Nupps suck!

So, I'm thinking that lace is fun. It's easy, lot's of yos, ssks, and k2togs...until now, got to nupps and thought, 'oh, my friggin goodness' (okay, in stronger terms than that). How are you supposed to purl 5 stitches to 1 stitch.

I had recently checked out of the library the Barbara Abbey's knitting lace book and there's a bit on bundling stitches and such. Instead of trying to purl all the stitches at once (which was what I was attempting) the book suggested purling a couple of them then psso. Now, I'm thinking, the book is old, that can't be the "correct" way of doing this stitch, otherwise, they'd tell you in the protocol, right?! Anyway, googled and found that yep, that's the way to do them without going crazy. (At one point, I had extra needles out, a couple of crochet hooks, it was ugly, really ugly...AND I had to tink back to reknit the ,k,yo,k,yo,k into the same stitch several times because those yos tend to sprong away if you're not careful).

So, pics will be available when I get around to it.

Happy Labor Day!

On another edge

While waiting for a reply to my dilemma regarding the stole o'the wave, I couldn't help myself...I started the Swallowtail from IK. I'd read about it on Yarn Harlot's blog( I think it was her site) a bit back and I thought 'wow, a scarf done with one ball of yarn -- I'm so there'. I think if I could do 1 cone/ball/skein projects, I so would.

Anyway, I casted on and started working on this project while waiting for an answer, any answer from the KAL. Thanks so much to Eileen, I now have the numbers correct in my brain to finish Print O'Wave, but first, I must must finish the swallowtail. I'm at the edging now. Will post pics later.

Postcard from the edge

Dear Reader,

I'm having a grand time! Wish you were here...

The center of the spiral rug was finished in 2 days, liked making the circle, very cool. And then the madness began. That outside piece? that would be done in knit stitch for the circumference of the rug (wait for it...twice). Since there's another knit piece for the outer section. All I can think of is 'don't run out of yarn don't run out of yarn don't run out of yarn...'

On why I don't want to run out of yarn: Peaches n Creme is an okay yarn, but I don't want another cone of the darn thing. Unfortunately, the way the edge is knitted, if you run out of yarn, you either rip it and reknit with less stitches (I'm doing 9 vs. their 10) or buy another cone. Update: yep, need to buy more yarn (at least it's cheap!).

On another note of madness, I just picked up and am knitting 240X2 + 160 stitches for the edging of the shawl. Picking up 240 stitches per side was a little harrowing. I calculated that I needed to pick up approximately 7 stitches per wave motif. Yes, I had to repick up the first 50 a bunch of times before it was okay. The last 40 stitches were also a pain since you can't fudge it since you run out of edge. And the other side? I tried my best to match the previous side, but oh well. Oh, and since I knit it all in one piece without reading the directions carefully, I have an additional knit row on one side.

And now, I'm stuck on the stole. If only I knew how many stitches I needed at the end, I could fix it...really I could.

Bandwagon here I come!

Yes, I'm knitting a rug! Something I never thought I'd do. I'm doing it due to the Mason-Dixon book (I WILL get value from the book, besides a good read). I really liked the concept that your house will never complain...good thought. Oh, but I'm not making Absorba, I'll be working on the pinwheel rug using short rows. I'm using Peaches n' Creme denim 3 strands held together. At SnB last night, I wound some of it off the cone and then realized I didn't have the appropriate sized needles -- I think my assortment of needles from size 10-13 are all on UFOs.

So, I swatched with #13 and 9's and realized that I almost got gauge with the 9's (12st/4in verses their 13st/4 in). Not a big surprise since they're using wool and doubling the yarn while I'm tripling.

I was able to finish one wedge last night. I think I'll be doing alternating with the ecru color. Not sure yet about the look.

Oh, if this rug turns out, I've got the wool yarn ready for a rug in the kitchen! Yep, kitchen.

Parties!

