I'll Be Back - I Really Will

I have been knitting - believe it or not. I am knitting dish cloths for some reason. Lots and lots of dishcloths. I will take pictures, but I have to knit a few more first! (clearly... I'm obsessed) So don't go completely away, I'll post very soon =))

Until then - something to look at:

PUPPIES!

this is Pounce a very sweet boy

This is Momma Jacque playing with

Fifi - the only girl

Adorable little Socks

(who consequently has a bit of a temper lol)

and Indie

from Indiana Jones, because he is one

determined adventurous boy!

Admissions

I think I must admit somethings to myself. I must admit:

1. I do not seem to knit in the Summer
2. Nor do I blog much in the Summer (or much at all anymore)
3. I have issues with procrastination
4. My motivation to exercise is about nill
5. My morning person days may be behind me (WAY behind)
6. I love random stripe generators
7. I need to make more socks because I seriously dislike all the ones from the store
8. I'm hungry

I do actually have knitting to share, and one new development in the continued indoctrination of my progeny.

The dear daughter is now knitting AND purling and working on

her first real project, a felted project,

that has aspirations of being a knitting bag

or possibly a book bag

Random stripe generators really do rock, especially when worked in

TWEED mmmmmm luxurious, soft and very squishy

This scarf is going to be insanely long.

OY the heat!

It's been almost two months since I posted anything in here, or knitted anything, or had anything interesting to say. Well... that's not entirely true, I've had interesting things to say, just not anything I'd want to post on the internet. Eventually, perhaps, but we'll have to wait and see about that one.

The heat has been a killer this year, as you all know. I've been thinking I might have to defect to Canada. (I've been looking for a reason to do that for some time!) The kids and I took a trip to Colorado in July, and my kids have been wishing we were still there since. It was a great trip. I still have to get the millions of pictures off my camera. The kids and their first glimpse of mountains was awesome, they squealed and ooooooed and aaaaaaahhhhhed the whole way.

Anyway, just wanted you all to know I'm still out here, not knitting - though, I'll probably go get me some more sock yarn and start on some pink and/or red socks, since I'm only wearing the same three pairs over and over.

Be back sooner than last time

Mystery Shawlette KAL FO!

Yippeeeeee

I've completed my first real FO in a long long time. This pattern was really fun, and I enjoyed the mystery of not knowing for sure what it was going to look like. It turned out the be the perfect size for my daughter, and she loves it. Now, hopefully, she won't be stealing my stole (haha) every time she gets cold at the meetings or assemblies. yaaaay

Mystery Shawl KAL at Wendy Knits

the above link is to Wendy's FO post, but it's easy to find the rest of it

...and of course these photos are in backwards order - why does blogger do that? grrrrr

Giveaway Contest with WIP Progress

First things first, check out Sandra Singhs contest giveaway. A very pretty yarn hangs in the balance. =)

And here is my Wendy Knits Mystery KAL Shawlette progress.

This is what it looked like after the first repeat of Chart C

I am currently on row 7 of 24 of the second repeat of Chart C with one more repeat to go. Each one is shorter, though, so it's cool. I love how easy you get each line memorized while you knit it. It's turning out really pretty for something so uncomplicated (for lace) yaaay.

Mystery Shawlette KAL WIP

I'm done with the second chart! Yaaaaaay

I really like this pattern. Not too difficult, not too easy.

My daughter is going to really enjoy wearing this.

Wonders of All Wonders

It's a miracle! I'm knitting AND posting!

I'm about to start chart two of the Mystery KAL Shawlette . I have had some little bits of difficulties when the YO are immediately following a stitch marker, and they scootch over enough to make it seem they belong on the other side. For the most part, though, I've been able to deal ok.

I should have probably mentioned it before, but I only knew about this because of AmyP, who is also doing the KAL.

Here's my pic of the first two parts, the setup and the first chart

Hopefully there will be more by tomorrow

April May Post in June

Do you ever think, "I don't really like this yarn." Then try to knit with it? One would think that by now a person would know not to knit with yarn that repels them. Especially if said yarn has an annoying lack of slippiness (slippyness?) it doesn't slip past itself easily, it grabs it's neighbor fibers and tangles in an instant. Then, it has the nerve to refuse to untangle. Yet, with all these annoying qualities I still attempted to make something lacy - WHY GOD? WHY????

I think I'm going to go through my stash, gather all my ill conceived ideas of what makes good yarn, and send it as a "charitable donation" to the elementary school. It would make awesome scary clown hair or weird artsy grass or shrubberies.

Something else I've noticed (looks around to make sure no one is really reading this) people put repellant yarn in swaps! It looks pretty, it may even feel pretty, but put it on the needles and it unwinds itself, or does the tangling thing all by itself. Yarn really shouldn't self tangle, I've already established that I have the tangling disease, so I really don't need extra help.

