Knit-along Little Doggie!!

Evil is fast, and fun

I'm sitting her sort of watching the Pat's game, going for a history making undefeated streak and I have the house all to myself.  Aaron is at a friends to watch the game, Dante is at the grandparents for the weekend, and Alex is in bed.  What did I do with my free time, you wonder?  Well, I knit on my pair of Bellatrix socks in STR Raven Grawk, and I love it!  Totally fun and really fast.  I've just turned the heel and I only cast this on yesterday.  I've always heard that the road to evil is a slippery slope and it must be lubed with WD-40 because I'm flying down this sock, baby!  No photos because the husband took the camera with him today.
Also on that camera, is the photo of the finished gloves I made for Carolyn, inspired by the Natalya pattern from Savannachic.  I love that pattern and so does everyone else.  This is the first time I've ever converted it into full out gloves, with the help of my Ann Budd Handy Book of Patterns.  That is by far, the best purchase I ever made (suggested to me by a very knowledgeable LYS owner.  It came through for me this time.  I used the palm size of a woman's L and the finger length of a woman's M as her hand is a little bigger than average but her fingers are a little shorter.  It was a great tool to have and she loves them.  And what did I get in return, you wonder?  I got the most beautiful red-stone necklace ever and I've had it on for 3 days straight.  It's the same exact colors as my scarf knit out of Mountain Color's Ruby River.  That's my all time favorite yarn colorway so how could you go wrong?  And again, once I have the camera back, I'll post a photo of it. 
Now, back to the game.

the aftermath

This Christmas was one of the best I've ever had.  My boys came down to find that Santa had left 2 big toys and a stocking full of fun things like the Harry Potter DVD for Dante and wooden train cars for Alex.  They got the Shrek trilogy and mommy got her boxed set of old horror movies that she asked for, plus the Rob Zombie version of Halloween!  Daddy got spoiled with a new mini-blinder from the boys, the "Lethal Weapon" set, the "prison break" season 2 set, and Santa brought "Assassin's Creed" for X-box 360. 
What made it so great was that we kept it small and simple.  The genuine reactions of the boys, (all of them) was worth more than I can say. 
Later that day we went over to their Grandfather's house where my MIL spent all day stuffing me with food left over from the Christmas party they threw on Christmas Eve.  I started with shrimp cocktail and moved on to a cheese and pepperoni omelet and some eggnog, some chocolates and a key lime mini-cheesecake.  later there was dinner, duck, prime rib, glazed carrots, roasted red potatoes, green beans with almonds.  It was ridiculous.   I ate more yesterday than I ate all week!  My FIL loved the blueberry pie I brought over with me and so I hit the nail right on the head with their gift too.  We stayed all day, and then came home to spend the rest of the evening with my husband, who was playing his video game.
I was so thankful for the day that my prayers were overflowing with examples of the Holiday Spirit that came to me after so much lack of Spirit earlier in the month.  (Alex just got into his coupe and is pushing it all over the house.  Score 1 for mommy!)
I finished the gloves for my friend's girlfriend and will bring them to him tomorrow.  They're still drying and blocking right now and I hope to get a decent photo of them later today but for now, this will have to do.

Merry Christmas

Shopping is all done.  Cozy Coupe is put together.  Gifts are wrapped.  Santa's cookies are out (butter ball, thanks to my husbands request).  Egg nog at the ready.  Mom's box-o-goodies arrived on time and safely in one piece.  Carolyn's gloves almost done.  Socks waiting to be knit... oh yeah baby.  Looks like I pulled myself out of the doldrums and got into the holiday spirit just in time. 
Wishing you and your's the Merriest of Christmases and a safe and happy New Year.

the Grinch lives here (and it's me)

