Just Sit Back & Knit

My Journey to Christmas

This picture is installment one.
Since I am not sure exactly who reads this blog
I am going to be taking pictures that show almost nothing
of the gifts I am making!

I sucessfully ordered the rest of the yarn I need for gifts today, thanks Barb for the help.  I know it seems terribly late, but I am a blissfully-ingnorant-of- reality-opptomistic-procrastonator (say that three times fast - even once is hard for me - I can't even spell it).  Also the gifts I am making are mostly quick projects.
Because I could not help myself  I ordered a hank of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Midnight for myself.  Just because.  Because it looks beautiful.  Because even if I never knit myself a shawl with it I will love to touch it.  Because even if I do knit myself a shawl with it and never wear it because I don't wear shawls, I will have made something beautiful and luscious just for myself.

I just watched The Lake House last night, and with the complete opposite opinion of Barb's - I loved it.  Funny thing:  Jim did too.

Don't Call it a Comeback

I love L.L. Cool J.  I can't help it, I really can't.

So, I'm back, again.  I have tried posting a few times lately, but get so upset with my computer and slow uploads of pictures, I have walked away cussing each time.

I have decided to keep it short and sweet, and make a commitment:  to post at least once a week, even if it's too short. 

Barb, I love your meme (which I plan to steal) and your randoms thoughts, which I paln to copy!!!

I do have injuries that prevent or at least really slow down my knitting!!!
******WARNING******** the following picture is graphic and gross:

   
these injuries are well on the way to healing.  I was walking down the drive-way just over a week ago holding Fletch (We were going down to "see what the worker guys did to our street") when I slipped and fell forward taking all the weight and momentum on my left (thank-you, thank-you, thank-you) hand.  It was nasty and hurt worse than childbirth (I kid you not).  Fletch started crying right away, but once he saw my hand and my face he stopped.  He was so sweet and helpfull.  I stayed on my back on the driveway for at least five minutes.  Then slowly made my way up the stairs, across the porch and inside to my living room floor, taking breaks to muffle shouts and wimpers.  Fletch got the phone for me and I called my sister who left work to clean my hand, pick out the pebbles and bandage me up.  The whole time I was unbelievably whimpy.  I'm not sure how she put up with it.  She did though, patiently and sweetly - that's what sisters do.

I'm back to knitting now, still just a bit slowed down. 
Fletch is asleep, Jim is out. 
Tonight it's just me, the t.v., my knitting and Turkey day leftovers. 
I was so excited, then I did this:

burned my yarn-tension fingers while heating up my dinner!!!!!!
This may be the night I look into continental knitting.

random thoughts and pictures:
Thanks to my MIL for being here this weekend.  Having her around to knit with inspired me to get back to work on Fletcher's airplane sweater, and past my problem of getting my in-the-round sleeves joined and not looking TOO sloppy for words:
  I still don't love this sweater, but, I still want to finish it.  I want to get my first sweater behind me and I do love the airplane and FLY above it.

Kathy gave me some beautiful yarn and a pattern from her stash.  I will start it soon - a new SKP!  I will make it for myself!  This is really very exciting because I never want to spend my yarn money on things for me, I always want to get things to make for others first, thank-you Kathy.

Just before I burned my fingers I finished a scarf for
my little (who is taller than me by lots) brother Matt. 
 
This scarf was modeled  after a scarf my Stepmom, MaryLee, bought from a friend. 
Matt picked the colors and I got to work.  Again I wasn't crazy about it as I was
working on it - I'm not real fond of the super bulky yarn. 
Once I started sewing on the pockets I fell in love. 
I think it will look awsome on Matt and hope he likes it as much as I do.
I'll post a picture of him wearing it soon.

I just have to mention how disapointed  I was in the movie The Davinci Code.
I loved the book and hated the movie. 

I think Fletcher is an amazing person.  He makes me laugh all the time with his quirky humor.
During conversations - i love conversations with my three-almost-four-year-old-  I am ofter struck dumb by the complexity of his thinking process. 
I'm not trying to say I think he extra-ordinary in comparrison to other children.  I mean he is extra-ordinary to me, but I just think children are amazing and he constantly reinforces that knowledge. 
It's truly exciting. 

