Stitches!

I'm going! Today! Wheeeee!

I have a short wish list, which includes buttons for L's cardigan, yarn for the IK Celtic Tote, sock blockers, and a very belated birthday gift for my sister. The gift is the only thing I really need to get, since her birthday was a month ago and I intentionally left it to now to get her something.

I also have a short packing list, which includes Ravelry button, sweater sleeve (to match buttons), and Tylenol.

Time to go shower and eat a hearty breakfast!

yarn barf

Even though February is for Finishing, instead of finishing the 3 WIPs/UFOs I have, I am starting 2 new ones. D'oh! We are going away for the weekend, and I can't bring 2 of the WIPs because they might be gifts for people we will see, and the third WIP is just too hard to work on away from home. So I've started a simple shrug (from One Skein Wonders) using a partial skein of Knitaly and a pair of Irish Hiking wrist warmers using an almost complete skein of Cascade superwash. Hurray for destashing!

I hope I have enough yarn for both projects, but I'm thrilled to be using up some old yarn. The Knitaly was a gift from my husband's then-girlfriend, about 12 years ago. She gave me 2 skeins, some of which I used to make a cabled hat and mitten set (that I gave to someone maybe? I've no idea what became of it.) The Cascade is leftover from E's strawberry cap.

In preparation for knitting away from home I thought I'd wind the Cascade into a ball, since it is currently in a mushroom (I think that's what the young'uns are calling it). In my search for the center of the skein I got a yarn barf, caused by several separate knots and wool stickiness. 30 minutes later I was still cleaning up yarn barf. I know the mushrooms look fancier than the traditional log skeins, but I really dislike them. In retrospect I should have wound it into 2 balls, since I'm making wrist warmers, but I'll just trust that I'll have enough for two.

As for finishing, I am almost finished knitting the hot water bottle cover, and about 70% finished with the afghan. Don't ask about the felted bear, I feel that project is doomed to languish in the UFO box forever, poor thing.

count down to Stitches

Less than 2 weeks to go! Avlynn and I are going to go together, probably on Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing the Ravelry booth and (hopefully) meeting Casey and Jess. And playing the Ravelry passport game, if there are any passports left.

There's nothing in particular that I want to buy this year, except maybe some patterns to use up the yarn I've already got. I need to print out a list of my stash and my needle collection, and probably my book collection, too, so I don't buy duplicates.

curtains

No, I didn't knit them. I didn't even sew them, really. I bought some curtains for E's room from Ikea last year, but they're really long. Super long. Like 10 feet long. They came with some iron-on fusible stuff, but I never used it, then lost it. So the curtains have been up for over a year, much too long for the window. Hemming them has been on my to-do list this whole time, so this afternoon, while L is at daycare and E is up visiting Grandpa, I thought I would finally get it done. And I did! The curtains don't quite match in length, I think because I cut them slightly crooked (I had them on the floor to compare length and they matched, but the ends that are next to each other at the window don't). It's close enough, though, so I'm not going to do them again.

Next in the sewing queue is finishing the curtains for the main bedroom. I have one finished (and up), I just need to do 2 more. I need to get Avlynn over here to help me. :)

Apparently I am the Early Morning

You're the time of day right around sunrise, when the sky is still a pale bluish gray. The streets are empty, and the grass and leaves are a little bit sparkly with dew. You are the sound of a few chirpy birds outside the window. You are quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. If you move slowly, it's not because you're lazy – it's because you know there's no reason to rush. You move like a relaxed cat, pausing for deep stretches that make your muscles feel alive. You are long sips of tea or coffee (out of a mug that's held with both hands) that slowly warm your insides just as the sun is brightening the sky.


While I like the early morning, I can't say that this really describes me. Relaxed? Moving slowly? Maybe in the early morning I'm like that; I love being up at 6, when it's quiet and every else is still asleep. I do some dishes or laundry, check email, maybe knit or make a to-do list for the day. But after the family wakes up and the day starts for the rest of the world, I'm a lot more like a twitchy cat, wanting to get things done and being generally peripatetic.

February is for Finishing

I got my step-mother's Odessa hat in the mail on Thursday, hurray! And I finished E's Mario hat later that afternoon, more hurrays! He was thrilled with it, despite not being the fan of Mario that he was 6 months ago. This leaves me with just a few things to finish for February:

• felted bear
• wrist warmers
• small afghan

The wrist warmers I should have finished last week. Come on, just sew those darn ends in! (It's not like I don't wear them, either, I just let the 2 ends dangle about.) The felted bear seems doomed to languish in a box, and I've thought about why I haven't finished it. I think I'm worried it won't come out very cute. I see lots of knitted toys on Rav and think how adorable the knitter has made the eyes, the perfect placement of the nose, a terrifically shaped mouth. I'm just not confident that mine will look that good, so I've been putting it off. Also, it's not a good project to do at my knitting group, or when I'm watching L, or in the car, or when I only have a few minutes, or, well, you get the idea. :)

I started a cabled hot water bottle cover yesterday during L's unfortunately short nap. I literally got as far as casting on and knitting about 20 stitches before she erupted into a full out cry. Phooey! I'm using up a skein on Lamb's Pride Worsted from my stash, originally bought several years ago at the wonderful, and now sadly gone, Straw into Gold. I bought 10 skeins of it at the time, 2 in each of 5 colors. 3 of the skeins went into Christmas stockings for the family, so the cover is using the orphan green yarn. If I can finish it soon it might be a late birthday gift for my sister, who is now living up in Canada. Brrrr!