few more things done around here to keep me from just fiddling for the sake of fiddling. I need to get a few sets of markers made so that I can post them. I also need to get my hands on some graphics software so that I can get some of my buttons and such set up. Once I get the graphics set dealt with, I will have tons to keep me busy. With luck I'll be able to relaunch the site in time for the 3rd anniversary of NCB... including a partial name change!

HTML is just another 4 letter word!

Well I decided this morning that I was going to start on another one of my goals for this year, the redo of the Bistro site. I took some close ups of one of my tops I knitted to use it as a new background for the knitting areas. Well first of all, I couldn't seem to get the image editted the way I wanted with the software I currently have installed on here. I sent that image off to a friend of mine to play with and went to go play with the page for the stitch markers. I figgered the stitch markers page would be a good place to start since it's going to be an entirely new page, and I could play with my new styles there, before "fixing" other pages that are basically static. Well my new style sheet doesn't seem to be getting called up by my page, and my NCB banner is missing from some of my pages. The code is still there, the image is still there in my folder, but it's just not on the page... WTH??? No broken link "X", no alt text, nuttin!

Oh well... for now I'll continue on with the text and layout of the page, and worry about the aesthetics later. It's just frustrating to not have it work. A geek's life is full of disappointments and failed trials! Wish me luck... or maybe I'll just go work on a few stitch markers to give my mind something else to wrap itself around!

Found the shrug pattern!

I'm *sooooo* thrilled! It's the cover project of the Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 issue. I looked it over really carefully, and discovered a few things. First of all, it calls for Lorna's Laces yarns, which are available in Canada after all, they aren't available at Ram's, or any other Manitoba retailer. Secondly, the FA Dreadlocks that I thought would be a good sub for the Grace Boucle, is too thick. I did a heavy search through Ram's site, and have a couple possibilities for substitutes. I've got my fingers crossed for Ram's, and have an American friend pricing out the LL stuff for me as well. I looked at the Vogue Knitting website, and they don't have any cover shots of previous issues, so I'll have to take a picture of my issue and post it so that you can see why I NEED this shrug!

Luscious Loot!

Well I took some pics of the wool kit I bought at Ram's on Friday. It's from Fleece Artist, which is in Nova Scotia. I'm actually finding it kind of neat to be using natural fibres that are made in Canada. If the mitts work up nicely, I'll go back for more to make slipper socks for myself. I just wish the Briggs & Little I bought for Derek was a superwash, then I'd be more tempted to make myself a pair of socks out of that too.

The one on the left is mohair, and the one on the right is Blue Face Leicester, a 100% wool. This pic was taken before I balled it up. The pictures don't show it all that well, but the colourways are a variety of lilac and mauve shades with a touch of blue.

This is a close up of the mohair. Doesn't it just make you want to roll around in it? You can click on it to see a bigger version of it.

This is the Blue Face Leicester. The picture doesn't do it justice. The colours, while subtle, are amazing. The full-size version of this picture shows the colours better.

Here they are after I balled them up. The mohair was nearly a nightmare to do. It's going to be interesting once I start on the mitts. It clings to itself like there's no tomorrow. The BFL should make it a lot more managable though. I'm certainly hoping so!

Disappointed in myself... self reflection...

Well I'm kinda disappointed in my progress yesterday. I just got a bunch of yarn untangled, and did up a few rows on Alex's scarf. I guess it's better than nothing, right? My hands woke me up at 5 am today. It's not too bad since I went to bed around 8:30 last night, but I was *really* hoping to catch up on my sleep somewhat.

I've been doing a lot of thinking on what all I want to accomplish over the next little while with my knitting and crocheting, as well as my plans for the website. My only hope for escape from WM comes with these plans. Who wouldn't want to give up a job they hate to devote themselves to their first love {other than DH and the kids of course!!}?

I still haven't found the magazine that the circular shrug is in, but I'm gonna hunt for it more today. I have a few magazines that I need to review as well. I'm getting pretty behind on those, and I've found some great ones in the last 2-3 weeks.

Happy New Year!!!

Well here it is, the first day of the new year. I've spent a good portion of the day today sifting through the box of tangled yarn rescued from Alex and Melissa's room. I feel like I haven't made much progress when I look at the tangle, then I look at the other box where I've been putting the balled yarn. I would guesstimate that I've got it about half done or more. Another day or so and I'll have it all sorted out. That will be one step closer to being able to work on my UFOs.