And so, here are a few recent pictures of him:
These are from our two most recent outings
with our home-schooling group.

building a shelter:

trying out the shelter:

face-painting with rocks (this is from the week after halloween, he
was a SCARY GREEN VAMPIRE BAT and wears the costume at
least once a week):

inside a replica of an early native-american dwelling:

I think I am done for tonight.  I am excited I took the time to contribute, and want to say thanks to you Barb for starting this blog and inspiring me each time I read your entries.

One last image:

This is what is left of our Thanksgiving pies and goodies I must, and will throw out first thing tommorow morning in order to stop eating them!!!  I made the pumkin pies from scratch this year, it's the second time I've done it.  There were very good, and I must say I make a mean crust.  However, when I bit into my dad's apple pie, I realized I've still got alot to learn about crust-making.  Nothing beats my dad's pies.

Peace Fleece

IF you have not seen it yet, check it out:  Peace Fleece .

It is a company started by a husband and wife Peter Hagerty and Marty Tracy in 1985.  They started by buying wool from  the Soviet Union in hopes of helping to diffuse the threat of nuclear war by trade.  Now with the same goals of promoting peace through common work they buy from farmers all over the world.

I just received a yarn card I ordered and the colors are beautiful.  They have several products for which the proceeds go directly to "NeveShalom/Wahat al Slamm "Oasis of Peace," a Palestinian/Israeli Village in Israel committed to resolving conflict on a daily basis".  They have more information on this village at their website.

I ordered a few skeins to try out.  MaryLee and I found the company through Sweaterscapes  when I was showing her the caped cardigan:

She is hiring me to make her a cardigan, and although it turns out I will not be making the one above, she immediately wanted one made out of Peace Fleece yarn. 

In the film department  I have another recommendation for a movie which really moved me: 
Everything is Illuminated.
"A young American Jewish man begins an exhausting quest -- aided by a naive Ukranian translator - to find the righteous gentile woman who saved his grandfather when his small Ukranian village (along with most of the populace) was obliterated during the Nazi invasion of Russia in 1941"

While it may sound just plain sad, the acting is wonderful.  Yes, there is plenty of tears to be shed, but also laughter - and quite a bit of it.

And just to keep up on my own work blogging, here is a picture of Fletcher's sweater in progress:

and the inside, where all my ends will need to be woven in!  Yikes:

Here's the boy for whom the sweater will be large enough that he should be able to wear it until he turns, ohhhh I'd say 15 maybe even 16 (my skills in math leave a bit to be desired):

Not the most flattering picture, but he refused to smile! 
Up until about 4 days ago this boy would rather run around naked than don ANY piece of clothing. 
Suddenly, he gets out of bed and gets fully dressed!
Shorts first - he has a few favorite pairs, these being top of his list, he calls them hisbrand-new shorts. 
I don't know why,they were a pair of pants I cut off in desperation when we were out and about and he had an accident.  It was too hot for pants and I had  no clean shorts in the back-pack. 
Next comes the shirt, he's real into the tank-tops - no surprisein this heat. 
The belt goes over the shirt, cinched tightly over his cute little belly - rather high in my estimation. 
Next the socks and rain boots.  Note the socks pulled up allllll the way?  Very important as I learned yesterday through a fifteen minute crying jag when I helped him put them on.  Of coarse he would go entirely without socks if I did not insist he wear them.  I absolutely refuse to go through a fight about stinky boots because he walks around in this heat sockless, NO WAY.  Lastly snow gloves. 
Sometimes he adds a warm weather hat or Darth Vadar helmet.  Also, occasionaly his chainsaw goggles.
I Love It!  The imagination and individuality of childhood is amazing. 
No wonder so manyparents are accused of trying to relive their own childhood through their children, you just can't help youself.

getting back into the groove

So for some time now I have been a bit off knitting.  I wasn't sure why.  I was feeling inadaquate as a knitter.  Nothing inspired me and I felt I just wasn't making anything really amazing or neat, blah, blah, blah.

Well, I back in the game and getting really really excited about some projects.  So many in fact that I don't really know where to start!