We left a and z at our wonderful friends' home and went off to a beautiful wedding in Berkeley this weekend. Although the bride (and some of our friends) asked about the children, I must say it was absolutely liberating attending an event without having to have mom-radar on and repeating over and over 'please stop doing that'...

It was a very touching ceremony at the Botanical Gardens -- now, why didn't I know about the site? It's absolutely serene. Very gorgeous. I recommend this site to anyone wanting a smallish outdoor wedding (besides our beloved Oakland Rose Garden, of course). And honestly, I think that it takes being married (and having had to plan said wedding) to really appreciate a wedding. I now understand all about the care that goes into such an event, the songs to be picked out (they really are meaningful!) and the details...things I didn't pay attention to when I was single and clueless...oh, well.

A 'friend' (what do you call a person you like, but doesn't live in the same town, don't keep in touch with, but really enjoy their company when you see them?), a friend just had a baby (5 weeks) and was telling us about their delivery -- much to my surprise, we had similar (horror) stories. At 48hrs after birth, her son's heart also had to be restarted, just like a. And I totally understood about the trauma of trying to recover from a c-section (her's was an emergency c-section after 30 hrs of labor) and being told you need to sign this consent form because your child's heart is getting ready to bounce out of their body!


So that was Saturday. On Sunday, we went up to the Marin Cheese Factory to celebrate MIL's birthday. It was lots of fun seeing family and meeting her friends.

She had said she didn't want presents, but what was I to do? I got the yarn early this year specifically for her...so I presented her with this (completed of course).

Interlacements Rick Rack II
Scottish Lichen - purchased at Stitches West in February
Feather and Fan pattern from them
80in X 30in?
off and on knitting 2/2006-8/2006

The nice thing is that I've got more yarn so I can make one for myself! Altho' this is 'novelty' yarn, it was pretty spendy. But it does feel lovely!


Yarn Info:

Rick Rack II - Scottish Lichen - Color 119
The most beautiful rayon yarn to weave and knit. Knit as a fine yarn or as lace with a 6 needle, we have a Feather and Fan Shawl that is to dye for. Also weaves into scarves and in combination with other yarns for clothing.
Colorway:	Scottish Lichen
Colorway Color:	Sky Blue, Olive, Turquoise, Dark Green, and Blue Green
Type:	Novelty
Fiber Content:	100% Rayon
Yardage:	1400 Yards
Size Weight:	Approx 16oz.
Putup:	Reeled Skein
Gauge:	10 epi plain weave, 13 epi for twill.

What I knit on my summer vacation pt. I

While down south, when I wasn't dealing with the kids, or when I wasn't lazying around watching TV, I knitted--actually, I knitted while dealing with kids, lazying about, and watching television. I finished another bib and worked on Eunny's Print O' Wave stole. I originally got the Misti Alpaca to do the Mystery Stole II, but as the clues got printed, I realized that I wanted a lacy lace stole, not one that was knitted fabric with a few YO patterns. I do like the MSII stole (especially the pictures I saw on the yahoo group--gorgeous!), just not right now.

I then hit the intarweb...what a wild wacky world...where all your dreams can come true. Anyway, I searched a number of sites and found Eunny's beautiful stole pattern. It's supposed to be an easy pattern -- if I can make a Liesel scarf this should be a cakewalk given that it's only a 9 row repeat. I'll put some markers in...first mistake. I ripped it by the 5th row. Oh, yes. Step back and realize that although all the stitches at the end of the row end up totalling 80 stitches, umm...well, the markers I so diligently placed, well they move!? Now, why didn't I think of that before. I literally knitted and ripped it 2-3 times before I got it, then it was a smack on the head and a 'doh'.

I then searched 'Eunny and wave' and found that there was a Yahoo group, which I then joined. I also found that there were much discussions about this stole so I spent time reading that too. Finally, I looked at the joining the two center pieces together and vacillated between knitting the pattern as written or knitting a big long piece.

