All Dressed Up

There is nothing that will get you over the ehhs like words of encouragement (thank you) and getting part way done with your next project. I about half way there. The funny thing is that I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking of the finished garment.

This is the front (or back) half of Butterfly from Rowan 37. This is the project that I started, frogged, and then started again during our tailgate two weeks ago. I can't wait to finish this project. I feel like a little kid with a new toy. I know I said that I was going to make this to wear to a holiday party, but I like it so much I may just wear it everywhere like the gym, the grocery store, bike rides. Could you imagine? Me playing softball in Butterfly?

Ehh

That pretty much sums it up. Ehh. That is how I have been feeling lately. Last week as much as I wanted to, I couldn't. I pretty much was a hostage in my own home with all the blinds drawn because light was just too much for me to handle.

Though my head feels better, I still feel ehh. The thing is I know why. I think my house is falling apart right before my eyes. Thursday our garage door broke. Well not exactly the door itself, but the cable broke and the door was stuck in a half open crooked position. Fortunately I have a handy hubby and he was able to fix it, but everytime I go to open or close the door, I hold my breath.

What was supposed to be a nice relaxing weekend (hubby was out of town) turned in to the weekend with no hot water. Our water heater started leaking. I was able to turn the water off, but there was no way I could fix the water heater even if I wanted to because our boat was blocking it and there is no way that I would let anyone move it in fear that the damage to the boat would be worse than the stink that I would cause by not taking a shower.

The water heater broke on Friday, hubby got home Sunday. Luckily my parents live relatively close by and we were able to hang out there all weekend.

The hot water heater is fixed now and I can once again do what needs to be done for the house.

Oh, there is one more ehh. It's this.


Though I like the way it turned out, there is that little ehh factor to it. I should have made it a bit longer and the sleeves should be a bit wider at the shoulder. But...I won't frog it. It's not that ehh.

Will be back soon.

I have had a migraine since yesterday. I will resume my regular posting as soon as I am better.

Tailgating Anyone? / Eye Candy Friday

One thing that you may know about me is that I am a sports fan or should I say as a family we are sports fans. Baseball is at the top of my list followed by collegiate football. In fact football should probably be my first choice since my dad has been taking us to all of the home games since I was much much younger.

Around the time hubby and I got married, our team played against Hawaii for their season opener. My dad was born in Hawaii, but had not been back since he moved to Southern California when he was in his early teens. Football was all the motivation he needed to go back.

Unfortunately, hubby and I were not able to go on that trip with them. The school year for me had just started and hubby couldn't get the time off of work either. So while the rest of my family was enjoying Hawaii, hubby and I were here working.

Last year, we played Hawaii again for our season opener. We were able to go this time, all fourteen of us. It was great! This was the first time that I had been to Hawaii and I do look forward to returning. I'm thinking 2010, because that will be the season opener for us that year. Though in all honesty, I don't know if we (hubby, kiddos, & I) will be able to go for football because both of the kids will be in school at that time.

Why all this football talk? Saturday is our home opener. This means two things for me. Tailgating and knitting. Yup, that's right. The two actually go together very well. Since we will be there pretty much all day that means lots and lots of knitting for me.

There is another reason for the football talk, Eye Candy Friday.


This is a picture from the top of Diamond Head in Hawaii. It sure is great to reminisce.

Have a great weekend!

Huh

Have you ever felt that you are just is a perpetual state of tired? Ever since school started for the kids, that is how I have felt. I am just tired all of the time. The thing is on the weekends, I always plan on sleeping in, but since I am a relatively light sleeper, every little noise seems to wake me. Usually it is the noise of little feet running all over the house.

With me being tired all the time, my knitting has really suffered. Not that I am not knitting or anything, it's just I'm not knitting as fast as I normally do. The pullover that I have been working on, it feels like I've been at it way too long for this particular type of project. I think I have been going at it for at least four weeks.

It's not as if I have had to frog much of it. In fact the only part that I had to frog was the collar and this was last night. What was supposed to be a deep neckline turned into one that was very shallow and pulled the front up and neck down just so. I think if I would have kept it that way, I may have become a hunchback or something.

I was going to post a pic of it for you, but the battery on the camera was out and is charging as I type. So instead I will leave you with this.


Ahh, to be a kid again and have that much fun.

Slugger

We had our championship co-ed softball game on Sunday. It was hubby's first game back since his surgery (against my better judgment) and he did well. He had been itching to play for so long that when the manager of our team asked if he wanted to play he was on the field before the sentence was complete.