In any case, I am going to make a deal with myself to refuse to knit with anything repellant from now on.

ANYway, I think I'm going to use some of my pretty lavender lace weight stuff. Also, I still have two skeins of lovely bison fiber from Buffalo Gold.

The good part of all this is, I actually DID knit some. I cast on what I thought was 241 stitches, and then knit 2 rows and the first line of the chart for a Summer Shawlette but I had some odd number of extra stitches and ripped it all out. Of course, since that was the disgusting yarn, I don't mind so much. PLUS it is sort of good, because I always make mistakes on my first go at anything lace. May as well use nasty yarn for that.

Hopefully I'll have something to photo and post within the next few days or so. We shall see, we shall see =)

Ahem.... Is this thing on?

So... ummm..... Nothing posted here since January. Well. Blast.

I did the color work hat, and it came out very wonky, so I guess I got discouraged. The bottom of the hat is too floppy and the color work is very tight, not a bit of stretch near the thing. It's kicking around here somewhere.

It was a learning experience though. At least I know now to go up a needle size when I start the color work. AND.... I think I'll stick to two colors instead of the three. It looks very cool on the outside, but a float going across 15 or 17 stitches, may be pushing the boundaries of what a newbie can pull off.

I can't find any completed pics, but at least you get an idea of how it looks, plus the floppiness is fairly obvious.

Everything else? I think things are mostly ok. One kiddo recovering from the flu and another with an odd cheek/gum pain. The Doc couldn't figure it out any better than I could, but Ibuprofen seems to help for now.

Hopefully I'll get back into the spirit of blogging pretty soon. I think it goes this way. When I'm sorta down I just don't post that often, because even if I'm not posting about my feelings, my voice as I'm typing in my head sounds all dreary. Anyway, one way or another things are going to get much better and I'll stop sounding like Eeyore in my head. lol

Sun in the sky,

you know how I feel.

I meant these pictures to be in reverse sequence, rather than how they appear. Knitting first, personal stuff last. However, since blogger refuses to do their uploads in a way that takes less deliberate thought, we will just go with the flow today, because my head hurts.

This is an orchid. I bought it for myself at a grocery store. They are a visual reminder of a sort of promise I made to myself. Putting into exact words is a bit difficult. It has something to do with a certain repulsion I feel when I receive cut flowers as an apology. EVER. When it's on the heels of a ridiculous act of vindictive power tripping, let's just say, that if I didn't feel sorry for the flowers they would have met the garbage disposal. It's the same stupid story as before, and deep down, I think I knew it would be. In a way, I feel like a complete idiot to have let my guard down and give him that power he had before. The power to hurt me again and again. In another way, it was something I felt, I had to do, to prove to myself that I did absolutely everything in my power to give it a chance. Of course, (and I say "of course" because most people will understand this) in no way does this mean I'm on the market, or interested in dating anyone, or wish to talk to anyone about eventually dating them. It's not an invitation to opening any doors to any part of a past I've left behind. It just means, what it means, that my current relationship is bunk and has been for some number of years and it's not in my power to change it.

So.... what in the world is this orchid about? By now, I'm jaded. The orchid, though, is about only letting myself get jaded to a certain point. If being jaded protects me from investing in a load of bull, it's working to my benefit. If it keeps me from being happy and open, it's too much. It's all about playing my cards close to my chest. My mom used to say, "You wear your heart on your sleeve," and it was very true. I've always been very open and artless, honest and trusting. I don't want to completely lose those things about myself, but at the same time, not everyone deserves to see that side of me. That is a difficult lesson to learn, and it doesn't come easy to put it into practice. Thus, the outward symbol of that is embodied in my pretty little potted blooms.

On a more knitterly note, my Knit Picks order arrived a couple of days ago, and here it is.

Harmony interchangeable needles that beg me to pick them up and start using them.

The yarn for the coolest hat and mittens,

and the pattern for them.

Yaayness! Maybe there will be knitting in my future after all.

Insert Interesting Title Here:

My new interchangeable needle set is on it's way, along with THIS beautiful kit. I have to say, it's going to be nice to actually use the yarn that the pattern calls for, and also to follow a pattern that someone else has made up.

I have yet to start my 3 projects that are mostly just rolling around in my head and making a nuisance of themselves. (among many many more annoying and troubling things that are doing the same) Isn't that how it goes?

Anyway, one day, I'll have all those things more in order and have some sort of direction to be headed, and that in turn will give me something more interesting to talk about.

It's Time

Options Interchangeable Harmony Wood Circular Knitting Needle Set from KnitPicks.com - Colorful birch needles kit with case & cables

Time for me to buckle down and get this set of needles.

Time for lots of things to change.

Time to get to working on all these projects I have swimming around in my brain.

Time