That other knitting blog

Busy baby, no time to knit

2012-01-11T19:28:00.000-05:00

It's incredible how much time a small child takes. She's generally a very easygoing kid, but she still requires so much time and attention that I've sadly been neglecting my knitting.

However, I've managed to get a few things done. First and foremost is the last edition of Little Seasonals. It's available on Lulu now.

I am extremely proud of this one. The patterns inside are really something! There are two cowls, a pair of mitts, and a pair of gloves. I had fun designing the gloves. They are a 3-in-1 design with a plain glove and a handwarmer that can be worn over the glove or alone.

Teresa designed a wraparound cowl with a button (it's pretty and I want to knit it for myself). My cowl slips over the head and is a complicated-looking but actually very simple braided cable design.

We are talking about possibly putting the four books together and creating a special edition offering all sixteen patterns at once.

Also, Lulu now offers epub conversion so an ebook can be offered in the iBookstore and on the Barnes and Noble website. I am now in the (probably slow) process of modifying the original books to match their specifications for conversion.

In other news, Little Knit is teething. She is 4 months old on Saturday. That's making my mind boggle a little. On the one hand, it's already four months?? And on the other...it's ONLY been four months?? It's going so fast and so slow all at the same time.

And in final news...we have no hot water. That sucks!

Swatches, sketches, submissions, and knitting

2011-11-17T15:10:00.001-05:00

I'm getting back into the swing of knitting. It's easier on the days that Abby naps well. Truthfully, I should be cleaning the bathroom right now (I'll do that as soon as I'm done this post), but I wanted to get one more swatch done while she napped.

I have a confession to make. I'm actually a very bad artist. I'm not actually much for sketching. I swatch and knit. I don't really sketch my designs. However, sketching is a necessary part of design submission, so I am learning to do it. I am sketching a bunch of gloves, but I had to sort of cheat. I took a photograph of my hand and turned it into a sketch in my photo editing software, then I shrunk it down, printed it off, and traced it to use as a croquis (fashion blank). I'm still terrible at turned stitches into drawings, but I think I can get the point across with excessive labelling. I did discover inthis process that sketching makes swatching easier. A small 4"x4" square combined with the drawing is ultimately less work than knitting a small sample for every project. It also gets the point across nicely.

I'll be pounding out about 35ish of these designs over the next month or so, to include with my book proposal when I resubmit. I don't plan on the book being a 35 pattern book, but I'm hoping that having a large selection of possible patterns will encourage a publisher to pick up the book.

It's an entirely new process for me and not at all the way I usually design. I suppose everyone has their own process. Mine is to get a picture in my head and, because I don't draw very well, just start knitting it. In all honesty, that's how I did the Sense and Fashion handwarmers for Jane Austen Knits. I did the design before the "sketch", and was very nervous about my submission as the sketch was really incredibly crummy, so I just included the entire glove as my swatch. ;)

If I'm going to continue getting really serious with my designing, I might actually take a fashion drawing course. There's one offered at the local college.

Happy baby

2011-11-06T18:42:00.000-05:00

This face makes it all worth it! The waiting, the infertility that came before, the tears, the pain, the hopes, the prayers. The swollen ankles, the stretch marks, the gallstones. The sleep deprivation, the walking, rocking, bouncing, begging her to please sleep. The fight to learn how nurse, the feedings at 3am, the late nights, the early mornings. The complete lack of time to knit because she just wants mommy to hold her.

When she smiles and you know she's smiling at YOU, you want to move heaven and earth for her. I keep waiting for it to become normal, but it doesn't. Every time I see her, awake and happy, tired and fussy, or sleeping peacefully in my arms... it doesn't lose it's magic.

Jane Austen Knits

2011-11-05T15:50:00.000-04:00

I have been absolutely DYING(!!!) to make this post and show off these pictures.

Jane Austen Knits is now available for download in electronic format. It will be hitting the shelves at your local bookstore any day now.

In it, you will find a pattern by yours truly: Sense and Fashion Handwarmers.

Jane Austen Knits volume 2 is scheduled for 2012. Yes, I will be submitting again. Fingers crossed that I make the cut. I expect the competition will be a lot stiffer this time around, since many new designers who did not know about the first publication will be submitting to the second.

Where did my knitting go?

2011-10-03T22:45:00.000-04:00

We're 3 weeks in (well...almost 3 weeks). My knitting deadlines have been shuffled off to the side. They won't be done any time soon. I'd like to spend more time knitting, but my hands have been pretty full lately. Literally.

I will say one thing: Every new mom should have a baby wrap or a sling of some (safe) sort. I have a wrap and a sling. I really like the wrap. It's extremely useful. I LOVE my sling!!! Abby has spent nearly every waking moment in her sling for the last week. In fact, she's in the sling right now, at this moment, as I type this entry. She's awake, but she's resting her head just above my heart, which means she'll be falling asleep soon and I can put her to bed to do other important things...like pump milk (moo).

I expect I will be able to start knitting again fairly soon. The nice thing about the sling is how it leaves both my hands free for doing other things (like blogging and eating). Right now, most of my non-knittingness is due to the fact that every time I sit down to knit, I fall asleep. Amazing what sleepless nights will do to you.

I am hoping Abby falls asleep soon. I'd like to sleep, too. The lack of sleep combined with the poor weather and dwindling supply of adequate headache-preventing hormones (must admit, I appreciated that little side-effect of my pregnancy) is causing a headache to hover in the peripheral of my brain.

This coming weekend is Thanksgiving (in Canada). I have much to be thankful for this year. Unfortunately, that won't include being thankful for finished projects. I've knitted a grand total of 10 (or fewer) rows in the last 3 weeks.

Baby Abigail is here!

2011-09-18T05:23:00.000-04:00

Abigail Zen Yee was born September 14. She may have been early (10 days early!), but she weighed in at a fully-finished 8 lbs 4 oz.

My blog posts may decline in frequency over the next few weeks. Apparently babies are a lot of work. Who knew. ;)

Her middle name, Zen Yee, is pronounced "seen yee" and means "beautiful and happy". She is both!! I feel overwhelmingly blessed and just thank God for her!

37 weeks and insomnia

2011-09-04T14:57:00.000-04:00

"Oh, that's just your body getting ready for the sleepless nights ahead."

I don't get it. Wouldn't getting ready for no sleep involve sleeping MORE so you are well rested? I guess I understand the theory. You have to build up a tolerance to sleep deprivation. I just wish it didn't come at the cost of my sanity. I just bit poor H's head off earlier. He wanted to know if I wanted steak for dinner tomorrow. Well...how am I supposed to know if I want steak for dinner?? It's not tomorrow yet. I don't know how I'll feel tomorrow. He was being so kind, too. Offering to cook dinner so I don't have to.

Pretty sure the heartburn will kill me if the insomnia doesn't. I wonder if it's possible to overdose on Tums?

In knitting news, I'm kinda feeling down and having a slightly less than awesome week. My book proposal was rejected. But alas, I will not take no for an answer!!! I will work on it some more, flesh out a few more details, write a few more patterns, explain the proposal better and resubmit. New deadline is December 1st. Maybe January 1st. We'll have to see how life works.

In the meantime, it could be a blessing in disguise. I have to get the last of my patterns done for Little Seasonals. They are done, but the samples need to be finished. I also need to finish my sample for the Gentleman's Argyle Vest I started much earlier this year. Again, the pattern is done, but the sample is not. I might hand off the yarn and pattern and 1/4-done sample to a friend to help me finish it. I have discovered I do not like intarsia at ALL! It's so pretty when done, but I do not like the process. I like fair isle. I do not like intarsia. Cables and intarsia together are beautifully complicated. Cables and intarsia with pregnant-brain are a mind-breaking combination. Cables and intarsia combined with pregnant-brain and sleep-deprivation is a recipe for disaster...or possibly the looney bin. But I have got to get this done. It has taken me much too long!

Sadly, I suspect I don't have enough yarn for the entire project. I hope I am wrong.

I wonder if I'll manage to finish my nephew's sweater before Christmas? Or my mother's sweater? Those are the only two personal projects on the go right now. I want to knit. I want to sleep more!

Moaning, groaning, and general whinging

2011-08-23T23:16:00.003-04:00

I like the word whinging better than whining. I don't know if there is really a difference. But I will freely admit doing both. This post will have very little to do with knitting, and I apologize for that. I'll get back onto knitting topics soon.

First and foremost, I'm annoyed with my manicure and pedicure. The pedicure smudged overnight, in spite of having had over 5 hours to dry between the time I got home and the time I went to bed. That annoyed me a LOT. I don't have any more pedicure coupons, so I'll have to find a friend to help me paint my toes some time in September. Or I might just spring for a full price pedi. :P Call me vain, but I want pretty toes when everyone is standing by my lower half staring into my nether regions. Also, the shellac coating on my manicure? Complete waste of money. Started chipping on Saturday. 3 weeks? Very funny! 3 days, maybe. Didn't last any longer than a normal manicure. Won't be doing that again.

It is general knowledge that the latter weeks of pregnancy are awkward and uncomfortable. But no one really can put that into words. Still, I'll try. You know how you feel when you overstretch a muscle in the wrong direction? When the muscle could possible still go, but you run out of skin to let it stretch further? That's kind of how my stomach feels when Mouselette pushes her feet hard against my stomach. And you know how you feel when someone sneaks up behind you and pokes you in the ribs? That's definitely how it feels when Mouselette kicks me in the ribs. Which she does often. Especially when I am lying down. It has caused me to jump on more that one occasion. Sometimes, when she runs her foot along the side of my ribs, it tickles. I'm extremely ticklish, and since she is most active around 1am-3am, I will admit to having woken up giggling from her ticklish antics.

Ps, that picture to the left? That's Mouselette! I looked and saw that I hadn't posted it yet. This was taken several weeks ago. It was the best money I've ever spent! The opportunity to see her tiny face and perfect features was utterly priceless. She looks like her daddy! Of course, she can't help looking like her daddy. I knew back in May that she would. Her side profile was just H all over. And that was in a black and white generic 2D scan. But the lips? I'm proud to say, that is my mouth! Which may or may not be a good thing, since while I have a very pretty mouth, it is known to spout off without thinking on many an occasion. ;)

Tomorrow marks 8 months. Tomorrow I will have precisely one month remaining...possibly less. Maybe more. More likely less than more. I know it's wrong to expect this, since it sets up for potential disappointment, but I fully expect her to make an early debut. My money is sometime between September 14-20. I actually have appointments with the midwife on the 13th and 20th. I have all my appointments booked between now and Mouselette's official due date at the full 40 weeks. But since neither H nor I made it all the way to 40 weeks, I really expect Mouselette to follow suit.

H and I are physically ready for her. We have the essentials. We have a crib and change table (though not a mattress). We have a bassinet and gliding rocking chair. We have clothes. We have at least some diapers (both cloth and disposable), and plenty of wipes. My hospital bag is packed and ready to go.

What I don't have yet is this:
http://cascadeyarns.blogspot.com/2011/02/60-quick-baby-knits-preview-sheep-hat.html
I need to knit this hat. It's the most adorable thing I've ever seen!!!

So in spite of having X million projects to complete and being quite over my head in deadlines and obligations, I think I'll go stash diving tomorrow to see if I can dig up the necessary wool to knit this...or something like it. I don't really have the pattern, but I'm fairly certain I can wing it. ;)

Busy days, busy months

2011-08-19T09:12:00.002-04:00

I expect it will get busier as time goes on.

I've got roughly 5 weeks remaining in this pregnancy. Little one has started to "engage", meaning she is facing properly down and her head is moving into my pelvis. It hasn't quite locked into position yet, but she should be locked in place within the next week or so. If you're curious, the answer is Yes. It is every bit as uncomfortable as it sounds.

On the upside, I managed to get out for a lovely manicure and pedicure yesterday. My feet desperately needed some love, as they are all dry and crackly and swollen and I haven't been able to reach to clip my toenails for a few weeks. The foot massage did lovely things for the swelling in my ankles. The manicure was really nice. I decided to spring for a shellac coating on my nails, which should keep the polish from chipping and my nails from peeling for a few weeks. Since my nails are prone to peeling, I considered it to be a good investment.

In other, absolutely non-pregnant related news, I've been busy doing many other things.

First, I got my proof back from Interweave for the pattern I submitted a few months ago. They included a page of photographs. I don't know if I am allowed to post them yet, since the publication isn't due out until November. The pictures looked very professional. Of course, that is to be expected, since it is a professional magazine. Still, to see something you designed arranged in such a professional layout is quite thrilling. It's a fairly significant milestone for me. I feel like I am properly part of the design world. My designs have left the electronic world and entered the world of paper and ink, settling themselves on the shelves of bookstores. It's hard to describe how that feels. Mostly, it feels amazing!

I have been working away at my book proposal and am just about to send it off. This is a very exciting prospect for me. I understand that it may not be accepted right away. I have made peace with this understanding. Still, I have a new confidence that I did not have before.

And finally, because I have been working so hard at this other project, I am excited to announce the release of Little Seasonals Autumn.

