Flurp

I couldn't think of a title for this post, so I asked my 6 year old what I should use. He said 'Flurp', so there it is. :)
I bought a book that can only be described as beautiful. The book is 'Selbuvotter :Biography of a Knitting Tradition' by Terri Shea. (btw- i ordered it from knitpicks and it was, I think, the quickest I've ever received an order from them. I placed the order Wednesday morning and my package arrived Friday morning) Looking through the patterns in it, I just had to run to my stash, pull out some fingering weight yarn, and CO something, any of the patterns would have done. I decided to start with Annemor #2, one of the child sized patterns in the book. They're intended for my DD, Hannah, even though she probably wont be able to wear them until next winter, as it's already the end of March and I doubt we'll have very many more mitten wearing cold days (if any). I'm already itching to buy some new yarn and start a pair of mittens for me.


There's also a small chance that I *may* be getting a spinning wheel. A friend of DH's has unfortunately fallen on hard times, and his wife has a spinning wheel that they're talking about selling. I told DH to tell them that if they do decide to sell it, I would LOVE to buy it from them. I don't have any details about the wheel, DH didn't think to ask about it, but I don't really care, because at this point, I want a spinning wheel SOOOOO badly that I don't care what it is, I just want one.....LOL

My Purple Greenjeans is DONE!

I finished my Mr. Greenjeans! I had to shorten the sleeves, and I added some buttons, but those are the only pattern changes I made. I used WEBS Valley Yarns Northampton in the color Amethyst. This sweater took about 3 weeks to knit.

Other than finishing this sweater, I've started a cardigan for my niece Morgan's upcoming birthday (march 25th), and I bought some yarn to knit my niece Justice a Starsky Jr for her upcoming birthday (in august). I have two more nieces with summer birthdays that I need to plan gifts for as well. One will be turning 4, the other turning 1. Any pattern suggestions?

Where the F%$# have I been?

Long time no post....nice to see you again....yadda yadda yadda....LMAO

Here at home I have been going on a HUGE organizing and purging crap kick. I'm just sick and tired of looking at the clutter and we really don't need this much CRAP sitting around the house. Soooo, I've been busy getting rid of old kids toys that no longer get played with, old baby, kid and grown-up clothes that don't fit anyone anymore and general odds and ends that I'm just sick of looking at. I'm slowly feeling better about the clutter levels around here, but I still feel like I don't even want to sort through it anymore, I just want to throw it all away. But, I can't do that. There are some important documents that need salvaged and I really do want to keep the coming home outfits that each of my kids wore on their trip home from the hospital after being born. Once I get those things out, I'm just going to chuck the rest.

Even with all the lugging of boxes and sorting of crap, I have been working on some yarn projects. I started 2 new projects that have been my primary focus and I still don't have Phineas or Earl Grey done....oops. oh well, they'll get done eventually. My 2 new wip's are a Granny Square baby blanket I'm crocheting for my cousin who's pregnant, and a Mr. Greenjeans sweater for me.
This first pic is the baby blanket. I'm using a crappy, frustrating, snaggy yarn, but it's soft, squishy, warm and machine washable. It's Joann Sensations Rainbow Boucle yarn that self stripes in shades of red. It was on sale for $5 and it's over 800 yards so I took a gamble on it. I wont be buying anymore of it (but I did buy a ball that shades from black to grey when I bought the red ball so I have another ball to use up, maybe I'll use the black/grey ball for a boarder on the red) This blanket is working up pretty quickly, I've only been working on it for 2 days now and it's big enough to cover my legs (but not my feet) when I have my footrest up. Granted, I'm only 5'2", but still, it covers my legs....LOL

This is my Mr. Greenjeans. I'm using WEBS Valley Yarns Northampton in the Amethyst color. I'm really pleased with this yarn so far. It's not the softest yarn, but it's not scratchy and totally wearable against your skin. It has great stitch definition, It's just a fantastic all purpose wool yarn. As for the sweater, it's a really simple top down raglan sweater (and if you've been reading my blog long, you've seen I really like doing the top down raglans) with cables. I'm finished with the body and I'm several inches into sleeve #1. Still left to go is the rest of sleeve #1, Sleeve #2, and then the button band/collar.

damn...I'm out of things to write about on here, so I guess it's back to de-cluttering the house.

