Knit, (tink tink),

So I did a little more on the Lady Sweater, I tried it on and it rocks. I had to tink back (that's knitting backwards as in to undo your knitting for you non-knitters). When I do a lacy pattern I prefer to tink back but when I undo regular no-patterned knitting I just take out the needle and rip it all down. Painful but fast. But this was about 7 rows and 2 1/2 hours (because I was watching Moving Up on TLC), and at a few points I actually dropped more stitches and had to go back further. I am so happy I did now. There are no discernable mistakes anywhere as far as I can see now.

I took a trip to the LYS store yesterday, I had to go to a different one because the one closest to my house was shut for the holiday. The one I ended up at is truly beautiful and has a lot of yarn, very little of which I am familiar with. I think I need to branch out and try some new stuff. You won't find me using too much outside of wool, but there is just so many different kinds and I love it. I even have a newfound affection for sheep. I got my cool buttons, which I put on my sweater already for fitting purposes, those rubbery stitch markers I like, the Fall 2008 Interweave Knits, and a bottle of Eucalaln wash. $51.00 later, gosh, I was like what the hell just happened? I do know that I like expensive buttons.

Someone told me a long time ago never to use Woolite on my hand knits. The lady at the LYS reminded me again, so I am just letting you know that she said, "You might as well use Tide on it." I assume it will strip out the lanolin from the wool and abuse the fabric also shrinking and felting it. Just don't do it, OK?

I also found this sweater from last year I almost finished for Jack, but got messed up on the collar and hibernated it. Pulled it out, found the solution extrememly easy and finished it. Guess who it fits now. Thomas! It is an adaption of the Cobblestone Pullover and calculated based on the Elizabeth Zimmerman EPS system. I loved the way I just knocked it out, except for that collar thing in the end. I think I just worked furiously fast on it last year and got really frustrated when I was all burnt out at the end. It's made of soft and awesome Encore Worsted, the best cheap yarn ever ever ever. It probably looks cheap to most but lots of times I cannot tell it is mostly acrylic. It is defintely better than what store bought sweaters are made of at Tar-jay these days. He absolutely loves it and even folds it nicely when he takes it off. A mother's proud moment.

February Lady Sweater

OK, so now I am working on this:

I was not happy with the Blissful jacket, the collar had a mistake in the directions and I could not figure out how to make it right on my own, plus it looked like it was going to be too short, so I was all in all a little depressed about it. I can't wait to turn that tweed into little sweaters for the guys, they really want me to get going on those. I'm knitting it in Manos Wool color #29, I am enjoying this and it is the first thing that doesn't seem to make the vargated wool look too hippie-ish, which is a look that I cannot pull off no matter how hard I try. The gull lace pattern is pretty easy and fun to do.

Blissful Jacket

Here is the Blissful Jacket by Debbie Bliss from Interweave Knits, Fall 2005. I have had this yarn for several years, gifted to me from my Fairy Godmother. I really did not know what I should do with the yarn until I saw this jacket. I did the back of the sweater 2 years ago, and did at least one of the fronts, but I must have thought that I messed it up (I did not understand the collar directions and nervously frogged the front piece or pieces, I cannot remember if I did both of them). In hindsight, I think I did fine, I just panicked at the time. So, I am further than this picture now, I have done all of the parts, pinned and blocked, and seamed the shoulders and I am now doing the collar. Well, there is a mistake in the collar directions, but I figured out what to do. I did the first collar point well enough and continued on the rest, but I accidentally forgot to section off the second collar point and now I have to rip back about an inch of rows on the rest of the collar, no biggie! My only concern is the armpits, they seem high, and the length seems short, I may have to re-block and try and stretch the lengths out more. I will have to see if once it is seamed together if the armpits are comfortable, the width may make it more comfortable than it looks to be right now.

I am totally slacking off today. I forgot how to discipline myself to do actual work. I am a detestable lazy and spoiled person who has the nerve to think her life is hard, ever! Today, I just needed a quiet house to catch up on work and create. Right now, I feel like going to get a bite of lunch and procratinating a little more! I know what that means. It means I have no energy for the tasks in front of me. Time to get back into the proper time management quadrant!= not urgent and productive. At least I know better to pick up the knitting until this work is done. I am starting to get the comments from the spouse about all of the knitting I have been doing lately. Got to hide it better...

Sewing Finally

My sewing machine is working beautifully even if it sounds like Pac-Man. I have no idea where I am going with this skirt I am making- it is definitely not my colorway and I am appalled at the size I had to cut out, but we will see if I have improved my sewing skills of late. I just like doing things to look nice now. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. I just want to nest and work on the house, I guess I cannot do everything. I want the house to look better NOW! I did not help matters starting to scrape that front door, but I know it will look so much better in the end. I am actually excited at the prospect of stripping those cabinets in the halllway. They really are nice and fifties so I would like to keep them if I could. I want some old cabinets now in good condition and reuse them. That is what sounds good to me. I might even want a fifties table in the kitchen and a floor that would go with all of that. Now the ideas are flowing. I need to work my business smartly so that I am not having to stress all of the time and I can concentrate on these things when the mood strikes. OK, I don't like wood chips anymore, my yard is a disaster zone- it looks like a jungle! It so needs to get cleaned out. I have so many options to weigh now, I cannot wait to make them a reality. I will be posting some of this sewing soon, stay tuned.