I have decided that my shawl will be my first UFO eradicated. I'm not sure how much of the Light & Lofty I have left for the shawl. I know that we have more of it at work, and since I'm blending it, I'm not going to worry about dye lots. It's nearly done anyway, and then I can use the circ from that project towards my Skacel sweater.

I have have been considering frogging my Homespun sweater. I started it nearly a year ago, and my knitting skills have improved so much over that time, that I'm not sure I will be happy with what I have done so far. I need to find the pattern for it again. I *think* that it's in the bin where the sweater itself belonged, and that the shawl currently is in. I will make this decision while I finish the shawl.

December FO's

K&C- Secret project for a friend; a good friend of mine moved at the beginning of December, and I started on a houewarming present for her. It's about half done, but the next time I see her, I'll give her what I have.
K- Secret design for Knitty; this one is probably not going to get submitted after all, but I need to fix the pattern up a bit before I decide whether to offer it here, or submit it elsewhere first.

K- Camo socks for Alex; this is the only pair I completed before Christmas. THey turned out really cute, but I haven't gotten Alex slowed down enough to take a pic yet!

C- Evening bag; this is my own design, and still needs to get beaded. It's a cute little bag for nights out when you need to carry very little, but still need a bag.

K&C- Elegant top out of RH Casual Cot'n; this one was mostly knit in the summer, but I finally finished the edging and got it all sewn together for a night out for Derek and I.
K- Three scarves for the girls; I whipped up three easy scarves for the girls. these were all made with one strand of LB Bouclé and one strand of LB Fun Fur. They turned out adorable!
K- Stocking caps for Alex and Lissa; I knit them each a stocking cap. I still need to get a pic of them and the pattern completely written for the various options.

Goodbye 2005, greetings 2006... waxing philosophical

Well here it is, the last day of the year. I guess that's the traditional time to reflect back on what you've done, and contemplating what the new year will bring and what you'd like to accomplish. I try not to have any regrets, just try to do what I can, and set realistic goals. I hope that I've done that for my goals for 2006. Mainly those goals are to shed a few of my UFOs and work on the Bistro. I know that I will have no regrets at all about that.

I know from my FLYing that clearing some of my UFOs will remove a lot of weight off of my shoulders and my mind. I feel guilty about not finishing them {or not wanting to finish them}, and I know that mental weight is often more damaging to the body and soul than actual physical weight. I think that the goal of one major UFO a month is a realistic and attainable level.

I also want to pay a lot more attention to the Bistro this year. That means getting some designs done that are in progress, and a major redo of the site as well. For the next 3 months or longer, I will be on 4 day work weeks, so I'm going to "schedule" "work time" to get the Bistro web site to match what my new vision is for it. I've been talking to a friend of mine, and I think she's going to be doing my new graphics for me. That means that I need to sit down and actually figure out what all I need to revamp everything.

Both of these together will help bring me some inner peace. My life feels like it is in turmoil these days. I love my job at Wal-Mart, but I hate working there. I love my DH, my kids, and my home; but I can't stand being here. I can't change others, all I can change is myself. Knitting, crocheting, designing... these are all things that I love to do and bring me calmness and serenity. With a crazy life like mine, I need all the help I can get when it comes to relieving stress. I can hope that the added concentration on NCB will contribute to better success for the business end of things. But even if it doesn't, I will feel better to have spent my time and energy on things that I love to do; rather than wasting all my efforts on that which I can have no effect on.

My trip today to Ram Wools

Well I went to Ram's today hoping to come home with some bamboo dpns, my first Addi circ, and the wool for my booger bag. Well, I came home with 2 balls of Kroy, a pair of 2.00 mm 10" straights, a wool kit for some fuzzy mittens or socks, and a tentative order for some Regia!!!

They didn't really have any Boxing Day sales on, just their regular sale stuff that I saw on the web site. I looked through their entire clearance section and I'm going to have to go back with a few of my patterns I want to make to see if I can match them up.

They had quite a bit of Kroy on clearance, so I picked up 2 balls to make myself a subdued pair of blue socks {Westport check; two very close shades of denim in a marl}. There was a few other sock yarns on clearance, so I'll pick some more up the next time I go. The only thing that kept me from filling my basket this time was knowing I wanted to go home with more than *just* socks!