It took me some time to figure it out, but I've got a working design for the Winter edition. The first pattern is written (albeit not proofed or tested yet). The second is sketched. They are going to be amazing, and I cannot wait to get them out.

This afternoon, I think I need to devote some time to a gentlemen's pattern that I started in January. KnitPicks has been very patient waiting for their sample and I just need to get on and finish it. Hopefully, if I work hard, I can get the sample done before the baby comes.

Wish me luck.

Summer

2011-07-22T10:16:00.000-04:00

I have a definite tendency to post less during the summer. Summer is hot, and I dislike hot weather. I'm a maritime girl at heart and enjoy a cool ocean breeze more than anything. Yesterday it was so intensely hot that I did not really accomplish much in the way of knitting or spinning. I got a bit done, but really not much.

I have about 1/2oz left to spin on my braid of alpaca/merino. It's turning out lovely. I should be able to ply it this afternoon. The colour repeats are nice and long, so I will be navajo plying to keep the colour repeats the same in the yarn as they are on the roving.

I've also been doing a lot of dying just lately, and drying out my lavender in batches. I think I need to bag up the current lavender that finished drying a few days ago. It started flaking into the dyepot yesterday, since I do both tasks in the laundry room where they won't be in anyone's way.

I will need to cut some more lavender from the garden, but that involves going outside. I have to admit, I have very little interest in going outside right now unless it is absolutely strictly necessary. It's not as bad as yesterday, but it is still quite hot out there.

I'm worried about tomorrow. H booked what should be a fun (for him) time at a professional enclosed driving track. I do not know if there is shade or shelter while he drives. I sincerely hope there is. I dehydrate quickly these days. He's promised me plenty of popsicles and slushies if the shade is insufficient, and I will be wearing a big floppy hat and lots of sunscreen. I just don't know if that will be enough to keep me from swelling like a balloon. Staying home isn't an option, because we're going out for lunch after. Wouldn't want to miss that. ;)

A random, utterly non-knitting thread

2011-07-08T17:39:00.001-04:00

It's 5:30pm and I need to make dinner. The problem is, I don't know what to make for dinner. I never know what to make for dinner anymore because we never have anything dinnerish that I want to eat in the house.

I feel like making roasted potatoes. But we are all out of potatoes. Then I thought a wrap would be nice, since we have some leftover lettuce. But we have no wraps. Burgers would be great, but we have no buns. Hotdogs would be okay, but we have no buns.

I want roasted potatoes so bad that my nose is imagining it can smell them. But we are completely out of potatoes. Completely out.

I don't feel like making chicken, since I really don't like chicken at the moment (and have not liked it much since January). We have no french fries. I've made pasta the last 3 meals In A Row!! So I am refusing to make pasta tonight on principle. Although, I could make a lasagna and I don't think that would necessarily count as pasta. But lasagna is never really good without garlic bread, and I have no bread in the house.

I could do soup, but H and I don't like the same kinds of soup and I don't feel like making two different meals. I could do pizza, but the last time I ate pizza I ended up with a gallstone attack that lasted nearly 3 hours in spite of taking my medication promptly.

So here I am at 5:30pm trying to come up with an idea for dinner and failing. Mostly, I think, because I really want roasted potatoes. But we have no potatoes.

More on Needlebinding

2011-07-07T15:12:00.000-04:00

I've been practicing my nalbinding a bit more. I took it with me to the clinic this morning when I went to get my bloodwork done. Naturally, it attracted a bit more attention than, say, knitting might. I was quite surprised that it attracted more attention than even spinning usually does.

So what is this "new" art form? Here's a great introductory video from youtube. Follow the link to watch part 2, as well.

Things I want to learn: Nålbinding

2011-07-06T14:58:00.000-04:00

Okay...so I don't think I'll be able to convince H that I need another hobby, but I've been reading a lot about nålbinding just lately. I first came across the term about a year and a bit ago. It seemed like an interesting, if somewhat confusing concept.

I figured the only way to really understand the process would be to actually try it. Which I did. Because, you know...I need another hobby like I need another hole in my head.

It has been described by some people as being like single-needle knitting. I find it to be an interesting cross between knitting and crochet. It's not hard to see how this craft might have evolved into either and is certainly older than both.

The project in the picture is my second row of what should be a cowl when I'm done. It's actually pretty difficult to find written patterns for nalbinding. There are some good resources on different stitches, but very little on how to work these stitches together into projects. So I'm sort of winging it.

This first project uses the "Oslo" stitch, which seems to be the recommended beginner stitch. All projects seem to be worked in the round, and I cannot find any information on how to work back and forth...although I did find a reference to turning a sock heel by working back and forth, so I know it must be possible.

Although all the resources say to take care not to twist your work when you join, I did give the starting row a half twist when I joined to create a mobius cowl. I'm not sure if the project is actually big enough for a mobius, but I guess I'll find out in another few rows.

I will say this...it does seem to be a little more difficult to screw up nalbinding than it is to screw up knitting. Adn the learning curve is a little less steep.

I like it.

Now I just need to get myself a proper nadel (nalbinding needle). I'm using a blunt carpet needle for now, and while it works, I'd like to have the right tool for the job. I kinda feel like I'm doing the equivalent of knitting with chopsticks.

Frankie

2011-07-04T23:47:00.000-04:00

In 2009, H and I bought our first two mice. Frankie and Benjy. It turned out those two boys weren't two boys. Benjy was a boy, but Frankie was quite female. She gave birth to two litters and was a wonderful companion.

She was sweet and affectionate and would crawl into your hand with very little coaxing.

About two months ago, she began to suffer a sharp decline in her health. I suddenly realized she was very nearly two years old. An average mouse lives about 18 months. She was quite elderly. She lost interest in treats, and lifting food out of her bowl was a mammoth task. But she would still dance (albeit shakily) to be held and loved. And I enjoyed giving her lots of attention.

Last week, as I watched her suffer, I came very close to making the extremely heartbreaking decision to euthanize her. I researched it well, since I wanted her to die peacefully and not in pain. But H and I found we couldn't do it.

She died this evening while I was making dinner. She was alive when I started, but was gone by the time I'd finished. She lived a long and happy mouse life. I wanted to bury her under the lavender bush next to Benjy, who died last summer at just over a year old. Unfortunately, the lavender bush is simply too large now. She is in the backyard, instead, next to Scruffy. You were the first. You were the best!!

Weaving, knitting, and new crochet projects

2011-06-19T01:29:00.000-04:00

I've been dying to make this entry. On Saturday afternoon, my sister's soon-to-be-inlaws hosted a beautiful wedding shower for her. I finished a very special gift for her a few weeks ago, and even though she doesn't really read my blog, she knows about it and *might* have read it, so I refrained from posted about the gift on here.

About 2 weeks ago, while we were swimming during some particularly hot weather, she made a comment that she had not received any towels. She found this odd, since towels are such a typical wedding shower gift. She'd received lots of much larger and very beautiful gifts, but not a single towel among them. It wasn't a complaint, just a comment. So I decided she needed towels. I'd just gotten my new and very beautiful floor loom, and I decided the best way to break in my new loom was to weave a set of handtowels for my sister. I'd never done it before, and I had some amazing purple egyptian cotton that was just dying to be woven. They turned out so much more beautiful than I'd even expected. I finished them on Wednesday and had to keep my mouth shut about them until Saturday. It was more difficult than I anticipated. She was, needless to say, entirely appreciative of them. When you give a handmade gift, you never fully expect the recipient to appreciate the time and effort that goes into such a thing, unless they are a crafter themselves. She is not a crafter, but was very appreciative of every stitch and all the love that has been woven in to these towels. Which makes me want to weave for her again. :)

I am also still working on the latest version of my mother's sweater. Currently ripping back a single row to fix a tiny error in the sleeve that has thrown my stitch count off very slightly. At the rate I am going, I expect it to be finished or very nearly finished by her birthday. I haven't worked on it this past week on account of the weaving project taking priority. This week, the sweater will regain priority and I will redouble my efforts on it.

Once the sweater is done, I have promised H a very special gift! This one will take me at least a year (possibly 2) to complete. Last year, on a whim, I created an 8-bit Mario afghan chart. It is comprised of 3" squares, each square representing a pixel. I finally crocheted my swatch to calculate yardage. It will require a whopping 6600 yards of yarn. That, as H immediately pointed out, is a stunning 3.75 MILES of yarn. That's kind of a lot!!! So for the first time in years, I will willingly be picking up massive amounts of very cheap acrylic yarn. Otherwise, we're looking at a few hundred dollars to complete this blanket. Nevertheless, it's going to be very fun when it's done! Certainly one of my more ambitious projects. Let's hope it turns out!! :)

Little Seasonals - Summer

2011-05-31T17:10:00.000-04:00

Part Two of the ongoing project that is my foray into self-published e-books...

Little Seasonals: Summer is now available on Lulu.com
Check it out!!! Teresa over at Canary Knits and I are really proud of this one.

It's pretty full of awesome!! The patterns are a little shorter and simpler than the Spring edition. but just as fun. Plus, they are definitely more purse-sized for easy beach knitting! Go download! Get knitting! :)

Things I don't have pictures of

2011-05-29T18:11:00.000-04:00

Today was a gorgeous day!! It was one of those days that I wish I had a picture of!

I spent the morning out at the Fleece and Fibrefest at Silmaril farms. The Fibre Garden hosts monthly spin-ins and they decided to hold the May spin-in out at the Fibrefest. Just a side note, next time there is an outdoor spin-in, I will take my drop spindle, not my wheel. My wheel doesn't travel well, and I find it difficult to spin on my outdoor folding chair.

Aside from that, it was just an incredible day! The Weather Network was promising thunderstorms on Sunday all week, but the sun was out when Incubating Mouselet woke me up this morning. I was pretty excited. Sure enough, the sun came and went all day without rain. We enjoyed a sheep shearing, watched baby goats, held little yellow ducklings...bought more fibre (I bought a lovely braid of silk). There were even kittens to be adored.

A little later in the afternoon, we went up to Alpacas From Eighth and Mud to enjoy their Alpaca Shearing. The Alpacas were not as accepting of the shearing as the sheep had been, so it was pretty interesting to watch. We wandered around the store. I resisted a serious urge to overspend my budget and buy my daughter a teddy bear made from Alpaca fleece (it was OOOOOOOHH SO SOFT!!). I very nearly failed in my self-control. After all, said teddy bear was only $30. I might go back and buy it for her for Christmas.

It was truly a wonderful day. It started raining as I headed home. Not very much, and not for very long, but the weather had the decency to hold out to make a perfectly enjoyable day!

And I, sadly, haven't got a single picture.

Little weavings

2011-05-22T22:15:00.000-04:00

I have started a new weaving project. It's an idea I had a while ago to use up leftover handspun scraps. I've got a few 1/4 bobbins of little leftovers that didn't make it into one yarn or another. Little samples that got spun on my drop spindles. Half finished yarns on my drop spindles. Just singles all over the place that need to be used.

So I've tied on a 6.5ft warp, filled the loom up almost as full as she will go wide (it took forever to tie on all those little ends) and set to work.

The warp is a laceweight boucle acrylic/wool blend. It's quite lovely and soft, but mostly acrylic. The weft will be everything from silk to linen to wool to bison!! The first two stripes are linen/cotton (white) and wool/silk (purple). There will be green, blue, pink, red, yellow, and everything in between. I am excited about the finished product. If it looks especially nice, I might not keep it as a shawl. I might do two 3ft lengths and whipstitch them together as a baby blanket for Incubating Mouselet.

Speaking of which...in spite of my numerous deadlines and more serious knitting to be done, I have started and half finished her little Homecoming outfit. :) The leggings are beyond adorable. I took an idea from a vintage mag and did pantlets with closed toes. Heartmelting!!

The dress is stockinette to the waist(-ish...babies don't really have "waists"), and then it will flare out in some cute little lace. I'm still looking for the perfect stitch.

I'll just need a bonnet and some little mitties and she'll be the belle of the ball...and the apple of her daddy's eye.

Greensleeves is all my joy

2011-05-19T23:44:00.000-04:00

Some time ago...some time last year, in fact, I obtained a small rigid heddle lap loom in an online swap. It was a lovely little loom that was part of my general fibre arts collection for a while and I loved it. I made a few scarves on it, but it mostly sat and looked pretty.

I recently swapped it away when someone else on Ravelry was looking for one. She offered me a spindle for it.

Truthfully, I am more of a spinner than a weaver (though I do enjoy weaving), and find myself strangely addicted to spindles. I don't quite understand the addiction, but I have several spindles of different sizes, weights, and varieties. I let her surprise me with the one she was most able to part with, and she parted with a Greensleeves McKenna Lee (ganked picture to the right).

I am in love! She's the prettiest spindle I own by far. She spins such fine, beautiful lace, and takes my breath away while she does. There's almost no effort involved in spinning on her.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the superfine sample of yarn I am spinning. And I don't know why I put yarn immediate on every spindle that comes into the house...it results in every single of the 7 or 8 spindles I own currently being used.

Also, I feel a little bad. I definitely feel like I got the better end of the deal. It's just such a beautiful little spindle!! And while the loom is/was a very pretty and useful little loom, I think the spindle is just far nicer.

