Yarn Orphanage

My grandmother just called me (which in itself is really bizarre, because she never calls me. Ever.) with the most awesomest question ever. She's at work and apparently they are cleaning out one of the storage rooms and they have 18 skeins of yarn that they are just THROWING AWAY. What a horrid idea. Mimi says "It's acrylic, and I don't know what all this stuff means. It says 9 1/2 stitches to 2" if that means anything to you. But it's still in the packaging and they're just getting rid of it. I was wondering if you wanted it."

DUDE! Yes. I will always take yarn, no matter what kind. Apparently I'm not as subtle about my love of yarn as I thought I was being if she thought to call me about giving it a new home. She said most of it is red, with some white and yellow skeins. I have a feeling it's craft yarn, since she works at a school, but I can always find something to do with it. Even if it's just Christmas tree ornaments - yarn always has a purpose. I feel like a yarn orphanage. Taking in the poor, darling yarn that other people are so heartless to get rid of.

SCORE!

ETA: Mimi brought it by this afternoon. I have acquired:
18 skeins of Dawn Sayelle in "Scarlet" (100% Sayelle acrylic)
4(ish) balls of Plymouth Dreambaby DK in a Cream color ( 50/50% acrylic/nylon)
A ball of what looks like more Dreambaby in a pastel lavendar (no ball band)
And 2(ish) balls of an unknown boucle in bright yellow

Goodies!

My goodies finally came last night! There was a nice big box waiting for me when we got home last night. So here they are, from the top going clockwise.

The Opinionated Knitter - Newsletters by Elizabeth Zimmerann
The Lace Sampler in "Riverstone", along with a pattern for the Chinook Shawl
The Chart Keeper - a fold able binder that is magnetic so you can keep your place in charts
8 balls of Comfy Sport - 4 in "Cypress" and 4 in "Pomegranate" which will probably become socks.

I love getting yarny goodies. It was the icing on the cake yesterday!

OMGPROGRESS!!!

I FINALLY have something to show you! I'm so sorry it's been so boring around here lately, but your patience has paid off!

I was so excited the other night when I was almost done with the first repeat. So excited I was making progress. I was excited until I realized that I had forgotten 3 of the 4 decreases on the last decreasing row. Which was about 3 rows back. Arg. So I ticked back 2 and half rows to the place of the second decrease on the row, decreased, and continued knitting - making sure to put in the stupid decreases - and now here we are! Almost done with the third lace repeat. I will now carry on like this until the whole thing measures 19 3/4", at which point I will begin the increases. The decreases and increases are to form the waist shaping (in case you were wondering). This picture is a more accurate depiction of the color (instead of the horribly garish pink of the pic a few posts ago).

My box o' goodies never made it yesterday. I called the post office this morning and a very nice person name Irene told me that it was scheduled to be delivered today. Apparently, she said, the computer gets confused and it actually takes 2 days to process a redelivery request instead of one. I won't be here when the mail comes - I have a doctor's appointment - but I've left the signed slip saying to leave it at the door, so hopefully when I get back it will be here! If not, then I'm marchin' my butt down there and getting my stuff!

And as a last note, I have so say a big huge giant thank you to whoever invented baby swings. It's the only way I've gotten the little guy to sleep during the day. It leaves my hands free to do things like clean the house and knit. I forgot that the boys pretty much lived in their swings for the first few months too. I love them!

Tuesday, Down and Out

I'm really glad I got the house cleaned yesterday. I came down the crazy bizarro cold that Ben has last night. It hit my lungs first and my throat got scratchy, and now I just feel really weird and crappy. So I'm not doing anything today but sitting and knitting. On top of the cold, I'm so sore from the Pilates dvd I did yesterday that kicked my butt. LOL! I think it's a good day to rest.

I didn't really get anymore done on the sweater yesterday. Only about a row. Man, my knitting is boring right now. Not really any progress anywhere. I can't wait for my stuff to get here just so I have something to show you guys!

Not-So-Knitting Vacation And Stuff

Well, my plans for the weekend and getting a ton of the sweater done tanked. I had a nice weekend, but it was filled with baby holding and a date for Ben and I. I did get 2 rounds done, but that's hardly anything to really be proud of. I will eventually get it done though.

Today is Monday and Monday's are for cleaning. I've been doing laundry and just finished scrubbing the house. We are going grocery shopping tonight, so hopefully in between now and then and afterward I will be able to get some done. In fact, I think I'll go do that after I post this since the littlest one is a sleep and the boys are being remarkably well behaved.

