There are days when I really wonder.

In the never ending saga of trying to make Mary feel better, doctors have yet again, upped and changed some of her "stupid pills".  So far the jury is still out as to if they do anything other than make her stupid, you should ask my team about "Oh wow, she did a Mary!" or "I am hot, or cold, one of them, not sure which yet."  All this week I have wondered if it is even worth getting out of bed and trying to start my day.

Today I had proof, positive proof, that I would have been better off just not.....

Behold, seven stripes into a boring to knit, striped hoodie sweater for the first twin.

So far, so good right?  Making pretty good progress on it and it looks good so far, even stitches, no gaps at the increases.

Now take a look at the next ball of yarn.

Um, Houston, we have a problem, those are different colors!  Well, actually the same color, just very different dyelots.

Oh well, on second thought I think I wanted slightly wider stripes anyway, might as well just start over!
On that note, I am even further behind on my Christmas knitting!
~m
(TDQ looked over my shoulder and asked me if a YarnDiet is a good diet?  But of course it is, lots of fiber!!!)

Don't panic.....at least not yet

It hit me looking at my calendar today, in just two days we will be exactly 2 months from Christmas.  For those who do not celebrate it with an overload of gifts, both purchased and knitted, no big deal.  For those of us with plans that are bigger than our fingers, it is terrifying!  Well, maybe not yet, maybe I should save terrifying for another month and three weeks...what do you think?

And more importantly, if you are one of those knitters who makes gifts for loved ones to be given in that winter holiday, what do you make?

During the summer I came up with a plan, started it, then promptly forgot it until this weekend!  Each of my children would open three hand knit gifts from me : a pair of socks, a blanket and a sweater.  The plan being that no matter how much they grow and change over the years, the blanket, if cared for appropriately, would last forever (or at least a good long time).

During the heat of the summer one blanket was finished, one was started but pushed to the side in favor of cooler knits during that heat, and now here we are with two months of good knitting time left and .......it isn't finished.  Luckily Socktober stepped in and I got at least one pair of the socks done!

The First Brother's Christmas Socks.
Plain vanilla socks, I let the yarn take care of the patterning so that I could knit on something brainless while watching Little Shop of Horrors among other things.


Size 10 needles also made quick work of one sweater!
Leaflet, from Knitty.
Yarn: Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran of course in Purple for TDQ

It still needs blocking, but first I want to wash my swatch. I know, I know, before starting knitting I should have swatched, washed, blocked, just to be sure, but....I knew I wanted to add long sleeves and I wasn't sure how much yarn I would have left so I left swatching until I was finished knitting.  Good plan, as it turns out, as I could only make one smallish swatch before running out of yarn!  It is washing now, though!


My lunchtime knitting has been this scarf for the lady who donated a ton of yarn to my stash!  No pattern to speak of, just cast on, increased, knit some twisted garter between rows of k2tog, yo, doubled the stitches and finished with some K2P2 ribbing.  It spirals nicely!

If you do not hear from me in a while, send lace patterns....the boys have decided they want plain, well striped, hoodies as their Christmas sweaters this year...I am lost in miles and miles of knit one row, purl one row!

Really there has been some knitting!

Hmm, well it looks like it has been a while since I was here.  Trying to get new routines fully established seems to have eaten up a bit more time that it should have, but there has at least been a little knitting going on.  Just not my usual quantities.

That said, there is a finished object to share!

The Ties that Bind, by Diane Conroy.
Yarn : Colourmart Cotton/Linen/Silk 6/24 yarn held double throughout (Two full cones with about 22 grams to spare.)
Needles: Size 9 US

I was one of several people who got to test knit this pattern before Diane officially published it, (you can get it now as it is hot off the presses, just follow the pattern link above).
The yarn really changed with a quick trip through my washer and dryer, now it is all soft and cuddly!
See the difference?  Closer even, after the washer :

Before the washer:



Quite a drastic change, but I like it!

While I was washing and drying this piece suddenly it hit me.

It is Socktober already and I haven't knit any socks in a good long while, so

Nothing like a pair of plain vanilla socks when the head doesn't work right!

Other updates, BabyRay Blanket is still on the needles, those rounds are getting longer, CPDWifeScarf is about to be cast off...no pics of either in my camera this time, maybe next time.

~M

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