I looked at a lot of their kits and the dreadlocks cape/poncho was crying to come home with me. I might treat myself to that after I finish the Skacel sweater. The yarn in that one reminds me of the boucle I need for the round sweater shrug that I want to make, so I need to find that magazine. They have such a wide selection of stuff that's not on the website, that I'll probably find a suitable substitute for the handpainted yarn the pattern calls for. *wonders where that magazine ran off to*

I found where they had the thrummed mitten kits, but a fuzzy gob of wool in a gorgeous lilac shade called out to me instead. It's got a Fleece Artist pattern attached to it, and the fibre on it says: Mohair & Blue Face Leicester. I just need to decide if I'm going to make the socks, or the mittens out of it. Maybe I'll just go get another package of this and not choose at all!!! There was also a blue blend that was tempting, but not as tempting as the lilac. I'm trying to think of what reason I can come up with to get myself that as well!

I found out that the Selkirk Wool doesn't felt all that well, so it's not a good choice for the booger. They recommended either Lopi or Patons Classic. I found some really nice colours in the Lopi, but it will felt fuzzy. The Classic will be a smoother felt, but the only colour that really jumped out at me was the deep violet. I wish they would have had a pale silvery grey that I could use as a base colour for the tote. I may just decide to do Hudson's Bay stripes if I can't find something to go with the violet. I'm going to have to sleep on this a bit more and then go back when my mind is totally made up. I really want to make myself a felted tote, and was sorta ready to buy the wool for it today, but nothing begged to come home with me except the one yarn.

The FT patterns were all between $6 and $10, so I looked a bit, but gave them a pass. I am going to have to find a place that has them online so I can look at them a lot more carefully and decide which ones to get. Or else pay closer attention the next time I'm on their web site.

I was going to get a Patons Booklet and some fuzzy pink yarn {the exact yarn escapes me right now} to make Lissa the cover pattern, a cabled poncho. I figgered that the fuzziness of the yarn would make it an ideal first cable project for me. To make the poncho in her size would take 3 balls, or 4 balls for bigger. That would have been another $30 or so that I wasn't really willing to spend today, since this was supposed to be a "me" trip. The poncho is actually the only pattern in the booklet I'd end up making, but I've spent a lot more than $4 on a pattern book/magazine and not made anything out of it.

They didn't have the 2.75 mm bamboo dpns that I wanted in stock. They may have had them in the SB, but I wanted the nice SR Kertzer ones like I bought the last time I was there. I would have bought a different size, but couldn't think of any size other than 4.5 mm that I would use a lot. I have at least 4 sets of aluminum 4.5 mm, so I'm not going to buy a set of bamboo ones, just for the sake of having them.

I nearly bought the 12" 4.5 mm Addi Turbo circular, but the lady there recommended against it. I really wanted to treat myself to them, but after taking it out of the package, I could see how awkward it would be to work with. I will simply have to make the mini-HP scarves on dpns or a larger circ. Again, I couldn't think of a size of circular that I would use enough to justify the $20+ price tag. I'm not going to bother with Addi straights right now as they only come in a 14" size, and that's too cumbersome for me most of the time. I prefer working with circulars.

I did find some baskets of Aero needles, and the smallest they had was 2.00 mm. I want to do some fine knitting for the girls' dolls... perhaps some scarves or something similar out of fingering yarn or my crochet thread. I thought that the scrunchable scarf pattern would look really cool for the dolls done in my leftover sock yarn. I got a 10" length which hopefully won't be too troublesome for me. They have smaller sizes in the Addi's, so that's something for me to think about as I work on stuff for them.

I found some really cool new Regia sock yarn in my Mary Maxim catalogue and I asked them if they could order it in. If they can, Derek will be sporting some new BC socks, and I'll be wearing Manitoba ones! *rofl* I hope they can... I find out early next week if I can get it. I really don't like doing mail order, so it would be preferable to me to get it there. It will probably be cheaper too.

Well I better get some sleep now. I'll be able to fall asleep thinking about all the projects I can choose from to do, and pick up the yarn for. I work tonight and then am off for 4 nights, so I hope to get lots of knitting in {and maybe even an FO or three!}.

I'm gettin' organized!

Well it's improving here... slowly but surely. I got the girls to clean a lot of my stuff out of Alex and Lissa's room yesterday so that I could start organizing it all. Well as of lunch time, I had at least half of it untangled and balled up. I bought myself a 3 drawer cart that I can keep my the desk to put my yarn into, or perhaps my UFO project. It's got wheels on it, so I can pull it over into the living room too. That will be nice since we haven't replaced my endtable that had the cupboard in it since the fire destroyed my old one. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit under my keyboard tray, so it will be a constant struggle to keep the top from becoming a clutter collector. Wish me luck on that one!