I need to back  up a minute here:

After Easter Fletch and I went to stay the weekend with Grandma Paffy (my MIL - and knitting guru).  She gave me half of the yarn stash you see above!  I wish I had taken a picture of her yarn stash.  She is organized beyond belief and has such yarn, I can only ever dream of.  And I do.  If I had known how to knit when I first started dating Jim, I would have married him just so that some day I could inherit her stash!  I know that sounds horrible and morbid - but she has already promised it to me.  She knows me well!!!!!

Last weekend Kathy came for a visit, this is her and
Fletch hiking at Montana De Oro.  We had a great time.
After our day at the beach we found some time to knit,
she helped me to figure out how to write/work my own
basic hat pattern.  I am now using the Noro Blossom I bought
for the purse pattern from Simply Noro to make myself a
hat and scarf:

The hat turned out just a tad large, but
I like it.  The scarf is starting out a garter
stich with st st border.  That may
change, but so far I like it.

The other big project I will be starting on is a sweater for Fletch.  Remember the Green and Orange cardigan?  I gave up on it.  I did not love it at all. 
The other day four other ladies from my Book/Knitting/Eating club and I went on a knitting feild trip to a LYS I have not been to Ball, Skein and More in Cambria.  Afterwards we had a proper tea at the Tea Cozy in Cambria.  All around it was a great trip.  While I resisted buying any yarn I did buy The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd.  It has completely shifted my fear of sweaters to a full on excited  "I know I can do it attitude!".

In that spirit and after some help from Barb on finding knitters graph paper on the web I have designed a colorwork chart for a pull on raglan I plan to get to work on today!   

Here is a sample of the charts I worked on
and the fished product is:

Originally I was thinking of doing a truck,
Fletch wanted a garbage truck.  Then I realized
I wanted to do an airplane or helicopter to
make use of the word FLY which is also his
initials: Fletcher Leopold Yost!
I am in love with this and hope it works out
as well as I am invisioning.  I am so dedicated
to it that I am going to knit a swatch with the
whole motif on it befor I start on the sweater to
make sure it will turn out!
I did have to promise to do a garbage truck sweater
next.

Last but not least  I am so thrilled for Barb and Jason,
and  the Baby Bump!  The sweater she knit is heavenly. 
Katie, Barb and I met up at
Barb's house for a dinner date and she took us the back room
where Jason was on the computer to show us her "latest"
knitting project.  I was stunned.  Katie asked, "Is it for Matilda?"
(her daughter) and Barb said no, and pointed to her belly, "It's
for mine!"   WOW!!!!
Then Kate says, "You'll have to make two!"
They are due the same week..... what are the chances?

checkin' in

Well, life is a bit crazy right now.  I have almost no time to knit (I'm working on a dishcloth - thanks Barb for reminding me!), and really less time to blog.

I am watching my brother's three kids for the summer and spending most of my time at their new house with no internet!  Fletch is loving it, and we're hoping to do lots of fun things together.  Basically I have about one hour at home in the morning and 3-4 at night to live my life.  That includes nursing (first and formost always), cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, gardening, hamster, dog, playing with fletch, and breathing.  I haven't been this busy in a long time.

Recognize this boy?

Jim gave him his first buzz cut last week
it aged him about two years!!!!

I do have some knit blogging to do, but I honestly don't know when I will, maybe this weekend.

Anyone seen the movie Japanese Story with Toni Colette?  I loved it, I love her!  I got it from the library last week and highly recomend it - be ready to ball your eyes out.

workin' nine to five....

...not really.

I LOVE Netflix!   I get to watch one to three new movies a week, depending on how little sleep I need.   I recently watched Brokeback Mountain.  I was sad for about three days afterwards. I could just  imagine how many gay people have gone though what these men went though, and maybe how many still do - I felt heartbroken.  This was the saddest love story I've ever seen.   I thought the acting was amazing, and not just Heath Ledger, I really thought it was all great acting.

I think I have well over 100 movies picked and ready to be watched, it's so exciting!  I also get t.v. shows, one of my all time favorites being Columbo.  For Fletch I get the Imax movies, we just sent one back about Nascar - which he has taken a recent intrest in.  I am looking forward to watching the Imax movie Everst.  I just finished John Krakauer's book Into Thin Air.  I was breathless just reading and can't imagine watching it.