Many bloggers were in the same boat regarding the seam down the center. Now, I'm a symmetrical type of a girl. Given there's one side, I'm compulsively trying to make sure there's another that matches...sort of. For example, socks with variegated yarn, yes, I do make an attempt at trying to sort of match the two socks (that's not to say that by the end, they do match -- but I try). And I did like the waves flowing downward. But then I kept going to the center of the pattern and how there's a visible connection seam. Well, that just won't do. A blogger thought she was going to knit an additional pannel to 'fix' it, but well, I've just not looked at enough lacework yet to figure out what pattern would look nicely there. So, my solution is to just keep on knitting...
After that issue was resolved, I'm continuing to knit. But again, as this is my first true knitted lace item (don't count worsted weight scarves or bookmarkers), I'm stressing about how big and long it's going to be. Again, Eunny has written how if you use laceweight yarn, it'll turn out huge at 70in long...BUT I like scarves/wraps/stoles long. On one hand, I really want to believe the lace knitting gurus, but on the other hand, as a scientist, I compulsively 'do the experiment' to confirm results. You may think it's reinventing the wheel, but as a scientist, you need to confirm published results before you build on them...yeah right, you should do a gauge swatches too!

Since I'm knitting one long panel, I have a ways to go before I decide whether to veer even farther away from the original pattern...

So, right now I'm on 21/34 pattern repeats. But I read that the edging is what kills ya.

I should add that it's being knitted on #4 bamboo straights mostly and somewhat knitted on SB circs when I need to add a lifeline. Why not Inox or Addis? Don't have #4's in either, that's why. Also, that blue bit on the needles, that's the curly doodad in action

Curly Doodads

I love tools, specifically knitting tools. You know, point protectors, stitch markers, needle sizers, organizers, needle holders, counters, I love them all. And I like to collect them. And organizers to put the doodads in (sigh).
I'm not one of those folks who would rather use cheapo needles and spend all their $$$ on yarn. Nope, not me. Yarn, once knitted up, becomes an object to be used/worn/given away. It's the perishable part of knitting...unlike the tools, which are more like the well-honed chef's knife or the perfect pot for making toffee.

But my newest love are these plastic phone cord deals, made by Clover (Clover Coil Knitting Needle Holders). They're outrageously priced at $5plus for 5 small plastic coils, but I've only gotten the set when I've had a coupon, so they're a little more reasonable. But man, they rock!

They're even better than the plastic needle holder licorice twist looking things. With these, they hold the stitches on the needle well enough so that I'm not going to come back to a big mess. Yet, the holder can be 'wound' onto the needle so (yeah!) I can find the darn things when I need to set the knitting down momentarily -- like when the baby cries.

Anyway, they're awesome.

In other news, I'm reading Yarn Harlot's newest book Knitting Rules . Of course I should have read her first book first, but oh, well. I really do like her blog and thought her book would be interesting. As I said, I just started it, but I've already learned a lot. For example, I am a Knitting Scientist (according to her quiz). She must have known about my uncontrollable need to do quizzes. Maybe this is knitting thing, the urge to quiz, or maybe a blog thing, or a knitting thing. I do wonder if there's a natural selection for certain traits to be a knitter. hmmm....

Oh, and I did enjoy her table on how to determine the fiber type of an unknown yarn. My first response (as a scientist) was to put it under a microscope. You'd be able to tell fibers pretty easily, especially if you had control fibers on hand. But then again, I guess not everyone has access to Zeiss scope. But very handy tool to figure out what type of yarn you have.

Just back from 'TV vacation'

Not at all what you think...it's a vacation full of TV watching. Yep, went south to visit the family and you know that my mother (actually parents, but the driver is my mother) is a technophile. Growing up, I never thought twice about the fact that we got a clunky box thing called the VCR (VHS not Beta -- that was my brother-in-law), SelectTV, Apple II Plus computer, etc...

Well, for the last how many years, my parents have had all-the-channels-all-the-time-cable-tv with the DVR AND my fave 'On-Demand TV'. Sweet!