My Knit Picks order was supposed to have arrived on Saturday, so I spent the whole weekend excited that I would have a package waiting for me when I arrived home last night. Unfortunately, all I had waiting was a note saying they tried to deliver. Oh well, I was able to ask for a redelivery online set for tomorrow so that I don't have to go stand in line for an hour to pick it up from the Post Office. So hopefully tomorrow I will be able to show off all my new goodies.

I got the Fall '09 issue of Vogue Knitting in the mail last night. As always, there aren't too many patterns that I would make because I don't know who in their right mind would wear that stuff. It's a little too "runway" for my taste. However, there was a very nice, straight forward article by Jared Flood of Brooklyntweed on how to convert flat knitting to in-the-round. Go pick yourself up a copy if you're interested.

So much for well behaved children. They just dumped baby powder all over my clean floor...

FO: Kitchen Mat

This isn't that special (actually it's kind of ugly), but it still counts because it was on my list and now I can take it off!

Pattern: Kitchen Mat by Meg

Yarn: Lily Sugar n' Cream Stripes in "Tie Dye Stripes" - about 3 balls

Needles: US 10.5/6.5mm

Worked in a simple stockinette stitch with 5 rows of garter each end, and 5 stitches each side. I held the yarn doubled together to get a stiffer fabric that would hold up better to being tromped on. Because of that, it used more yarn for a smaller area so it turned out really small - about 15" x 17". But it works well enough as a temporary solution. Finishing this means that I will exclusively be taking the sweater to the beach this weekend. We'll see if it gets any love.

Agenda

I got the house clean yesterday, so all I have to do today is laundry so that we have clean clothes for the beach again this weekend and then the end of day tidy up before Ben gets home. That means lots of knitting today! I am going to try to finish that mat, and work on Rachel's sweater. I never did re-cast on the tree skirt last night - I was busy having a very nice night at my parents-in-law's house. Maybe I will do that today.

I'm thinking maybe I should post what I hope to get done everyday and see how it works. Or maybe that would be too much pressure. Things change a lot when you have small children. :)

Makin' Some Progress

I've tried really hard for the last two days to get at least some kind of knitting done in order to finish my current projects. Even if it's just a few rows. But I have a household to take care of, and as much as I would love to sit on my butt and knit all day.... I can't. However, the desire to knit has made it easier for me to get chores done in the morning so that I don't feel guilty when I do knit.

So after exercising, cleaning and sweeping the kitchen (which desperately needed it), folding the rest of the laundry, and vacuuming (in between feeding and taking care of the munchies) I have been happily knitting away on the Kitchen Mat. When I get bored with that - which should be soon because it's mostly stockinette stitch - then I'll switch back to the Surf Hoodie. I have ideas to cast on a reworked version of the Christmas Tree Skirt tonight or tomorrow and will throw that into the rotation of projects.

I'm hoping if I keep switching between two or three projects at regular intervals, then I will resist the desire to cast on new things since my brain will already be changing coarse.

Only one small problem that could kill this plan... I've started re-reading Harry Potter book 1 and I'm being sucked in alive. I need a book holder so I can read and knit at the same time. ;)

FO: Blue Jeans Beanie

Apparently, making a list is actually working to get me to finish stuff. I present to you the Blue Jeans Beanie (navy baby beanie from yesterday's List O' Unfinished Things) modeled by Brett.

Pattern: Blue Jeans Beanie by Me!

Yarn: Knit Pick's Essential Sock* in "Dusk" and "Buckskin" - small amounts of each

Needles: US 3/3.25mm DPNs and Circulars

I finished knitting and cast off that small bit of only blue you see in the second picture last night and tried it on Brett's little head only to find that... His head wasn't that little. It would have made a wonderful Yarmulke. But since we're not Jewish and I made it in order to keep his whole head warm, it wasn't going to work. I didn't want to frog the whole thing and start over so I got a little trixty. I picked up stitches from the cast on edge, and continued the ribbing in the opposite direction using the brown color for about an inch, then kept going with the navy color. Cast off after a bit and now it fits perfectly. I named it the "Blue Jeans Beanie" because the colors together reminded me of blue jeans.

*Essential Sock yarn has been renamed to "Stroll", for anyone who wants to get themselves some.