Last week I finished knitting a hat, scarf and purse set for someone at my sister's work who requested it as a gift for a friend.  She liked one of my purses and wanted the hat and scarf to match.  Wouldn't you know I could not get the same yarn.  I bought something similar and so she decided to take the original purse and have me make the whole set out of the new yarn also:

the one on the left is the new one,
which I happen to like better.

My gorgeous sister, Harvest agreed to
model for me.

When Fletch saw  what we were up 
to he wanted in on the fun,
and, being a three year old....

he then wanted it all to himself!

This is a felted hat I finished yesterday.
This is a wool/sythetic blend: Foliage
from Berroco which I bought for a
sweater and decided was not right.
It is bulky and so I tried to use it for
a bowl pattern out of One Skein.  The yarn
just wasn't bulky enough and did not
felt to a sturdy fabric. 
Abracadabra!  It fit my head!  I really
dig the colors.

No Brain = No Title

First of all, a correction. In my last post I said

but I don't like it as a hat because the hat isn't big enough for the hat to repeat.

when I meant to say

but I don't like it as a hat because the hat isn't big enough for the stripes to repeat.

So the hat starts out with the light greeny colors and then has a dark black stripe right at it's waist line (if hats had waists, which I guess they don't) then goes into the darker greens & browns. To me it looks like a hat with split personality disorder. Two different hats smooshed together with a black stripe dividing them.

Onto other things. Day light savings time just isn't fair. Especially not this year. First, I lose and hour which makes getting out of bed that much more difficult. Then I started my period yesterday morning and that's no small thing for me. I know there are people out there for whom getting their period is nothing more than an annoyance, but for me it's a sickness. I'm exhausted. I don't sleep well. From my rib cage down I feel swollen & like my circulation is half-way cut off which makes sitting in a chair all day a real pain in the ass (literally). I get cramps that feel like hot iron bars with spikes on them are stuck through me from back to front and some evil little gnome is twisting them back and forth so the spikes grab onto my muscles and tear them up (corn bags are my only friends at this point). My tummy hurts. Maybe from all the ibuprofen I take to get rid of the iron bar carrying gnome, but still. I'm thirsty and no amount of water helps but it sure does make me have to pee every half-hour. Last night it was so bad that I climbed in bed at seven o'clock and didn't even feel like knitting! I did knit, of course, but it was lackluster, required knitting--none of the spark and pizazz of I LOVE KNITTING & CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT knitting. I really just wanted to lay in bed and moan. You know, like in When Harry Met Sally when Harry and Sally are each at home in their beds talking to each other on telephone (and watching Casablanca, see? it really is one of my favorite movies> and Sally asks Harry what he'll do when they get off the phone and he says he'll just lay there and moan. Then he practices on the phone for her. That was me last night. Only I moaned and knit really sloooowly. And you know the worst of it? I know there are people out there (the kind for whom a period is an annoyance, a slight inconvenience) who don't believe me. They think I'm exaggerating. They think I'm a whiner who can't handle pain. And you know? They just piss me off. Period.

Onto project updates. Matilda's bear still lacks a face. I'm on the second version and am taking meticulous notes in order to write out the pattern and I'm actually almost done. I'm kicking myself a little, though, because I should have taken better notes the last time even though I did the weird shoulder thing that I don't want to repeat. If I had notes from that part I could just change them rather than make up a new way. But, I'm working on the head (and the pattern starts at the feet) so I'm close. I am thinking of trying to make dog ears for this one so it can be named Theodore. But I'm also thinking of making a bear ear and a bunny ear and a cat ear and attaching them to the body so I can see how they felt & then I'll just cut them off. Oh, and also I'll make tails. Then I'll just knit up a little sweater to cover up the scars.