Z was in TV vacation heaven. He's normally monitored as to the amount of television he watches due to the fact that we have experimentally concluded that z + TV in the morning = non-listening z for the day. Why yes, it was imperically determined. However, when you put z in front of the TV ALL DAY LONG, he does eventually get bored and will turn the thing off. When asked what his favorite part of this vacation was, his answer was "watching TV". that's my boy!

As for me, I only watched TV when z slept (he's only 3 1/2). So, here's a list of the movies I saw (in no particular order)**

Proof - Gwyneth Paltrow movie. Why yes, math geeks are crazy (no. really, they are) and they can party too!
Serenity - sci fi by Buffy the vampire slayer guy. It was a series for awhile. I didn't like the series. But the movie rocked!
Robots - This I watched w/ z. Robin Williams sometimes gets a little old. Overall a cute movie.
Herbie movie - Matt Dillon and Linsey Lohan. Linsey used to be able to act when she was a child star, what happened?
Sky High - Didn't remember Kurt Russell was in this flick. Kinda lame, but another one that I watched w/ kids.
Alexander - Didn't watch it all...missed the middle part. It was disconcerning seeing Alexander with a Scottish(?) accent.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith - cute movie. Nice eye candy.
Final Encounter - really bad futuristic Dean Cain movie. Yeah, you never heard of it? yes. waste of time.
The Island - another eye candy movie.
Lords of Dogtown - I saw the documentary, heh on the movie. Keith Ledger as the stoner head guy was pretty cool.
Kingdom of Heaven - Orlando Orlando Orlando

**if there's more, I'll add later

Oh, there was knitting too. Will post pics later.

Cotton and food entrapment devices

Here's a picture of the dishcloth that I whipped up awhile ago as requested by z&a's dad. And here's the bib done also in Sugar n' Cream for the girl. I didn't have the book at the time, so I faked it. Casted on 40 stitches w/ #7's and knit until the right size. Then knit the straps 10 st wide.

As a 2nd time mom, I know that the buttons used to hold the bib , whether the back of the neck or on the bib are very nice and super cute, but guess what? It's a NFED (nasty food entrapment device). I just know that I'll be having to hand wash the bibs because the buttons are fragile--and you're not going to see me w/ a toothbrush cleaning out the crevices. Instead, I made an I-cord and this system seems to work. I'll also be making more bibs in the lime green, blue, variegated, etc.

At first, I was all like, why would you make bibs for a baby? especially when you can buy them? but you know, z&a's dad really likes to use the dishcloth, and you just rinse them out or toss them in the laundry...what could be easier. And for less than a buck a piece, pretty darn good deal.

Picotless Picovoli

As you know, I hate to seam, so I really do try to find patterns that are in the round. Yes, it does drive me a little batty (and yes, that's an intended pun to raglan sleeves), but yes, back to patterns in the round. I've had this yarn for a year (gotten from that yard sale) and there were 10 balls of it. I was thinking I'd make myself a cardigan from it, but given that it's summertime, and I'm not carrying around a beach ball aka big belly, I thought I'd make myself a little something smaller.

I loved Ms. Grumperina's Tivoli/Picovoli pattern (later put on Magknits) and I think she presented Tivoli around the same time I started reading her blog. So, I printed it out and actually did circular swatches. Of course I cheated and swatched in like a 4inch circumference swatch. I switched needles a couple of times and actually got gauge. But then I realized the knitted fabric would be way too dense and stiff, so I bit the bullet and got out the ole calculator. I also did my research and checked out her gallery of tivoli/picovolis and found that they all looked different and maybe some folks did some pattern modifications (come to realize that maybe they just have different body types). I decided I wanted a more tanktop look without the neck plunging.

Here's my modifications:

I kept the front and back the same across and increased the shoulder/arm stitches. As I was experimenting, I didn't feel the need for the picot edge--mostly since I'd have to rip it out if the neckline turned out to be too hootchy mamaish. Well, I then followed the raglan increases as specified and when I was doing the bodice part, did 17st under the arms. I followed her basic pattern and then bound off.

