At last.... (no really, can I have a drumroll?...)

Here's my pics. errr...finally. Prefelted


Wait...they magically turned brown in the felting process...just kidding. If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that the blue pair didn't shrink down to quite what I was hoping for.


Specs:
-for the Blue pair: Galway medium woman's clogs
-for the Brown pair: Patons brown/black small woman's clogs

Walking around Alameda

I was reading the local paper and there's a story about this guy

How cool. To walk every street on the Island. Altho' the geek in me is thinking what is the optimal path to not double back on routes...

The other thing I was reading about was knitting while using a treadmill (on knitlist)...I really don't think I can knit and treadmill-- I barely can knit while watching TV or while reading. And definitely not while exerting myself --wouldn't the yarn get nasty? Anyway, there was a slight flickering of a nanosecond where I thought, hey, knit and walk theIsland? Naw. Part of the niceness about walking around Alameda is looking at the yards and buildings and such.

So, I'll stick to reading on the Orbital machine and knitting with the TV on...

I may be lame about blogging, but hey, I'm working on...

socks! Okay, I'm working on the first sock. (And it's not the same sock I worked on previously). This time, I'm using #2's w/ a neat blue sock yarn. I have no idea what type of yarn it is, it's part of the stash I got at the garage sale last summer. Anyway, I knitted following directions from the web -- it was some simple standard sock protocol. However, there are little bits of critical (to me) information that was omitted. For example, how many stitches to knit for the heel. Now, when comparing to another simple sock pattern that was downloaded, it appeared that half of the stitches goes for the heel, and that's what I did. 60st start results in 30st for heel, right? After I was done w/ this part, I read the next section (turning the heel) and thought wait, how come for both socks (the other used 56st), they start by knitting 18 stitches. Oh, crap. Did I screw up? Well, I ripped the 30 rows out and knitted 28 stitches for 30 rows.

Okay, note to self: please read all of the directions to a pattern/protocol before freaking out. Well, ends up the next section clearly states to knit the 30 stitches -- oh, doublecrap. Ripped again and well, that's where I'm at.

How sad is that?!

Waiting til she's 18

I told a couple more of the folks last night that I'm pregnant and when they asked when I'm due, I think they were a little surprised when I said end of May...that would be 4 months from now. Why didn't I reveal sooner? well...

Since 2002, I've had (count them) 4 pregnancy losses. One before z, and 3 after. When you actually add up the number of months I was pregnant (with morning sickness), I should have ended up w/ a baby, darn it! (hey, I got gipped!) Anyway, I read about Stitchy's losses last year and 'tho I was too chicken to comment on her blog, I did spend some time reflecting on the fertility issue. And then she commented again early this year about the expected due date...I did that too (the due date thing), but I have tried not to look too much into the future...just in case.

I mean really. You spend your life thinking that everything works fine and with the advancement of modern science, there'll be no problem having children a bit later in life (you know, after you find that perfect person, after you have some time with that person, after you get your career going...). Hey, all your friends are having babies, right? There's lots of babies everywhere. But only to find out that for whatever mysterious reasons, you find that you can't get pregnant or stay pregnant past the first trimester. What's with that?!

Anyway, I didn't tell because folks are so happy when you tell them you're expecting, but if something happens, well, you've got to remember all the people you told and remember to let them know that you've lost the pregnancy ('cause you don't want them to make an awkward comment several months down the line). With z, we waited until 16 weeks to tell most of the family members!

I am super lucky 'tho. After a 30 plus hrs of labor that resulted from a failed induced labor (labor ended when the pitosin was removed) followed by an emergency c-section, I got the most wonderful son--who continues to amaze and challenge and (yes) sometimes frustrate me.

And we have (hopefully) a baby girl in May. See! I'm still cautious. I still worry about all the things that may go wrong in the pregnancy. Did I mention I've got gestational diabetes again? And this time, they tested me super early, so I'm already on meds to try to knock the numbers down. And there's the scary statistics about still births, etc. w/ GD that I don't think about. No, really, I try not to think about it.

I guess I envy all the women who are oblivious to these issues, where she gets pregnant, and can do all those Hallmark moment things like surprise the husband with the positive test, or the to-be grandparents with a cheesy t-shirt proclaiming 'grandpa' or 'grandma', eat all the icecream she wants... Nope, we're secretive for months and months and when we announce, there's always a little bit of fear that we're jinxing it somehow. I mean, we haven't even started thinking about a name yet.

Oh yes, there are friends that we still haven't told...are we lame or what?!

I've been outted!

I was able to make it to SnB last night since z's dad drove the whole way back from the snow.