Resourcefulness

Today I actually have some energy. I do not know if I will finish the painting that I started earlier this week, but I should be able to complete a few rooms and feel 'together'. I need to restart my creative life like I was talking about. There is a fly in here that is driving me CRAZY. Like insane. It is landing in my hair,my foot, taunting me and evading my swats. I am going to go absolutely cookoo on him in a sec here. Can't take it. I will be focusing on laundry and tidying today, and finish up the kitchen- why is the housework always chasing me? I had called Merry Maids last week to request and estimate, and my appointment was yesterday, but I called them 2 hours before and cancelled. I let them know that I have 'control issues', and cannot let someone else come do it for me. Yard work I can justify- but housework? No way. My house is too small, I think I have no excuse there.

Visual On the Inside, Not Outside

I had a thought, but I forgot it. Oh, it will come to me in just a sec. I managed to tip over a box AND mess up a fingernail all in a seconds' time. Oh YES! I remembered! Wow, that was quick. Are you dying yet? OK, it is time to finish my QUILT! Yes, that one! My 7 year old just got fabric glue in a handprint shape on my cheapy IKEA bedspread on the guest bed, so I decided it is finally time to get rid of it. I don't want to go and BUY a bedspread, I looked before but I was not in love with anything at Target at all. So I got the idea to cute that bed up with the quilt. It is my Dresden plate vine-trimmed one, and I started it when we were first married and I was on an oil tanker with Rob heading up the West Coast from Long Beach to Portland. I actually pieced all of the plates by hand and have been sitting on it ever since. I was kind of struggling with my skills and I decided I was tired of doing things inaccurately, and I did not have the patience at the time to read up and figure out what the right way was, so I put it aside. I picked it up again about 4 years ago for long enough to figure out how to make perfectly round circles with freezer paper, thanks to a book and my MIL Lorie, who is extremely proficient in quilting. I was also having some seam allowance problems that threatened to derail the entire project. So my motivation is to get the house in order quickly so that I can reward myself with some supreme crafty time. Pictures are just a bit too ambitious for me today but I will get back to you to let you know if this actually going to get off the ground soon.

Plugging Along

Hey Everyone,

I am checking in to tell you everything is good. I am chugging away at the business, and things are running, well, fairly smoothly at home. We suddenly realized that due to either the foundation moving, or a pre-existing problem getting worse, that our kitchen tile is detatching itself from it's subfloor! There is a huge bubble in the middle of the room and since it is ceramic, I am just ready for the cracks and the shards to come up, yikes! We have such a money pit. I am desperate to work on this house but I am just so sick of all of the new things that come up and the fact that EVERY DARNED ROOM has at least one light bulb burned out or one plug that doesn't work. I don't care how busy anybody is anymore, I have said it before and I will say it again, "We can't live like this!" I am over it. But guess what, I can't take much more DIY, either. Other than that, I am happy as a clam.

Today I get to do a little work, and then I get to have a nice little break. I am going to make sure the house is cute and maybe even get the car cleaned out. Hooray!

It Is Stormy

Hi there,

We are experiencing some heavy rain here in the Bay Area, and I am coincidentally climbing the walls. Could it be that I am actually ready to leave the four walls of home, for once? But alas it is terrible weather and possibly unsafe. I love this kind of stuff but I know I shouldn't be going anywhere with the guys. I do love to get out, but when I am ready. Believe me, I am ready.

I am rounding the finishing corner of my Nevis jacket, also from A Season's Tale. I started to estimate the yardage and I knew that I should go short sleeved. But now I realize that I should have picked a more fitted style, the sleeves are going to be loosey-goosey, but I think I can make it look great if I wear the right top underneath or get a little tan on my arms! I want it to look great in Chicago! I have never worn an alpaca SWEATER before, just my scarf, which was a tad itchy, but I think this stuff is just cuddly. No itch here. This Baby Alpaca grande is so dreamy. I can't find the battery charger for my camera so I will wait for Rob to take some pictures to post photos,look for it!

The office is workable and I ordered a bed and it showed itself Wednesday by way of the PennySaver. It is the exact make that is on our Master Bed! Verry comfy Spring Air. I think our guests will be very happy with it. I hear the ominous voice of Denise saying, "Don't put a bed in your spare room, because someone will always be in it", meaning there will be a freeloader in your future. This was 15-odd years ago advice, so I would love to think that we have all moved on! Anyway, I have a cute place in the office to nap, read and to watch movies on the laptop now-yay!