I am still in utter shock, but something exciting happened to me during the game. Let me give you a little background. I think the entire time that I have played co-ed I have hit a double maybe two times. I'm not complaining though, as long as I get on base I am good. Though today I did even better than a double, I hit a homerun. That's right, I hit a homerun **grin** Now it was not an over the fence homerun or anything (I wish I had that power), what I did do was drive it through the gap and then it rolled all the way to the fence.

When the base coach (hubby) told me to keep going after I got to first, I thought "cool I got a double." Then when I was rounding second, I saw that the fielders were approaching the ball and then I thought, "I can make it to third, wow a triple." As I was approaching third, the third base coach was telling me to go home, I honestly thought something was wrong, but I went and I was safe. I hit a home run!

Enough about that though. This is supposed to be a knitting blog afterall. Though I haven't been showing you much of what I have been working on, I am working on something. I just haven't had a chance to take a decent picture of it. Hopefully hubby will take a picture of me in the UFO tomorrow. I will show you this though.


These are the socks I made when I was working on the tutorials. These are actually the first socks that I have made for the kids. It's so cute because ever since I finished them, K has decided that whenever they are clean, they will be on his feet. Which means he has worn them a total of four times in two weeks.

BTW We won our championship game and I hit a homerun.

K's First Day and Eye Candy

What a crazy week! K started school on Tuesday. Before he started hubby and I were talking about how we were worried because K is a bit on the shy side and very attached and also the fact that he didn't sound too enthusiastic when we would talk to him about starting school.

On Tuesday morning, K was an emotional wreck. He started crying over things that normally wouldn't bother him. I attributed it to him having first day jitters. In fact this is what he looked like on the way to school.

If you look close enough you can see the tears on his face. It broke my heart.

While we were at school waiting for the classroom to open K kept saying, "You stay wit me at scoow today mommeeee."

I told him that I wasn't going to be able to stay with him, but that I would come back later with brother to pick him up. After hearing that, he got that little I'm about to break down into tears look on his face and then it registered that B and I would be back to pick him up (B starts school an hour earlier than K and was not with us at the time).

When his teacher opened the door K grabbed my hand for dear life and was reluctant to enter his class. I walked him into the classroom and honestly he really was not into the whole school thing, but I knew I had to encourage him.

"K do you want to play with the trains?"

"Wes, mommy."

But he was just standing there next to the trains, looking at them all the while I could tell that he was scared. Heck, I couldn't blame him, afterall this was the first time that he would be in the care of someone outside the family.

Then all of a sudden, he got a little spark in his eye and he was off. I looked to see where he was going to and wouldn't you know, look what he found:

The play-dough table. Needless to say, I was old news after that. At that point he could care less about me being gone. K looked up, gave me a kiss and then said, "Bye mommy, see euww waeighter."

Now for some eye candy.


Have a great weekend!

Jogless Rounds

Many times when people add stripes to things they knit in the round, you can tell where the color was changed. This is because when you are knitting in the round, you are actually knitting one continuous spiral. To avoid what I often hear referred to as the jog, I like to do the following:


Step 1: Knit one round in the new color and have your working yarn in your preferred hand (I am a thrower, but if you knit continental, this will work just the same, just imagine the yarn in the left hand).



Step 2: With your right-hand needle pick up the loop from the stitch on the previous row. This loop will be in the "old" color.

Step 3: Place the loop from the previous row onto the left needle beside the next stitch.

You will now have two stitches next to each other, one of the old and one of the new color.

Step 4: Stick the needle through the two stitches knitwise.

Step 5: Draw the yarn through both of the stitches.

Step 6: Slide the two stitches off of the left-hand needle as you normally would after having k2tog.

You now would continue to work as you normally do, changing colors as you wish or as the pattern indicates. It should be noted that when attempting jogless rounds you should have a minimum of two rounds of each color for this to be effective.

This is what my finished sock looks like.

Though you can tell where the color was changed, it is definitly less obvious than if I would have just changed colors without taking the steps mentioned above.

Adding Color in the Round (English/Thrower)

This is the second post regarding adding color to the round. In my last post I showed you how to add color in the round for those who prefer to have your working yarn in your left hand or continental style. This post will show you how to add color to the round when you prefer to have your working yarn in your right hand also known as the English or Throwers style of knitting.


Step 1: Get your yarn ready. Have your working yarn ready to work in your right hand and your non-working (yarn you are changing from) in your left hand.




Step 2: Just as you normally would do to knit a stitch, stick your right-hand needle into the next stitch on the left needle.