But yes, I was outted. Yes, I'm pregnant and we're expecting a girl near the end of May. I guess I'll have to start knitting for the new baby.

Body Dysmorphia or Holy Batwings!

I've had not one, but TWO major blows this week. And I blame the yarn, not the body...

1) the felted clogs -- felted very nicely, but they don't even come close to fitting my feet. True, I did knit a woman's size 8 (and I wear a 7), but they're way too big. They do fit z's dad tho', so not all is lost. How lame. I now have three choices: 1) Buy even more Galway yarn and knit the proper size 2) scrounge around my stash for yarn to make the darn things 3) another cycle.

2) z's dad's sweater--see above post about how the sweater is almost done? well, I was worried w/ the rapid decreases in the sleeves of the pattern and wanted him to try it on. I've had him try it on a couple of times and then I was using one of his sweaters to check sizing. Well, he tried it on and it was sad. No, really sad. My husband had bat wings! With the sleeve on, it was clear that the raglan was continued too too far and the arm holes were just way too big. A rookie move on my part was that I really didn't account for the additional 10 st cast on to connect the front and back on both sides.

You know, I'm thinking that I'm just going to rip the whole thing out, double the yarn, and make the husband a sweater w/ cables. There must be patterns out there...ugh...

However, I'm very glad I have such a wonderful husband who doesn't think I'm completely mad.

I'll post this now and see if I have the energy to actually upload the pics of these debaucles...

Happy Knitting Anniversary to Me (this weekend)

What a great turnout at the SnB. Gee, Julie's was packed with folks w/ yarn goodness. There were socks, scarfs, afghans, booties, sweaters, and I don't even know what else.

Me?! I'm still toiling on z's dad's sweater. But I see a glimmer of a light. I think I'm actually at the point of ribbing for the bottom. Altho' I still need to find out if that's the bottom he wants or a rolled bottom. Then it's off to the sleeves.

I'm hoping that this sweater gets done before or on our annual ski trip weekend coming up this Friday. We stay at a huge house w/ several other families and while some of the folks go off to ski, the rest of us hang out and relax. It was on this trip last year that I learned to knit from a great friend (and enabler), P. We even made a trip down to Truckee to the great yarn store Jimmy Bean.

Whether I finish his sweater or not, I think I should bring a couple of other projects to work on. Maybe I'll (gasp) try socks again. At least I'll bring the stuff for socks.

btw--I managed to find the camera so I'll have pics for you soon.

New Year projects

Well, I finished the clogs and got some advice on fulling them. (Sorry no pics yet, but they'll come when I get my act together and actually shrink these suckers).

My goal (end date to be determined) is to finish z's dad's sweater. I'm cruising -- uhmm...only 10 more inches of in the round knitting until I move onto the sleeves...

I had breakfast w/ some friends this weekend (on Jan 1) where they ate -- I didn't 'cause I had eaten earlier. And it was great. k who knits was wearing her very cool purple sweater. It looked warm and soft. Also, several of us had on scarves. How cool is that. Anyway, I think that after the sweater, I'm going to finish off my first cardi (it still needs buttons and I'm not too happy w/ the trim) and maybe I'll work on another sweater for self.

On the bummer note, z told me this morning that he wanted a blue sweater, but not the one that mommy made...I guess that may be it for awhile for me knitting for z, then.

Clogs, finally

I'm presently working on the felted clogs (for myself). I'm using Galway in blues. It's actually pretty easy once I wrote it out. I think that this is key. So, I had myself 2 skeins of dark blue and a skein of a lighter blue w/ speckles (I'll go look at the labels another day). I decided to make the women's size 8 for the following. I've used Galway yarns for felting before, and it seems to me that it felts at the last second AND shrinks much smaller. Plus, since I wear a 6-7, I thought, hey, why not. According to the pattern, I needed 600yds of yarn, 200 for top, 400 for bottom and trim. Well...as you may know, Galway skeins are 210yds/skein. Hey, 10 yds leeway, that's enough, right? Uhmmm, no.

The good thing is that this is a pretty easy and very fast knit. I knit one clog in one day and started on the other. That's where I ran into trouble...I ran out of yarn for the top! I'd bought this Galway at Skein Lane when they were having their ridiculously good sale. And it was 11pm when I ran out of yarn. I ended up ripping out row 35 down to row 32, and attached the dark blue as one strand. So now, there's a slightly different stripe at the end. I'm hoping it won't be too noticeable (and it's for me anyway...). I figure that if I run out of dark blue for the outer sole, hey, it's the darn bottom of the slipper, I'll deal and maybe get another skein (who cares if it doesn't completely match.)

I'll take a before and after felting pic when I finish the second clog.