Maybe it's the sleep deprivation talking, or the stress of a baby with an ear infection, but I really thought my secret Santa gift would have gone over better than it appeared to have done.  I missed her opening the gift which is what I really wanted to see so that I could get an honest reaction.  I did see her wearing it but she didn't seem very impressed and I felt like she just put it on so that she didn't offend "Santa".  And I'm sure that it didn't help any that someone asked her if it was a tube top, after which she immediately took it off.  I'm just crushed!  I bet if I whipped out a crappy garter stitch scarf out of Red Harte she would have been thrilled.  (Que bitterness.)
It's my own fault for expecting someone to feel as I do about hand knit expensive Rowan Kid Silk Haze and glass beads.  Non-knitters don't share my fever for fiber and artistic colorways.  And if I listen to a very smart knitter-who-knows, then I can't give expecting them to be thrilled as they didn't ask for this gift and it's selfish of me to be upset about it.  But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm hurt and feeling depressed (don't fret, I'll feel better after a nap). 
I'm fighting the urge to sooth my hurt feelings by casting on for a pair of socks, but I have 2 pairs on the needles in various stages of completing, and a pair of gloves in progress, and a pair of fingerless mitts for my friend Jana, and two almost finished shawls to get done.  Oh, and The Boy's mitten to re-knit in the correct size.  Really, it's just that I have to wind the ball and I don't have it in me to do it so I won't.

Picot Bindoff

In response to a comment from Marisol, I decided to try to run down the Picot bind off with photos.  This is the ramblings of a non-professional knitter making her first attempt to explain a knitting technique and in no way represent the views or ideas of actual knitters.  Now that that is out of the way...
1.  to start off, you cast on 2 stitches using the backward loop, and you'll keep these 2 stitches on for the entire time you're knitting until you come to the final stitches.  (you're knitting in the round) don't worry about them for now.

2. knit 2 stitches together through the back loops.  then knit the next stitch together through the back loop, and past the stitch in front over it to bind off.

3. bind off the next 2 stitches

4. important step!  you need to take the single stitch on the right needle, and transfer it to the left needle.  here's an example of what your cast off will look like if you don't.

and if you do...

it's a bit fiddly at first and takes forever but the effect is lovely. 
all photos courtesy of...

I'm ready to go to bed and just sleep for a year.  Alex is still sick and has worked himself into an ear infection.  I had to fight with Dante's teacher yesterday in an IEP meeting to figure out why her head is in her bum instead of on her shoulders and get her to realize that she has to accommodate him because he has special needs.  Today I was giver a verbal warning because of another screw up I made this Saturday.  I'm just struggling to meet the requirements of my "undefined role" and I won't go into details but I screwed up big time and it was just the cherry on this mess that was my day.  Alex is upstairs right now crying his head off for the last 45 minutes straight and he just won't sleep.  He doesn't want to be held and he doesn't want to be put down, and he doesn't want my husband but he wants to be within view of him at all times.  I'm just starting to get run down and I just pray that I don't end up as sick as Alex because I can't afford to take more time out of work.  The only bright spot in my day was to come home to my Raven Socks That Rock, courtesy of my good friend Heather.  She ordered the Rauen, and then got me a gift certificate too so I ordered the Grawk.  I can't wait to cast on for some therapy socks, and if I had a ball winder I'd be knitting them right know but I just don't have the energy to wind them up.
I guess I'll go get the baby. 

Ice Queen and sick baby

My husband calls this the Cammie-of-Ark shot.  So as you can see, my Ice Queen is finished.  I love it and I'm seriously thinking about casting on for version A for myself.  This is version B.  I knit this on 4.5 mm Addi Turbo circular needles and used almost 2 tubes of chartreuse Miyuki glass beads (20g per tube), and Rowan KSH in Jelly.  This knit up quick and used just under one ball.  The only modification that I used was in the join.  I just couldn't thread a needle to use the Russian join so I used the tried and true spit splice.  I lost a little of the halo in that section but I don't think that anyone would be able to spot it. 
This knit up very quick, even with the beading which I've never done before but wouldn't mind doing again.  You can't see the beads in the photos because they match so well with the yarn but I'm okay with that.  I want my Secret Santa recipient to have something with subtle sparkle when the light hits it.  Next time, I'll use clear beads though, if I can find some.  And I have to say that I hate the provisional cast on and have never once managed to use is successfully so that I could just un-zip the crocheted cast on and pick up the live stitches.  I always have to pick out the provisional cast on to release the live stitches and it just takes for ever!  And if it wasn't for the pretty effect that it made, I would have opted out of the picot bind off too.  It takes for ever!  Boy I sure hope she likes this knit after all the work that went into it.
And in other green news, Alex is still sick with a major cold.  He's had a low grade fever for the last 3 days (which may have finally broke today) and hasn't slept or napped in the last 3-4 days which means that I haven't either.  Yesterday he didn't eat anything and it was all I could do to get him to drink.  He ate one popsicle and didn't eat another for the rest of the night.  He drank 2 sippy cups worth of white grape juice all day long and he's been bone dry the last 3 diaper changes in a row.  I have to call the doctor again for the 3rd time in 3 days and try to get him back in there today some time after Dante's IEP meeting, which I'll be attending alone due to said sick baby.  I'm tired, run down, look like a mess and have been living on home made chicken soup, fresh ginger root and garlic tea, and 4 hours of sleep for the last 4 days straight.  This morning I picked up 5 used tissues, 3 diapers, one empty bottle of white grape juice, and a spoiled and untouched bottle of formula, all casualties of last night's attempt to sleep.  When he went to bed at 7pm, I hoped and prayed that he would sleep.  Aaron said I was to go to bed at 10pm.  But he woke up at 10 and was up until 11:30pm when I finally put him back to bed.  I was able to go to bed myself at 1am and he woke up again at 2:30am.  Then back to sleep at 3am, and up again at 5:50am, at which time I tried to bring him into bed with me to go back to sleep and after crying and laying down, and crying and laying down, (rinse and repeat) we finally got up at 7am with the alarm.  Now I'm off to Dante's school to try to make sure they get their act together and give him the extra help that the is entitled to.

