Just Sit Back & Knit

How Many Stitches in A Sock?

Sara's comment on my Nail Biter post reminded me that I forgot to ever finish this post (started days ago)...

First off, let me just update and say I received a sample assignment from the guy at the publishing company. Once I complete it we fill out some paperwork and I can say that I'm a freelance writer (if I do well I assume...so a little more nail biting is in order). Don't worry, I won't quit my day job just yet, though.

In knitting news...
There isn't much.

I gave Jason his partial sock on his birthday:

He seemed more excited about his hand-held vacuum though:

Desperate to start the next sock I moved the live stitches of the first one to a piece of yarn and had Jason try it on. He says he wants it three inches longer!

So I started the other sock and have completed about half of the foot. I don't know if it's the Cascade Fixation on wooden needles or what, but these suckers are taking a long time. A lot of sitches go into a sock. I'm so ready to be done with them so I can move onto other projects.

So that's my post...I'm wasting a perfectly good sock knitting Friday night...

I'll leave you with this...Ted and Nala sharing Ted's breakfast:

So little to do, so much time... Reverse That!

I have been waiting for the right time to sit down and contribute to our blog.  There is no right time!  Every time I sit down, my little monkey boy starts climbing all over me and the chair!!!!!!  Now I have so much to talk about I will have to break it up to get it all said.

We've have a busy few weeks.  Easter was lots of fun up in Bellingham, Washington.  We had a great visit with Grandpa Bob, Grandma Melinda, Aunt Katie, Uncle Josh and Janie, we missed Uncle Bobby who is in Europe and on Easter went to the Vatican to see the Pope!:

Grandp, Fletch, Grandma and Janie

Big brother and Little Sister
              Jim and Katie

Josh and Janie

All the kids (big and little)
     playing at the park
Fletch, Janie, Josh and Jim

Grandma Melinda took Fletch and I on a shopping spree, which included the local yarn store and toy store!  She and Katie are both starting to knit and though they claim to be begginers, they move alot faster than I did at the begginning! 

The bunny slippers were a hit with all, and I really enjoyed making them.  The pattern was easy and quick, a favorite type for me:
   
I need to add some suede to Fletcher's, Grandma was talking
about doing the same for Janie's after Fletch went sliding
onto his butt on the hardwood floor!
   

Also:

No, it's not more knitted monsters!
It's Lamb Sheep's Pride Burly, in two of the very brightest colors Fletch could find on our little shopping spree with Grandma Melinda.  Thank-you Fletch.  I never ever thought I would knit anything in these colors!  Let alone a sweater for my dear one!  He choose them, and so they are to be:
 
My very first work on a sweater and with fair ilse too!
It's very exciting and much more fun than I expected.  The
pattern called for three colors, but I decided to alter it for just
two, I could not imagine what other color Fletch might have
thrown into the mix!   Thank-you Fletch, really,  for pushing
me to try something new!

         My super model! 
Wearing a drop-stitch scarf I
   completed the other day.

And Easter morning:

Today I am greatful for the never
ending patience my chocolate
loving Easter bunny-boy  showed
me while I knitted (guilt free since I
cleaned my house top to bottom
yesterday) almost two feet of a
new scarf to sell!!

 

A Confession

I'm shy. Well, maybe more than that. I may have a bit of a disease or a condition. I'm kind of socially inept. It's not my fault; it kind of runs in my family. In general we're not good chit-chatters. We aren't very good at polite social conversations with people we don't know really well (and with people we do know really well we skip the chit-chat and get down to business) we get this kind of deer-in-the-headlights thing going and say "um" and "uh-huh" a lot.

This social ineptness doesn't just apply to in-person encounters either. You see, the reason why I'm bringing this up is that I can't post comments on other blogs. There are several blogs I read a lot and like and want to comment on but I go dumb and think that nothing I could say hasn't already been said by some other commenter. I've managed to post comments on other blogs twice. Maybe three times.

And last night I went on a little crying jag during which I told Jason that I feel kind of loserish and uninteresting. When I see or talk to people and they ask what I've been doing I respond with, "Working and knitting." And they tend to raise their eyebrows, or laugh like I'm joking, or say "Oh" like they just now realized that I'm social inept. Even one of my fellow knitters (and you know who you are) laughs when she calls and asks what I'm doing and my response is "Knitting." And I know she means well (and probably is just wishing she had as much time as me to knit) but I still feel a bit doltish.

