Be careful what you ask for

For some time now I have been trying to convince TDQ that yarn is a good thing to play with, not just to hand to Mom and say "make me this."  Until we went to Wool Gathering again this year my attempts fell on deaf ears.

Knitting is boring, she would say, or "You are faster than me, you make it, please???"

And then we met this lady.  She was chatting and braiding cord, and chatting some more, and TDQ decided that she would like to try.  A few dollars later this came home with us.
As soon as we were home, while I was making the dinner that none of us wanted to eat, she was in my stash. Digging through cashmere to practice with.  I was gentle, but firm, no cashmere for practice cords.  I also removed some very nice sock yarn and some of what is destined to be her Christmas Present Sweater from her hands and replaced it with some leftovers.  You know those walnut sized scraps that seem too much to toss and too little to do much with?  By the time she got to the end of that small ball she had got the hang of it and moved onto a full ball of Patons Kroy FX

Between sketching for art, she is not happy working  on still life pictures, and helping me out around the house she has got this far into her dream of 70 feet of cord.

My friend and fav designer, Andrea of Bad Cat Designs has suggested that once she finishes the cord we coil it up and stitch it into a fingerless mitt.  TDQ thinks that is just genius!.

I realized as I was uploading those pics I haven't shown you my in process baby blanket or scarf.  The scarf will have to wait, it is at work, but this is how far I got into Stor Lysedug, it is greatly upsized and the free pattern can be found here.  This time I am not knitting for my Baby Blankets through Time project, someone I used to work with is expecting again.  I am not the only one that wants Heirlooms for my children!

25 more rounds to go, I hope it will be big enough!

~M

Ties

Quite a hectic week for the crew at Chez YarnDiet.  On Wednesday I had to pick TFB (The first brother) up from school a little early and drag him across town to see a specialist.  It had all started the week before when the school called me to suggest that I have someone look at his foot.  We are not huge believers in doctors around here, but I called one and sweet talked the receptionist, who actually is a medical assistant but he was the poor soul that was answering the phones that day, into getting us an appt that day right after school.

Sure enough, the kid has an infection in his toe, but what the doctor can't figure out is why it is where it is and why his toenail, that always looked like a regular sort of toe nail before, is growing almost sideways and not from the bast of his toe to the tip of his toe.  A quick course of antibiotics later we leave with an appt for this week with a podiatrist who can hopefully figure things out.

Two appts later we have a theory.  The theory is that he stubbed his toe.  Damn hard and split his toe nail right the way down to the nail bed, it started healing on its own, but while it was doing that he....stubbed his toe., which split it again.  Many stubs later he has a toe nail that had shifted position and was now growing in all kinds of unusual directions and by the way, the antibiotic hasn't cured the infection.

One bout of in office surgery fishing for bits of toe nail where they didn't belong, draining the infection and just plain removing most of his nail later he seems to be doing very well.

You would think with waiting time in doctor's offices that knitting got done.

Alas, you would be wrong.

All I have to show for the week is a swatch.

“As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than those that would tear
us apart, all will be well.”

Words to live by.

~M

Homeward Bound, well sort of!

With the usual artist appologises!


I'm sittin' at my computer station
Thinking back upon my destination
On a tour of vendor stands
My credit card and purse in hand
And every stop is neatly planned
For a mother and her three kid band
 

I want a sheep
to bring back home
Just want one to keep...... at
Home, look a ducks escaping

Home, let's have some lambs playing




Home, where sheep could be waiting
Silently for me

Everyday's an endless stream
Of work to do, nothing to see
And each duck looks the same to me

The feathers and the feet I see
But every sheep looks sweet to me
And reminds me that I just want three...


I want a sheep
to bring back home
Just want one to keep...... at
Home, look a ducks escaping
Home, let's have some lambs playing 
Home, where sheep could be waiting
Silently for me

 
Tonight I'll pet my yarn again
I'll dream of sheep and pretend


But all my words come back to me
In shades of mediocrity
Like emptyness in harmony
"We can bring home yarn but not a sheep!"


The kids liked the sheep shearing and the dog herding ducks the best....I was partial to the yarn.

A little did come home with us, but no livestock, which is what we had been really singing about on the hour long drive to Wool Gathering.  One thing that came home with us was full tummies!  Youngs Jersey Dairy is pretty well known for their fabulous ice-cream around these parts! No-one wanted much of their dinner, including myself, who should be setting a much better example than filling up on Black Raspberry and Black Walnut ice-cream in a cholocate dipped waffle cone before heading home.  But, on the flip side we have been eating a lot of fresh fruits and veggies lately, and the amount of junk food that has been finding its way into my grocery cart has been severely cut back (although I am still partial to chips!)

My small haul is below.....we'll talk about it later, right now I am trying this recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  Maybe we didn't get enough sweets!

It might be just a little bigger than I thought it would be!

With just a few inches of yarn to spare........
Presenting  Back to the Garden by BadCat Designs, Full Circle version.
I knew she was going to be big while I was knitting her.  The question was "how big is big?" and the answer is bigger than any area I had to block her!




As I was going to be washing sheets today anyway I threw one of my winter, warm and cozy sheets on my bed and another on the box spring, not only does my Back to the Garden full circle cover my bed it goes way down over the edges!

Here is just the center, I cannot get high enough to put the whole shawl (stadium blanket in a single shot!)

And just a little perspective, that is the semi-circle version sitting on top of the still wet full circle to give you an idea of scale.

I hope she doesn't take too long to dry, I do want to be able to go to bed sometime tonight!

The Drama Queen and I are about to play our own version of Hoarders and clean out her messy room and I have jam on the stove (plum this time) so I had better run.  I hope you enjoyed the day!

~M

Silence

I think I needed some silence, the powers that be helped that by giving me lots of hours without the noise of computers, tv's, radio's, stereos...the microwave, the dishwasher.......  I got darkness too, just to annoy me and stop me from working on my Back to the Garden Stadium Blanket.  It is ever so helpful to see what you are knitting when you are working in lace.
  Luckily I only had a few rows of my baby blanket to do and the last two rows are dead simple, I could work them with my eyes shut, or in this case, in the dark.

I am not talking about my computer issues or the fact that I had to buy not one, but two new systems!
Instead, after wasting a day messing with that....I blocked the baby blanket.
Not too shabby for a "let's wing this" pattern!
And why yes, that does appear to be a fingerprint on the lens of my camera....someone has some explaining to do!
~M