A baby update, plus submissions done

2011-05-14T12:27:00.001-04:00

I'll start with the knitting update. My submission for the upcoming Jane Austen Knits publication is done, emailed, and sample sent in the mail. The deadline isn't for several more weeks, but I discovered yesterday that Canada Post is threatening a strike, which got me really nervous. If they walk out on strike, it would be on May 24, which is before my deadline and would virtually ensure that my package would not arrive on time. So I hauled my butt into gear yesterday and finished the last of my editing. It was an extremely busy and productive day. I don't think I've ever sat so long at one project.

The project itself was already finished, and my test knitter had finished her sample, too, which made everything easier. The hard part was scaling up the math for the finished dimensions. Still, it's extremely pretty and I am super excited to see it on the shelves in the late fall. :)

Now on to other news. To the left you can see the tiny little human incubating inside me. She is absolutely perfect and healthy.

Yes...that's right...read it again, I said SHE!

We found out on May 4 that we are having a little girl. She was wide awake and extremely cooperative in informing us that she is a girl. We do have a few names set aside, but we are not sharing them until she is actually born.

She's kicking up a storm and is extremely active. It's a little distracting feeling a tiny foot imbed itself in your bladder, but mostly it's just really cool. Not entirely comfortable, but interesting and exciting nevertheless. Still, I'm looking forward to getting the next 19 weeks finished up so that I can actually meet her.

Knitting and focusing so heavily on deadlines is helping to make the time speed by. Or maybe it just speeds by when you're pregnant. I think it's the knitting that makes it go so fast, really, because it just seems to crawl by so slowly at night. I might "accidentally" smack the next person who implies that pregnancy insomnia is just your body preparing yourself for less sleep when the baby comes.
A) My body doesn't need that much practice.
and B) Wouldn't a better way of preparing be to store up as much sleep as you can now so that you're all rested and happy when she makes her debut?

Maybe that's just me. Or maybe pregnancy really does make you slightly crazy.

Fleece back

2011-04-25T21:14:00.000-04:00

I got my fleece back from the mill. It turned out amazingly gorgeous! I'm really happy with it. I have some roving and some that was just carded out into a cloud for making batts. But you can spin right from the cloud, which is nice.

One of the first things I did was take out a nice big ball of the grey roving and dye it up. I don't have pictures yet, but I dyed it a rich red with black spots. I plan on listing it next week under the colourway name "Ladybug".

The white fleece was pleasantly surprising. I cannot believe how white it got. It's really pretty incredible. The cloud will be heading into the dyebath in the next few days, after which time it will go through the carder to be mixed up with other wools for batts. I think it will mix very nicely with some silk and nylon for sock batts.

3 down...

2011-04-10T18:42:00.000-04:00

I finally sorted through my fleeces in the garage. One of them is thoroughly bad and is worthless for anything but mulch. It's an old suffolk cross that I was given 2 years ago. If you would like mulch for your garden, please let me know. It has lots of sheep manure attached to it.

I had 3 fleeces that were still excellent. One had been sorted last fall, and I took advantage of the GORGEOUS (!!) weather today to sort the other two. I called the mini-mill upon completion and asked when I could make an appointment to bring them over. It's only about 20 minutes away. Well, they suggested I bring them over today, which I did.

I've got about 2 kilos of wool. 1.5Kg is a grey dorset, and the other 1.5 Kg are two different white fleeces. One of the white fleeces is a dorset, the other is unknown. The two white fleeces will be mixed together. I'll get half of each back as a cloud for spinning, the other half will be processed into roving. I am looking forward to seeing the end results. I've seen the work this mill has done and I am generally impressed.

I'm pretty excited!! Can't wait to see the final result.

Blogging while busy

2011-04-07T17:36:00.000-04:00

It's pretty sad. I have become the worst sort of absent blogger since becoming pregnant. There are a few reasons for that.

Mostly, my absent blogging has been due to two major factors.
Reason #1: I just haven't been knitting as much lately. The truth is, I haven't been able to sit for the length of time required to knit, so my knitting has suffered rather badly. I've even gone to Sip 'n' Stitch without knitting in my purse! How horrible is that??

Reason #2: I never wanted to be one of those pregnant woman who talks about nothing else except her pregnancy. IRL, it's very sad, but I became exactly that sort of woman. I don't know what it is, but this whole pregnancy tihng seems to be taking up 100% of my time and energy. Growing an entire person in just 9 short months is exhausting. Who knew?!

I've been asked a few times how long I plan on waiting before trying for baby #2. I just want to get through baby #1 first. Maybe in about 5 years when I forget what being pregnant is like, I might repeat the experience.

Honestly, I am blessed. I know I am! I am very excited (if somewhat terrified) at the prospect of becoming a mother. It's incredible to hold a life inside you and feel it move and know that this little life is a part of you. At the same time....owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!

I hit a few incredible milestones over the last few weeks. First, I have started to feel Little One moving around in there. Baby tends to be active mostly in the evening or after I've done too much. It's about 4" long right now, maybe a little more. The movements are just quick fluttery sensations deep inside. They can't be felt from the outside yet.

Other milestone this week was my very first experience with Braxton Hicks contractions. I just loooooove how they are described as "painless". Very funny! It didn't help that I desperately had to use the washroom, which by all accounts can make the B.H. contractions stronger.

People presume that when you are a knitter, your little one will be decked out head to toe in precious handknits. I really want to do that, but my project list is still a bit of a killer. I'm finishing things, though, and not adding new things, so hopefully I'll manage to kick out at least a little take home outfit. Maybe a sleeper and hat or something similarly adorable.

H and I start our prenatal classes tonight. I finished my last purse project, so I've got to start on another fairly big project...the fall Little Seasonals project. Watch out! It's going to be fantastic!

P.S. Stay tuned for the Summer edition of Little Seasonals. Coming soon!!

Welcome, Spring

2011-03-20T18:43:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring. It almost feels like it, too. Almost. It felt like it until I left my jacket somewhere and realized it a little too late.

I've been ridiculously scatterbrained recently. I can call it baby brain, but it's probably just busy-brain. I am getting close to the point of doing too much, which I tend to do from time to time. I don't do it on purpose, I just get so caught up in doing stuff that I start to realize I need to finish things as well. So when my friend, Elizabeth, asked if I'd be interested in teaching a finishing course at her new knitting school (and yarn shop), it was kind of hard not to laugh.

Of course, I knew she meant finishing as it relates to projects, such as weaving in ends, blocking, seaming, etc. But the thought of me teaching "finishing" was still momentarily a pretty funny one. Don't get me wrong, I'm good at blocking, weaving ends, seaming, etc. There are tips and tricks that make your project look so much prettier (like blocking all the pieces of your sweater before seaming, and then blocking the seam when you're done to get a much crisper seam). But finishing? I need to do a little more of it myself so it is much less ironic when I teach it.

And that brings me to something completely new. I'm very excited to announce Fireball Knits has opened it's doors as a knitting school (that also sells yarn). I will be listed among other instructors. Mostly, I believe I'll be teaching knitting, spinning (especially drop spindling), and some crochet. And I'll be designing for them. I'm currently working on a special project, which should be ready by the summer.

The whole thing is very exciting. I will try blog more. I may not. Being pregnant is apparently very hard work. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be pregnant, but growing a person is pretty demanding, so forgive me if I blog a little less.

In other news: Sweaters and Lost...Lost sweaters?

2011-02-24T13:53:00.000-05:00

I'm back to working on my mother's special sweater. It looks positively lovely! I think, when she gets it, she'll understand why it took me so long and why I couldn't work on it all at once.

I'm rewatching Lost. I never saw the last 2 seasons, so I plan on starting over again and watching it all straight through. While I watch Lost, I will work exclusively on the Mom Sweater.

I thought about publishing a pattern for it when it's done, but I don't think I even want to think about the effort my poor test knitters would have to go through. I'm sure I'd end up having to pay someone to knit this thing. It's mroe complicated than a handknit sweater has any business being! Still...it's lovely! It will be very pretty when it's done.

Rules for dealing with a Pregnant Lady

2011-02-24T13:03:00.000-05:00

This is not a knitting related post, and I apologize for that. But at a mere (almost) 10 weeks, please indulge me. These really ought to be self-evident, but apparently they are not.

1 - Don't make fun of the pregnant lady, for she is hormonal and you taste good with ketchup. Honestly, I'm really new to this whole pregnancy thing and there's a lot of stuff that I just don't know. So just please be nice and don't make fun of me.

2 - On that note, yes, I am in maternity clothes. My hips sort of widened and went psychotic on me and now even my "fat pants" don't fit me. I'm getting tired of yoga pants and track pants. I'm feeling really crummy about my size right now, so please don't laugh at me when you notice I'm wearing maternity clothes. Besides, I worked hard at getting pregnant. I'm entitled to be comfortable in my own wardrobe.

3 - Seriously, don't make fun of the pregnant lady. Or you'll have a CRYING pregnant lady to deal with, and won't that be a barrel of laughs. Just...be nice!

4 - I've lost weight. Regardless, I still feel kinda fat. Deal with it. This doesn't mean I'm dieting, it just means my baby is eating all my fat stores. When I stop losing weight, I plan to stop weighing myself. My midwife will weigh me monthly, and will not tell me my weight except to make a note if I'm gaining more than what she deems to be a healthy amount. I was pretty sensitive about my size before getting pregnant. I don't plan on contributing to my own self-loathing over my fat.

5 - If you want to touch the belly, just ask. When it's an actual baby belly, I'll let you know. But don't just randomly grope and squeeze me. It gives me license to grope and squeeze back, and you might not like that so much.

6 - Remember, I'm a big old pile of hormones and fun right now. Everything pisses me off and my mood changes at the drop of the hat, so for crying out loud, DON'T MAKE FUN OF THE PREGNANT LADY!!!

On maternity pants, weight gain, and a need for test knitters

2011-02-20T14:21:00.000-05:00

First, I started my official Mousewife Knits fan group over on Ravelry. If you're a member, check it out. If you're not a member, but you're a knitter, you should become a member and totally check it out!

Second, I am placing a call for test knitters for two fairly simple patterns. When I say simple, I mean they are really very easy knits. One of them is literally a 2 hour project. It's super cute, too. I'm providing yarn support to one knitter who can help me tech edit. But if I can find a knitter who will tech edit for free (ie, no yarn support), that would be even better. Still, I feel just a tad guilty asking for that, since it's quite a lot of work to tech-edit.

On a completely non-knitting-related note, I let out a deep sigh and eased my way into maternity pants this week. It was so very nice to wear something other than yoga pants. A dear friend of mine gave me a basket full of maternity wear that she was given, which never fit her (she's a LOT smaller than I am). It fit me nicely, so I've taken to wearing it a bit. I felt all awkward and elephant-ish when my little sister started making fun of me for it. :( But my mom reassured me that she was always in maternity clothes early. It's just a factor of my general shape and size. I've got a cute little 9-week bump that kinda just looks like fat, but is kinda firm and not fat.

I would have felt worse, but I've actually lost 5 pounds since getting pregnant. That's most likely due to the food aversions and nausea that have led me to a diet of fruit and veggies for the last few weeks. Still...at this rate, I'll be back down to my pre-wedding weight by the time the baby comes. ;)
No...I won't. I know I'll start gaining eventually. But maybe it won't be very much, and maybe I'll end up slimmer after giving birth. It happens, you know. It's happened to at least one friend. She gave birth and then went down to a lower weight than she was pre-pregnancy.

Busy life, awesome projects

2011-02-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

I've made some references recently to a project I'm working on with Teresa over at Canary Knits. It's been a lot of hard work, editing, testing, editing some more. But we're finished part one of the project.

It's a book. Part one is the first of four parts. It will be 16 patterns in total, 4 for every season. The book is available now for download on Lulu.com.

Feel free to mosy on over and check it out!

The blog post that's a follow-up...

2011-02-15T10:31:00.001-05:00

...to the blog post I nearly didn't write.

You may have noticed I've been avoiding my blog just lately. The truth is, life has had a rather limited scope that I haven't been able to talk about for the last few weeks. Also, I've been rather unwell for the last 2.5 weeks. If you'd just walked in on my life, you'd think I had the flu. I don't. And I'm not contagious.

On January 12, my husband and I had our intake appointment at the fertility clinic. We were interviewed and I was examined, then we were given a rather large folder of bloodwork requisitions (mostly for me), to begin on the 3rd day of my new cycle. We went home and waited to start the tests.

Only, my new cycle was delayed. I waited and waited, and then that little sliver of hope showed up again. I tried to squash it, but it got louder and louder, until I made H pick up a pregnancy test on his way home from work. I had two expensive tests under the sink, but I didn't want to waste them on what I was fairly certain was going to be another negative test. So we got a cheapy test from the dollarstore. I took it first thing the following morning. He wouldn't even get out of bed, and I realized then how much the negative tests affect him, too.

But ...

...this time it wasn't negative! This time, a second pink line showed up. It was faint, but then it got darker. There were two lines on the test!! TWO pink lines!!