Instead of the picot edging, I did a single crochet edging. I'm a lazy knitter (and apparently I enjoy tinking) so I sort of faked it. Now, is it a one-to-one ratio for crochet to knit? or different. I just crochetted into spots I thought were appropriate.

Did I mention that when binding off, I found that I ran out of yarn almost at the end? I was using the remnents of another ball for the crochet edge, but that's not enough for the bottom. I'm thinking that I may go back and tink the bottom back a couple rows and seed stitch it or something.

General comments:
The yarn was nice to knit with-- very sprongy. And the negative ease, devine.

Probably took 1.5 weeks to knit. I forget.
Yarn:Reynolds Cantata 90% cotton, 10% nylon 110yds
4 or 5 balls
#6 Addis

Follow up on sale at Skein Lane

Went on the first day of the sale. TOO CROWDED! Stood in line for over 2 hrs w/ A in baby bjorn. She was wonderful and slept through the whole thing. The crowds were horrific. Knitters are great people, but too many in one spot?! yikes. It does blow my mind to realize that the line was huge and each shopper spent probably a minimum of $200! I think that your mind goes to this 'sale' place where you think that if you don't buy it now, it'll be gone and you won't ever see it again. And then there's the 'think of all the money I'm saving'...

I specifically was looking for Addis. Well, even though I went early, the pickings were slim. In line, I was talking to one knitter who said that Carolyn had not been restocking when she sold out of stuff. Oh, well. I found all 3 Addis that were over 40 inch and held on to them. I originally thought I'd get enough yarn to make a sweater for myself, but the thought of digging through the yarn to find enough of the same dye lot was too overwhelming, so I didn't. I then decided I wanted to purchase laceweight yarn. Well, all the lace yarn I found didn't have price tags and I couldn't find anyone to tell me the price, so they too went into the bag. I also saw a gorgeous silk laceweight cone of yarn... She also had stuff like the Lantern Moon needle holder and wooden swift, they also went into the bag.

But I snapped to my senses and realized that a swift could be had for less (on sale it was still $47) and the needle case, yeah, that's what I need, another needle case. I think that if the line was not so long, I wouldn't have thought so much and returned everything. Back to the lace yarn, I stood in line to get a price check!? To my chagrin (actually horror), the yarns were $50, $52, $40, $40, and $52. So, the 3 hanks of yarn and 2 cones added up to $234 before tax. Yeah, right. Away went all the yarn except for the silk on the cone and the Loren's Laces Helen (both in natural colors). Which to get? Carolyn and the other sales person suggested the LL but you know what, I didn't say anything at the time, but there were yarn issues! I slid the band a bit and saw that the yarn's a little different in color. I'm sorry, I'm not going to pay that kind of money for yarn that's either dirty or faded. I ended up with the $40 cone. I'd better get 2 shawls out of it (I should, there should be 3200yds on the cone).

How disappointing was that? I also put back 2 of the Addis since I really didn't need them.

What did I walk out with? One set of needles, a cone of yarn, and needle protectors ($.40/each).

How sad was that?

TEOTWAWKI?!

No, I'm not talking about oil prices, the freakish heat wave, or even any volcanoes erupting (and political unrest and nuclear threats, let's not go there). Sheesh, I'm talking about the fact that Janice is selling Yarn! and Carolyn of Skein Lane is retiring and closing the shop. That is TWO of FOUR yarn shops I go to...

What's a girl to do?!

You guessed it...I'll be going shopping. Yes.

Of course, I do wonder if knitting is becoming the next scrapbooking -- you know, fair weathered crafters that embrace an old craft and make it new again...you remember scrapbooking. LSS popping up in every shopping center and such. Such cute stores with such not-so-cute prices...for paper! And I've noticed they've slowly gone away. There's only a few left, the rest, well, you'll have to shop at the big box stores to get what you need. I can say this 'cause I still like to scrapbook, I just enjoy the portability of knitting more.