More Socks!

So, I still haven't started sock #2 for the Earl Grey socks I'm making for DH. I'm seriously suffering from second sock syndrome with that pair. It's just that pair, too. Since starting Earl Grey, I've started and finished the Carolina socks, and I'm about 2.5 inches into sock #2 for a pair of Phineas Socks that I started. Granted, I think this is partly (ok, maybe mostly) due to the fact that my feet are tiny compared to DH's , so socks for me take a lot less time to knit. Plus, I'm kind of an instant gratification whore and socks for me give me that FO high a lot quicker. Anyway.... the socks pictured are what I have done on Phineas right now. While dragging the chair outside, I accidentally dropped the socks in the snow. Oh well, they may be wet right now, but at least the snow is pretty.

Down to 1.....

This morning I finished the Carolina socks! This means that I am down to one WIP, The Earl Grey socks for DH that I had originally wanted to finish before yesterday. Yesterday was DH's birthday, and I only have sock #1 completely finished. I'm working on sock #2, but I'm not very far into it yet. Maybe the socks will end up being DH's Valentines gift instead.

Anyway, back to Carolina. It was a fun pattern, very good for mindless TV knitting. I will definitely be knitting this again, maybe eliminating the purl row from the repeats. I'm just not a fan of purling in the round. I used Yarn Lust's Merino/Tencel blend yarn and size 2.75mm dpn's. I LOVE how the yarn pooled into pseudo-stripes. I really want to get my hands on more of the yarn from Yarn Lust.

Only 2.....

Wow....I have ONLY 2 wip's OTN right now! This feels weird. This is new. I normally have 5 or 6 WIP's going at any one time...having so few is going to take some getting used to. This feels weird, and yet I still don't have the urge to cast on any new projects right now. This is very weird...lol

First, we have the Earl Grey socks I'm knitting for DH's birthday gift. I had gotten caught up in finishing Adamas, so these socks got conveniently 'forgotten' about for a few days.....oops. Now I'm back to working on them and I'm only on sock #1, but I only have another inch to knit in pattern before I start the toe. I tried this sock on DH's foot last night, and it was SOOOO pretty. The cables were beautiful and it looked like a really good fit (so far...lol)

And here we have the beginnings of some really pretty socks for me. The pattern is 'Carolina, Last Queen of Naples' by Monkey-Toes. The pattern is beautiful, easy, and fun to work. The yarn, however, is just WOW. It's from Yarn Lust on etsy, and it's her Merino/Tencel 50/50 blend in the Melancholy colorway. Absolutely stunning shades of Green, Pink, and Blue. I HIGHLY recommend this seller, she was really nice and I had the yarn in my hands 2 days after placing my order. Plus, there were some extra goodies in my package that were MUCH appreciated. I will definitely be buying from her again.

Ribbit.....Ribbit.....

I've decided that my Icarus Shawl is going to go off to the frog pond. I was moving papers around last night, and my post-it that I was using to keep track of how many pattern repeats I had done and what row I was on got lost. I could very easily figure out what row I was on by looking at my stitches and comparing what I see to the chart, but I still have no idea how many pattern repeats I have done. Plus, I did have a bit of a mistake several inches ago (that I was going to fudge with a darning needle and yarn before blocking) but If I frog, then all of these little problems go away. I wasn't completely happy with it, so that makes it easier to frog. I'll probably start on another Icarus soon.

That was F&*#@!$ Quick!

So....6 hours later and it's completely dry! My lace weight Peacock Feathers shawl took twice as long to dry, that's why I was worried that Adamas wouldn't be dry before bedtime tonight.

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!! I love it! This is one of my most favorite projects that I've knit. I think, though, that may have more to do with the absolutely gorgeous yarn than with the pattern.

Screw Waiting....

I decided to go ahead and use the pins. This morning I put Adamas in a nice bath, and then put an old comforter on my bed and pinned out the shawl. I have a fan on it in hopes that Adamas is dry before DH and I want to go to bed tonight.

Done! but not finished......

My Adamas Shawl. I completed the knitting of it this morning, but I still need to block it. I started on this project a few days after Christmas, so it took just barely under a month to knit this. I really enjoyed this pattern. It was simple and straightforward, and yet still busy enough to hold my attention and keep me interested in knitting it.