Step 3: Rest the "old" yarn (the yarn in your left hand) over the right-hand needle.




Step 4: Wrap the working yarn (yarn in your right hand) around the right needle as you normally would do to knit.

Step 5: Draw the working yarn through the stitch on the left needle.

Step 6: Slip the stich off of the left needle as you normally would do after knitting a stitch.

You have now completed changing and twisting the yarn while working in the round. You can now continue to knit as you normally would do.

Next post will be how to avoid the jog while knitting in the round.

Adding Color in the Round (Continental)

Sachi had mentioned a while back that adding color in the round was something that was a little intimidating and then asked if I would do a tutorial on adding color. I am happy to oblige and hope that you find this information useful.

Adding color in the round can be just as simple as adding color to flat work. The only difference is that I like to twist my yarn when adding the new color as to avoid a hole in the work. Here I show you how to twist the yarn when your working yarn is in your left hand and the yarn that you are changing colors from (or the old yarn) is in your right hand.


Step 1: Get your yarn ready. Have your working yarn ready to work in your left hand and your non-working (yarn you are changing from) in your right hand.

Step 2: Just as you normally would do to knit a stitch, stick your right-hand needle into the next stitch on the left needle.

Step 3: Wrap the yarn being held by your right hand around the right-hand needle as if to knit.

Step 4: While the yarn from your right hand is wrapped around the needle, wrap the working yarn around the right-hand needle as if to knit.

Step 5: Now that you have both of the yarns wrapped as if to knit, you need to unwind the yarn from your right-hand counter clockwise back around the working yarn.

Step 6: Draw the working yarn through the stitch.

Step 7: Slide the stitch off of the left hand needle as you would normally do when knitting

You now have your first stitch complete. You can continue to work in the round as you normally would.

Once you are comfortable and familiar with twisting the yarns, it will eventually become almost second nature. Twisting the yarn in this manner is the same way that I do it for working the right side of intarsia.

I will do two additional posts regarding color in the round. Tomorrows post will be for adding color for the English or Thrower and then how I avoid the "jog" when working color in the round.

Friday Eye Candy

Have a great (and safe) Labor Day weekend!

The Candy Shop

I am not the most literate when it comes to computers. Though I am pretty good at looking stuff up and figuring it out on my own. You can see a couple of examples of this over there on my sidebar. Creating links, thumbnails, the name of the FO when your cursor moves over the thumbnail, I pretty much figured it out on my own with a lot of luck.

So why has it been so hard for me to figure out how to create a PDF link? I looked it up and for the life of me could not figure it out. In fact I have been trying to figure the whole PDF link thing out since I first finished the Toe Socks pattern with no luck. Fortunately for me I was able to ask my cousin to come over and help.

When we were waiting for him to arrive last night the doorbell rang. The kids ran to the door, looked out the window, and then just started walking back. I looked at them with a puzzled look on my face and asked them who was at the door.

B looks at me and says, "Oh, it was only a mail delivery."

Hubby looks at me with that what did you order now look on his face as I am sprinting to the door and me not being able to open the door or the packages fast enough. I had been expecting these:

I have been eying Butterfly from Rowan 37 for quite sometime now and finally broke down and ordered a copy. I can't wait to get it on my needles.

The yarn is for my first Fair Isle project.

I can't decide which one I am going to work on first. I am thinking Butterfly because if all goes as planned, then I may wear it to a Holiday party. The fair isle is going to be a Christmas gift for my mom. And since the party will happen before Christmas, well, you know.

My cousin finally did make it over last night and if you look in the sidebar there is a link for the Toe Up pattern.

You know will all that happened yesterday, I mean with the yarn, the book, and my cousin coming over and helping me with the whole PDF link thing, I felt like a kid in a candy shop.

Rinnnnnnnnnng

After having the same service provider for our cell phone coverage for oh, I don't know one hundred years or so, we finally decided to change over to the company they supposedly merged with. Afterall, the incentives and discounts are much better with the new company.

With the old company, if you wanted a new phone then you had to pay full price for the phone. No exceptions. Not even for customer loyalty. Customer service with the old company was/is horrendous. Even though we clearly weren't happy we stayed because we did not want to lose our numbers. Once the companies merged we thought our coverage would get better. Wrong.

Finally hubby decided that it was time to change. We knew that we could keep our numbers and the price was finally right for the change. Some of you may be saying that we are essentially staying with the same company because of the merger, but get this, after spending no less than four hours on the phone with customer service, even though the companies are "merged" they will not be completely merged for approximately five years. WTHeck???

