2009 Will Be A Better Year… December 31, 2008

It has to be. 2008 just really sucked.

Now, before you start thinking I’m just a grumpy gus, let me explain. In 2008, I was sued wrongfully, Ron was almost laid off, and D was hospitalized 6 times.

Yes, 6 times. The visits ranged from 4 days to 2 weeks. And we had to put our lives on hold every time. I stayed in the hospital with her 24/7, so T had to stay at my folk’s and Ron had to live in an empty house, go to work and worry.

But, there are some good things that happened. Ron did not lose his job, D will survive, and the lawsuit? Well, that’s still ongoing. But if the world is fair, the judge will see that the whole thing is wrong and will throw it out. One can hope…

But, 2009 will be better! And I’m taking some steps to ensure this. My 2009 resolutions are: (drum roll, please)

1. I will knit more! I put this one first because I know I can keep it. I didn’t knit much last year until mid September. I’m not waisting that kind of time this year.

2. I will lose weight! I know that everyone says that, but I really need to. I need to set a good example for the girls. Before I got preggo with D, I had lost 35 pounds and felt great…then I got pregnant…kids run everything

3. I will find some way to bring in some money! This comes with a disclaimer. It must be doing something that I can bring the kids to. Ron works and goes to school, so I have little or no childcare. Wish I could make money knitting…

4. I will make this blog have readers and commenters! I see all kinds of blogs that have hundreds of readers and dozens of comments on each post. I try to follow their examples, but I think I’m doing something wrong. I don’t know how many readers I have, but I only get the odd comment from 3 or 4 people. If anyone has any ideas of how to get a larger audience, let me know.

I’m sure there are other things I probably need to do this year, but I’m keeping things simple.

Happy New Year!!!

What I Will Be Doing When The Ball Drops… December 31, 2008

….Is hopefully finishing these…

I have turned both heels and am about 3.5 inches into the foot.

I know that doesn’t seem very far along in the foot, but you must remember that Texas Aunt has the world’s smallest feet. She wears a size 4.5 shoe, and, according to my handy dandy sock sizer thingie, that means that the foot of her sock needs to be 8 5/8 inches. Two of that is toe, so I need to knit only 6 5/8 inches, and since I have 3.5 done already, I’m close!

I tried to “design” my own socks this time by putting in a cable off center in the leg. The problem is that the yarn is too busy even for a small, simple cable, so it doesn’t show up very well. Also, I messed the cable up. I wasn’t paying attention and, once I realized my mistake, I was too far ahead to take it out. Yeah, I know I could have just frogged it, but I’m lazy…and I’m on a timed schedule…and it would have been that much harder with two socks…and…I’m lazy! Hey, I don’t have to justify my actions to you!

Anyway, I just decided to take artistic license and say it was part of the design. To a non knitter, that makes perfect sense. I do, however, plan to make these socks again for myself using a better yarn for the cable. I think the idea is good, just bad materials.

That brings me to a conundrum. At what point can you say you actually designed a sock? I mean, I didn’t come up with the heel or toe or anything, I just added a cable that I found in a stitch pattern book. Is this my design that I could put out there, or should I just keep it to myself? I’m not looking to make any money, it would be a free pattern, I just want to know how the rules work.

I Got A Package!!! December 31, 2008

Monday I came home from my business in the outside world to a lovely package in my mail box.  Guess what was in it.  Alpaca!!!!

No, not the animal, that wouldn’t fit, silly.  But something almost as good.  My Paca Peds came!


Yup, that’s the name I picked. Can you understand why? When I first saw this colorway, I immediately thought of Kermit and Miss Piggy.

You may be able to read it, but in case you can’t, it’s 20% super fine alpaca, 65% superwash wool and 15% nylon. It’s very soft and I can’t wait to see it knit up.

I absolutely love these colors together! The greens are sublime, the burgundy gorgeous, and the lighter pinks just tie them all in together.

My goodness, I can’t get over how excited I am about getting this yarn! This is something that I would have drooled over, but never been able to afford. So getting it for free, especially at Christmas, is such a treat! And, to top it all off, they sent me matching stitch markers!