The pattern is written for Lace weight yarn and size US5 needles. But I wanted to use yarn I already had, and I've been wanting a shawl thicker than lace weight, so I decided to use a fingering weight yarn (BMFA STR lightweight in Korppi) and size US6 needles. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I can't wait to get it blocked. Problem is, I want to block it NOW, but I hate doing all of those pins and I don't have any blocking wires. So, I have to decide if I want to just suck it up and use the pins, or wait until I can buy some blocking wires, which could be a few weeks.

He's a Dirty Trash can Full of Poop..........

So, the kids are watching 'Surf's Up', and one of the little kid penguins says "He's a dirty trash can full of poop" about the movie's bad guy, and I thought it was just a really cute line. Come on....read it to yourself in a tiny cute little kid voice. The cuteness of it all will put a smile on your face :)

Anyway...
I've started working on a pair of socks for DH's upcoming birthday. DH's birthday is on February 4th, so I've got a few weeks to get these done. I'm knitting him the Earl Grey sock pattern form the Yarn Harlot. The cables are difficult to see unless the sock is on, but once the sock is on, the cables are beautiful. I was going to say more about these socks, but before I could write it one of the kids needed me and now I can't remember what it was. I hate it when that happens.

I'm still working on my Adamas shawl, and with every stitch I fall deeper in love with the yarn I'm using. BMFA did a wonderful job with their Raven series, and the shades of green and purple they have in the Korppi colorway are BEAUTIFUL! The shawl still looks like the last pic I posted of it, it's just a few repeats larger now.

And, as for Icarus......oops. I haven't worked on it in the past week. I've been having too much fun with Adamas and Earl Grey.

What's the strangest....

If you have some kind of stat counter on your blog, what are the strangest search keywords used that have landed someone on your blog? Looking at the search keyword list on my stat counter, I've come to realize that there are very few people who can spell 'Little Bunny Foo Foo' correctly, and there are a surprising amount of people out there looking for pictures of a Baboon's Ass. The strangest one on my search keywords list, is Whip Porn. That guy got to see a post of mine titled 'WIP's and Yarn Porn'....lol That must have been a disappointment for him....LMAO

I want to say thank you to those who have commented and emailed me to wish me well. I have high hopes that this antibiotic is kicking this infections ass. It's stronger than the one I had before, and this one is supposedly designed to stay in a persons system fighting bacteria for two weeks after they finish the pills. I have another Dr's appointment soon, so we'll find out then how things stand. At this point I'm just hoping that the repeated ear infections haven't caused any permanent damage to my ear.


Despite my ear/sinus crap, I have been knitting.
I've started an Adamas Shawl using my STR lightweight in Korppi. I am currently on my sixth repeat of chart 2. It's really working up quickly, and it's a rather simple pattern, so it's good for working on during the evening while DH and I watch movies. I tried to get a good pic of all the subtle colors in the yarn, but I couldn't come close. In this pic, you can clearly see certain shades of the purple, but there are several more subtle shades of purple, and a few subtle shades of green, too. This yarn is really beautiful.


I also have a FO. The Anastasia Socks are finished. They are going to be given to my best friend for her birthday (which was on the 2nd, but between illness and work we haven't had time to get together to celebrate yet). I finished these on the 1st, so they were a pretty quick project (just about 1 1/2 weeks). I think I'm going to knit a pair for myself. This is a pretty pattern for showing off multi-colored sock yarns, and have several of those in my stash waiting patiently to be used.

There are NOT Enough Profanities....

...to describe what I'm feeling. Remember that Double Ear infection/sinus infection thing I had just before Christmas? Yeah....the fucking thing is back. Antibiotic resistant infection. FUCK!!! The good thing is that I made it to the Doctor before it got really bad. (thank goodness for my best friend who was willing to drive me to urgent care at 8am on a Sunday morning when she was out until 5am the previous night) Right now it's just my sinuses and a middle ear infection. I'm on even stronger antibiotics now.

My knitting mojo is back!

First, let's talk about how Christmas went....