Ofcourse z's asked for a pair in his size -- I'm not sure he'd actually wear it. I may make a pair for z's dad if he really likes mine. We'll see.

Again, I'd like to say that they are awefully easy to make and I'd recommend this pattern highly.

yeah, I didn't get coal

I've been bad. I've not been blogging. And worse yet, I can't even blame it on knitting...I only made one gift these past couple of months...a white scarf in feather and fan pattern. Yeah, not hard, and didn't take too long, but still...

and worse yet, I forgot to take a picture of it before I gifted it. Here's what I remember...the yarn was some white yarn (w/ angora maybe) and I used a size 9 needle (to get a more lacy look). I casted on 40 stitches and followed the pattern of 2 rows knit, 3rd row: knit 2, (k2tog)X3, (YO, k)X6, (k2tog)X6,(YO, k)X6, (k2tog)X3, k2. Row 4 knit (this is also the row I count to double-check that I didn't screw up the pattern).

It looked pretty darn good after blocking. And it was gifted to MIL. Hope she liked it.

Anyway, I didn't get coal for xmas...I got some very lovely presents.

Stupid cupcake!

Was set to go to SnB last night--really I was. I ate dinner early,and had gotten stuff together. We were getting set to go when z started saying his tummy hurt. I look over and he's spit on the hard wood floor (not looking good) in the living room. As I started to tell him (in super slo mo) 'noooooooo' he threw up. Poor little kid -- came out his nose too, and you all know how yucky that is. I told him to stay there and got paper towels to clean him and the mess up. After I clean him up, and in the process of cleaning up the floor, I ask him whether he's going to be sick again or not. There was a no -- right before the second vomit on the floor (this time in the dining room), followed by a third vomit, of course in a third location.

After all that, he said he felt better, but man, I wasn't going to risk taking him to SnB.

What does it have to do w/ cupcakes? Apparently, he had cupcakes at daycare yesterday afternoon 'cause it was a's birthday (he turned 2). Anyway, z seems to think that's what got him sick--and I'm inclined to agree...stupid cupcakes...

Rain and SnB

SnB was last night and saw several new folks. Always cool. I brought z so that z's dad could pick him up when he got into the island. We had to park relatively far away (around the block), but z had a grand time w/ his yellow slicker and g'loshes. We found big puddles that he could jump in --so I also got a bit wetter than I would have liked, but he really liked it. We got to Julie's Teas and ordered a hot chocolate. z really liked the hot chocolate. And when z's dad showed up, he also really liked the hot chocolate.

I remembered I promised to make my nephew a red DNA scarf and brought the yarn to work on that. However, cabling is not the best at SnB. After 6 rows of pattern, realized that I'm going to have to rip or tink it...ah well...

It was great seeing everyone. I think that SnB is the reason that I keep motivated to knit. I'm still trying to be good and not spend additional $$ on yarn. Instead, I'm trying to do some stash bashing...wish me luck!

Other uses for Kool Aid

Instead of Black Friday shopping, z and I made play dough using Kool Aid. I had packs of Kool Aid from fiber dyeing and figured hey, I don't have any food coloring (what kind of mom am I that I don't have food coloring?!) I'll make the dough w/ Kool Aid.

Here's the recipe:
Kool-Aid® Play Dough

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid
  
• 1/4 cup salt
  
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
  
• 1 cup water

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and Kool-Aid® in a medium pot. Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes. When mixture forms a ball in pot, remove. Knead until smooth. Put in a plastic bag and refrigerate.

I decided refrigeration is unnecessary. It turned out really well. We used Blueberry ('cause you know what z's fave color is) and followed directions.

All's I know is that I will likely never buy play dough again. This was way too easy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone!

Happy Turkey Day! Hope all gets lots of knitting done, turkey cooked (and eaten) and football watched.

Berta and Hilda

While in SD last week, one of the places on my list of food to eat was Berta's in Old Town. Now, you may be wondering, why there? sure, they're in Frommer's (but do I read that? no), so why go to SoCal and eat South American food (instead of Mexican which SD has a ton of). Well, I wanted to go to Berta's because it's owned by Hilda's sister (Berta). Now, you may not be aware of Hilda, but Hilda owned a wonderful South American restaurant in Eugene, OR. This would be the restaurant that we would pick for 'fancy schmancy' dinners like for birthdays, or if a guest speaker was coming into town.

Well, on a foggy night, z's dad, myself and z drove to Berta's and all was looking like it was maybe going to be okay when z decided he's had enough of this vacation stuff and decided to be a pill and have a major meltdown. We barely got through dinner. I ordered paella venezuela (my long-time fave) and z's dad got a chicken dish. And z? he had tortillas and that was it. He melted down. Fortunately, the place had emptied out a little and so as soon as z's dad was done eating, they went out to the car. The food? I thoroughly enjoyed mine. z's dad thought the chicken was overcooked.