So what does this all have to do with my inability to blog-comment? Probably not much. But I've been feeling a little bit like Gollum down in his cave with his ring only I have yarn. And I need to come out of that place and maybe the first step is to post comments on the blogs that I like because it will be sticking my neck out a little. Even if I'm the only one who knows it.

It's A Nail Biter, Folks

I'm at home now; Ed sent me to the post office with the hint that he thought it would take me an hour or two at least. Bless him. He is either a really great father-in-law/boss (which he really is) or he was tired of hearing my blathering-nonsense talk about possible *freelance work* (wow, really? is that me writing this! I can't quite believe the prospect!). I received an e-mail from my *contact* at the *publishing company* (wow, wow, wow!) with more information -- nonfiction paragraphs, pay per paragraph, etc. and saying that if I was interested he would send me information on doing a sample paragraph & we would go from there. I kept (I hope) my e-mail blathering to a minimum when I responded and am now anxiously awaiting a response from him. It's been almost an hour. Agony! Ecstasy! Blathering-idiot in my brain!

I May Have to Decrease My Knitting Time

But I won't mind. Not one little bit. I'm almost afraid to write about this (I'm superstitious that way--don't want to jinx myself) but I am so excited I can't stop myself. I just received an e-mail from someone who I went to Cal Poly with and who also graduated this past December. He works for a local publishing company and asked if I would be interested in doing some freelance writing work! Interested!?!?!?! Knock me down with a feather! I am still shaking even though it's been nearly forty-five minutes since I got his e-mail. I finally calmed down enough to reply and am waiting anxiously for an e-mail or a phone call so I can learn more about what they want (& hopefully be able to say I am a freelance writer! Oh my god! What a dream!)

I felt sure I had a headache coming on when I woke up this morning, but now I can't even feel it. I also can't seem to concentrate on the job I am supposed to be doing (deadline next week) but....AHHH!

Keep your fingers crossed for me! (See, I've got that superstition thing going again!)

Absolutely Nothing to do with Yarn

I saw this MEME on another blog and decided to do it myself...

Wikipedia Birthday MEME

Go to Wikipedia. In the Search box, type your birth month and day (but not year). List three events that happened on your birthday. List two important birthdays and one interesting death. Post this in your journal.

July 11:
Events:
1804 - Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr kills Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
1859 - A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published. (neato, especially considering the title of my last post...)
1960 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published.

Births:
1274 - Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (d. 1329) (Remember "Braveheart" ?)
1899 - E. B. White, American writer (d. 1985) (Ahh, Charlotte's Web! Stuart Little! The Elements of Style!)

Death:
1989 - Sir Laurence Olivier, English actor (b. 1907)

I'll add another category, just for fun

Holidays and observances:
United Nations - World Population Day
United States: Free Slurpee at 7-Eleven

And because it was yesterday, Jason's birthday

April 20:
Events:
1653 - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament. (I've always loved that term "Rump Parliament")
1902 - Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1972 - Apollo 16 lands on the Moon.
and I have to add one more because it sounds so strange...
1979 - President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a Swamp Rabbit while on vacation in Plains, Georgia.

Births:
570 - Muhammad, Founder of Islam (d. 632)
1923 - Mother Angelica (born Rita Antoinette Rizzo), American nun and broadcaster
and one more since it is also the same year as Jason:
1976 - Joey Lawrence, American actor ("Whoa!")

Death:
1912 - Bram Stoker, Irish author (b. 1847)

Holidays and observances:
National High Five Day

****

I've also decided to join Project Spectrum so I'll be posting pictures featuring different colors each month... April is yellow and orange...and to get started I took a picture of what is on the passenger seat of my car...

And, finally, cats.

Nala, our cat:

And Scrub, Nala's feral friend who hangs around hoping for food:

A Tale of One Sock

Today is Jason's birthday, and tonight I will wrap and present him with a single mostly-finished sock. Despite my best efforts I have been unable to finish at least one whole sock in order to wow him with all of its amazing glory (A sock! I knit a sock! For you! I can care for your feet all day long now! Approximately 13,000 stitches per foot! Dedication! Love!)

Here is Sock a little over a week ago, at the beginning of its life:

And here is Sock today, as Jason will unwrap it:

And Ted, because who can do without Ted?

Good Morning...