Scrunchable scarf #1 on the needles.

Well I bit the bullet and frogged the short row ribbed scarf I was doing for Alex. I got the pattern from the magknits site, and wasn't happy with how it was turning out double-stranded. I'll try that one again with the girls' scarves since those ones will be single strand WW. For the scrunchable scarf, I cast on 23 {mult. of 3 + 2} stitches. I'm using 2 strands of RH Comfort WW, and 10.0 mm needles. I'm slipping the first stitch and knitting the last stitch of each row. It's working out to be about 8 inches wide which I think will be much more managable for Alex. I'll keep knitting until I think it's long enough, and will be adding a conventional fringe. Then I'll make one for Lissa... not that she *needs* another scarf. =o)

Gettin' organized!

Well I got another big chunk of sleep last night. With the 12 hours I got last night, that makes about 26 hours in the last 2 days. Last night's rest was much better than the night before though. I don't recall waking up with several coughing fits like I did Monday night. I'll be *soooo* happy once this cold finally goes away.

I lucked out big time and my hands weren't all buggered up when I woke up so I could get started on things fairly quickly this afternoon. I've already finished one mitten and am nearly done the second. I've got the girls hunting through Alex and Lissa's room for all of my knitting and crocheting stuff. Once the mittens are done, then we're going to start to organize it. I need to know what is actually projects, and what is just yarn that's hanging out and socializing with the rest of my stash. That will help me focus on what I can clear up before New Year's and what I can add to my UFO project. I might even get some frogging and balling done.

I'm not sure if I'm gonna continue with Alex's short row ribbed scarf. I'm really not pleased with it, and I might just make scarves for the girls using that pattern. Using only one strand of the WW and smaller needles will make it much smaller, and more managable. I might just make him a self-fringing scarf or a mini-HP. I just don't know yet.

Another FO today!

Well I finished the knitting on Lissa's hat this afternoon, crocheted the pom pom alternative thingy, and wove in the ends on it. I also wove in the ends on Alex's socks. That makes 2 FOs today, and the ends done on 3 more. YAY FOR ME!!! I've got to get pics taken of all this stuff and get it posted.

I hope my hands cooperate with me tomorrow. Then I can get the thumbs done on the girls' mitts, and then that will be two more FOs under my belt! I found another chullo pattern, this one is crocheted, but I think it's DK/sport yarn rather than WW. I really don't feel like trying to convert the pattern, so I'll use the knitted one I found and make it a touch smaller since I already know roughly how many stitches I need in WW for the girls. I hope they turn out cute. I want to make them stocking caps as well, but I think the chullos will be faster so that they can wear them when they go back to school.

I've been up since before 5 am, and it's now nearly 11... even though I had like 14 hours of sleep, I'm really tired. I'm gonna head to bed and cross my fingers that my hands work tomorrow!

Scarf #3 done!

Well I finished the last of the knitting on the last scarf and wove in the ends. All that I need to do now is decide who gets which one, and then take pictures. My hands still aren't really behaving, so I don't know if I'll feel up to finishing Lissa's hat today. I know it will look adorable on her though! I might be able to handle the thumbs on the mittens. It will be tight knitting, but it's only a few rows, so I hope that I can manage. It feels soooo good to be finishing these items off. It's a relief both physically as well as mentally!

Two scarves done... one to go!

Those funny looking yarn needles I bought a while back sure came in handy! There is no way I ever would have gotten the boucle and the fun fur in the same needle to weave in the ends. I just did the ends on the pinks scarf and the blues scarf. I still have a bit of knitting to go on the oranges scarf before I can finish that one off. I want to get a pic of the girls all in their scarves and post it here!

Now, do I try to knit, or do I find my proper tapestry needles to finish off the ends in Alex's socks???

I did a Kitchener seam... YEAH!

Well I downloaded the video for the Kitchener stitch this morning from KH. Since my hands will not allow me to knit {still!}, I figgered I could do a bit of end weaving at least. I grabbed the pair of dpns that held Alex's socks and went at it. The first seam looks a little wonky. I probably put my needle in the wrong spot a couple of times, but that's okay. The second sock looks fine. It's kind of hard to tell since it's on a very dark area of the camo pattern, but I think I did a pretty good job for my first time. A couple more seams and I think I'll have it down pat. I did learn one thing though... I'll want to leave a yarn tail longer than 8 inches in the future. I like a little more than 2-3 inches of leftover yarn to do my end weaving with.