I might have accidentally jumped on poor H's head in the process of telling him. I was definitely crying, it was so unexpected and wonderful! The timing was pretty ironic.

I called the fertility clinic. It had just been a week since our appointment, so I hardly knew what to do. They had me come in the following morning for a blood test to check my hormone levels. Then I went back two days later to make sure the pregnancy is, indeed, viable. My pregnancy hormones had doubled nicely.

Then it was time for an ultrasound. We saw, but of course couldn't hear yet, a little 6-week old heartbeat flickering at 110bpm. During all this, I had to keep quiet. Every fiber of my being wanted to scream it from the rooftops!! I'm finally pregnant!

We've slowly let our friends and family know. Enough people know now that it can be considered general knowledge.

Yesterday, we went in for a second ultrasound. It wasn't strictly necessary, but they offered and it doesn't cost anything, so of course I went in. I am, as of today, 8 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I'm measuring a bit ahead of that at 8 weeks 5 days. The heartrate is an ecstatic 177bpm.

The best part?

The baby is due on my birthday! I'll be 32 this year. I know that babies don't usually come on their exact dues dates, but it will be within a few short days of it. Happy Birthday, me!

Now, on to the knitting of booties and hats.

New Mice

2011-02-12T14:24:00.000-05:00

Today I bought a new mouse. A boy, for my girl Greedy.

Where all my mice have been white thus far, the new boy has a beautiful, sleek coat of brown with white spots. He's quite stunning.

He's curious and fast and interested in everything around him. Especially Greedy. He's much more interested in Greedy than she is in him. At least right now, anyway.

He doesn't have a name yet. I'm still working on one for him. Right now, I'm thinking Tramp or Bambi. In a few days, when I clean all the cages again, I will move New mouse and Greedy into the big cage and put Frankie in the smaller one. But for now, all three cages are out and are being used again.

Also, I am soliciting name suggestions for New mouse. I may go with Neo. Since he's new...

Funny little happenstances

2011-02-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

I'm working on the second part of my joint project with Canary Knits.

We're designing something together, but had only talked about the what, not the how. We each went our separate ways after our last design meeting and set about to design our complementary projects. Then we got together again on Tuesday evening at our knitting group to show each other what we'd come up with.

In a week, on our own, without any communication, we picked the exact same stitch to feature on our projects. I suppose you could say "great minds think alike."

The colours coordinate beautifully, and of course the general theme works together, since we'd discussed that. But I love when the littlest details work out by chance.

Time for a post

2011-01-22T17:45:00.001-05:00

I have precisely one excuse for my lack of updates just lately. I've been a little under the weather and have spent most of the week hiding from a headache under a warm fluffy blanket.

But it's been a good week. Last week, my good friend Canary Knits (aka Teresa) featured me in her Indie Designer Day section.

It was pretty awesome. It's one thing to enjoy your own designs, but it's another thing entirely to get props from others for them.

Teresa is pretty talented, herself. She's even gone a step further in the design world and managed to get herself into a book with this lovely piece. We've been working on a project together and are getting ready to roll it out. It was quite a bit of work, but it's also been quite a lot of fun.

On a completely non-knitting tangent, I've been playing with all the yummy things my breadmaker can do. I discovered foccacia bread. Not that I haven't had it before...I have. But I've never MADE it before. I made garlic cheesy-dill foccacia bread yesterday evening. I'm pretty sure, if I let myself, I could eat the whole loaf in one sitting. It's just amazing! Of course, the "amazing" might come from the garlic butter mixed with green onion and dried dill, spread over the whole loaf with a basting brush.

I think I am going to serve up the remainder of the loaf with garlic cheesy-dill chicken wings for dinner. I've never made garlic cheesy-dill chicken wings, and the thought is making my mouth water.

Snow, Snow, Snowing

2011-01-15T11:09:00.000-05:00

It's snowing rather hard out right now. The snow angels I made yesterday are gone. Hidden under the new snow.

I do need to get out and do groceries today. I have almost no food in the house. No vegetables at ALL, and very little fruit. I also need to get to the post office. I have swap packages that need to be mailed. Except...there is snow on the road and I can't get out until the plow comes through.

I'm hungry.

A little part of me wishes we had a fireplace so I could curl up in front of it and knit.

Tale of a tail.

2011-01-12T19:31:00.000-05:00

I've been working on a sweater for a while (not my mom's sweater, different one). It's bamboo. Now, don't get me wrong, I do like bamboo. But bamboo is not a very forgiving material. Also, you can't spit splice bamboo. I, being ever leery of anything to do with sewing, was delighted when I learned how to spit splice. It meant an end to those loathsome ends. But, you cannot spit splice bamboo, and I wanted to work with bamboo.

I was on the very last bit of my project. I had 2/3 of a ball of yarn remaining. One sleeve took 1/3 of a ball. I left a nice long tail for weaving in. I started the next sleeve. I was pretty sure I'd have enough, and if I had to do the cuff with a new ball, I'd be annoyed but accepting. As I worked along, the ball didn't seem to shrink. I began to get excited. Maybe I could do the whole sleeve with just this little 1/3 ball. Maybe I could enjoy having a whole extra untouched ball of yarn. Maybe...maybe...

And then I got to the last 8 rows. The never-shrinking ball of yarn began to shrink. And as it begain to shrink, it begain to shrink really quickly. I knew I'd make it to the last row, but I was nervous about the bind off. Very nervous. So just before the last row, I tied a little knot halfway down the remaining length of yarn. I figured if I could make it through the row before hitting the knot, I'd be able to make it through the bind off.

I just *barely* made it with an inch to spare. So I went ahead with the bind off. But as I began to reach the last few stitches, the remaining yarn was too short to hold. I was nervous. I held my breath....

I made it!!!! With just 4" remaining.

Vintage styles

2011-01-10T10:51:00.000-05:00

I'm at an awkward weight right now where nothing seems to fit me quite right. I'm at that in-between stage where one size is too small but the next is too big. As a result, my wardrobe and I tend to not get along from day to day. A pair of jeans that fits me one day might be too big or too small the next.

I went shopping about 3 hours before the party. Really, I was looking for a pair of pants and a top that would fit. I've discovered that I wouldn't have the problem with my clothes if I shopped at the expensive stores. My jeans are from The Gap and my top is from Mexx. Both are out of my budget on a normal day. But I got these at the second hand shop, so the prices were much more reasonable. The jeans still had the original tag on them (and were only $15!!) and the top looks and feels like it's been worn maybe once.

On my way out of the store, the dress aisle started whispering my name and making promises of vintage dresses for cheap, cheap prices. I took a peek and found the dress pictured above. Beautiful vintage quality dress. Style is mid 1960's Jackie-O type shift dress. It fit like a dream. It accented all the right places and de-emphasized the ones I wanted to hide. And I got SO MANY compliments on it. Even though I'm wearing my not-so-flattering orthotic house slippers in the picture, I arrived at the party wearing tall brown boots that came to my knee. Very gorgeous!

This set my mind to thinking about vintage styles and how nicely they are cut. This isn't the first vintage dress that I've worn, and I'm always amazed by how flattering the style of the 60s is. At least, I personally find it flattering. After buying a second vintage dress online last night (I'm nervous about this, as I've never bought internet clothes before), I've decided that I need to bring it back in knitting.

I have 8 skeins of egyptian cotton yarn that had been earmarked for a sweater. I've decided to knit a dress instead. It will be styled similarly to the dress above, but with a rolled collar. Basic A-line shape. Knitted belt that will be attached at the back to create a bit of shaping. Darts at the bust and hips. Capped sleeves.

I'm very excited about this project.

I won't be starting it until the summer. I'm finally starting to whittle down my project list, and would like to be halfway through the list before I start adding new project on to it. My goal is to have the dress ready for Spring 2012.

Cleaning up the yarn

2011-01-06T16:56:00.001-05:00

According to my husband, who rarely complains about my yarn and fiber addiction, my yarn stash has started to sprawl.

He approached me quietly and said "Honey, I haven't said anything. I've kind of been hoping that you'd notice it on your own, but your yarn stash seems to be alive. It's growing and has started taking over the living room."

He was kind enough not to mention the guest room. So I will. I'll even give a picture. And before you say anything akin to "Oh, that's no so bad," let me draw your attention to the guest bed. Also, there is a full two feet of space between the shelves and the bed...notice how the whole two feet seems to be filled with the overflow of wool? Filled up until it's level with the bed. Also, you can't see the yarn under the bed.

My goal is to make better use of the shelf space. To organize my yarn and wool in such a manner as to make it easy to find what I need when I need it. I have all that space. There's no excuse.

I'd offer a picture of the living room, but I'm not *that* humble. Besides, I've started cleaning it up, so it naturally looks much worse than it did before. ;)

All about me

2011-01-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

I've come to the conclusion that I am absolutely TERRIBLE at writing about myself. I am okay at writing about what I DO, and I'm pretty decent at writing about what I think. But writing about who I actually am, as a knitter, designer, and person, does not come easy to me.

The truth is, as fascinating as I find knitting, I find myself rather boring. I know my friends would disagree, but whenever I have to write about myself as a person and come up with an interesting biography of myself, I get stuck.

I am....
...what comes next? What do I write about myself that makes me sound like I'm different from everyone else? It's one thing to know you are different, but actually putting it into words is not so easy.

Momentary heart stoppages

2011-01-01T21:33:00.000-05:00

I've been working out the kinks on a sweater pattern. So far, it's been mostly smooth. There have been little errors that my beta-knitters have been finding for me. Nothing major.

I've been reknitting the sweater with my testers. I got to the end of the body and started on the border, only to get to the end and find myself off by one stitch.

This is quite possibly the first time my knitting has actually made me sit and cry. I thought I'd made a mistake in the pattern. And if it was a mistake in the pattern, it would have been a rather fundamental one. I thought I was going to have to rip the whole thing and start over again. Since I'm on a really tight deadline, this thought left me pretty upset.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if the first part worked (which it did) and the second part worked (which it did), then the border ought to have worked. So since parts a and b were working, then part c OUGHT to be working. So I went and recounted and discovered...the mistake wasn't back at row one. It was in the row I'd just knit. Instead of knitting one stitch and purling the next, I'd knit one and purled one all along and then accidentally knit two instead of knitting one and purling the next, throwing everything else off by one stitch.

Instead of ripping back 50 rows, I only had to rip back 50 stitches. My stomach is back where it belongs now and my heart is beating properly again. I'm very glad I recounted before sending off my devastated email to my testers calling a work stoppage on the project.

Job hunting and buzzwords

2010-12-31T11:56:00.000-05:00

I've been casually job-hunting for a few weeks now. My current/previous job isn't going to last much longer. I've been watching my friend's daughter for a little over a year now, but my friend is going to be heading off on maternity leave soon, and I really ought to find gainful employment.

Here's the problem: I SUCK at buzzword bingo! I'm looking over my resume, and it fails highly in the areas of Buzzwords and Flashiness. It has nothing to grip you. I'm not a terribly exciting person. And as much as I would like to discuss in detail the various business attempts that have been ongoing for the last two years, potential employers are not generally very excited about knitting publications. Especially not when you are applying for administrative work with a splash of accounting on the side.

The thought of going back into that environment leaves me feeling somewhat cold and paralyzed to be honest. It's what I went to school for, it's what I know how to do, but I hate it with every fiber of my being.

Is there any sort of a job out there that would allow me to fill my artistic passion while simultaneous being gainfully employed? Is there any possible way to avoid the cold, tired world of administration and accounting?

St. Distaff's Day

2010-12-30T17:12:00.000-05:00

Did you know there is a whole day devoted to spinning?

St. Distaff's Day is on January 7. Lucky for me, I've got my wheel put back together and it is in proper working order.

H is thoroughly unimpressed with the design of the Ashford Traditional. As much as I love it, he hates it. Only he hates it from an engineer's perspective. He doesn't like the screws that are used or the way the hub pin fits in And I won't even get started on his reaction when we'd put it all back together only to realize that the polyurethane drive band (a single unbroken loop) had gotten twisted around the legs. He thought we were going to have to take it off. His eyes went sort of buggy when I just snipped it (I'd left it loose on purpose and just raised the mother-of-all, in case I ever needed to do what I'd just done). I'll fix my polyurethane drive band later. For now, I've got the cotton band tied on. It's working fine. I'm happy.

It's a shame H doesn't do more woodworking. I'd love to see what sort of spinning wheel he could comeup with. I bet he could make something really fabulous!

The best of Christmas presents

2010-12-29T22:48:00.000-05:00

My spinning wheel is in pieces on the guest room bed.

I received the double treadle kit for my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel this Christmas. It was wonderful and the wheel went together quite smoothly. Until I got around to putting the hub pin in the wheel. I used the old hub pin instead of the new one. The old hub pin, being several millimeters smaller than the hold in the crank, allowed the crank to wiggle back and forth, which made the wheel a little clunky as it treadled.

The new hub pin is a much tighter fit, but requires the hole in the wheel to be made larger. I need to work up the courage to make any permanent changes to my wheel. I'm even scared to stain it in case the stain ruins it. I doubt it would.