Anyway, in all of the frustration with trying to switch and program the new phones, I somehow closed the car door on my car project and bent three of four of my size 0 needles. Thank goodness they were metal. Can you tell which of the needles were bent in two different places with at least a thirty degree bend?

I hope not because I have spent all the time that I was not on the phone with CS fixing the darn needles.

BTW one good thing about the change. I finally have a camera phone. Now I don't have any excuses to miss out because I forgot my camera. Though I am know to forget my phone quite often.

Did Someone ask for a Superhero

You would think that I have not been knitting anything around here lately with all of the non-knittin' pictures and stuff. In actuality, I have. I have been knitting. The thing is I have also been busy with a few other things. But after all those other things are done, I usually sit in my chair and knit. I will usually knit until my hands just don't want to work any longer and start dozing off. Unfortunately for me, that (me getting tired) happens earlier and earlier every evening.

For one, I am not used to getting up with the alarm clock every morning. And because I am using an alarm clock, I actually start waking up at least forty-five minutes before the alarm goes off because I am so paranoid that I am going to wake up late and then the kids would be late for school. So needless to say, the knitting has been suffering a bit.

Though, I thought that I'd finally bring this to you.

Don't you love the model. I told him that he looks just like a superhero in a cape with it on and that I would give him candy if he did a good job. I think he did.

The reason I needed B to model the shawl was because I had been asking hubby to take pics of me for a couple of weeks now and as you can see, it still has not happened. So this was my plan C.

Plan B was this:

I think plan C had much more fun running around the house like a superhero afterwards.

Friday Eye Candy

One of the fish in the tank at Ceasar's Palace. From our trip to Vegas last month.

Have a great weekend!

Signs

They say there are signs to old age. Sight. Body. Mind. They all start to go. But at what rate do they actually go?

I started wearing glasses when I was eight. Did that make me old? My sight was so bad that in order to see a person I was having a conversation with without corrective lenses I literally had to be within eighteen inches of their face. Thank goodness for Lasik. The only thing that I have to worry about now is reading glasses. When that times comes, I think I'll just stop reading. HehHeh.

I am really starting to feel as though my body is next. It seems as though every other week I am hurting something. Though that was an extreme case for me, lately it seems I am walking around with a pulled leg/ankle/arm/hair muscle of some sort or other. The sad thing is, I keep doing whatever it is that gets me like that.

I think that it must be my mind. I forget what I was doing that injured me and I continue doing it. Though I have to admit, I have always been forgetful, in fact my mom used to say (and probably still thinks), "You'd lose your head if it wasn't connected." She's probably right. I can't tell you how many times I'll go someplace with the intentions of bringing X with me, only to have forgotten X at home.

Though I have never forgotten my shoes. Grandma, who has always been as sharp as a nail, did forget to wear shoes one time about fifteen years ago. We still laugh about it and occasionally will ask her if she remembered to put on her shoes. Usually she will just look at us and start laughing hysterically.

That's besides the point. I am forgetful. I am surprised that I never forgot my shoes.

I think the signs of old age are all wrong. Something that goes out on one person at eight doesn't go out on another until they are eighty, yet for the person who is eight it's just one of those things, for the person who is eighty, it's because they are old. If grandma forgets her shoes its because she's old, if I forget my shoes it's because I am forgetful. It could be the other way around, I could be the one that's old and she just happened to forget that day.

What has brought this up? This:


It is a swatch that I made a while back. I think I made it at my mom's house because I don't own nor have ever made anything with that particular yarn. I found it on the bottom of one of my bags as I was cleaning it out.


Now here is the shocker. I forgot what the stitch pattern was. I know it is some sort of triple decrease and the WS of the swatch is purled, but how I actually achieved it and then got my stitch count back is beyond me at this moment. Must be the old age.

Try and Try Again

Have you ever noticed how one bad experience (or two) can ruin something for you?

I always have my toe nails done, but I have almost always done them myself. It is one of those things that I have always just liked doing.

Towards the end of both of my pregnancies I physically was unable to do them. So I went to get them done. Both times, I ended up having problems with my nails. I even went to different shops both times. I haven't had a pedicure since. Though I really want to go and get them done, I just don't want to have any problems afterwards.

Another example, a restaurant that we would go to on occasion. The last time we went the food was so awful that we were honestly shocked. In fact the food was so bad that no one wanted to eat, yet we were all afraid to send our food back. I was talking to a friend about this same restaurant and he said that he has had the same bad experience there but when he talked to the manager, the manager tried to justify the bad food as his (the customers) problem. Wow! I don't think I will be going back there again.