We had a good one here. On Christmas Eve, FIL gave his presents to the kids, and his gift to DD was a little doll house that she LOVES. On Christmas morning, when she came out of her room, she ran past her stocking, past the big pile of presents, while yelling "MY DOLL HOUSE!!!!!" and she ran to the doll house and happily played until meanie Mommy and Daddy told her to open her presents...lol. The boys both have been playing with their new toys non stop as well. I don't think any of them received anything that they didn't absolutely love :)

My Hand knit gifts were well received this year. My Mom absolutely LOVES the afghan I knit for her. So much so that a few hours after we arrived back here at home from visiting her house, she called me just to tell me again thank you for the blanket and she just kept going on about how pretty it is and she asked me a million questions about how long it took and the construction details. I love that my mom loves the afghan. My sister, Jammie, loved the Baboons Ass socks. My other sister, Dawn, loved the Montego bay scarf. She put it on after opening it and wore it around for a few hours. She absolutely LOVES how soft it is (merino/silk blend). Baby Talia is only 4 months old, and as soon as her Mommy helped her get the sweater out of the box, Talia saw it and started crying....lol. And as for Laney and Morgan's sweaters, Look below:

Here is my (sleepy) Miss Morgan trying on her sweater.

and, here is my Laney Belle trying on her sweater. (and my dad fresh in from doing yard work in the background chomping on a cookie)

I hope everyone also had a good Christmas.
~

As soon as my Christmas knitting was finished with, and the last button sewn on, I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my chest. I was free to knit whatever I wanted again! Such a liberating feeling!! So, either on the 23rd or 24th (I'm not sure), I started a pair of Anastasia socks for my best friend's Birthday gift. Her birthday is coming up on January 2nd. I am using some discontinued Regia Strato Color that has been sitting in my stash for a LOOONNNNGGGG time. I think it's been there for at least a year and a half. The ball band says the color # is 5747. I have sock #1 completely finished, and on sock #2 I'm done with the toe and I'm either 4 or 6 rows (I can't remember) into the first pattern repeat. Not shabby for only a few days work.

I have also rescued my Icarus shawl from my UFO pile. I haven't really done much with it, so it still looks the same as the last pic I posted of it. Icarus became a UFO so I could concentrate on Christmas knitting, so its been waiting patiently since October for me to return to it. Also, I have 3 skeins of STR lightweight in Korppi waiting to become an Adamas Shawl.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who emailed or left comments wishing me better. It really meant a lot to me. I am doing A LOT better now. I still can't hear out of my left ear, and I still get a little dizzy occasionally, but that's it. I can actually function now! YAY!.....lol I had a few days where I could function just fine as long as I could sit still, and on those days, I managed to knit (and finish) a Halley's Comet Hat for my niece, Morgan; and I finished the Baboon's Ass socks for my sister, Jammie.

Here, you can see DD modeling Morgan's hat, it's a better pic of DD than it is of the hat :) Instead of a rolled brim like the pattern specifies, I did some 2X2 ribbing. To make the hat more of a toddler size instead of adult , I went down a needle size. The yarn I used is Lion Brand's Cotton Ease in the Berry color. This hat took less than half of the skein, and was a really easy, really quick knit. DD saw that there's a flower on the top of the hat, and she asked for me to knit one for her, so I let her into my stash and she picked out a skein of Violet Cotton Ease for her hat.

This second pic, is the finished Baboon's Ass socks. It's a crappy pic (pun NOT intended), but I didn't feel like being persistent in getting a better one...lol. The pattern is Monkey socks by Cookie A, and I used Knitpicks Essential sock yarn in Burgundy.

So, as far as Christmas knitting goes, all I have to finish is both sleeves on Laney's cabled Sweater, 1/2 a sleeve on Morgan's hooded sweater and the buttons on both sweaters. Since these sweaters are for a 2 year old and a 3 year old, the sleeves are pretty short and wont be a problem to finish. And, buttons in this house are never a problem...lol

I doubt that I'll be posting again before Christmas. So, everyone, have a happy holiday! Have a great time celebrating with your families, loved ones, and SO's!

weeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ok, so it turns out that what was thought of as a run of the mill ear infection, is really both an inner and an outer ear infection. The pain got so bad that my best friend (who is the BEST BEST BEST best friend in the whole wide world) took me to the ER at 3am on Sunday morning. Apparently that cold I had last month that I thought was just a bad cold, was really a sinus infection. And that never getting properly treated, is what caused my ear infections. So, now I'm on strong antibiotics, ear drops and pain meds. The pain meds caused the title of this post. They make me a little stoned. I may feel good now, but this really sucks. I can't drive (even if I weren't on the pain meds I couldn't drive. the fluid in my ear makes me really dizzy at unpredictable times). I need to go grocery shopping. DH is going to take me tonight, But I really hate feeling like I can't get things done.

