Times they are a'changin'

Well, today was SuperGirl's first day of kindergarten. Both kids were up and in bed with me at 5:30 a.m., eager to start their day. I was also eager to start the day, but not 30 minutes before I had to.

We got everyone where they needed to be fine. I'm driving Hubby everywhere still; his shoulder is healing fine but still no driving with it. He was dropped off first and SuperGirl second. I had to do the carpool (NOT my 1st choice, I wanted to walk my child but so did all the other parents and there was no place to park within 2 blocks, it started raining, and Little Guy had fallen asleep with his shoes and socks off). We were barely on time so I made sure she knew her room number and dropped her off with the line of teachers waiting for all the little people to be dropped off. She hopped out of the car like a big girl and that was it. She was in class and I was driving home with tears coming out of my eyes because I can't believe she's that old, in Kindergarten, and so capable and responsible. But that's what we want, right? Kids that take those values and run the world?

I had another thought while through the car pool line. Excellent opportunity for knitting. Sitting there waiting for the cars in front to inch a little closer takes minimal attention and I can do that and knit at the same time. I'm looking at my Christmas present list and it's looking a little better!

... and the socks

#1- the rainbow sock from a Crystal Palace yarn. Soft and lovely. It will certainly be one of my nicer pairs! I'm knitting it in a stitch that I can't think of the name at the moment... will come soon. It's where you knit 2 rows, K2 P2 the next 2 rows, repeat this pattern.

#2- my purple socks. They were turning out so pretty I wanted to keep them.

#3- the Man's sock. Low cuff in 1x1 ribbing. We'll see if it holds up or gets frogged.

More worth at least several hundred words...

#1- Ahhh, the skein of cashmere and silk. Such fond memories...

#2-Cable and lace pattern for Phoebe's blanket. I'm actually enjoying it now and fixed my bo-bos from when I started. It's certainly one I learned a few things on, like reading patterns fully before starting and making sure to do the K5 at the end of the WS row, not getting carried away and purling everything.

#3 & #4- the Calming wrap and close-up on the bee stitch. The lift in the stitches is from knitting the purl bump below the stitch along with the stitch.

I promised pictures!

Ok, the first group.
#1- Hubby's sweater so far. Doesn't look like much but every round is done with love and lots of time. :) I didn't use a smaller needle for the ribbing because that would have meant US#0 needles, plus he didn't want it to cinch in; he only wanted it to form fit.

#2 & #3- "Sedna" from a Yarn Forward magazine or my Amazing Technicolor Dream Cardigan. Imagine 2 more colorways thrown in and you will have an idea of how it will shine finished! It's fun, the cotton is amazing to knit with even if it does split more than I would like when knitting the cables and bobbles. Not sure why #2 came out sideways... hmm...

#4 & #5- AAnt's Afghan so far. It will finish a queen sized bed when finished. Large, a little boring, but not too bad. The colors keep me thinking because I change them with every row. I did consider doing fringe at the color changes but I don't think the recipiant of this gift would like that.

More to come!

Saturation Point

I think I've hit project saturation. I was thinking this yesterday and shared the revelation with Hubby. He gave me a look and said "Do tell."

I honestly can't start another project until I finish at least ONE thing that I'm currently working on. I'm working on the following (and yes, I confess to knitting ADHD and a little lunacy on top of that, but really I'm very happy doing all this at once... if I had all the time in the world, no housework, and no one's else's housework, and no people to chase):

• Hubby's Sweater: dark gray/brown, stockinette (and only stockinette with a little ribbing on the edges, my pattern to his dimensions knitted all in one piece attaching the sleeves EZ style) knitted on US#2 circulars
• Calming Wrap: (waiting for Phoebe wrap) Bee stitch, dark blue and light blue
• Socks: I have 2 started and one nearly finished
• Phoebe's blanket (starting to warm up to cables that seem to last forever thanks to Sedna)
• Sedna, or my Amazing Technicolor Dreamcardigan (posted on Ravelry)
• AAnt's Afghan (I'm actually crocheting again!)

Those are the ones I've started. I've also unravelled a skein of cashmere/silk for a lady I met in the Knit Shop. Can you say HEAVEN?!?! I also got paid for it! Hubby said he wouldn't be surprised if he came in to find me laying in the middle of the floor, purring, tossing it around. I also have several dishcloths to make for Christmas presents, a dragon scarf for Mom, an alligator scarf for the knit shop, another pair of socks to knit for that charity auction, a pair of socks for M-i-l and another for one of the nieces (probably more Christmas presents, due to our financial position), and I'm sure I'm leaving something out somewhere. There's always something coming up.