Such a generous company! Every needs to go to The Alpaca Yarn Company and buy lots and lots of their yarn. Right now. Go.

What are you still doing here?  Go!

I Made Out Like A Bandit!!! December 28, 2008

It was truly a kntters Christmas at my house this year. I got gobs of stuff that would make any knitter a happy camper. Let me show you…
First, remember how I told you David works at Michaels? Well, he got me a truly loverly project bag that he said was just sitting in the back storeroom.

It’s gorgeous, and so spacious! It’ll be perfect for my next big project!

Next, Uncle got me some Pattons sock yarn, a pattern book, and 4 straight needles, also from Michael’s. Well, I don’t use straight needles, and the patterns weren’t for me, so he told me to take it all back and get what I want. So I did. I got some more Patton and some Red Heart Heart and Sole sock yarn. I figure it can’t be that bad, and I can make a pair of socks for only $10 bucks, which is good for us po’ folk.

The purple Patons Mom picked out. It’s stretchy which is interesting. I forgot to take a picture of the Patons that Uncle got for me, but it’s shades of brown. (oh, and I got 2 skeins of each, though I only shot one.) I also got a pattern book that looked interesting, though I must say that I’m very dissappointed with their selection.

Then, my brother got me this…

I’ve wanted one of these ever since I first saw them on Turtlegilr76’s blog, such a clever idea! If you’re interested, you can go here to get them. I also got the Emergency Knitting tool kit that included a mini tape measure, crochet hook, darning needle, and two stitch markers, all the perfect size. As you can see I’ve alread got it filled with needles and a skein of sock yarn, and it’s in my car awaiting the next knitting emergency.

Texas Uncle and Aunt got me a $20 gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe, and I’ve already used it to get the yarn to make the Transition Gloves! Oh, and Mom totally surprised me with a $50 gift card to my LYS, Closeknit! While I did use some of it to buy a set of Addi Turbos in size 2, I’m saving the rest for when something really catches my eye.

But, wait, there’s more! I got my TSG secret swap package on the 26th. In it was some partial skeins of Tofutsies that I think I can combine and make an awesome pair of socks, some Artyarn Supermerino8, a totally cute duckie tape measure, and the strangest sock needles I’ve ever seen.

They are 9″ circs! They look like little doll needles, I’m gonna have to try them soon! I wonder if they are comfortable to use.

So, I’m a happy knitter, with my “belly” full of good yarn. And I still have stuff to look forward to! I have my complimentary skein of PacaPeds in the colorway I named, I won a random drawing at Turtlegirl’s blog, and I have my totally awesome sock yarn coming from the Loopy Ewe…

….I think I might explode…

Knitting something for me…almost December 24, 2008

So, you know how I said I was going to knit for myself after I got my Christmas knitting done?  Well, I started to knit something for myself…

 

It’s a Noro sock!  Isn’t it pretty?  I’ doing it toe up so that I can match up the colors on the second sock.

But that’s all gonna have to wait a bit because I’ve been commissioned to knit a pair for Texas Aunt.  Apparently, Texas Uncle told Uncle that she likes crazy socks, so Uncle was  wondering where to find a pair.  I said, “Hello, knitter…right here!”  So, now I’m making her a pair of socks out of this…

This stuff feels really soft, but I don’t know if that’s just because I’ve been working with Noro for the past several days. And it’s pretty knit up, see?

I don’t think it’s going to take very long to knit and I think this for two reasons. One, Texas Aunt has a size 4.5 foot. No, that’s not a typo. And two, I’m knitting them like this…

Yuppers, two at once! Impressed? Well, don’t be because I’m going to have to take it all out and start again. I made them too small! I thought I had size 2’s and cast on 56 stitches becasue her feet are so narrow. Well, I actually had size 1’s and so these would fit T. So, I will rip it all out and start again. At least I didn’t get too far, but it was a couple of hours worth of work.

Merry Christmas!

Triple FO: Pi Topper Chemo Hat, Geek Chic Dice Bag, Deep Sea Flower Dice Bag December 19, 2008

I know that tripling up FOs is a little bit cheating, but these are small FOs and I don’t think they really need their own post. Keeping that in mind, this post will be a little bit longer than normal.