Big Road Bump....

I was making really fantastic progress on the sweater for Morgan, I finished the 1st sleeve and the hood, only one more sleeve and buttons to go. On Laney's I still have both sleeves to finish, and buttons to sew on, and I still have about an inch and a half to do on the Baboon's Ass socks. It kills me that I was making such great progress, and I have to take a few days off from knitting. I have an ear infection in my left ear. I'm managing the pain pretty well, but if I spend a lot of time upright, I get dizzy(even while sitting). Plus the drainage is grossing me out. No knitting yesterday. I was in too much pain. No knitting today. I'm too dizzy. I hope I can knit some tomorrow. Christmas is in 10 days. I can do this. Really, some sleeves, some buttons and a sock toe. I can totally do that in 10 days. Hopefully I'm not out of commission for too long.

Would you like to know something interesting? This is the very first ear infection I have EVER had in my life. None of my 3 kids have had ear infections either. I've always known I was REALLY lucky (especially with the sinus issues I have). I know that babies Eustachian Tubes are smaller than adults are, and that alone makes babies more likely to get ear infections and I just keep thinking how awful it is for a teeny lil baby to have to go through this. Poor babies.

And, here are the pics....

the ones I mentioned in the post below. I forgot to get a pic of the Baboons Ass socks, but if you've seen one ass, you've seen them all.....LMAO! (cheap joke, but worth it) Below you'll see the pics of the cardigans I'm making for 2 of my nieces for their Christmas Presents.



I'm using WOTA Bulky for both of them, Grape and Sky for Laney's, and Mauve for Morgans. I bought 3 skeins of each Grape and Mauve for the sweaters (the Sky is leftovers from another project), and for Laney's, I'm 3/4 through ball #2 and working on a sleeve; and for Morgans, I am almost ready to join ball #3 and I'm still on the body. I'm thinking I *may* have to end up using some of the grape for sleeve cuffs on Morgans sweater (the pink one).

A Pic-less update

I just realized it's been a while since my last blog post, so I figured I would do a quick update now, and I'll probably be able to post some pics tomorrow. I've been working a lot on trying to finish up Christmas gifts, and REALLY REALLY REALLY craving the sensation of casting on a new project. However, I have promised myself that I wont cast on anything new until I finish the Christmas gifts. This promise is EXTREMELY difficult to keep because I have my new STR Ravens (Korppi and Tlingit) sitting in my knitting bag begging to be knit. Anyway..... I'm getting close on the Christmas gifts. I just finished the body and started the sleeves for the Cabled Raglan Cardigan for my Niece, Laney; I am past the sleeve separation and working the body of the Hooded Raglan Cardigan for my Niece, Morgan; and I am about 90% done with the Baboons Ass (Monkey socks made with Red yarn) socks for my Sister, Jammie.

DH is out of town right now, visiting his Mom (Hi Nancy!). So, for me that means a lot more knitting time in the evenings, IF I can stay awake. Last night I started dozing off in the middle of purl row on Morgan's sweater and, miraculously, was still knitting(purling) when I jerked back awake...LMAO.

WOOHOO! I'm on a roll.......

But I doubt it'll last long......

I finished another Christmas Gift!!! This sweater is the hooded baby sweater I knit for my niece, Talia. You may remember my model, Floyd. This sweater is a 6 mos size (can you believe Talia will be 4 mos old at the end of December! It still feels like she was just born!). I used 1.5 skeins of Patons Decor yarn in the colorway 'First Spring Varg'. I've gotten to the point with these sweaters that I don't use a pattern anymore, or else I would link you to the one used.



This means that out of the 6 gifts I had to knit, I have 3 down and 3 to go! and one of those 3 is already about 80% done!