One "task" down... 4 ends to go on these socks! Then it's the ends on the scarves, unless my hands let me knit, then I want to do the thumbs of the mittens.

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!!!

Well for some of us the holidays are basically over, and for others they are still in the middle of them. I hope you all had {or are having} an enjoyable time. This time of year can be very depressing for people, myself included. I often have to force myself into a more sociable mood in order to survive all the festivities. I guess Derek is like that this year too, which is probably part of the reason why he wasn't too enthusiastic about going to his staff party this year. I'm still very happy with the way things turned out that night. The intimate dinner was much more enjoyable.

This week I hope to be able to finish off quite a few of the projects I have on the go. So many items are around me that are nearly finished, and I want to clear them up so that I can actually tell what else I need to make for the kids and such. Finding the top of my desk would be a very good thing right now! Additionally, if I can get the pressure off of cleaning up my nearly-done's, then I can concentrate on the stitch markers I want to release after New Year's. I haven't been able to obtain the jewelry findings I need for the crochet ones yet, but I have my fingers crossed. The department manager in crafts and fabrics is a friend of mine, so she has ordered several items for me, and I can get her to check on the status of them for me. Worse comes to worse, I can go on a mission of various WMs here in town and stock up on what I will need.

Today's plan: Seam Alex's socks, weave in ends on girl's scarves, finish Lissa's hat, and organize bead supplies a bit.

One more gift done!

Well I finished off Alex's stocking cap yesterday. I came up with a pretty interesting looking tassel/ pompom alternative to finish it off with. It turned out a little bigger than I had hoped/expected, so I'm going to have to play with the pattern a bit more before I can put it up on the Bistro. My 3.75 mm circular has decided to play hide-n-seek, so I can't even start one of the hats for Lissa or the girls. I'll get a pic of him modelling it on Christmas.
I cast on Alex's short row ribbed scarf last night. I went with a 10 mm pair of needles with the two strands of WW. It's turning out huge AND thick. It will be okay for when the girls take him to the park, but it won't be practical for me to make one for Lissa. I'll have to figure out something different for her. Perhaps a mini-HP scarf??? I'll make her hat first anyway since she already has the fur scarf from last year, and I made her a LB Boucle/Fun Fur scarf like I did for the girls.
I doubt if I'll get any more hats done in time for Christmas. I want to get the thumbs on the girls' mitts, and figure out what all I'm going to get finished otherwise.

An evening out!

Well Saturday was Derek's staff Christmas party. Everything didn't get done as I had planned, but I did get enough done that I could go out in public without being arrested! The Casual Cot'n top is now officially DONE!!! YAY!!! Buttons on, ends woven in. It does need a good blocking, but looked good enough that I was able to wear it on Saturday. The evening bag was also a hit. I didn't get the beads done, but it still looked great as is. It held what I needed it to, and that's what really mattered! We ended up not going it to the party after all. I was frantically sewing up the last of the seams and putting on my buttons, and by the time I finished we ended up being too late to have dinner. Derek wasn't feeling very well because his tooth that he's getting a root canal on absessed, and he looked like someone punched him in the jaw. We decided not to go since neither of us was really all that enthusiastic about it, and we went and had an intimate dinner for two at a local Chinese restaurant. I think I had a much better time since I wasn't in that much of a "party-it-up" mood anyway.

Here's how the top turned out. I'm extremely pleased with it, and have gotten many compliments on it already. It's actually my first knit clothing FO for me! It's a tad short in the sleeves and length, but that will all work out once it's washed the first time and does its inevitable growth spurt! The RH Casual Cot'n was a dream to work with. It was very soft on the hands, and very forgiving to a newbie knitter. The only problem I had with the yarn is that the nubby texture tended to make some of my stitches uneven, but nothing too terrible. It all adds to the character of the top, and I'm sure that some of the uneveness will wash out.

Here's the evening bag, sans beads. I think it turned out really cute. Everyone that's seen it thinks that it's just great. It's hard to see the pattern, but it's just a simple shell variation. I used less than one ball of South Maid crochet cotton in black/gold, and less than one skein of black Lustersheen. It holds my cigarettes, my change purse, hand cream, and chapstick... what more do you need? I still want to put the beads on it, but that may have to wait until right after Christmas. I have the pattern written up to this point, so it won't be hard to get the rest of it done and up on the Bistro site in time for New Year's!