K, first off, remember this?

Well, now it looks like this…

You must forgive how bad I look in this picture. Neither of my children slept well, so I’m tired. Also, please forgive the t-shirt. I own only one proper t-shirt, but it is a really cool one…

Project: Pi Topper Chemo Cap by Corey Laflamme
Yarn: King Cole Smooth in white and royal blue
Needle: Size 7 circs and dpns
Started: November 4, 2008
Completed: December 18, 2008
Mods: Nothing, though I do want to point out that it took me so long because I had to wait for my circs to become available.

Secondly, we have our girly dice bag. Ron’s BFF and his wife are big D&D players. Ron thought it would be a good idea to make them matching dice bags. I originally was going to make them out of the same yarn, but the stuff I bought was a little too girlie, so I only used it for hers, see?

Project: Deep Sea Flower Dice Bag by Nina Hyland
Yarn: Cascade Pearls in Black, Purple, and Lavender
Needles: Size 7
Started: December 1, 2008
Completed: December 2, 2008
Mods: The original pattern calls for Noro and I think it looks better in Noro. I, however, found the Pearls on sale and it worked ok.

Lastly, we have the manly dice bag…

Project: Geek Chic Dice Bag by Pamela Northrup
Yarn: I’ve missplaced the band, but I think it was Red Heart
Needles: Size 5
Started: December 17, 2008
Completed: December 17, 2008
Mods: Nothin’, but I have got to say that I LOVE this pattern! It’s so easy and made so much sense! I made the medium, and it took almost no time at all. I’m not a dice player, but I’m thnking I need to find something that needs to be kept in a bag so I can make more!

 

 

So, thus FO post means that my Christmas knitting is officially DONE!!!!  And with a week left over!  I can’t believe I got it all done.  You gotta think, since mid October, I have started and completed 16 projects!  Admittedly, some of them were small, like the bookmarks, but till, not too shabby.  Now, I’m off to knit something for myself!

I’m Famous!!!! December 16, 2008

Well, maybe not famous, but I have done some pretty cool things in the public eye a few times in my life. What, you ask? (play along)

Well, when I was in junior high, I was an extra on a little show called Kids Incorporated. That may not mean much to you, but if you are a child of the 80’s, then you realize how huge that was. It was only a walk on role, but I had at least 30 seconds of screen time.

Jump forward to 1997, I was 20 and had just moved from my parent’s home here in southern California to Petersburg, Alaska. I spent 6 weeks volunteering at a radio station there that was owned by Send International. I was a DJ with my own daily 2 hour oldies show.

Same year, same state, different island. This time on Sitka, Alaska, I happened to walk into a local store (they are all local) just as they were getting ready to shoot a commercial. They asked me if they could film me walking into the store and then browsing.

So, to date, I’ve been on radio, local and national TV. But none of those experiences hold a candle to what happened to me this week.

I named a yarn!!!!

Well, to be specific, I named one of the colorways that The Alpaca Yarn Company will be putting out in January for their sock yarn, Paca Peds. They’ve been having a naming cotest on their blog asking readers to help name the ten new colorways. Well, my entry got chosen for this yarn.

Pretty, aint it? Not only do I get the prestige and honor of knowing I chose the name for this colorway, but I also get a skein of it!!!! I’m so flabbergasted because I love, love, LOVE this colorway!!! It’s hands down my favorite of the ones they’e shown. And you all know how much I loves me some sock yarn!!!! I can’t wait to get it and knit it up.

Want to name some yarn? Well, they are still looking for names. Color 7 and 8 are up already and 9 and 10 should be coming soon. Go to Paca-Blog and check it out!

By the way, The Alpaca Yarn Company is the ones who made this yarn…

And, trust me, it’s scrumptious! I think that everyone needs to buy their yarn, you won’t regret it!

ETA: As so graceously pointed out by Erin, I neglected to tell you the name of the colorway. We won’t point out that you can just click on the link and see it there, but the name it Kermit and Miss Piggy. Go look at the yarn, you’ll understand why.

