Thoughts on a new day

I've been thinking about the new year. I'm looking forward to it. I'm wanting to clean out my house, let the fresh air in, organize everything after the craziness that was November and December, and make sure we are set for the upcoming months. I paid bills, found out that what was informally labeled as "busy work" at my work by other landmen was now "top priority" (love it when they do that), am having the whole fab fam over tonight for supper and games (this includes Hubby's parents), and am about to put a sleeping baby down in bed.

I'm not sure why I'm thinking like this. Last year was fine. Steady, nothing tragic. This year the kids will be a little bigger and we've already decided our family goals (play more games, watch less t.v., talk more together, spend more time together, etc.) and are already carrying them out. I'm mentally trying to plan what games will be easier to play while knitting but I think Hubby will nix that idea ("You said we need to spend more time together, not time knitting") even though I still maintain that I pay perfectly good attention while knitting. :) Maybe when it's his socks he'll comply...

So have a happy end of 2008 and I wish your 2009 to be fantastic. A fabulous one.

Triangle Wrapping

I tried something new last night, other than attempting yet again to go to bed at a decent hour. It didn't happen and then both kids were up at 2:30 am for various reasons so I ended up in SuperGirl's bed with both of them, her coughing and Little Guy trying to decide if it was worth it to continue sleeping. Hubby wasn't involved like he usually is (he tends to SuperGirl) because he only works 2 1/2 days this week and Monday was going to be a mad rush; I at least can take a nap and Ph-i-l doesn't mind.

So anyway, I had been knitting away at LOLA's sock all afternoon yesterday and reached a stopping point due to needing to know how much longer to make the foot. That was fine with me because I was socked out and working with those little Lantern Moon Rosewood #1 Sox Sticks (even though decadent) were making my hands shake. I needed something bigger to work with for a while so I didn't end up snapping something in half. The only other project in progress is the wrap and I wasn't feeling that urge to FINISH-QUICK-RIGHT-NOW and I was relieved because I really want to enjoy that thing. I'm learning so many new and interesting techniques (ways and what happens depending on the pick-up stitch you use, bobbles, mitered squares, a really interesting stretch of triangles done in one piece, garter for texture, how some blocks draw in tighter than others, etc.) and even though some of the blocks seem to go on for a while they don't take FOREVER and I'm really enjoying how I'm now able to notice which will be the right side/wrong side simply by reading the stitches and getting a visual in my mind. That's something I never thought I'd be able to do due to me being so visual. Fabulous experience. Make this wrap again? Not anytime soon but it has really helped me get over my pattern anxiety.

I started on one of the last blocks that isn't attached from the beginning to the wrap-in-progress; it's knitted separate in one piece and joined later. It starts with (1) knit front and back increase, knit to end, (2) knit next row, alternate rows until there are 40 total stitches, making a right triangle. Then, and this really confused me in the beginning but I should learn to trust patterns and the fact that most of the time they do know what they are doing, you start with the first stitch, knit front and back, ssk, turn. Turn? What about the others? I read ahead and noticed there was no reference to separate pieces, in fact it was told to strictly be done in 1 piece at the very beginning, and there was a mention that this would be triangles fitted together to make the long block. But that was about it. I took a deep breath, shut my brain off, and started knitting. They were right. It does make triangles. There are some notes I am going to make where the person could have been a little clearer (one step says "knit back" and it's a little confusing because she means knit only on that row back to the other side, not knit in the back of every stitch, or at least that's what I think and it worked out) but other than that I feel really good about the new thing I learned. So far I have the right triangle and this is making a triangle branch off it's side (think geometry where 2 triangle fit together to make a square and apparently this is what is going to happen repeatedly for this block) and I can't wait to work some more on it. The only problem with that project is it has grown so much it's not small enough to tuck in my purse and work on while sitting in the drive-thru at the bank. That hasn't stopped me before though...

Tired, very tired

It's Sunday night and I don't have the holiday hangover. Hubby doesn't even have the holiday hangover. Both kids do though and has it been a doozie (-y or -ie?). As in their figurative hangovers, not the holidays. The holidays were great, more on the quiet side for the most part until we visited my grandparents who live in central Louisiana. That was about the time Little Guy decided he'd had enough with this visiting business and started his trantrums. SuperGirl started the getting REALLY tired at 3:30-4 pm and dissolving into tears by 6pm every night Friday. Hubby and I traded them off and kept our hair on, both wondering how we were going to get through this and how to get more sleep and rest when we had yet more visiting to do. Somehow we've made it so far, they aren't as tired as they could be, and we found out that Little Guy has been cutting 3 teeth in the midst of everything. He's pretty much done with that and is now catching up on all the sleep he has missed out on for the past 3 months by sleeping long hours and lots. I'm not complaining there.

Knitting has been steady since I finished the scarf (and it got cold enough last night to wear it!) with cranking along LOLA's sock. It looks great so far and she's going to come by tomorrow to try it on and make sure everything is how she wants it. I'm thinking I'm going to take a break from the sock and knit the wrap... Oh, and did I mention I found the yarn and pattern for Hubby's sweater? It's lovel and I can't wait to start it. But he wants his socks first...

Happy Christmas to all...