"Monday" morning ramblings...

Yes, Monday!!! My weekend is over and I work tonight... that makes it Monday to me. *BLEH* At least I've got socks to work on at my breaks to keep me out of trouble -- YA RIGHT!!!
Man, have I got a lot to do on here! I know that my sidebar is in serious need of some attention. I haven't really updated it since the middle of November! *screams* I have a few FOs to report, and links and such to weed through. I want to streamline it a bit more, and add the neato status bars I got from "some" site... I'll link that when I do the update! I'm thinking more and more about the UFO situation, and by New Year's I may have an exciting announcement to make. I won't spill it all since I haven't completely decided yet, but if I go ahead, it will help us all get a few of those dealt with -- be it by frogging or stitching.
I'm sitting here waiting for my hands to uncramp so I can get some more work done on the evening bag. It's turning out quite nicely, if I do say so myself. I've got a pattern for the body of it that I'm pleased with, and now it's just a matter of repeating it until it's the size I want. I still need to decide on what type of drawstring/ handle I'm going to make. I've set up the stitching to make it easy to do the beadwork last. I know how I'm going to attach it and such, but don't know exactly how or what I'm going to do.
Well I guess I'll go peruse KH for a bit until I can get back to work here... more later!

A few projects closer to Christmas!

Just a fast post before I *try* to get some sleep! I just wanted to say how I'm a little bit closer to being done my Christmas projects.

Today I finished the knitting on Alex's second sock. All I need to do now is watch the video at KH, and read the article in one of my mags on how to graft the toes. Once the grafting is done, they're done! *YAY* The pic is of the first one I finished. I posted it to KH to show how different the striping is from the ribbing that I made and frogged {twice!} for Derek's socks. Even though it doesn't have a true camouflage pattern to it, I think it looks tons better striped like this than the spiral I was getting on the bigger ones.

I have two of the LB Boucle/Fun Fur scarves done now, with the third on the needles right now. They basically only take a day to make, so it's a fast FO to have at least *something* under the tree for the kids that I made. I'll take a pic of them all once I get the tangerine one done and the ends all woven in. I bought a really neat looking set of yarn needles that I think will be perfect for this. It looks like a regular yarn need for most of it, but the eye is actually a small loop of nylon cord. It will make threading the needle a breeze, instead of the nightmare I'd have with a regular one.

I still need to decide what to do about Derek's socks. I know that I can't make him camouflage ones in time. I think I will have to make him a double-stranded version or use two yarns at once and alternate them in order to avoid the horrid spirals I was getting. I don't want to take the time it would need to play around with it, and I really don't have the mind power for it right now either. I figured it out that it will cost me nearly $25.00 {or more if I need dpns too} to make him the hockey socks from Ram Wools. It *is* worth it since I will be able to use the stripe colour yarn to make more socks in the future, and will have a pattern leaflet with WW sock patterns, plus they *are* knee-high. But, can I *really* do it in time? decisions, decisions...

New Year's Resolutions?

Well I've been thinking about this for a while, and a thread on the KH Forum got me going again on it. I want 2006 to be a UFO extermination year. I'm going to dig out my ancient UFOs and get them done, at least one a month. Mainly what I'm looking at are my labour-intensive ones that will take a bit of time and concentration to complete. I'll probably set up something on the sidebar to let you know how I'm doing, and to keep myself focussed. This is the list I have so far:

• Granny dishcloth shawl {about 75%+ done}
• Popcorn MAM afghan {not touched in 4 years... mebbe half done???}
• Crocheted aran top in Patons Grace {about half the back done, if that}
• Homepsun sweater coat {about one third of the back done}
• DHs fair isle-style crocheted pullover {not even sure where I am on that!!!}

That is more than enough to keep me going for a couple of months. It will sure be nice to get some of these long-term UFOs cleared away. The shawl and sweater I started in Febuary of last year, the rest of the projects are more than a year old, and in the case of the popcorn MAM, it's probably getting closer to 5 years old! I know I haven't worked on it since we moved here, and that was October 2001!!!

[brag] I did it! [/brag]

Well I went and did it, I created what I believe to be the world's first fancy crochet stitch marker. Why should knitters have all the fun???