What makes a better finish? Waxing or staining? And which wax or stain should I use??

So many questions.

As a result, my spinning wheel is in pieces on the guest room bed while I sort out these very important issues. I rather miss my spinning wheel. However, it's absence is allowing me to focus a little more on the knitting.

A Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T10:35:00.000-05:00

Christmas celebrations are almost done. We've got one more family dinner today and then we are finished. Luckily, this one does not involve a gift-exchange. It's just dinner. Good dinner, too! It's with H's extended family and is my favorite dinner of the Christmas season.

Since H is chinese, the dinner with the extended family is a Chinese dinner. But this isn't your Mandarin buffet or Chinese takeout style of dinner. This is a sit down meal at a fancy Chinese restaurant with lots of fancy dishes. There is always some sort of seafood. Shrimp, scallops, fish. Then there will be chicken. Usually a whole chicken chopped up into pieces. The bone are left in and the head is usually still on the plate. Sometimes we order peking duck. The whole duck is brought to the table and sliced by hand in front of you. Then the rest of it is taken back to the kitchen where the remainder of the meat is chopped up and stir-fried. Of course there is rice.

There is lots more, but I can't think of what else we usually order.

Christmas with my family was good. The gift exchange is always a bit unruly, but that's to be expected when there are 15 people opening presents at once. My brother-in-law bought me two knitting books. Stitch'n'bitch Superstar Knitting and Modern Top-down Knitting. Both were absolutely perfect. I've wanted the first one since it came out, and the second one was a pleasant surprise, since I've often thumbed through it at the library and had been thinking about picking it up.

My mother bought me yarn. I will admit to being a complete yarn snob. I tend not to enjoy it when other people buy me yarn, since other people's opinion of what is good yarn usually differs vastly from my own. Nevertheless, the more I touch and fondle it, the more it has started to grow on me. At first, I had no idea what I would make out of 5 balls of bernat boa (in the colourway "Bright Glitter", no less). But it didn't take me long to envision it as a hat, scarf, mittens, and possibly shawl. All of which would be made for and enjoyed by ME! I don't do enough knitting for myself.

I almost cast the hat on last night, but a (very!!) stern glare from my husband told me that probably wasn't a good idea. It'll be a hat for next winter. ;)

Days of knitting

2010-12-26T14:59:00.000-05:00

One of the nice things about Christmas is that I get to generally ignore most of my regular duties in favour of chilling out and relaxing with H. It's wonderful! ;) I only really get to do this for a day or 2 at most, but those two days have given me some major headway on some important projects.

I've managed to get the second full side of my mother's sweater finished. It's blocking right now. The side panels can (and will) be knit two at a time, which will make them work up faster. Well, not technically "faster", since my stitches-per-minute remains fairly constant, but it will seem faster, since I'll be doing them both at the same time.

I know for sure I can get them done by the end of the month with minimal effort. This leaves only the sleeves, which will also be knit two at a time. This will ensure that they are identical and again will make them seem like they are going faster. That plus the collar and front band are all that remain of the sweater. It will certainly be done by Mother's Day. That makes the sweater just over a year in the making, including all the times I ripped back and started completely over again. I should point out that it was two solid months of starting, ripping back, and starting over to create the perfect design.

On top of that, my February deadline projects are working up faster than expected. At my current rate of knitting, I should have both done and photographed not later than January 20th. Maybe 30th. They're almost finished. ;) And the test knitting on them is coming along well, though I am admittedly horrified at the mistakes I made in one of them. Only one of them, mind you. The other one was perfect with the exception of some small technical inconsistencies (the use of capital letters, improper punctuation, and inconsistent notation).

All in all, I'm fairly happy with my progress. I'll be taking my mother's sweater with me to my family Christmas tomorrow. I dare not work on anything else while I am there, since my mother knows of the sweater project and is anxious to receive it. ;)

I am endeavoring to get as much finished between now and January 1 so that I can focus on my new pattern.

That said, it's 2011 in less than a week. Time flies so quickly.

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T09:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a cheer to all on Christmas Day!

May your day be filled with joy

Your stockings filled with toys

Your presents be tremendous

and your holiday stupendous!

Merry Christmas!!

The Epic Project (or the blanket that would not end)

2010-12-23T22:21:00.001-05:00

6 years ago my husband asked me to marry him. I started a blanket that was to be a wedding blanket for us. It was to be a queen-sized bedspread. In boucle yarn.

5 years 4 months and 2.5 weeks ago I married my husband. The wedding blanket, which was not done, went into a bag. And there it stayed. Oh, I'd pull it out occasionally to crochet a row here and there, but the truth is, I hated it nearly as soon as I started it. Boucle yarn makes me crazy and causes uncouth words to issue forth from my lips.

But, I have good friends who learned about the "wedding blanket" and they encouraged me to finish this project.

I crocheted the last row on it tonight and draped it over my husband. He's pretty happy with it. As you can see, it's not a bedspread. It's only roughly 2/3 the intended finished length. But it looks nice and it's symmetrical. It is the perfect size to drape over the back of the futon and is the ideal size for curling up in while watching TV. So after roughly 6.5 years in the making, I consider my wedding blanket done.

When your plate is full...

2010-12-23T10:59:00.000-05:00

The correct course of action is, of course, to finish everything you are doing before taking on more.

BUT, Interweave Press put out a call for submissions for a project that excites me greatly! And even though I know I've got a lot to do (see previous posts on this subject), I just cannot help but know I need to participate in this extra project. I've even got the yarn for it. 6 balls of Noro Chunky that's been sitting in my stash since the summer waiting to tell me what it needs to be. It decided it needs to be part of this project and I'm very excited about the prospect.

2011 will be the year of my complete breakdown into yarny-insanity. You'll find me next Christmas curled up in my closet surrounded by piles of yarn, knitting furiously while whispering to myself "One more row. One more row."

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!

2010-12-21T17:49:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: I'm a serious geek at heart. Comic book movies, sci-fi, fantasy...if there is a big lineup of fangeeks standing outside a theatre (and let's face it, fangeeks make up 90% of those lines...the non-geeks can't be bothered and go the weekend after opening weekend), I'm usually there.

I generally have a rule against 3D movies. Being practically blind (okay, an exaggeration, but I do wear coke-bottles), I have a difficult time with 3D movies. I tend to see a halo around the images, or will see double, and the hard work of focusing on 3D tends to give me a migraine. For this one, I'll break my rule against 3D movies. I will suck up the migraine that comes along with the 3D movies. For this one, I'll be there, ticket in hand, lined up for however long I have to line up. But I'll be writing to my theatre well in advance to request that they offer the 2D version, too. They usually don't.

Christmas presents and wonderful swaps

2010-12-20T14:09:00.000-05:00

I love fiber swapping. The fine folks over at Phat Fiber put together a holiday swap for the contributors. It was a great deal of fun.

I put together what I thought was a lovely gift for my swap partner, within the suggested $50 budget. I sent her a pretty silk cap for spinning, some gold merino, a red/white/green braid, a large bulky skein of handspun wool, and a handwoven bamboo scarf.

My package came today, and I felt like a bit of a heel. What I sent just pales in comparison to what I received, and I'm the sort of person who feels guilty about stuff like that. I got all of the following:

There is a white merino/milk/nylon batt, a blue merino/silk batt, cinnamon-red alpaca, BFL locks, Buffalo Gold, a bag of milk, bamboo, and soy silk, and some corriedale roving with a small turkish spindle. Plus chocolates.

It's all so very beautiful!

The blog post I nearly didn't write

2010-12-19T14:18:00.000-05:00

I have waffled back and forth over whether to write this post, and if I was going to write it, what would I say? This post is highly personal and is more serious than most of what I write. It has nothing to do with my knitting, and I hope you'll forgive me for that. It deals with a complicated and heart-wrenching topic that affects more than 6 million couples in the United States. Canada has not measured their own statistics. I'd like to ask why not, but that's not really the point of my post. This post is about infertility, and the heartbreak a couple feels when they finally realize that they may never have children on their own.

Infertility can be heartbreaking. Chances are someone you know has impaired fertility, reduced fertility, or is just plain infertile. I discovered on Thursday that I have reduced fertility. I may be infertile. In any case, I don't seem to be able to get pregnant on my own and the doctor is sending me to a Reproductive Endocrinologist at a fertility clinic.

There is nothing that can describe the feelings you feel sitting in a doctor's office while they toss terms at you that go straight over your head. They don't bother to explain what these terms mean, so you go home to Dr. Google for an explanation. But those explanations are filled with more complicated terms and you just end up feeling more lost and alone than ever.

Sometimes you come out with a new term or diagnosis every time you visit the doctor, and so these visits become a source of anxiety instead of help. When I visited the gynecologist last year, after an ultrasound, I was told I had polycystic ovarian syndrome. In short, the follicles surrounding my eggs were not maturing properly, so no fully mature egg was being released to be fertilized. But there was still a hope that I might get pregnant, so H and I continued to try to conceive naturally. I continued to take my basal (first morning, before moving or getting up) temperature every single morning. I continued to menstruate regularly (an oddity in itself if PCOS was the preventing factor), and my basal body chart continued to show an ovulatory pattern. So back I went to the doctor. Inquiring minds wanted to know...if I am ovulating on a semi-regular basis, why am I not pregnant yet?

This time there was something new wrong with me. This time I was told that there was something unusual in my bloodwork from last year. My progesterone levels are strangely high. The doctor couldn't confirm without further tests, but it looks like I have something called "Adult Onset Adrenal Hyperplasia." That was a such a mouthful that I forgot all the rest of the questions I wanted to ask. Questions like "If I have this and it showed up in my bloodwork, why didn't anyone call me back for more tests to confirm this? Why would you let me keep trying? Why wouldn't you want to treat me for it?" I didn't ask that. I left quietly (after being given another pregnancy test which, not at all shockingly, turned out negative). I went home. My period came. I cried.

I can't be sure if this is the deciding factor. My overall impression of doctors between my migraines and my impaired fertility has been that they really don't know much more than the average person and spend a great deal of time guessing. Maybe that's unfair. I'll give the reproductive endocrinologist a chance. Maybe she'll find something new wrong with me, too. I'm supposed to see her at the end of January.

Here's how infertility hurts: It breaks your hope and your spirit, one month, one negative pregnancy test at a time. After a while, a new month doesn't signal just a new hope and a new chance, it signals the death of your previous hope. Your heart starts to break, little pieces at a time. You turn numb to turn off the pain, just so you can put your smile on and pretend to be normal.

The questions start and the pain bubbles to the surface.
Why aren't you pregnant yet?
How long have you been trying?
When are you going to have a baby?
It's your turn to produce a child now.
Are you pregnant yet?

Then the well meaning but equally hurtful comments start.
Maybe it's just not God's time yet.
Trying is the best part.
Your life changes so much after having a child, maybe you're not ready yet.
Children are so much work.
It's not all fun and games, you know.
Why don't you just adopt?
You don't have enough faith.

And my heart keeps breaking, and my fake smile gets faker, and the pain goes a little deeper. I dig a little deeper to find the strength to move on, to keep hoping, to keep praying, to not lose heart. It won't define me nor make me bitter. I push forward on the long road, and in my ear, I hear Aslan's voice whisper: "Courage, dearheart."

How does knitting sound like a frog?

2010-12-19T14:02:00.000-05:00

They both go "rippit! rippit!" (and that's why ripping back your work is called "Frogging").

So I have good news and bad news today. The good news is that Canada Post apaprently makes deliveries on Sunday close to Christmas. I came home to find a package on my doorstep containing 10 balls of gorgeous!! City Tweed DK yarn. It's for a new design project that was accepted last week. I'm frankly shocked at the speed with which it came. I'm not casting on until after January 1, 2011, though. I have GOT to get these other projects finished first.

And therein comes the bad news. Have you ever had to rip back 100 rows of lace when you haven't used a lifeline? I made a HUMONGOUS mistake in my mother's sweater roughly 100 rows back. I noticed it in church (while the preacher was talking about a particularly sensitive topic) and almost started to cry right there. I bit back the tears, put the knitting down, and somehow made it through the next 30 minutes without crying.

I have to fix it, though. I've devoted this afternoon to ripping back to my mistake and fixing it. My fingers are crossed that the mistake is only 100 rows back, and not more than that.

I'm never knitting lace for anyone ever again.

Ninja Snow

2010-12-17T09:25:00.000-05:00

I woke up a little later than I was supposed to this morning (8:30 instead of 8am) The only reason I woke up at all was because a friend had called about a series of errors (big and small, but mostly small) in a pattern she is both test-knitting and tech-editing for me. The tech-editing is a much bigger deal than the test knitting. I'm fairly confident that the pattern is mostly correct with maybe only one or two mistakes. I'm knitting it myself from the pattern and I'm pretty decent at spotting my own mistakes. But the tech-editing is where I get a giant FAIL sticker, so I was ecstatic when she started noticing all the little technical errors that keep the pattern from being (to quote another good friend) "awesomesauce".

As I was talking to her on the phone, I wandered around my bedroom and peeked out my curtain. Lo and behold!! It's snowing again! This was awesome stealthy ninja snow. The kind of snow you have no clue is happening until you peek out the window.