It's Saturday morning at about nine o'clock. I've been up for about a half and hour; Jason is still sleeping. I slept funny and my right arm is a little numb which makes sock-knitting difficult. Remember my "Unfinished Business" list of my last post? Yes, well. It hasn't changed a whole lot except that I only have ends left to weave in to complete the HEAVY project and the sock I was going to hide from myself has grown. Just a few more inches and I'll be short-rowing the heel.

And for some more unfinished business...I'm finally posting the pictures from our trip to Ragged Point

Ragged Point:

Me on the balcony:

Elephant Seals:

And because I'm sad I missed "Flash Your Stash Day" on April 1st, here is a partial flash from a few weeks ago when I decided (once again) to organize...

Here's what needed to be organized:

And here it is at the beginning of my attempt at organization:

I forgot to take pictures later (how exciting those would have been, right?) but reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's books has put the fear of moths into me so I put all of my wool in ziplock bags.

And Ted, in his knitted bracelet:

And finally, Nala, because the poor cat is always left out:

Come on down for an old fashioned Fish Fry!

Or a Fish Knit:

      
I don't know his name yet, but I think he's pretty darn cute!  Finally finished, thanks to Kathy's never ending patience and help.

I am going to be very brief, I am packing/cleaning and such to leave for Washington.  Have a Happy Easter all!

Thank you Barb for introducing me to Etsy, you can check out my store here:
http://fletchersmama.etsy.com/

I am almost finished with the bunnies, but won't post till after they have been given.  I got the greatest new knitting toys book, thank you again Kathy and can't wait to show it off. 

I will finish with one more thanks to Kathy, who lovingly knitted this for me:

It is truly lovely to be on the receiving end!

Unfinished Business

I'm in a strange knitting place right now. I've got in-progress projects up the wazoo--and all I want to do is start a new project. Cast-on feel the excitement of things to come, rather than dread the work I have to do...

• Complete the last few rounds of monstrous, cotton, HEAVY (as Nana pointed out) project and weave in six-million ends (hmmm, wonder why I'm putting that one off...?)
• Put a face on Matilda's Bear (and most likely ruin its cuteness in doing so...)
• Finish the Beta version of the above Bear for the pattern
• Work on my good ol' "Computer Sucks Scarf" (short name) that travels with me everywhere and doesn't get any longer
• Finish Dad's socks which can be held off on since they're for Fathers Day
• Figure out what to do about a strange-probably-not-going-to-work-out-prototype project for a gift I want to make someone
• Hide the new sock I cast-on (also intended to be a gift) deep in my stash so I'll work on other things
• Work on the other things I'm not remembering...or maybe that's all and it just feels like a million-zillion projects

Jason's birthday is next week, his dad's & Misti's are both in the first week of May. I'm not worried about what to make for Misti; she's a girl--I have lots of options. I am, however, still unsure of what to make for Jason & Ed as they are guys and I don't think either of them wants a felted purse or anything cute like that.

And, to top it all off, I got new yarn yesterday and I just want to play with it! I ordered from Knit Picks in a moment of weakness and a pure desire to increase my stash with pretty, snuggly yarn (which is going to need another new box soon...) and got ...

**** SORRY! I WAS SUCKED INTO THE VORTEX BEFORE I COULD FINISH THIS POST ****

This is the problem with not finishing a post the minute you start it...you come back and things have changed...
For instance, I've solved (but need you to keep your fingers crossed for me on this one) the problem of what to make Jason for his birthday. And, oh, woe is me, it required a trip to the yarn store at lunch time. Can't say what I got though because he is nice enough to read this blog on occasion...but I did also get a 32" long pair of #2 Addi Turbos (!!!) so I can try making socks with the magic loop method...

When I got back to work an order I had placed with Amazon last week finally arrived in it were **** & **** (birthday gifts for Jason) and the heavy duty and way beyond my skill level but I can dream Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti that I ordered because I love her Knitting in Plain English book. But I'm really excited about Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. It has lots of projects organized by how many hours they should take to complete (I'll double the estimates for myself :) and beautiful photographs by Anna Williams that really, really make me want to JUST SIT BACK AND KNIT.

So, you're all dying I'm sure to know what I got from Knitpicks...but I've decided to wait and post a picture since it's all too beautiful to blog about in just words...And I'm really busy and don't have more time to spend doing this...

But I'll leave you will two more things of note:

The spring Knitty has been released!

More Clapotis! Check out this one, one of the prettiest I've seen yet, I think, and Jess...the green...lovely! And it's Knitpicks Gossamer yarn...ummmm!