I ripped back the messed up short rows on my dad's sock and knitted them up again easy-peasy. Now I've moved onto the ankle/calf tube of the sock and have about three inches of 2x2 ribbing done. And either I have one strange looking sock or I've discovered the reason that people always post sock picture with a foot in the sock or they sock laying on it's side. Cause handknitted socks look funky. Or at least this one does. But the closer I am to finishing this first sock the happier I am that I already have the toe of the next one done. Smartest knitting thing I've ever done. Once I'm done with this one I can just pick up the next one and knit in the round for 7.5 inches rather than having to start over with the tough stuff. Yipee! Easy knitting ahead!

I've gotten a little work done on the "My Computer Sucks But At Least I Can Knit Scarf." This has become my carry-along knitting project. You all know how I feel about scarf knitting. So between Olivia's choir performance on Friday, Jason's poker tournament at Outlaws on Sunday and a power outage at work yesterday, I've added on about a foot. Or maybe nine inches. At least seven.

skp, nvc, and jsb'n

Well there is just so much I want to talk about today, and I know I have very little time before my boss enters my cubicle demanding to know when I will get back to work (you know, cooking, cleaning, surrending my body to him.......for fast milkies).

Las night was our meeting for NVC (nonviolent communication), it was amazing!  Whent Fletch was a new guy I was part of a practice group for maybe three meetings, then dropped out, telling myself it was too hard with Fletch - which truth be told it was hard.  I think I really quit because the group just didn't feel right, I could barely talk in front of them and this of coarse hindered my learning or practicing the process that is NVC. This new group has a whole different feel and I was able to talk last night!  The first time I was shaking and even started crying (yes, what I said was an emotional thing for me, but just revealing it to four people at once was hard to do, which is what made me cry).   I feel invigorated by the possiblities and hopeful about how learning to use NVC can change my life and the lives of my family.

Barb, your SKP, is it an afgan/throw?  If not I am really lost!  On of the first knitting projects that really inspired me to want to knit beautiful things is this throw from the book Simply Noro by Jane Ellison:

I have yet to buy the yarn for it, but some day I WILL DO IT!

Here are some other projects  I really want to make for myself:

I am in love with this sweater, and I love the color.
Last Thanksgiving I went to a LYS in Ventura with
Kathy (MIL) and searched for the right yarn, they did
not have it, I was not going to be swayed!  I had permission
from hubby to splurge and I wasn't going to let the
oppertunity pass!  I ended up with a striping yarn with dark
colors.  Do you know I bought one ball short?  I think fate is telling me to find the right
orange yarn to make this beauty.  9the weekend crafter Knitting 20 simple wearabeles for begeinners)

Barb this can be knit with Silk Garden.  Maybe you would not hate the colors of yours so much in a different pattern?
This just looks so comfy!

These are both so amazing! 
I just want to curl up in the "jacket"
(both from interweave)

And this is simply ingenious!  Someday I will absolutely will make this:

caped cardigan
check out the website, you have to see what
the cardigan does, everyone needs one!

This started my desire to knit purses, and though I have the yarn and started the purse I have not progressed too far:

Alright, I think it's time to move back into reality:
Here is just the beginning of my SKP, I need to head into town for a new set of dp's to continue:
And I have to send out a special thanks to you barb!  Notice this is not a plain old ball I wound with my yarn, it is a center pull ball!  You were right, it really is just as easy, if not easier that winding a ball.  I would not have even tried (I had tried another tecnique from a book or somewhere written that I did not understand) if not for your post - the video really made it easy to understand!

The yarn is my one skein (well now ball) of Recycled Silk.  I would now like to send out a special thanks to Little Knits (I can't remeber the name of the woman who owns it or at least sent me this).  When I put in an order before Christmas, one of the colors of  some wool yarn was out and she contacted me to choose another.  I did not want any others and asked her to send on the order without.  Well to my greatful surprise she GAVE me this Recycled Silk for free.  I told her she made me a forever loyal costomer.

Now here is the first project I really loved and made for myself - well so far the only thing I've really made for myself.  It is from the first Knitting Experience book and though it was supposed to be longer and wider, I still love it:
   

Great model, huh?  Note:  the wax paper bag of trucks :) 
I wanted to bring this scarf up
1) to show it off and
2) because it is knit lenghth wise, which might be interesting for you to try barb to help with the angony of knitting scarves!