I do really hope that LYSs aren't closing because of fickle crafters. Altho' if you want to quote me, I think that the next 'craze' will be sewing--haven't you seen the trend? why knit fabric when it's already available and all you have to do is to construct the garment. How many knitters sew, or are learning to sew? They've gone to the dark side...

Or maybe glass fusing will be the next 'in' craft. Or stained glass. I'm just hoping that bleach bottle animals, folded readers digest dolls, and such do not make a comeback. Macrame would be cool 'tho.

Peace

I've been knitting! and even a FO

I checked out One Skein from the local library with the idea to make the baby bolero. Very cute. And only one skein! Of course I'd already had the Bernat Cottontots in strawberry (2 skeins). But upon reading the pattern, realized it took a lot of seaming and you all know I hate to sew together when I can raglan...

Anyway, I was faithful to the pattern and got about a third done (okay, don't be too impressed, it's not that big of a sweater) and realized that I really really don't want to sew up the sleeves. Ripped it out (no tinking there) and started over and made a top-down raglan sorta bolero cardigan. I printed out the various 5 hour baby sweater patterns to look at their neckline count, then I just started knitting. Yes, go ahead, you can say it...'and it looks like it too'.

A raglan cardi was born. I liked the islet motif on the back of the sweater and was too lazy to get a stitch pattern book so again I winged it. I knit it sort of to the specifications of the baby bolero sweater and tried it on the live model (baby o'mine) and stopped knitting when I thought it was done. I picked up stitches all the way around for the ribbed edging. The only thing I wished I'd done (again, that pesky laziness thing) was I should have casted onto waste yarn so that the neck edging would have looked better. Oh, well. This took very little time and I recommend it for anyone w/ a baby (or needed to make something for a baby). I figure I can whip out more of these as the mood strikes me so that she could have coordinated sweaters...yeah right.


Here's a picture of the sweater as being worn by the model.

Happy 4th

We did the Independence Day thing:

parade -- check
barbeque -- check
fireworks -- check.

Yep, that was the day.

The parade was fun. It's always fun to attend a parade where you spot folks you know, and in fact, if the feeling took you, you too could have joined the parade. There were clowns (scared Z), there were electric cars, there were horses and riders and horse poop, there were political floats, there were nonpolitical floats, there were a lot of local businesses' floats, and there were floats where to the best of our knowledge, they were just folks that wanted to walk the parade route. You know, our local parade is the longest in the state of California, and it's the 2nd longest in US (according to local info). Anyway, we ate bagel, croissant, and muffin (and milk for the baby) and watched for awhile. Then we went home to ready ourselves for barbeque/birthday party for one year old.

The Q was great, yummy chicken sandwiches w/ veggies, fruit salad, tater salad, and chips (we were requested to bring said chips from Chevy's -- didn't know that you can buy chips, but okay).

Then it was off to San Ramon for the fireworks -- very nice. What was scary was that on the way home, we kept seeing additional fireworks along the freeway, and it wasn't the sanctioned ones...quite scary. I don't know if that's something NoCal, but I've not seen this type of blatant unsanctioned display of fireworks ever. What's w/ that?! Don't folks realize that fires can occur? that your house can burn down?! sheesh! Of course the frightening thing was seeing on the news today about how people were throwing (yes throwing) lit fireworks at cars driving by! Had we gotten off the freeway, we would have been on the road the reporter was talking about. Double sheesh!

Anyway, Happy 4th and I do hope everyone had a great time.

As for knitting, I've swatched and started Picovoli with much neckline alterations. I hope it turns out...

I knitted something!

Amazingly, I actually knitted something. What is that something? Well, it's a dishcloth for the husband. Made from cotton (Sugar'n Cream Natural) using Grandma's favorite dishcloth pattern. Ya'll know that one, k2, YO, k, YO, k2. Makes a diagonal square. In fact, I received a beautiful baby blanket using that pattern.

About this dishcloth: I've made him a couple already. The first one he thought was too closely knit and turned out too bulky to use on some items(I used #7 on SnC yarn). So, I've been using #9 or #10 needles and knitting loosely.