I could go on about how a bad experience has soured something, but I think you get the idea. Imagine if I was like this with my knitting. I mean really. If I went off of the first few (dozen or so) things that I had made, I would have just stopped. I mean I would have just given up and not found something that now is such a big part of me.


While I was in the backyard last week the kids came out and started playing with the Peb's. Please don't mind the garden (or lack of). I am constantly trying with the whole gardening thing. I am good at it for the first few weeks and then I seem to forget about it and things, well, just happen. Plus nothing seems to want to grow in that particular corner except for weeds.

BTW: I am working on getting the toe sock pattern out. I just have a few things to figure out about the whole web and pattern thing. But as soon as I do, you will have a pattern.

Buy More Yarn

I think I may have a problem. No, not a serious type problem, but a problem none-the-less. See, whenever I go shopping and something is on sale and I think I am getting a good great deal, I will buy it. Regardless if I need it or not.

Don't get me wrong, I won't buy something that I don't want or something that doesn't interest me, but if it is clothes or say yarn, then it is mine. That is actually how I acquired most of my wardrobe.

A skirt that I wouldn't pay full price for, what $12.90...it's mine. After all,I saved about seventy five percent. Who doesn't need a tank top that only costs $2.85, and it's beaded too. Do you see where I am going with this?

The same thing applies to yarn. When the LYS had their fifty percent off sale last year, I bought yarn. Lots of yarn. Though some of the yarn I only bought one skein of. Like the ball of Noro. I only paid $12.50 (yes, my LYS is a little over priced but I bought it).

Now here is another problem. I have been knitting that one ball for the last four days. I started doing a pillow cover in entrelac, but there was not enough for the entire thing. I frogged it. Then I started to do a mitered square. Didn't like the way it was turning out. I frogged it.

Finally I am doing a log cabinesque type thing. I think it's a winner. I am finally going to have a pillow cover, though it will only be one side. I think I will sew a back onto it or something.

The moral of the story, uh, I dunno. Buy more yarn? Yeah, that's it. Buy more yarn, especially if it's on sale.

And now for some Eye Candy.

Have a great weekend.

The Bomb

First day of school went without a hitch for B. Can't say the same for me. I think I must have balled for about fifteen minutes after I dropped him off. But you know what, I was fine after that. Whowouldathought?

Our annual first day picture.

After dropping B off, I came home so K could finish his breakfast and got ready to go to the gym. I was trying to make an 8:30 class. I pulled into the gym parking lot at 8:28, opened the car for K, then noticed that he had no shoes on. I asked him where his shoes were. His reply, "I left them at home."

#$%$@*&!!!!!!

I did go home and get the shoes and was still able to do about three-quarters of my planned workout.

When I picked B up from school, he was so happy. He loves his new school and loves his new teacher. "Mom, my teacher, she is the greatest. Mom really, she is the best! And mom, my school, it's just so so so. Mom, it's the bomb!"

I can't complain about that.

I also have a FO over in the sidebar. They are my grandmother's Christmas gift.

Do As I Say

As I was sitting here getting ready to post, K comes in and attempts to take my drink. I kindly told him that he was not supposed to drink next to the computer because I didn't want him to spill it. No sooner than he walked out did I do exactly what I didn't want him to do. Classic do as I say, not as I do.

Me spilling kinda sums up what it has been like lately. My mind has been wandering in a thousand different directions and as a result I become clumsy. I know I just need to take some time and focus. Easier said than done.

One of the things that has been on my mind is B starting kindergarten tomorrow, then in two weeks K will be in pre-school for two days per week. I am just having a hard time with the whole thing. Afterall, I have been their main caregivers for the past five years.

I joke that the first day I will cry, the second I will stalk the schools, and by the third day I will probably throw a party.

When I first started B in pre-school two years ago. I had him in two days per week, then three the following year. In my mind I thought that the gradual transition from two to five days would be the best thing for him. You know ease him into the whole school thing. I think I was actually easing myself into the whole school thing.

I still have my knitting though. I got this awesome Garterlac Pattern from Dave. I have always liked entrelac and have always wondered what it would look like in garter stitch, but was too lazy to figure out a pattern for myself. It was such a fast knit.

Oh, that is Icarus under the dishcloth. The pins are out, but it has just been sitting there waiting for someone to take pictures of it. Soon I hope.