This Is Why I Don't Have a Diary

Hi! Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. It always seemed that I had one more thing to add. The Husband says at least twice a week, "You have my permission to blog this." Not that I can remember what he did (well, except for the whole leave the house without his coupons/bills/grocery list/jacket/glasses and that's just proof that I'm the young one in this relationship).

If Blogger will co-operate there will be a lot of pictures here.

First up I should catch you up on the knitting:

These are the stitch markers I made one day when I should have been cleaning the house. Hey, I had all the materials and Cat Bordhi says I need ABC markers to make her wonderful socks.....

I got the dragonfly wings at an on-line bead shop. The rest of the beads came from bracelets I was making with my Sunday School class. The rings are the loop half of toggle findings for bracelets. Someday I will start the Coriolis socks.....

These are regular old socks (Paton's Kroy Sock yarn and KnitPicks options DPNs size 0)that I can knit while The Husband and I are at the opera. Not the "real" opera but the HD broadcast from the Met on Saturdays. They actually send out the performance to local movie theaters and you can see the opera. It's pretty cool except when they try those arty shots and you can see the audience. You know, "Wow, I can feel the heat from the desert and she looks so tired, Hey isn't that Aunt Helen in the third tier..." Sort of breaks the whole suspension of dis-belief thing. On the other hand you do get to see what's going on back stage and instead of hearing the opera quiz you get to "visit" the wardrobe section and get a close look at the costumes.

These are The Husband's Hanukkah socks (Cascade Yarns-Heritage in Cherry Be color, Knit on KnitPicks options DPNs size 0). The only thing I didn't like about this yarn is the pooling at the ankle. The color is much deeper and more interesting than my camera shows. The yarn is nice and squishy. Sadly, The Husband says he only has four or so pairs of socks. Now, how did that happen? I counted mine and I have nearly fourteen pairs. Then he reminded me of a few I knit with NON superwash yarn that made the trip through the washer and dryer and are now on the feet of smaller people.......Speaking of the washer, you may have been reading about Stephanie's sad loss of Mr. Washie. Apparently it is catching. The local washer (that would be the one downstairs) is out of commission. I swear I haven't felted anything in it(yet). The repair guy is coming tomorrow and we hope he can replace something or jiggle something to get us back in laundry. I have three days of underwear left and it's off to the laundromat.

The last time I had a pedicure, the pedicurist sent me home right away "so your feet won't freeze". It was pretty cold and rainy (and freezing rainy) that day so I scooted home ASAP. After thinking about it I realized that I don't do my own toe nails anymore and I would probably be back before spring. I needed socks! Specifics - Filatura Di Crosa yarn Maxime print in partita color, knit on KnitPicks options DPNs size 0. Yes, they are my favorite needles, why do you ask? I chose that color because that is the color I normally get my toe nails done and the yarn matches! Whee.

While we were visiting Elder Brother and his family over Thanksgiving (so it has been a while since I posted. Sigh) Youngest Niece took Younger Son's Sweetie and me to a yarn shop. I thought it would be nice to knit her a Clapotis since I have never knitted one and she spent last year in France. I had her pick out some yarn and got enough to make the Clapotis. Started same. Let's see, knit a whole lot of plain stitches with the occasional twisted stitch and eventually let about half of the stitches run down. Wait. What? Sorry, way too boring. So I knit her the Poinsettia lace neck warmer (when she unwrapped it she said,"Well, I don't know what it is, but I know what color it is." Very pretty pattern, just don't try knitting it at the opera (too dark to follow the pattern). Since that only took most of one skein and I had bought four I came home from the holiday festivities and started knitting the rest into something. These are the Spirogyra mitts from Knitty. I have also made a potato chip scarf and am looking for some kind of hat I can make with the last 850 yards.

In the spirit of the secular New Year I have done some thinking about what I would like to accomplish this year. Aside from redecorating Elder Son's room (he is now living in another city, same state but two and a half hours away) and then of course redecorating our bedroom into the new sewing room (because we'll be moving Heh!) and then redecorating the sewing room into a small (very small, 7' by8') TV and guest room, I would really like to get some of the backlog of quilting and knitting DONE! At last count I am seven quilts, one sweater and a few hats (Elder Son wants the fish hat at Knitty and Younger Son wants a viking hat) behind. Now I can work fast but some of these things are eight years late. Yecchhhh! Apparently Julie is in the same fix because she has made a button for anyone who want to make 2009 catch up year.