Well, last week, I ran the garbage disposal and it didn't run. I thought it was kaput. He investigated and found that the old dishcloth was jamming the mechanism and was a gonner (the dishcloth, not the disposal). I told him I'd make him another one and while he was away this weekend on the annual rafting trip, and while the children were sleeping, I actually whipped the dishcloth out.

As for the rafting trip, he's been going since he was in highschool, and when I met him, I got to go too. Since A wasn't due until May 23, we had thought a month post-partum w/ c-section was not consistent with rafting. And by the time A was born, well, the rafting trip was already all set up. Maybe next year.

Knitting while Bjorning/Slinging

So, I have another one of those children. You know, the ones that seem like they're easy babies? Sleeps through most of the night, sleeps in the car seat, cries for a reason like hunger or poopie diaper... or in this case, if the baby is set down during the day. What this means is that both my children have been carried around alot while they're babies. I had forgotten that I carried z all the time. I'd also forgotten that we had figured out that apparently, by definition, what we do is called attachment parenting. This means that feeding's on the baby's schedule, sleeping is co-sleeping and very big on the family bed(we try not to do that, but we definitely find children in our bed in the mornings), and the baby's carried whenever the baby wants. And attachment parented babies are usually 'worn' by the parent, usually involving some cloth contraption that straps the child to the parent. I myself own 3 slings, a baby bjorn, and 2 back packs.

The bjorn works well for computer surfing. However, I'm having a heck of a time trying to knit like this. Not that knitting is the most ergonomically task around, but to have to stretch your arms around a baby strapped to your chest is not a good thing. Slings work a tad better for knitting. The baby's a little ball off to the side and you can get stuff done.

Altho' my other alternative is to pop her into her car seat. That also seems to work fairly well. But only sometimes and not for too long.

What am I working on? why I'm working on projects that got interrupted when I went into the hospital. I did manage to knit a bit while on bed rest before, but I had to take a break from just keeping my fingers busy and instead, engaged my brain and did alot of reading.

So, while folks suggest that you should sleep when the baby sleeps, this mom will be trying to knit instead.

Time passing and zero knitting and other ramblings

Can't believe that it's been so long since I've posted. As the title says, I've done nada, zero, zippo knitting. But I have been reading knitting blogs, does that count?

It never fails to amaze me all the folks who knit and blog. How do they have time to knit amazingly beautiful garments on super small needles and tricky yarn in a few days (really, I exaggerate not). And they turn out beautiful? The sweaters, the gloves, the tops and even skirts...what's with that? skirt that's hand-knitted? AND then to take pictures, shrink down to size, then post and write about said garments -- and even write up the pattern, in multiple sizes?!

What's even more amazing are all the multi-tasking multi-talented knitters that also sew. The last time I sewed a garment, I was in maybe 6th grade and I sewed literally a burlap sack dress and ruined my grandmother's sewing machine. It was a rectangle with arm holes cut out. My mother didn't help me 'cause she thought I said a dress for a doll, not one that fit me...so I winged it. Anyway, it looked pretty bad.

Oh, and there was the time I was going to sew a dress for myself (having blocked out previous traumatic experience) and didn't realize things like bias cut or super stretchy material or that maybe stripes would not be the easiest pattern to match up for a dress. Again, a disaster. I think maybe the material and the pattern may still be at my mom's house ( 25 yrs later). Naw, mom's most likely thrown it out already.

Speaking of throwing things out, we've got a big project coming up and our basement is full of stuff. That whole thing about Nature abhors a vacuum? Well, apparently so does my basement and shed. They're full of stuff. What's even worse is that we've got tons of empty boxes. I guess the thought was that when we were done with 'it', it could go back in it's original box, but when really, would you put a 8 year old microwave oven back in it's original box? Or the barbeque? or 20" TV? Really, these are some of the empty boxes at our house. To make matters worse, they've been stacked on top of each other, not nested, nope, on top of each other. Maybe it's because both z's dad and I (note to self, now it's z&a's dad) lived for so long in apartments and gee, you never know when you're going to move again and need to put things back in the boxes...NOT. Since our goal is not to move for a very very long time, I think that the appliances will break before we actually need to rebox them to move.