Thank you Momma!

Here spread out before you is my haul from Fresh Purls on Hope Street in Providence.  They have yarns that I've never seen in person before and that I'd normally never buy but because it was my Christmas gift from my Mom, I went all out, complete with a magnetic bumper sticker.  Not included in the photo is one ball of Kid Silk Haze in Glacier for either the Ice Queen for a River Stole for me.  Starting on the left we have  Dream In Color "Smooshy" sock yarn in Wisterious, 450 yards.  Then the cream Plymouth Yarn Encore for Carolyn's gloves.  Next the Shi Bui Knits Sock yarn in color 2501, lot 5855 (I like to think it of under the sea colors).  After that is the Tofutsies in #805, and lastly the Lacy Lamb in color #601 weighing in at 850 yards a ball!  I have a nice shawl planned out for myself.  And it all came wrapped up in the cute little tissue paper that I took the photo on with a matching carrying bag.  I love that shop!  *So, to answer your question from yesterday, Yes Mom, I got your card and I cashed the yarn check and I got all this so thank you!!
Now, I'm off to knit something.

Ice Queen in green

I cast this on a few days ago and I love it!  This is for a co-worker who's name I drew for our secret Santa exchange.  She asked for a knit scarf and I decided that this would fit the bill.  I'm knitting version B, the garter stitch one as that is what's shown on the knitty cover in blue and I liked that.  The only thing that I think could have been better explained is the bead layout.  I just had to take a closer look at the photo and decided to try to match that placement of beads as closely as I could given the amount of room for interpretation on the graph.
My friend at work called this "Grinch green" but it's really Jelly.  I'm not sure why they call this color jelly as I've never seen jelly this color before and if I had I'm quite sure I would never have eaten it.  But anyway, if you look very close you can just catch the beads.   I've got 7 repeats to go and then I'll be removing the provisional cast on and finishing this off.  I have enough Kid silk haze left over in Majestic that I may knit the strait stitch version for myself, even though I'm not one for a wimple. 
the top photo is the most accurate in color.

Nathan mitts

A co-worker of mine asked me if I could knit some wrist warmers like mine for her teenage son in-a-band.  I love my Natalia's so I decided to knit them with out the cable and they came out beautifully in Knitpicks Swish Superwash 100% superwash wool in black.  They took just less than 2 balls (i ordered 3 in case) and they knit up in a flash.  It makes me want to make new ones for me, but I have my eyes on the Endpapers and have the yarn set aside for them so I won't.  I did, however reknit my thumb on one of mine that had unraveled.  I learned that when I knit mine, I had made the thumbs shorter than they were supposed to be, because the re-knit thumb was considerably longer than the original.  Now I have to pull back the other one, as it's wearing a bit thin around the inside of the thumb, and knit it to match.
In other gift knitting news, I've started the Ice Queen for my Secret Santa-ee in Jelly with matching green beads.  I actually had a crochet hook small enough to fit inside the beads and it's much easier to knit with beads that I thought it would be.  I can't wait for her to see it.  I had to laugh when I saw her wish list... she asked for a knit scarf.  It was almost like she knew who had picked her!  And so a knit scarf she will have.  Sort of.