The sad part was when I was talking w/ the waitress (Berta's daughter), and I mentioned that I came here because I used to go to Hilda's, I found out that Hilda closed down her restaurant over 5 yrs ago! Did I mention that an alternative to going to SoCal was to go to Oregon--but w/ the yucky weather (rain and cold in November), we opted to go to SoCal. But that would be one of the only reasons that I'd want to go back to Eugene--to eat at Hilda's.

Very very sad. But at least I got to eat really good SoAm food. If you're ever down in Old Town, I highly recommend Berta's.

Back from birthday vacation

Gone for a week in beautiful SoCal on holiday. And boy was it warm down there. I always forget about Santa Anas, as well as the coastal fog in San Diego...anyway, I had great intentions of knitting while on the drive south, but nope, knitting never came out of the bag. When you've got a 2 3/4 year old, you sorta need all hands and eyes ready to make sure there's no dashing into parking lots, streets, etc.

So, bottom line is that my knitting took a vacation with me.

It's my Birthday!

Wow! Can't believe I'm this old. sigh.

I did already get the happy birthday song from both z's dad (last night) and z (this morning). I'm just amazed that z, at 2 2/3 years old, can and does sing the happy birthday song, and insert the right name (momma) in the song. Maybe it's me, but you kinda think about how you don't really have memories of when you were 2, yet you have the cognitive abilities to memorize a song, and sing it, and alter it (in tune, sort of). Blows my mind.

We get to go do fun stuff today and this week, so I'll blog later.

Oakland yarn shop and food

Took a little trip to Oakland yarn shop yesterday, hoping for some creative knitting mojo...well, the good news is that I didn't purchase any yarn, but you know, I just wasn't that inspired...but I did stop at my favorite bakery Bake Sale Betty and finally got their fried chicken sandwich. Ohmyfriggingoodness, it's pretty darn good. Highly recommend. And the folks there are just so nice. I've gotten their super delicious scones from the Alameda Farmer's market, but they weren't there this week. sadness.

So, while I was in the Temescal area, went down to check out their brick and mortar store. The sample I got (they're super wonderful about giving out samples) was their lemon bar. If I can make lemon bars like that...my oh my.

Anyway, I did break down and get a pair of Addis of the right length for z's dad sweater. I'm hoping that the sweater will now knit itself.

Can you believe it? a post!

Well, I'm not sure when I'm going to get out of this knitting funk. But just because I haven't been knitting doesn't mean that I haven't been reading about knitting. Naw, not like knitting mags or books or anything like that (see, that would be constructive--seeing purty new things I could be knitting), nope. I've been reading knitting blogs. You know, marveling at how folks can crank out sweater after sweater after sock after sock. You all know that I still have that half finished sock in my basket...as well as z's dad sweater and z's two sweaters...(sigh)

But I was surfing a non-knitting site (cynical-c) and came across knitted zombies on flicker! How cool is that! The person that has the collection of knitted dawn of the dead characters also knitted Mr. Zippy, the monkey seen on craftster.org. (which I love and am planning on making uh, soon as I get my knitting mojo back). You know that the internet world is getting much smaller. Kinda like 6 degree of separation of Kevin Bacon, but in the 'e world'.

Me, I'm still working on the sweater...

Candy Coma

We went trick or treating and gave out candy...z got some good loot. Yummy. We haven't stolen any candy from him yet, but we shall...

We also had lots of kids come and trick or treat. Two interesting experiences. One was our first treater who ended up being an elderly asian lady not in costume w/ a bag asking for candy. How weird is that. She wasn't w/ anyone else (as in she didn't come to the door for a kid or anything). And she wasn't dressed up...yes, I know the difference between someone dressing up as an old lady verses an old lady. She didn't speak English, but when I offered candy, she nodded her head. Well, I gave her candy and wished her Happy Halloween.

My theory is that she didn't buy any candy and was going around collecting candy to give out at her house...what do you think?

The other experience was that we had a group of ~8 kids at the door and z was giving out candy and wishing everyone Happy Halloween (once in a while, he'd slip and say 'Trick or Treat'). Anyway, for whatever reason, z didn't give the girl in front of him any candy, and would give candy to the people next to her. As more and more kids came up the side and got candy, she gave a huff and left without any candy. She looked about 10 or so...hmmm...maybe she didn't like the selection. Oh, well.

It was all great fun. We carved pumpkins and put candles in them. We have seeds soaking right now for roasting today.

Knitting? well, didn't get around to doing any at all since I didn't want chocolate on my yarn!