So, this weekend, I donned some gloves (in case of spiders and other crawlies) and did some excavating. I found a bottle of unopened sparkling water from 1998 along with candy and popcorn from that same era. I know it was from that year because it was in a box from 3 jobs ago. I found my college transcript (shudder)...I'm not sure how I got into grad school with those grades. In fact, had I read the requirements more carefully for graduate schools, I probably wouldn't have bothered to apply (apparently, I didn't meet grade requirements). It was a good thing I tested really well on the GREs.

So, what made it out to the trash? Nothing yet. I did manage to get my Alumni sticker out and put that on the car. And I took the pictures. The transcript was too horrid and I put it back in the box to await rediscovery in another 10 years.

Thanks for the good wishes

I'd like to thank all the folks at the SnB for the good wishes. I was able to stop by w/ A not this last Monday (being Memorial Day and all) but the Monday before that to say hello to the ladies that were there. And she totally behaved herself. Okay, she slept the whole time and didn't poop or cry.

Stopping by reminded me that I should pick up my knitting again. But w/ the warmish weather I'm not feeling like picking up wooly yarn. I may have to finish secret project (not out of wool) or start a cotton project.

Well, now that the big ginormous belly is no more, I should think about knitting something for self. When I was pregnant, I didn't want to knit a maternity sweater because I wouldn't wear it that long. In hindsight, I wouldn't have worn it since I was in the hospital for a month plus. Add to that A was 3 weeks early (with that original threat of being 11 weeks early). Not to mention that after I found out I had placenta previa, I wouldn't have wanted to get blood on it. But my original reason for not knitting a maternity sweater back when I first found out was that I simply didn't want to invest that much yarn and time to making a big giant pumpkin sweater (like the Perry Ellis Bubble sweater -- oh, my goodness!), 'specially since there are actually some pretty cute maternity clothes out there ( gotta love GAP and Old Navy). Well, that was before I saw what else was out there. There are 2 patterns that are pretty ingenious. There's the 'Before and After' sweater from Canadian Living that consists of a cardigan and a triangular panel that you can take off post-baby. That would have been okay. And there's the other sweater from Summer 2006, Interweave magazine. Now that is cute. Had I seen that sweater, it would have been done. It's a ribbed pull-over with buttons on the side for expansion. How cool is that?!

Anyway, I'll work on project secret while thinking about what cottony goodness to knit up.

btw-- too lazy to post pics of the sweater, y'all just google it, okay?

Knitting content!

Well, actually, it's not MY knitting content...rather, we received beautiful knitted items.

From the NICU, A received a cute little pink and white striped hat (see below). And from K, who I taught how to knit last Thanksgiving -- okay, she had the SnB book, and just needed a little bit of help with knitting. Anyway, she gave A a couple of darling hats. Talk about a learning curve for knitting. They turned out wonderfully.
My neighbors across the street, J and R, have been lifesavers through this pregnancy. When I had to go to the hospital (I forget if it was the 2nd or 3rd or 5th time), they actually babysat Z and totally entertained him for the afternoon. And if you have a 3 yr old, you'll know that these are wonderful neighbors...
So, J came over yesterday to drop off a baby present of a cute outfit (no pics) and to my surprise...this totally soft baby blanket. Ya'll recognize the pattern as the dishcloth pattern. What's great is that this would have been the other pattern I would have chosen if I were knitting a baby blanket (I'm still partial to the circular blanket).

This was made from Big Sky cotton in a very pretty pinkish mauvy color.
Of course I was trying to nurse right then, so J didn't get a chance to see the baby. Will have to make effort to go across street to show A off.

Introducing (albeit a bit late)

Amy E.

Born May 1, 2006
10:58 AM
6 lbs. 12 oz. 20 inches

*Will include more info later...