Introducing the first decorative stitch marker designed for the needs of crocheters. Well at least I think it's the first one, I can't ever recall seeing any recloseable ones in the knitting mag ads. I made it smaller than the knitting marker I made the other day. That way it won't weigh as much, and won't get in the way of your hands while stitching. In any case, I think it's a good start to something new and innovative to offer at the Bistro.

The work in the picture is the start {I hope} of a evening bag I'm designing for Derek's Christmas Dinner Party on Saturday. I was having a rough time seeing the stitches since it's all black, and figgered that a stitch marker would help me at least find the beginning of the round.

How cool is that???

Well I've seen pictures of fancy stitch markers in knitting magazines a *LOT* lately. Well since it's all from the US, and the prices and exchange are ridiculous, I never really gave them much thought. Then I found out a lady on the KnittingHelp.com forum was making them and selling them. Of course I had to check them out! Well, like a typical crafter, I said to myself, "Hey, I can make those!" Well an ungodly amount spent on beads and such later, I can now truthfully say, "I did make it myself!!!"
I must say that I think I did a not-bad job considering I haven't done any jewelry-making in about 10 years or so. Definitely longer than 6 years, in any case. It is my intent to eventually offer some for sale on my website. I'll be gearing towards two forgotten markets... the Canadians, and the crocheters... more on that when I actually get some more done!

STR... before and after!

Here we go!!! This is the STR as I received it. All pretty and squishy and... in a hank!!! The one of the left is the Romancing the Stone and the one on the right is the Azure Malachite. I hope the colours come through good. I have to admit that there's nothing to compare to seeing this stuff in person! It feels so soft!

This is the "after" photo. Strange how seeing it balled up changes the look of the yarn, isn't it? Also, both are actually centre-pull balls! If you look carefully you can see the yarn tail sticking out of the top of the balls. I did it by hand using a method I learned on KnittingHelp.com. I now have a button for them on the margin of the blog... check 'em out, they're a great bunch there!

So far I have resisted the urge to cast on with this yarn. I've even been so goos as to not decide on which pattern I'm going to use with it. I figgered that would make the temptation too great. It's 2 weeks today to Christmas... must not cast on... must not touch the yarn... must not cast on... must not touch the yarn... ROFL

STR in da house!!!

IT ARRIVED TODAY!!! I got my "Socks that Rock" yarn order in the mail today. Not bad at all, I ordered it 2 weeks ago, and it arrived here in 13 days {according to the postmark} even with the American Thanksgiving weekend caught in there! I got one hank of 'Romancing the Stone' and one hank of 'Azure Malachite' . I lucked out and got the last 2 hanks that Toni had of each. With the exchange and shipping, these will definitely be the most expensive socks I will ever hope to own, but GEEZ!!! look at those colours!!! The web site definitely doesn't do these colours justice. I will need to take a pic of these after I wind them into balls so that I can share it with you all!

Professional looking ribbing.

As promised, here's the link for the ribbing trick I just learned. It sure works up nicely IMO. I've finished Alex's first sock and I'll post a picture of that once I graft the toe. I've got it sitting on a spare pair of dpns right now because I want to learn how to do a kitchener seam properly for once. All I've done so far is sew up the seam, and did a three needle bind-off on another.

Found the camera cord!

Well the camera cord has been found. YAY! now I can post the pictures I took yesterday of the Skacel sweater sleeve and Derek's {now-frogged} sock. Hover your mouse over the pictures for a description of the yarn and needles used. You can also click the pictures to see the full-sized size version of the images.

Here you can see how nice and neat the ribbing stitches are thanks to the trick I learned from Nona's blog. I'll have to find that link again and post it for everyone. Basically, I call it purling backwards, but it's actually a take on a twisted purl. I think it gives a real professional finish to the ribbing. You can also see how the striping decided to spiral around the sock. *Definitely* not the look I was going for! Not bad for one afternoon's work though, I must say! Whaddayathink?

Here's the sleeve swatch from the Skacel Sweater Ad. I think that holding two yarns together has given it a much more random look in the variations than if I had used just a normal marl or varigated yarn. Don't you agree? Now that I've finally gotten the gauge to a liveable comparision to what's in the pattern, I will be able to fly on this once the holidays are over. I am just thrilled with how this is turning out. The finished effect will be very similar to the one in the ad, and much softer too due to the fibre content of the yarn. This took me about 2-3 days to get done, if that. I'm always working on so much at once, it's hard to tell how long *ONE* thing takes me!