I love the knitting. I really do. I love that I will never, ever be sitting somewhere bored because I will always have something portable to work on and something more complicated waiting for me at home. I just need to clone myself so that at least the socks get finished in half the time.

Sedna-sedna-bo-bedna

(apologies to those who now have the Name Game stuck in their head)

I started my cotton cardigan with the cables and bobbles a few days ago. It's called "Sedna" and is in issue 8 of Yarn Forward magazine. I was trucking along nicely until it came to the establishing of the cable pattern when I noticed I was short a few stitches at the end. Not really worrying, I increased the few (around 3) and kept going. I ended up a few stitches too many at the end of the next row.

Uh oh.

I also noticed that the cables were a few stitches closer to the sleeve on one side then the other. This made things look a little funny because when you looked at the back of the sweater where the sleeves are, one side's cable will be nearly hidden by the armpit but the other side's cable will have plenty of room. Let's not even mention the front where one cable looked a little more crammed/scrunched than the other.

Double oops.

If anyone has done cables and/or sweaters there is an idea that sides should mirror. There is also an idea that you can't just adjust stitch numbers willy-nilly because usually those numbers are there for a reason, like something that will need those 13 stitches to fit into 7 rows down the line, or up the chart, as the case may be. This is my first cable chart project, and first serious cable project ("c5p2b", for instance), and I am praising the glory of ravelry.com for having their pattern definition information and allowing me to be a member. But even ravelry.com can not chuck me over the head and offer the suggestion that instead of barging into things, I might have planned and checked to make sure my numbers were right and marked the stitches to check for symmetry before doing it in order to not have to frog anything. Frogging cables are not fun.

I did frog it. I backtracked and checked my numbers, finding a mistake in the pattern for how many stitches my size (and all larger sizes, by the way) should have when you place the sleeve stitches on the holders. I moved on after voicing my wrath to the gods (I've taken to singing spirituals instead of cussing; it really amuses Hubby, especially when he came outside to find me cleaning chewed up bubble gum off my car floor mats and peddles after I STEPPED IN SOME FOR THE SECOND TIME IN 24 HOURS with Goo Gone, singing "Praise Jesus!") and marked the divisions where there is 2 pfb, p8, 4 pfb, p13, etc. and found that this time I only needed one extra stitch at one side and to move things over 1 stitch around one armhole.

Note to self (and any other curious persons): Use stitch markers (DON'T JUST KNIT IT) and read ahead when establishing any detailed important pattern. Keep the 2 year old out of the room when doing this or someone/thing might get hurt. Saves frogging and brain cells. And, by the way, you might want to leave the stitch markers in to save time later in the cable pattern.

If I really wanted to...

I would love to tell you tons of stuff. I'd love to write about all these socks I've decided to start and how I am slowly finishing them. They aren't all that innovative, they are for a charity event, and they are cleaning out the lessor wanted skeins from my stash so I am grateful. I'm in a down-sizing, keeping only what matters mood. Hence, there is a huge stack of odds-and-ends to take to Goodwill in a corner of Little Guy's bedroom. Will haul that away soon... I hope.

I'd love to tell you about Hubby's recovery from his shoulder surgery. Everything's fine, just needs time to let it heal, as in at least 4 weeks before even thinking about therapy. Good news for him, he gets out of doing yard work for 6 weeks, possibly rest of the yard-working season. News for me, I get to mow on Saturday mornings.

I'd love to update you about my job. There's nothing going on. Which should mean tons of knitting time but somehow that is not developing. I have to drive Hubby everywhere so that means extra outings with sprogs in tow (including getting him to work at 7:30 am... ouch) and taking care of all these little nit-piddley errands that have developed. I had to go to the DMV yesterday and sit for 40 minutes before they called me to straighten out the fact that I no longer have the lease car I traded in several months ago, etc.etc.etc. Joy of all joys. SuperGirl was sitting very patiently with me and Little Guy was asleep on my shoulder for about 20 minutes when she looked at me, sighed, and said "This is not fun at all." I agreed.

I've been eyeing some sewing projects but haven't started them. I haven't taken any pictures of anything. I have been really tired and unmotivated. The good thing is my errands seen to be waning for the moment and hopefully this weekend is relaxing and full of lovely knitting. One can always hope. I'll settle for on the boring side with a little bit of work and tons of Joan Hickson being Miss Marple. Tried to watch the newest Masterpiece Mystery Miss Marple and couldn't get past 5 minutes. Acting was crap. I'm spoiled.