FO: Springtime Swirl Shawl

Two posts in one day! Tada! I didn't get pictures done at the beach because... well I forgot. But! I got home and have this handy-dandy fence to thank for allowing me to use it as a prop.

Pattern: Springtime Swirl Shawl by Kristel Nyberg

Yarn: Knit Pick's Bare Merino Laceweight in "Natural" (undyed) - 1 1/2ish balls

Needles: US 3/ 3.25 mm

Variations: None!

It turned out pretty small, since I like a tight gauge and I only repeated the "sizing" clue once, instead of a few times like I probably should have. But, it makes a nice little shoulder shawl which was just enough to keep me warm while running around the house at the beach. I'm still not sure if I'll keep it, give it to someone small, or mayhaps use it as an antique looking table cloth.

Holding Myself Accountable

It's July 20th and that means there are 157 days left until Christmas. Which in turn means that I need to start knitting for said holiday. But I have things I should probably finish first. So in an attempt to make that happen, I shall post my current projects in a public place so that (hopefully) I will have reason to get them done if everyone else knows about them.

Entrelac Baby Blanket - This has been sitting around on scrap yarn since before we moved so this might not happen any time soon.

Navy Baby Beanie - I just cast this on Friday and worked on it a little over the weekend. My goal was to have it done BEFORE we went to the beach so the little man would have a hat, but oh well. If I'm lucky he'll still fit in it by the time it gets cold. If not, then... well... There are plenty of other babies around.


Kitchen Door Mat - For the sliding glass door. Ben and I are both tired of water and grass being tracked inside so I'm making this as a temporary solution to the problem. We'll see how well it works before the boys use it as a towel.


Apres Surf Hoodie - For Rachel. I swear it's not that horribly pink. It's actually a dark red, but the sunlight is skewing it. The pink and yellow stuff on the bottom is just temporarily holding my stitches, so ignore that part. I REALLY need to finish this, so it's my current "serious" project.


Goddess Knits Anniversary (GKA) Shawl - This is the mystery shawl that I'm doing with the Kool-Aid dyed yarn. I'm only about half way through Clue 1 and have put it down for now to work on other things. Hoping to come back to it soon but need to work on the above sweater for now.

I also have: Blue Blanket for Josh, Christmas Tree Skirt that I'm really hoping to finish by THIS Christmas, and a pair of plain pink socks which are just travel knitting so I'm not concerned about them.

Ok. Now, if you hear about me casting anything else on I want you to ask me "Have you finished your other projects yet??" I will probably glare at you, tell you "No" and go back to what I'm knitting, but at least you'll have made me feel guilty! And let's just ignore the fact that I ordered a lace shawl kit from Knitpicks that should be here Friday...

Sloooooow

Well boys and girls, I finally finished the Springtime Swirl. I actually finished it on July 4th (talk about finding freedom - that edging took forever), blocked it and need to weave in ends and take pictures. I'm thinking I might wait and have Rach take them while we're at the beach next weekend. So hold tight for those!

Knitting has almost come to a stop lately. When I'm not holding the baby - who likes to be held constantly - I am running around trying to get things done while I have my hands free. Which leaves very little time for knitting and I'm kind of going crazy because of it. Although I do get a little bit of knitting time when Ben's home because he'll play with the baby.

I did cast on for the Goddess Knits Anniversary Shawl on Saturday while everyone was here for BBQ. I'm to row 30 of the first clue. It's kind of cool watching my own dyed yarn being worked into a project. It's variegated enough to be interesting, but not too much to interrupt the lace.

Yesterday, however, I put that down to start the sweater for Rach (again). I ripped it out and re-cast on. Partly because I couldn't remember where I was at in the pattern, and because I thought of a few variations I wanted to do to make it easier since I have to use two alternating balls of yarn. Maybe I'm getting tired of shawls right now, because the sweater sounded really fun. Or maybe I'm just tired of purling because I'm working this sweater in the round.

Sort -Of Update

Having a new baby is fun and exciting, but it makes for super BORING knitting. Hehe. I'm still (slowly) trudging away on the edge for the Springtime Swirl. I'm about... oh, maybe 3/4 done. Possibly more. It's just really hard to get it done when your hands are never free! But that's actually fine by me. I have learned to knit while nursing, which is very interesting but do-able!

I have lots of things I'd like to be knitting, and some things I'm thinking about designing... You know, when I have time. So stay tuned! There might be a post with some actual progress soon. When I have my hands free. ;)