I keep peeking to make sure it's still there and hasn't stopped yet.

As a side note, I've decided that as soon as I get the vacuuming done and the kitchen floor washed, I'm going to spend the rest of the day in front of the TV knitting. I am planning on working on Mom's sweater for at least 3 hours today. That should get me part way up the sleeves. Maybe...just maybe I can trick myself into getting it done for Christmas.

Knitting things you're supposed to be knitting...

2010-12-14T21:56:00.006-05:00

I suppose I could also call this post "Not knitting things you're supposed to be knitting". Or maybe I could call it "One too many things to knit." How about "I knew this would all turn on me one day."

First, I'm having a blast with this whole new world of design. I've just had a second pattern proposal accepted, and the yarn should be en route pretty soon. I will almost certainly not get it before Christmas. That's just as well, and leads me to my second point.

I have officially taken on one project too many!! I ought to feel terribly guilty, because projects that should be done are not being done in favour of other projects which really need to be done. I haven't knit on my mother's sweater all month. Instead, I've been worried about another project deadline that's been rapidly approaching. Now I have test knitters working on this other project for me (God bless free test knitters who knit for your because they love you). But I still need to get the project itself finished so that I can photograph it for the pattern. No one wants to knit a pictureless pattern. How will you know what you are knitting?

In addition to the knitting, though, I've been playing with my loom. See that pretty picture? That's what I've been doing when I've been hiding from the knitting. I need to stop doing that and get on with my knitting. I desperately wanted to have my mother's sweater done for Christmas. As it stands, I'm two sleeves away from finishing it, and since the sleeves are primarily tiny-gauge stockinette, that is NOT happening. I love my mom, but she'll be really lucky to have this sweater for Mother's Day. I have a February 15 deadline, a May-ish deadline, an August-ish deadline, and an October-ish deadline. This is in addition to the new Men's sweater vest that I'm creating, which takes a certain amount of priority on account of it being a source of income for me. I'm thinking that having the vest done for September-ish will be good. My mom is pretty forgiving, but I know this isn't improving my reputation as the girl with her head in a million places at once who doesn't finish things.

So where is the one-project too many? A set of dishclothes that I really want to weave for my mother in law because she asked for them last year and weaving is so relaxing when your knitting makes you crazy. Maybe I can do two for her for Mother's day 2011. They are just a weekend project. But I just don't think I can handle having them done for Christmas.

Let's just forget about the spinning for now, and I'm officially dropping out of the Phat Fiber boxes. I just have way too much on my plate to try keep my fingers in all the pies.

I'm starting to doubt my theory that knitting is good therapy for people with ADD.

Snow!

2010-12-12T23:38:00.002-05:00

Ah-ha!!! The snow has started falling...and falling and falling! This makes me pretty happy. Hopefully I'll have a good picture of it tomorrow. :)

Merry Christmas. Where's my snow?

2010-12-12T14:31:00.000-05:00

I am a bitter old woman. I don't think there is any way around admitting that. I'm very bitter.

At the moment, my bitterness is twofold.
First, a BIIIIIIIIIIGGGGG (!!!!) winter storm is supposed to be attacking Ontario and Quebec today. Loads of heavy snow. Blizzards. Whiteouts! Snow Squalls!!

Except in my area, where warm air is causing not snow, but rain.

WHY IS IT RAINING?!?! Christmas is in 2 weeks less a day. I feel I have been more than patient with the weather. Tomorrow, we've been warned to expect an arctic blast. So we will get plenty of ice when all this rain freezes. I feel more strongly than ever that I'm being seriously ripped off this winter. Just like last winter.

I think I need to move back to Newfoundland. I do love a good heavy snow. Honestly. I even like shovelling. I'm really, really weird that way.

On top of this, I got a very exciting delivery yesterday. My husband ordered me the double treadle kit for my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. It's a Christmas present. I knew it would come before Christmas, though. So I was hoping to be able to put it to some use before December 25.

Apparently not. Apparently being a Christmas gift means that it must stay under the Christmas tree until December 25. Does H not know me AT ALL?? It sits there, pristine in it's Canada Post box. Staring at me! I gaze longingly at it, knowing it's there, unable to touch it at all.

Who knew that seeing your gift under the tree could be so effective in creating that childlike anticipation of Christmas morning. ...If I make it till Christmas morning, that is.

Dorothy: a little loom

2010-12-08T17:55:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, when I know I shouldn't, I like to troll Kijiji for killer deals. I especially like the sort of deal where you get lots and lots of stuff for not very much money.

Such a deal was found yesterday. A beautiful LeClerc table loom. There was almost no information on it, and no picture. It was listed at $50. I nearly died right then and there. She said it was working, and so I emailed her to ask for a picture. She did not send me a picture, but she described it to me, gave me her phone number, said she'd gotten a surprising (to her, not to me) number of calls on the loom, and it would be sold to the first person who showed up at her front door with the cash. She said she was pretty sure it was a LeClerc Dorothy loom, since that's what it looked like to her. Also, it had a warping board with it.

Well!!! If I could have gone to pick it up at 10pm last night, I would have!! But that seemed a bit unreasonable, so I promised to show up today with cash in hand. She said she would consider it sold to me.

She put it aside, and I booted my crafty little bum over there as promptly as I could today (calling before I left to make sure no one else had sniped it). It was there in all it's weaving glory, shining out like a table top beacon of light. I took my loom and thanked her profusely for it.

The warping board is missing the pegs, but I don't even care. ;)

It's a LeClerc Dorothy 15 3/4" 4-shaft loom. The least expensive of the LeClerc Dorothy looms. Retails for $675 (Canadian).

I'm pretty happy with my deal. Saving money feels really awesome!!

Naming Conventions

2010-12-06T19:59:00.001-05:00

I think one of the most fun parts of designing stuff is coming up with fun names. For example, my latest pattern (which will be available for free) was originally designed under the name "Last Minute Beret". But that seems boring. Yes, it does convey the idea that this is a quick and easy knit, but it just didn't really do it for me.

I though perhaps "Christmas Eve Beret" would be better, but then...what if you don't celebrate Christmas? What if you have a friend with a winter birthday?

After some deep thought, I've finally settled on "Tam O'Quickness". Much better, don't you think?

every once in a while

2010-12-02T17:57:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while you get to enjoy a moment of happiness that is so blissful and real that it makes you giggle, squeal, and make your significant other ask you if you need a paper bag.

Such moments as these tend to happen when you've been trying really hard to make something happen and then it just happens. That kind of pure happy makes you feel slightly giddy and can even bring tears (of joy) to your eyes.

Remember how I've been writing about that sweater for KnitPicks?

Here it is!!!
http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/1989_Sweater__D10723220.html

It might not seem like that big of a deal, but it's pretty big to me. :)

Colouring in the spaces

2010-11-25T14:10:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wonder about my own sanity. Somewhere in my head came a little voice, whispering at me..."It's high time you learn intarsia. Wouldn't a gentleman's argyle vest be a lovely idea?"

So, I've decided to learn intarsia and design a lovely gentleman's vest. I'm swatching right now, even though I've got a glove pattern and a shrug pattern due next Wednesday. Next Wednesday is still a month away (after all, next Wednesday isn't until December), so I pulled out those yarn bobbins that have been watching me since July and I wound them with my choice of colours.

And while I might technically be procrastinating on things that really need to get done (like dishes and organizing my wool stash), who says my house is a mess? Cleaning is over-rated. Knitting is good.

Coming soon...

2010-11-24T21:10:00.002-05:00

For the last several months, I have been working hard designing a new pattern.

Well, the project in question is finished and I can now tell you all the wonderful details about the sweater called "1989". It will be available on Knitpicks.com any day now. I will post the link as soon as it is up.

I based 1989 loosely on a light, side-knit sweater that I currently own (actually, that I am currently wearing). I love loose, light, short-sleeved sweaters that are versatile enough to wear no matter the season. That is what 1989 is.

It's knit from knitpicks Gloss DK, and the colour is "Fairy Tale"

It's a quick and easy knit, worked side-to-side, with a waistband that is added on later.

It was definitely a new and interesting challenge. I'll be challenging myself again in the very near future with a new sweater pattern. Stay tuned.

Can I knit the world a sweater?

2010-11-18T18:38:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, when I ride the bus, I see women so helplessly undressed that I just want to knit them a sweater to cover up their freezing bodies.

Since I don't have time to knit that many sweaters, at the recommendation of a friend, I'll just post the following suggestions instead:

Six Steps for a girl to determine if she is Dressed

1. Decide what you are going to wear today. Will you wear a skirt or pants? This is a very important decision, as it will determine your level of dressed-ness before going out.

2. Look in the mirror. Is your lower half from your waist, to any region below your bum covered (Please note: The phrase "below your bum" means that the entirety of your bum is covered in an appropriate garment and that no part of your underwear or bum is easily viewable by any person sitting or standing behind you)? If the answer is yes, congratulations. You are probably wearing pants (or maybe a skirt, whichever it is, well done!). If the answer is no, please go to your closet or drawer and pull out a pair of pants or a skirt and try again.

3. Look in the mirror again. If your pants are very tight and are closed at the toe, please try again. You are not currently wearing pants.

4. Check yourself in the mirror one more time. Do your pants have a waffle-weave on them with a tight knit cuff at the ankle? Those are thermal underwear. You are still not wearing pants.

5. Is your upper half covered in a garmet? If the answer to this question is no, please put a shirt on the upper half of your body. If you are wearing a garment, check to see if this garment is, in fact, a bra. If your garment is a bra, you are not wearing a shirt. If your bra can be seen through your shirt, you are not a rockstar, please try again.

6. Check yourself one last time. Do your pants have penguins in hats? fairies with wands? Snowflakes? Cups of coffee? You might be wearing pajamas. But your bum is covered and we can't see your bra. Feel free to go out.

Back from The Awesome Vacation

2010-11-07T10:08:00.001-05:00

I didn't post on my blog that I was going on vacation, because it's generally a bad idea to tell The Internet when your house is going to be unattended for 2 weeks. But I went away for two wonderful weeks (okay, admittedly it was one really great week and one rather okay overall week) and now I am back.

My husband and I, along with our friends and neighbours, went on a transatlantic cruise. The cruise left from Rome (well, actually Civitavecchia, which is just outside of Rome) and stopped in Toulon (France), Barcelona, Cartagena, and Malaga (Spain), and Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Toulon was gorgeous, even though we stopped there on a Sunday and most things were closed. I'd love to go back to France some day. Cartagena was probably my favorite stop in Spain, with Barcelona running a close second and Malaga a very close third. Spain was just gorgeous!

Tenerife was a bit less interesting than the other places on account of there being very little to see in Santa Cruz. If you want to see Tenerife, you pretty much HAVE to book a tour and go at least an hour or two outside of the city limits. Since we didn't really have time to do that, we just wandered around the city. We ended up at the Nuestra Señora de Africa market. It was pretty interesting.

But without a doubt, the highlight of the trip was the day and a half we spent in Rome.

Rome is a beautiful city.

Don't try drive a car there. You'll probably die. But if you walk and/or take public transit (don't even try a cab...seriously...drivers are batcrap crazy, there are no lines on the roads and rules seem entirely optional), Rome is incredible. H and I did a tour of the Vatican first thing in the morning on our first full day in the city. We booked our tour through Presto Tours, which was a little bit expensive, but gave us the best value for our money. The tour groups are kept under 15 people so the tour guide can keep track of you and give you better one-on-one answers to your questions. We bypassed ALL the lines, and got to see all the highlights of the city. The Vatican is simply too big to try see it all on your own, but we enjoyed St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museums. At least...we saw some of the Vatican museums. There are a lot and it could take you several days to try do it all on your own.

In the afternoon, we took the subway over to the Colosseum, where we did a combined tour of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palantine Hill. Our tour guide for the Colosseum was not very good, but the guide for the Forum and the Palantine Hill was really excellent. I wouldn't recommend doing the Palantine Hill or the Forum on your own unless you are a major history buff. The palace that covered the Palantine Hill was quite enormous, but it really just looks like a bunch of rubble in places, and there are parts you wouldn't even realize were part of the palace unless you had a guide telling you "This was part of the palace." You'd completely miss the throne room, and the impressiveness could easily be lost, considering how absolutely enormous it originally was.

As for the cruise. Well, I might be biased in my opinion. I'm not much of a sailor and quite prone to motion sickness. I was sick on several of the days we were at sea. But on the days I was well, I was rather underwhelmed. I'd love to do another cruise. We probably will. I'm not sure I'd be much inclined to sail with Royal Caribbean, though. The value of service for the money paid was pretty underwhelming. When you pay a certain amount of money, you expect your dishes to be clean (especially in the fancy dining room), your waiter to be pleasant (the assistant waitress was wonderful, though), and ...well, you'd rather not find dead (drowned) insects in your salad. Eww. The information on the shore excursions ought to be accurate (at one point, we were informed that we'd be arriving in Malaga on Labour Day, May 1). The entertainment was underwhelming. The buffet hours were odd, the buffet food was the same Every Single Day! And it was decidedly NOT allergy friendly.