Just a quick note to say Merry Christmas and wishing everyone a lovely day while the fam and I are making quite a day of it. It's already been a lovely time (SuperGirl got a little exercise trampoline which Little Guy thinks is the best present ever, who cares that it wasn't specifically for him), I got more pajamas and my perfume lotion (I'm not a woman without Theirry Mugler's Angel [**unpaid advertisement]), Hubby got his kettlebell, doorway chin-up bar, and gift card to the local comic book store (did I mention he's into acting also? How did I end up with such a Renaissance man?), and we've had breakfast with the p-i-ls and are waiting for Hubby's Sister #2, her husband, and 5 kids to come over for lunch and more presents. Then it'll be my family for supper and, you guessed it, more presents. I'm so proud of myself; I haven't dug under anyone's Christmas tree at all this holiday season and that's a milestone for me. Every year that's the first thing I do. Hubby had told me he wasn't putting my presents out because I snoop. It's not snooping, it's checking inventory. :)

The 1x1 2x2 scarf is over halfway finished and I'm sad to say the socks are still on the back burner. I should finish the scarf today, wear it this afternoon, and work on the socks tonight. Why? Because I'm proud I'm making something for myself but I'm also a stickler for deadlines and times promised.

LOLA is now engaged and she and the lucky man visited yesterday, complete with fabbity-fab bling-bling ring. The only things brighter were their smiles. We are estatic.

Last night I was blessed with the presence of Snakewoman and her GORGEOUS sweater, pattern showcased in Interweave Knits magazine Fall edition where they show all the things that can be done with 2 different types of yarn. Hers was the fuzzy pink looking one with lace detailing and she did an AMAZING job! Some substitutions in the yarn to make it more economical for her and it is so lovely.

So have a great big happy one, no matter what you're celebrating, as long as you're celebrating something. Me, we need to make sure the Baby Jesus from the kid's nativity scene isn't still rocking it in the Fisher-Price farm with the animals taking residence under Hubby's recliner.

Slight detour...

Hubby's cell phone could not do the colors in this scarf justice, I'll have you know. I was tempted today in the yarn shop and since I only have the 2 projects going, I simply HAD to start another that would be quick enough to not interrupt the others' progress, fun enough to break the monotony, and something I had been thinking about ever since Stephanie Pearl-McPhee mentioned absolutely loving knitting this style scarf in her blog. She also mentioned how everyone who is in the know knits one of these: Noro Silk Garden, 1x1 rib however many stitches across that you want for width, 2 skeins that look completely different, swapping yarn from Skein 1 and 2 every 2 rows. It's so easy to knit and the colors completely make it. I'm not a huge fan of Noro but this is not-scratchy enough for even me to wear and I only made it 24 stitches across for a thin width. That's due to me wanting to be able to wear it here even when it's only slightly chilly.

All I have done this evening is knit this scarf and I am so happy. I'm in happy knitting land. I shall return to LOLA's sock tomorrow once this scarf is finished and the wrap once the socks are finished. My goal is to have this scarf ready to wear tomorrow night at my p-i-l's Christmas Eve party; I think it'll be fun. Plus Snakeman and woman will be there (finally!) and knitting socks during a party might be frowned upon. By non-knitters, that is.

Odds and ends

We made s'mores tonight over the stove burner that tends to burn slightly hotter than the others, introducing SuperGirl to the finer points of self-made, melty dessert (not joys of pyromania). It is absolutely freezing here (literally!) which is amazing itself in Louisiana so tonight called for a supper of hot soup, seasame crisps, and s'mores. Hubby is an expert at making s'mores, like he's an expert at most sweets.

On a knitting note, nothing new. Still working on LOLA's sock, which she passed inspection on today while we tried to get some sort of work done. Holiday ditzy-ness has hit and no one feels like working. Even my F-i-l is taking off tomorrow and we are still working in his front room. Why? Money. And the stuff isn't waiting on anyone else. And I found out today the lady I inheirited my portion from (with the understanding that she was going to take it back) has now retired. We're giving her two weeks to actually stay retired (she's a hard one to keep out of the office) but in the meantime, I'm not sure what to do with what I have because it wasn't our project in the first place. But I'm not complaining because I'm still earning paychecks and I do enjoy it.

So anyway, back to the knitting, I am planning on continuing with LOLA's sock, hopefully getting through most of the foot tonight so she can try it on tomorrow and let me know how long to make it. It's a lovely self patterning black and white. Perfect for her because she's a very conservative dresser but still fun to be around.

Socks, rejected

I dropped off the fixed Purple Skrap today and she loved it. Fit perfectly.

I received the socks rejected by Dad and have posted the pictures above. Now I can't imagine why he would be so adamant about not wearing these. They are exploding with personality, not to mention an added bonus of being able to tell who was color-blind. They are still a little big on me but I'm loving wearing them. They are very warm.

Visited with Sock Sis, who is in town, all afternoon. We were at Mom's, knitting away, visiting about everything. I spent the whole time reworking the 3 needle bind-off on the wrap. I spoke too soon yesterday about being able to leave it alone. I looked at it this afternoon and it just was missing that bind-off; it really needed it to be on the right side. So I frogged it and redid it. The bind-off wasn't as nice looking on the right side as it was on the wrong side and I'm not sure why. Maybe the curl of the fabric? Anyway, I'm glad I did it but I'm putting the wrap aside to work on LOLA's socks. I've started the heel...