I also decided that I really, really need to catch up on all the books The Husband has put in my pile. To that end, I counted them and there are sixty in this box. That doesn't count the ones on the window sill shelf. In the lower left corner you can see some of the fireplace tiles. If we turn on the fireplace the box gets very warm. As this doesn't seem very safe, I need to finish enough to move this box. Trust me, there is no other space in the house for the box, I just have to finish the books (then are you going to get a box, Amy).

These are the books I will need to read in January. I figure if I read two books a week I might just have a chance to finish the box (and any library books I pick up) before next year. Wish me luck. (YS just added another book to my pile. Seems YSS got him a few books by Bill Bryson and I enjoy those, too so he's going to share them with me. Yay!)

Happy New Year to you and yours, may this year see all our plans work out (and if they don't may we get a wonderful surprise, like winning the lottery......)

Would you believe, fortnightly?

I did manage to post every Friday in July, but it's a new month now, isn't it? Just to make up for the lost week I will give you lots of pictures (assuming blogger co-operates).

Here is an awful picture of the ribbon vest. As you may have pickup up, I swim. A lot. See those shoulders and arms. Sweetie, that's mostly muscle. Sigh. Anyway, details.
Pattern: Lots of Options vest from Sally Melville's Knit Stitch.
Ribbon: Lion Brand Incredible yarn, City Lights color way.
9 skeins
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony size 5
Buttons: 10. 5 gold and 5 blue plastic
Modifications: I did a three-needle bind off at the shoulders rather than try to seam them. I also made the v-neck a little less deep. Good thing. As it is the very edge of my bra shows under the arms. This will look great in the fall and winter over a turtleneck. It makes a nice change from the knit polo shirts I usually wear all summer and the waitress at Olive Garden was really impressed that I had made it. She knew I was a knitter because as we were waiting for our friends to arrive I was knitting on these:
Pedicure socks for my friend's birthday. I would love to put a gift certificate for a pedicure in the socks, but it's so close to the end of the summer that the exchequer is a bit thin.
Details:
Pattern: One I made up
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony Double points Size 0
Yarn: Knitpicks Essential sock yarn, Dune color 1 skein
These were the purse knitting for most of the summer. They really didn't take long to knit, we just didn't go anywhere. I had them completely finished and was checking them over before I wove in the ends and I found one lonely little stitch that wasn't really connecting so I had to rip out one whole foot and re-knit it. Sigh. Hope she likes them.
Now that I have finished two things I needed something to start. Where to begin.....
I bagged up a number of projects, Cat Bordhi's learning socks from the new book (child size to practice on), the Wrapped in Tradition Shawl for YSS, Belle Epoque socks from 2-at-a-time Socks, Sleeves in my Pi shawl, the Leaf scarf from Nicky Epstein's new book. And the ones I have started to work on:
Branching Out scarf from Knitty. The pattern calls for lace weight yarn, but I have this lovely cashmere in a chunky weight and it should be a wonderfully warn cuddly thing all winter. I have a fawn colored coat that I wear in the winter so this plum color should look good. Last winter, just after I bought the coat I knit a bee-you-ti-ful scarf from Lion Brand Moonlight. Then I found out that I can't let mohair touch my skin or redness ensues. OK, gave that scarf to a friend. Then I knit a soy/wool mix yarn in Stephanie's scarf pattern. It was soft pink, green, and tan. The yarn felt nice and soft, but still was scratchy on my neck. That scarf went to Youngest Niece (the new knitter, Whoot!) As I have been knitting this one I tuck one end into my collar and leave it there. As I knit for hours every night it should be a pretty good test for itchiness.

Last we have the beginning of the purse knitting. Monkey Socks from Knitty in a wonderful autumn color. Is it just me or do you think CookieA needs to publish a book, too? I forget the yarn but I bought it while I was visiting Youngest Niece. Yes, those are Harmony needles. I really enjoy knitting on the wood and they are so pretty! I need to get started on a few "consignment" projects:Sweater for a friend, prayer shawl for a Bar Mitzvah in October, Wedding canopy for a November wedding, and the ever-present quilt (the quilt of Damocles? or maybe the Guilt Quilt) but there are a few good reasons why I can't start them right now, so I'll just go read my book and knit on the scarf. Care to join me?