But I loved Rome. I need to go back some day!

Pictures are forthcoming. There are a lot and I need to sort through my favorites.

1989, and other patterny things

2010-10-10T17:10:00.000-04:00

The errors in 1989 have been, so far as I can tell, isolated and corrected. The sweater itself has been done for a while, but now the PDF is also finished and the whole package is tied up neatly and en route to Knit Picks. I'll keep you up to date.

They may yet decide not to publish it, in which case it will still be available on Ravelry in November. This is a great sweater to wear over a t-shirt or lightweight blouse. I tried that and it looked great with a black skirt.

I'm also working on another pair of fingerless gloves. I've decided I have a definite fondness for gloves, fingerless gloves, and mittens. Some people love socks. I love gloves. They are so versatile and a great way to try out new ideas.

All sweaters are on standby until I'm finished both front sides of my mother's sweater. I really need to get that thing done. Nevertheless, because I cannot help but doodle plans when I'm not knitting, I have plans for a knit bikini. I'll never wear it, myself. But someone might.

New layout

2010-10-10T11:38:00.000-04:00

I changed my look a bit. I needed something that was just a little bit more...me.

I can't think of anything that works better than a background of yarn. ;)

Thank you cards

2010-10-07T09:01:00.000-04:00

Alas, I suck at them.

I never know what to write. Especially when it's a business thank you card. "Thanks for being a customer". ...and then what do I say? I mean, I love customers. I want them to come back.

"Please come back" sounds so beggy. Is it okay to write that in a business card? Does it sound too desperate?

Shop update

2010-10-06T23:05:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to taking a whole load of photographs today. As a result, I finally got around to updating my shop.

I've got some really delicious goodies in there. Including, but not limited to one of the full sized batts from my October samplers. Stardust.

These beautiful batts, inspired by the book (and movie) of the same name conjure images of other worlds, magic, airships, swordfights, princesses, and maybe a captain or two prancing around his quarters in a tutu (I hear they're very comfortable).

Silk and wool. They are super soft. I'm tempted to spin them myself, but that's not really the point of being a business woman, is it. Besides, every spindle I currently own (plus 3 of my 4 bobbins) is currently laden with wool. I've got no room to start spinning anything else.

On a side note, H came home from work and asked me by way of polite conversation what I did today. I stumbled for a few minutes as I realized...it kinda sounds to an outsider like I did nothing. I mean, I knit for a bit (I multitasked and did that while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer), then I skeined some recycled yarn for dying (also while watching Buffy). Took a break and a walk (in the rain) to make a hair appointment (why does it cost so darned much to do a woman's hair??). Then I spun for a bit while watching a little more Buffy.

So...what I did manage to get done today was approximately 4 hours of Buffy (oops), 30 minutes of Sims 3, a pair of crocheted fingerless gloves, frogging my knit fingerless gloves, the dishes (yay!!!), photographing aaaaalll my new inventory. Yeah...I had a productive day. I'm tired just writing it all down.

I've got a scarf on the loom right now, too, that I need to get down asap. I should have done that today instead.

Lady Knittley's Fabulous Frilly Flying Collar

2010-10-06T17:47:00.000-04:00

Lady Knittley's gloves need a counterpart. A matching collar-scarf.

Here's the problem I face. I do not have any more of the wonderful yarn that I used to make the gloves. I have acrylic that's a very similar colour and would undoubtedly look the same in a photograph. But it makes me a little sad, because I also don't have the matching buttons. But I do have a pretty white ribbon that might look kinda cool with it. And I've got an awfully pretty skirt to wear when I take pictures of the ensemble. ;)

I've got until October 15 to knit the scarf and write the pattern. Wish me luck.

On a completely unrelated note. I've had some raw tortilla shells in my fridge for a few weeks. By raw, I mean they are unfried corn shells, which need to be fried or baked or something, since they don't fold well. Well, I discovered they wok-fry nicely (kinda like wontons), so I'm making home made taco salad for dinner. I know that has nothing to do with the Flying Collar, but it smells tasty and I'm hungry, so I just thought I'd share.

Rain

2010-09-28T10:20:00.001-04:00

It's raining. Not a little bit, either. It is absolutely POURING!! Buckets of water are being poured out from the clouds.

I don't know why, but I have the hardest time concentrating on things that need to be done when it's rainy like this. I do have things to be done. At the very least, I need to clean the bathrooms today. Not all the bathrooms. They all got cleaned on Friday. But the ensuite that gets used everyday and the basement spa that gets used once a month both need to be scrubbed. The tubs need to be cleaned.

And yet...it's raining and I cannot bring myself to do anything except sit in front of the computer in my fluffy fleece housecoat, drinking coffee, posting about how it is raining. I want to knit.

The boatneck sweater is coming along like a dream. It doesn't start as low on the shoulders as I wanted it to, but that just means it will look more awesome with long sleeves. I'm thinking of putting it aside, and as soon as I get 1989 mailed off (just need one more picture of a bind off technique) submitting it as a concept to KnitPicks. That way, I can totally justify my knitters ADD and work on multiple projects at a time.

I'm still committed to only bring one on the cruise with me. My mother's sweater. I'm halfway up the left side. I'm committed to finishing and blocking the left side before I leave and doing the bulk of the right side while I'm away. I may also need to bring scrap yarn and spare needles, though. I plan on teaching my friend how to knit so we can sit and knit together on the deck while our men are off eating themselves into food comas. I'm kinda selfish like that. If someone shows even the slightest hint of interest in knitting, I will do my utmost to convert them to a full knitter.

Knitting Sweaters

2010-09-27T09:55:00.000-04:00

Even though I'm supposed to be finishing current projects instead of starting new ones, and even though I've got a half a million current projects to finish, and even though I'm still doing battle with my mother's sweater (I will never knit lace again for anyone, no matter who they are or what they mean to me), I did a bad thing this weekend.

And by bad, thing, I don't mean overcelebrating my 31st birthday (which ended up being a serious non-issue...31 is exactly the same as 30, just plus 1). I mean...I started a new sweater.

In my defense, it's shaping up to be a very, very pretty sweater, and at a gauge of 4st/5.5rows = 2", it's working up wonderfully fast. It's a pretty, purple boatneck sweater, with a cable detail down the sleeves (which will be long and loose), and an off-center cable down the front. It's a top-down raglan style sweater, completely seamless. I'm about 10 rows from splitting off the sleeves. You can't see anything in the picture, really, but this is how it looks so far.

It will be probably available for download around mid-Novemberish, on account of the multitude of other projects with looming deadlines.

Knitting another sweater

2010-09-20T08:48:00.000-04:00

I've got 6 skeins of Noro Silk Chunky. I bought it with plans to make a sweater.

Even though I've got 7 or 8 other projects on the go with deadlines, I'm thinking of starting the Noro sweater anyway. What I'm not sure is whether 6 skeins will be enough to do the off-shoulder bar-hopper top, or if Noro Chunky would be too heavy for a bar-hopper top.

I should probably not work on it until I'm finished the front of my mom's cardi. Not to mention until I've gotten September's inventory photographed and put up online and October's samples finished and mailed. It's September 20 already.

Buttons

2010-09-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

Remember my post about popping up to Dollarama for buttons for the gloves?

I did manage to find two matching silver(ish) buttons in my stash. But I popped in to Dollarama today to find brass buttons to include with the pattern. Shock of shocks, guess what Dollarama is not carrying at the moment. I know they had them. They had them as recently as a week and a half ago.

Grrrr.

Lady Knittley's Fabulous Fingerless Flying Gloves

2010-09-19T16:35:00.006-04:00

Knit from a lovely silk, rayon, cotton blend called Goshen by Valley Yarns, I have finally finished up Lady Knittley's Fabulous Fingerless Flying Gloves.

They are truly fabulous. Excellent for knitting with small bits of leftover yarn. Recommended to be knit with Aran or DK weight yarn.

Look in October's Phat Fiber box for your free copy, or check out Ravelry.com after October 15 to buy the pattern for only $2.00. Yes, I shamelessly self-promote. But it's my blog. I think I'm entitled to a little self-promotion. ;)

On naming things

2010-09-17T17:22:00.000-04:00

Apparently there's another blog out there called Lady Knitterly's. So I'll be renaming my gloves to avoid confusion.

They are now Lady Knittley's Fabulous Fingerless Flying Gloves.

As a random note, I apparently am not in possession of the brass buttons I thought I owned. Apparently they have been used on previous projects. I cannot think which previous projects, but alas, they are no where to be found. So as soon as H comes home from work, I shall take off for a quick run to dollarama to find myself some brass buttons.

I, being in need of such buttons, can say with a fair degree of certainty that even though I have seen such buttons at Dollarama on past occasions, there won't be any buttons to be found today. Why not? Because Dollarama does that to me. They stop carrying something as soon as I need it.

More on the fabulous flying gloves

2010-09-17T13:55:00.001-04:00

Reworking now with smaller needles, thinner yarn, smaller gauge. Original could have fit my father's hand, and I'm not sure he'd be too keen on wearing a pair of ladies flying gloves, no matter how fabulous they are.

Lady Knitterly's Fabulous Fingerless Flying Gloves (c)

2010-09-17T10:55:00.000-04:00

October's Phat Fiber theme is Steampunk. I've decided to do a pattern along with my yarn and fiber samples. This time, however, I want it to be a fairly complicated pattern.

I've done fingerless gloves before. Simple ones using the same pattern repeat over and over again. I can hardly sell a pattern for something that uses a dictionary stitch over and over again. No, I decided I need something unique. I also need something that qualifies as "Steampunk", and what better than Fabulous Fingerless Flying Gloves for operating that airship sitting out in your garage. ;)

They are thick lace around the cuffs with eyelets up the thumb gusset. But my personal favorite touch is the loopy bindoff that I used.

They are fairly thick and are a quick knit at 3.5 stitches to the inch on 4.5mm needles. I think they'd look great on handspun. I just need to get something spun up to reknit them after the demo pair is done. :)

New crown, over and out

2010-09-15T13:04:00.000-04:00

Got the new crown put on the tooth today.

Remembered a previously forgotten fact about crowns. They don't like to use freezing, because they like you to be able to feel if the tooth is too big and needs to be adjusted.

More on The Purple Sweater

2010-09-12T14:04:00.000-04:00

I've picked a name for the pattern. As nice as "Diamond Brocade Top" is, it's not really a pattern name. So, having finished the test knit in the proper yarn, I've named the sweater "1989".

It's got a really fun 80's vibe to it, without being overtly 80's. I'd recommend it with tight jeans and high boots. You might even find me wearing legwarmers with it (I love leg warmers and never have enough reason to wear them).

I'm wondering if I should play up the 80's hair a bit for the pattern photos? My hair doesn't really do 1980-anything very well. Except bangs. I do bangs very well.

The awesome purple sweater

2010-09-12T12:13:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a sweater for a few weeks. One that I haven't wanted to post photographs of, since it's a sweater pattern of my own creation, set to be published in the Knit Picks IDP.

The sweater is a lovely reddy sort of purple, and it has turned out wonderfully. I just need to bind off (again, since I bound off too tightly last night), and then it's ready for pictures.

I am a little sad that I won't have it to wear on my vacation in October. I have to mail it off to Knit Picks headquarters for examination. I don't expect to have it back in time. They estimate 90 days before it is returned. I leave for my cruise in 39 days. WOOHOO!!!

Maybe I'll knit another copy of it to take with me? No. That would be a bad idea. I still have to finish my mom's cardigan, knit a sweater for my nephew, and finish the gloves and scarf for another pattern creation project. Not to mention the bags of yarn upstairs, all with patterns begging to be completed.

No, I haven't got the time for more of this sweater. Too many other things to knit.

Girl Gangs, even in the mouse world

2010-09-10T21:48:00.001-04:00

Today, I am ~~sad~~ ~~upset~~ HEARTBROKEN(!!!) to announce the death of my most precious (and precocious) Scruffy.

Scruffy was the smallest of the group. In spite of her diminutive size, she was active and playful and had such a personality. Of all my girls, she was the only one who would still beg to be picked up. All I had to do was stick a finger in the cage, and she'd pull herself up into my hand. I adored her.

The scruffy fur that was her namesake wasn't from poor health. It was the remnants of an allergic reaction when she was younger. They are all allergic to soy, and Scruffy lost almost all her fur to the reaction. Gentle baths and a change of diet helped most of her fur to grow back, but she had a few scars on her skin which gave her fur a constantly disheveled look that was adorable.

Of all my mice, Scruff was the only one I could count on to comfortable sit and eat a treat in a toddler's hand without misbehaving (the toddler in question was the picture of gentleness with my little Scruff), jumping off, running away, or nibbling at the toddler instead of the treat.

For some months, now, I've been aware that one of my girls is a little more aggressive. She isn't content to just eat her food out of the bowl. It has to be stolen from the other girls in the cage. Until now, it hasn't been a problem. All the other girls are her equal in size and strength and just take their food back. There have been no serious fights or real cause for me to be alarmed. But in the last few days, I've noticed her picking on Scruff a little more.