Sockies For My Little Bit!!! December 16, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, i put a request for hand knit socks for D.  Her feet are too fat for properly fitting shoes, and since she’s getting ready to learn to walk, socks would be best anyway.

Since I’ve been crazy knitting for my Christmas gifts, I knew I wasn’t going to have time to make her any socks for a while and I figured there was a whole world of knitters out there and maybe one of them would like to indulge me. 

Well, one did!  Leftsox send me a fabo package yesterday.  In it were the most adorable crochet booties I’ve ever seen…

Aren’t they cute? And they fit perfectly! D wore them all day yesterday! She even liked to play with the ribbon.

But that’s not all! Leftsox also added these goodies in the package…

An afghan pattern book, a rockin’ awesome Christmas knit pattern book, and two skeins of Red Heart Heart and Sole in the Toasted Almond colorway. Ron has already given me permission to make him socks out of this. I guess I finally got sock yarn manly enough for him.

Thanks Leftsox, you rock!

FO: Mouse Dishcloth December 16, 2008

I feel a little silly posting a FO post about a dishcloth.  But I’m trying to keep all my finished work organized so that if I, or maybe even you, ever need to go back and look up something, I can do it easily.

So, here is Uncle’s Christmas gift.  I should perhaps tell you that Uncle is a Disney FREAK.  He has gone to Disneyland weekly or more often since the 80’s.  We used to have great fun before I had kids.  (kids ruin all the fun) We would go as a group every Friday after work.  It was great!  Anyway, I don’t have a season pass anymore, but he does and he loves Disney.  Mickey is his favorite and he has entirely too much Disney memorabilia.

Well, he’s just bought a new home (finally) and has plans to finally use his Mickey dinnerware he’s had forever but never been able to use.  So, when I saw the Mouse Dishcloth pattern on Ravelry, I thought, “AHA!” ( I did, really!)  He’s planning to do the whole kitchen in red, black, and yellow….you know, Mickey’s colors.  So I got some red and yellow Sugar n’ Cream and have knit up some dishcloths.

I’ve made 4, 2 red and 2 yellow.  I figure I’ll give him that much and if he likes them, I will make him some more.  I didn’t want to spend the time making 10 of them for them to just sit in a drawer.  Besides, I think that using both yarns to do a red background and yellow Mickey would be cool or vice versa, or even a double knitting thing; but I haven’t quite learned to do that yet.  So, I can learn that stuff in the new year and then make them.

 

Project: Mouse Dishcloth by Knitted Kitty~Carol

Yarn: Lily Sugar n’ Cream in red and yellow

Needles: Size 7 dpns (only because I like shorter needles)

Started: December 14, 2008

Completed: December 16, 2008

Mods:  Idid have to change a few of the rows because the mouse head didn’t quite come out right with the first one.

FO: Simple Mistake Rib Vest December 15, 2008

Please forgive my less than fabulous photos, but this is what it looks like outside my bedroom window…

Yeah, kinda hard to take good pictures in this weather.

Anyway, I’ve got another item done! This one took me a lot longer than the others simply because I got bored with it. It’s the same stitch all the way around and it works up similar to a scarf in that you do one long piece forever. Up the back and then down one side of the front. Then you go back and pick up the stitches for the other side of the front and work that long boring piece as well. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to only have to sew up the sides and it was mindless knitting; but I would have liked to have a little change up in the stitch here and there. But it looks pretty completed:

I really like how the Claudia Handpainted worked up. The only bad bit was near the top of the front pieces where it pooled a bit because of the number of stitches. Luckily, I didn’t stay at that stitch number for long and it pooled the same on each side so it looks almost on purpose. I really hope she appreciates the truly fantastic yarn:

I used the solid color to do the single crochet around the front edge. (or I should say, a friend it the LYS did. Crochet still makes my head hurt) I really like the way it makes the Claudia pop. I even picked out a fantastic button from my mom’s stash:

Project: Simple Mistake Rib Vest by Karen J. Minott
Yarn: Claudia Handpainted in Turquoise Jeans and Brown Sheep Nature Spun
Needles: Size 7 circulars
Started: October 19, 2008
Completed: December 14, 2008
Mods: None except for changing yarns for the front panels