This post has literally taken me two hours to create and I need to stop neglecting my boy, even though there were several other things I wanted to talk about.
Note to self for future:
If you blog daily, you won't have so much to write about at each blog!

Oh, before I run!  Barb you asked about my untwisting my twisted knitting?   I'm not sure my explination will be clear, but I folded the twisted edge up to the knitting edge (where I was working) and knitted them together for four or five stitches:
this has created a very strange spot, but did untwist the knitting and I thought I might as well see if I can't turn it into an interesting feature at the top of a purse when felted?

I know I go to some astonishing lengths to avoid frogging my work, but well there you have it.  I am just a Different Breed of Knitter (DBK)!

I Heart Terrence Dashon Howard

Have you guys seen Hustle & Flow? Jason & I just watched it and I really, really want Terrence Howard to win the Oscar. Isn't he handsome?

I completely understand the "knitting agony"! Even though I'm not making stuff to sell and even though when I'm doing something else I want to just sit back & knit I sometimes sit down with my knitting and think, "Oh, I have to work on this?!?" It's been like that a little with Jason's slippers, especially because I keep messing up! I've already posted about my Funky Lumpy Toe problem, and fortunately, I didn't repeat that mistake on the second slipper. I did, however, manage to get lost at some point between the middle of the slipper and the cuff and had to fudge a few rows to get back on track. But Jason says he doesn't care as long as they fit and are warm. So, I'll just keep my fingers crossed and watch closely as I felt them to make sure they don't become Ted-sized slippers.

I've done a little more work on my secret knitting project and here's another hint--I have seven balls of Noro Silk Garden for this baby. I've used two already and just started on the third. Hmmm...Lots of yarn...

On a completely unrelated topic, it's freaking cold outside! 56 degrees according to the sign in front of Hallmark. When it first started getting so warm a few weeks ago, I was complaining about it, but now I'm used to it! I was feeling spring if you know what I mean.

Okay, that's all for now. FrankenHand hopes you all had a good Valentines Day!

Which one of these things don't belong? Gregory Peck, Slipper Problem & Secret Knitting Project

So, yesterday while watching To Kill A Mockingbird (oh, how I love that book, movie & Gregory Peck!)

I said, 'Hey,' Mr. Cunningham. How's your entailment getting along? Don't you remember me, Mr. Cunningham? I'm Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one early morning, remember? We had a talk. I went and got my daddy to come out and thank you. I go to school with your boy. I go to school with Walter. He's a nice boy. Tell him 'hey' for me, won't you? You know something, Mr. Cunningham, entailments are bad. Entailments.... Atticus, I was just saying to Mr. Cunningham that entailments were bad but not to worry. Takes a long time sometimes.... What's the matter? I sure meant no harm, Mr. Cunningham.

And I got some more work done on Jason's slippers:


Can anyone see the problem we have here? Maybe this will help:


Yup, you've got it; there is one funky, lumpy toe on the first slipper. Here's a close-up:

My lazy part wants to just leave it and hope that felting & blocking will hide this flaw. But my trying-to-be-a-conscienctious-knitter-with-few-regrets (related to knitting, at least!) part thinks I should rip it out all the green part of that slipper and start over. And the rest of me kind of wants to have a temper tantrum, foot stomping and all, because I'm tired and I just don't want to redo it!


So, to make myself feel better I took more pictures of my secret knitting project. I've decided not to frog for now. I haven't worked on it since before the birth of FrankenHand and all that time away made me excited about it once again. "Oh, Secret Knitting Project, I've missed you! I can't wait to feel your soft fiber, to hold you in my hands once again..." Okay, sorry that was a little weird. Do we have a "Trying To Be Funny But Failing" Category? Maybe I should add one.

Anyway, more Secret Knitting Project pictures to confuse the heck out of you, my darlings, who have guessed (among other things), in no particular order:

• skirt
• underware
• sweater
• bikini
• poncho
• shawl (hmm...getting warmer...)

Oh, Secret Knitting Project, what big...holes you have...

And finally, just to show how really cool I am, another picture, this time prominently displaying some of the stitch markers I made myself (excuse the black blob in the corner, my *poncho* got in the way):