Today, I decided that I was going to move Scruff and her mama, Frankie, out of the main cage and put them in Gus's old cage, leaving the other three girls in the larger cage. I felt it would be safer for all and would avert any possible danger.

I was too late. At some point today, and I'm not sure when, Scruffy died. It wasn't illness like the other deaths. It was a little more gory, so I'll spare the details.

I love you, Scruffy.

How to enjoy camping in the rain

2010-09-06T15:29:00.001-04:00

Back from the weekend camping trip.

As expected, it rained. It rained harder and longer than anticipated, though, resulting in damp firewood and smoke that tended to get in my eyes while cooking. In spite of that, I had way more fun than I think I have ever had camping before. I think that may have actually been due in part to the rain. But mostly, it had to do with the company. We left as friends and came home as sisters.

3 of us got there fairly early (though later than expected on account of having to double back to the house to get my sunglasses, which I didn't need and which had been left at my friend's house anyway) to set up the tents. 2 of the girls did an AMAZING job stringing up tarps at an angle over the tents to allow the rain to drip off the back and bypass the tents entirely. This helped keep the tents completely dry and rain free, giving us a haven in spite of the downpour on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon, we hid inside the giant "party tent" that comfortably housed all 6 of us. We hid and knit. Most of us got a good bit of knitting accomplished. Some of us forgot key elements of our knitting, such as yarn and needles, and ended up doing the complicated lacework that was grabbed at the last minute out the door as a backup project. On the upside, I got several inches of that complicated lacework done, and so I am quite happy. The laploom ended up being too complicated to hold on a campchair, so while I managed to wind the shuttle, I only got about an inch woven before I gave up in frustration.

Next time, someone else should do the food shopping. I do tend to go overboard on food planning. So, while we ate very well on the weekend, we also had enough food to feed a small army and quite a lot of leftovers.

H, bless him, has gone out to pick dinner up for me while I sit and recover from my vacation.

The sweater variable

2010-09-03T11:08:00.000-04:00

I finished the back of the sweater last night. With yarn to spare, I might add. It's been wetblocked and is dry now. This gives me a whole ball of yarn for the waistband and makes me very happy.

I will be completely finished the sweater no later than Monday.

In other news, the forecast is slowly improving for the weekend. Rain, if it hits, will hit mostly this afternoon and overnight. It just finished raining for a spell, so I'm feeling pretty hoepful. Regardless, Sunday and Monday are promising to be quite nice.

Sadly, in getting ready to leave, I've rediscovered something about myself. I am a terrible housekeeper. There are so many little things to put away and get done before I go. Like the dishes that have been drying in the sink since Monday. I think I'll be rewashing those.

When should you call the dentist? (and other random notes)

2010-09-02T16:09:00.002-04:00

At Tooth-hurty. hehehe. Okay, that's not only a really bad joke, it's a really old one. Still, updating on my post from a few days ago, I have to say, I'm impressed. The pain subsided fairly quickly and has been almost non-existent since. This is fantastic, as I seem to be fighting a rather ill-timed cold/sore throat. I could manage tooth pain and I can manage a cold, but I don't think a cold (with it's associated sinus pressure, etc.) would go very nicely with tooth pain.

So on the ill-timed cold. I'm supposed to be going camping this weekend. It's been planned for a while and I'm extremely excited. However, the forecast for the weekend is foreboding, to say the least. With promised rain for Friday and Saturday, I have to say, I'm a little nervous. Still, we're going anyway. After all, it's not like I'll catch a cold in the rain (see, there's a silver lining to every cloud). ;)

In other news, I am, as of this moment, a mere 26 rows away from completing the back half of my Knit Picks sweater. A preview post will go up some time in the next few days. I'll have the sweater done by the weekend, without a doubt. It has turned out simply beautiful!! My only regret is that I did not have it done sooner. I will miss it on my cruise. However, that said, I have finished my woven mobius wrap. Picture is forthcoming. :) It turned out much better than anticipated. I'm thrilled to pieces with it. I can hardly wait until the basement is finished and my loom is put back in place so that I can start working on a new shawl. This time, I don't think I'll stitch the ends together. I think I'll just weave a nice 6' long straight shawl.

I think I'm going to take my mother's sweater with me camping. I'd like to make some good headway on the front of that piece. She'd been hoping to take it with her on her vacation, but even without the knitpicks project looming over me, I think that would have taken a miracle. It's a gorgeous piece, but it's also the finest, most detailed lacework I have ever subjected myself to. On the upside, when it's finished, I think I'll be able to publish the pattern from it. It's quite delicate and extremely beautiful. So far, she loves it.

I am going to have to create a spreadsheet detailing my projects, who they are for, and when they are due. I've currently got quite a list, a list that I keep adding to without even realizing it.

I expect my growing list of projects and self-imposed deadlines are to blame for the sudden and unexpected arrival of SEPTEMBER. How did that even happen???

Anyway, this post is quite long enough for now. I've got more to say. I'll say it later.

That's what we're supposed to do.

2010-08-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

Okay, now that my heart is starting to slow down and my stomach is back where it’s supposed to be…
I just about had the scare of my life.

I just had a package delivered to me. Which is awesome. I was expecting it. What I wasn’t expecting was the the BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG on the door immediately after the doorbell was rung. It was the kind of bang you expect when someone is in really dire trouble and needs help immediately. Not to mention, the post girl didn’t even give me a chance to get out of my seat between ringing the bell and banging on the door.

I appreciate getting my package, but wow!!! It was literally :ringaringaringaringa: BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG, and she was reaching for the doorbell again when I opened the door. It took me all of 5 seconds to get from my chair to the front door.

5 seconds is too long, maybe?

I asked if she was in a hurry and she glared at me and said “That’s what we’re supposed to do.”

Long range weather forecast and a sitting mouse

2010-08-26T18:12:00.002-04:00

I'm going on a really fun camping trip in just 8 days. Long range forecast is looking really good. That makes me happy because this is a special trip.

We're leaving our men at home, and we're going for a fun weekend of knitting around a campfire!

I enjoy the whole outdoorsy thing, and I've never been girls-only camping before. It is shaping up to be quite excellent.

In random, non-knitting news, it's difficult to update a blog while a little mouse (aka Scruffy) is crawling all over your keyboard. But even more adorable is when she sits to eat her treats. She's the only one of my 6 kiddies to do this. She sits on her bottom and brings her "knees" up, and hunches over her food.

I have a feeling it's a position she's adopted to keep Greedy from snatching her food. Doesn't make it any less adorable!

Please pardon the dust behind the mouse. She's sitting on my keyboard tray and I don't clean back there much. ;)

Tweedy yarn

2010-08-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

I'm trying something new. I've got some brown alpaca that I've carded up with bits and pieces of blue and green cotton. I'm spinning it up so the cotton bits get caught at irregular intervals. It's looking pretty interesting right now.

The best part is, I'll be able to repeat this for as long as I've got alpaca left over. :) What I don't know is whether I'll be spinning this to weave into a blanket, or knitting it up into a tweed vest, or even knitting an irish sweater out of it.

I'm leaning towards the last one, just because that would be an interesting project and this is a very interesting yarn.

New yarn

2010-08-25T18:41:00.000-04:00

So I just finished my latest handspun. I was aiming for a nice thick single, with a weight and feel similar to malabrigo.

I swapped with an online pal for some lovely roving a while ago. It was a blend of cria alpaca, soft lambswool and silk, and was heavenly soft. It was the sort of roving that you want to spin into a nice thick single, which is exactly what I did, and got the most heavenly soft yarn out of the deal. The colour just turned out amazing, and reminds me so much of one of my dear knitting friends, that I have to name it after her.

This is the yarn I have called "Teresa". There are 2 skeins, weighing about 60g each, with approximately 58yards per skein. It's a lovely vintage shade of orange, yellow and purple. Exactly the sorts of colours my friend likes best.

I've got two skeins of this and haven't quite decided if I can bear to sell it or not.

More Ow

2010-08-25T17:47:00.000-04:00

Further to this morning's "Ow". The muscle pain has subsided somewhat.

About 6 years ago, I had a crown done. It wasn't done very well and has been a source of discomfort ever since. My new dentist couldn't touch it, though, since he wasn't the one who did it in the first place. Today, we started the process of replacing it.

The freezing is wearing off now. And ...uhm... OWOWWWWWW!!!! I think I'm going to go take two advil and knit for the rest of the night. And for the next two weeks until the temporary crown comes off and the new one goes on.

But on a more knitterly front, I got to knit through the whole first half of the appointment, and got a good inch done on the back of my sweater. :)

Oooooooh, the pain

2010-08-25T09:30:00.000-04:00

Ow.

The running caught up with me this morning.

In other news, I pulled out an old wip last night. It's a wrap that I was weaving, back before the loom got packed up and the basement got started. It's actually a very pretty wrap, with a creamy bamboo warp (lengthwise thread) and a blue and white wool/cotton weft (widthwise thread). I had decided after I'd taken it off the loom to tie the ends together and weave them in to make a mobius wrap. It was a great idea, except there are something like 150 ends on the wrap. So I'd gotten through 20 ends and got bored, stuffed it into my knitting basket where yarn ended up piled on top of it, and forgot about it. Until last night.

I'm going to a wedding on Saturday, and it would be nice to have a shoulder wrap for the evening.

In between cleaning the bathrooms and going to get a crown replaced by the dentist, I think I'm going to try finish it up today. The mobius thing kinda camoflages the uneven edges that are a result of my inexperience as a weaver.

I don't know if I should take it to work on the bus, or if I should stick to my deadline-knitting. I've got a sweater due asap.

Run, run away

2010-08-24T09:31:00.000-04:00

So, this has nothing to do with knitting at all, but that's okay.

About 3 weeks ago, the Husband (henceforth "H") and I had some friends over. I was talking with one of H's friends, who recently started running. It seemed to be working so well for him that I was inspired to start running again. I hadn't done it since high school.

So about 2 weeks ago, I started running. I noticed almost right away that if I'm going to be running, I am going to need a running partner to keep me motivated. I always have great intentions for doing things, but fall off the wagon when they stop being fun or start being hard work (the afghan I've been "working on" since I got engaged 6 years ago has been sitting nearly untouched since I got married 5 years ago).

I ran 3 times the first week, and twice last week. And today, I went running with one of my friends. I was shocked to learn that I'd run 3.6K! That makes me feel amazing! My goal is to be doing 5K in one month, and I'm hoping for 10K by the spring. I'll need to find an indoor track for the winter.

Questions about yarn and my sanity

2010-08-23T22:51:00.000-04:00

Now that the official first entry is out of the way, let's get down to yarny business.

I have mixed feelings about my tendency to bypass common sense in order to make money. I just sold two things that are very precious to me, and while the coin is nice, now that they are sold, I'm not sure I ever really wanted to let them go.

Thing #1: 4 skeins of very pretty Noro Silk Garden. I got these at the super-awesome annual LYS tent sale. They were $3 per skein. I put them up in my Ravelry stash. Just my regular stash, mind you, not my "will trade/sell" stash. Within an hour or so, I got an offer to buy them. And I saw the dollar signs and sold them for double what I paid, but still half of what they are worth. And now that the transaction is done, a little part of me is sad. I know I shouldn't be, though. We both got a good deal.

Thing #2: My very first spinning wheel. I bought a new spinning wheel back in May. The agreement was, if I sold my first spinning wheel, I could have a newer, better, more spinning-wheel-looking spinning wheel. So I put the first wheel up for sale when I found the new wheel I wanted. The new wheel is quite nice, and the old wheel wouldn't sell. I got lots of offers, but they were empty offers and they all fell through. I found an amazing deal on an electric spinning wheel, so I bought that one, oiled it up and checked it out, then promptly resold it for a pretty penny. The profit on that covered both my wheels (twice over), so I decided I didn't care if the first wheel ever sold.
Then, randomly, today I got an email asking if the wheel was still for sale, I said yes, she asked for the paypal address, and BOOM! Sold.
And now that it's sold, I realize just how much I actually use BOTH wheels. I use one for spinning and the older one is an incredible plying wheel. And alas, now it's someone else's incredible plying wheel.

One of these days, my desire to make a little extra cash is going to get me into serious trouble. I might end up accidentally selling something I actually really do need, like my car or my husband. ;)

A new knitting blog...the official first entry

2010-08-23T22:38:00.000-04:00

Because there aren't enough knitting blogs out there, I've decided to start my own. I need a spot (besides facebook) to ramble on about my current knitting and spinning projects. I don't think my facebook friends care much about my knitting...except for my facebook friends who are also knitters.

That leaves me with the conundrum...do I bother uploading my blog to my facebook notes so I can continue to bore my non-knitting friends with random ramblings on yarn?

I used to blog back in university. Random ramblings about boys, grades, work, and projects. That old blog still exists somewhere in cyber space, but as hard as I've tried in recent years, I don't seem able to resurrect it and devote it to knitting. So it lies dormant and locked up. Kinda like an old diary (that you don't mind the whole world reading). And here's the shiny new blog, devoted to all things knitting and spinning.