Just Sit Back & Knit

It's My Life...

"If you get me a girl pit bull, I will just be PISSED OUT!"
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Kissing Nana's neck.
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"I've got a little monkey in my pocket."
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A ring bearer in Uncle Jeff's wedding.
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"My dad and me just got separated at the tattoo show, he got lost."

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Fixing brakes with dad.

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"Mom, is today a daddy day?  Mom days are stupid."
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Dad soothing a wee one with his wee pinky.
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"I have a great idea for our journals Mom!  Let's give each other memories."
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Hiking near Nana's house.
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I gave notice at my job.  I realized working there was draining all the energy I want to put into the things that are important to me:

Homeschooling Fletcher
Feeding my family healthy, home-cooked meals
Exercising
Helping Jim maintain his health
Having another baby
Keeping a comfortably clean and orderly home
Making time for the creative things I love to do: knit, sew, paint, garden

I have about 3-1/2 more weeks to go at The Porch, then I plan to focus on creating a schedule so that I can fit all the important things into my life and do work for my dad from home!  I am in love with the possibility of making my life exactly what I want it to be.  I am lucky, so lucky to be married to Jim, who wants the same things I do and supports me in working towards those things.  Life really is good.

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My Secret Knitting Project!!!!!:

Any Ideas????

Sick Day

I stayed home from work today because I thought I might be getting one of my old migranes (the kind I haven't had since the beginning of my pregnancy). The headache hasn't developed, but isn't completely gone either, however, I have been spending an uncomfortable amount of time in the bathroom today, if you know what I mean. I don't feel like writing any of the many posts I've been meaning to write (mostly about finished projects) but was able to take some pictures of what I've been working on recently.

Secret Knitting Project
This project is secret out of necessity (since it is a gift for a friend who may or may not read this blog) so I've tried to disguise what it is. I tend to stick to projects that require no seaming because I'm not good at it and hate doing it. So now I'm stuck on this project because I need to seam two bound off edges together and each time I try it looks like poop. The directions say to use mattress stitch, which I haven't had much success with in the past, and this time the seed stitch makes it even more of a challenge for me. I almost modified the pattern to allow me to kitchener the edges together, rather than binding them off and seaming them, and now I wish I had.

Misti Alpaca Scarf
When I became stuck on the above project, I cast on for a simple garter stitch scarf out of a skein of super-soft Misti Alpaca Chunky in Natural Brown (Color 410). I'm knitting it on US #9 straight needles for a tight stitch that I'm really pleased with. It's going very quickly, but I'm realizing that this is going to be one short scarf if I don't either block the heck out of it or buy another skein of this yarn. I'm leaning toward more yarn because I really like the weight and look of the scarf as it is and don't want to change that by blocking it for more length.

Simple Baby Socks
Last night I received a baby shower gift from a friend who lives in Sacramento and was unable to come to my baby shower since she has a six week old baby of her own. Receiving the gift from her reminded me that just after her daughter was born I had started knitting a simple pair of baby socks for her out of some Sirdar Snuggly (purchased for the fact that it can be machine/washed and dried) I had in my stash. So, this morning, wanting something more challenging than the scarf and less stress-inducing than the secret project, I found the sock and was able to knit what remained of the foot, turn the heel and knit the cuff including rib pretty quickly.

\

Now I have to complete this sock with the tubular bind off from The Knitting Answer Book by Margaret Radcliffe (the more I use this book the more I love it) and cast on for the other...hopefully I'll be able to finish the second sock sometime today or this evening.

Cotton Tubey

Remember my Unfinished Business? That "monstrous, cotton, HEAVY (as Nana pointed out) project" of the "six-million ends?"

Well it's been gifted so I can reveal more about it...

I made a Tubey. My first sweater ever! I wish I felt great, happy and ecstatic about this, uh, accomplishment. However, you may notice that the title says "Cotton" Tubey. And I'm sure there is a more accomplished knitter out there that chuckled at my title and doesn't even have to read this post to know the pitfalls of knitting a Cotton Tubey. In my defense I'll say again, first sweater! And to add to my defense I'll tell you that this was a birthday gift for my younger sister who just turned EIGHTEEN and we live where it is soon going to be hot enough that sweaters won't even be part of the local vocabulary for a few months. I'm going to have to call my sister and wake her up at, say, three in the morning when it MIGHT be cool enough for a cotton sweater and say, "Hey put your sweater on -- you've got a whole five minutes until it starts heating up again." So why a sweater at all then? Yeah, yeah, anyways.

It's not 100% cotton. I used Knit Pick's Main Line (75% cotton, 25% merino wool) hoping that the wool would add the bit of stretch and softness I needed for this sweater to work out. The softness--got that. The stretch? Not so much.

It's a pretty sweater. Beautiful even. Beautiful, but with issues. Like the bunching at the back of the armpits. Like the fact that if my sister leans forward (even a little) the top flops away from her (I did offer to make the neck smaller but she said it's fine, she wouldn't wear it without a shirt/tanktop underneath it anyway--so at least I'm not exposing her to the world:) The sleeves have shortened up a whole lot even though I thought I made them a little extra long.

So, you want to see it?

Here it is, wrapped in tissue paper since it would not dry &
I had to give it away while it was still slightly damp:

And here is one arm as it was getting passed
around the party after Maddie opened it:

And here is a picture taken just after Maddie opened it...
doesn't really show the sweater any better than the other
pictures but I had to show it. Check Nana out!

And slightly (ever so slightly) better...

And that's all you get. I didn't take more pictures while I was making it because I wasn't blogging about it because it was a surprise. I forgot to take pictures of it before I gave it away (because I just wanted to be done with it!). I actually went to my parents house this weekend to take pictures of it. But I forgot the battery to my camera was charging at home. Perhaps another day.

So this is my first sweater attempt but I'm not so happy with it. I feel ready to make another sweater. One for me. I bought Last Minute Knitted Gifts for the Hourglass Sweater. I want to make that sweater. I want to make it out of Noro Cash Iroha #8. So pretty. So expensive (even at Wool Needle Work's great prices. According to Purl's website(yarn store owned by the book's author) many people have reported running out of yarn when using the amount listed in the book. I'll need about thirteen skeins to feel comfortable starting. Maybe fourteen. If you remember way back to my discussion of my preparation problem I have to be over prepared. That means I buy twice as much yarn for a small project. That's how much I don't want to run out. And for big projects, well, a third maybe? A quarter? I like having my stash grow and would much rather need to figure out what to do with three extra skeins of yarn than what to do about dye lots (yeah, I've heard about that whole switching back and forth every few rounds thing--exactly why I over purchase yarn). I've decided that this time around I will stick to the directions--get the right yarn and swatch, swatch, swatch until I get the gauge right. And I have plenty of time to work on this sweater--the weather won't permit me to wear it comfortably until October or November.

My Husband Just Doesn't Get It

It's not his fault. I don't blame him one bit. It is possible that no non-knitter, or at least no non-crafter, would get it. Last night when I showed him my SKP in progress, the one with all the cotton/wool blend yarn (that I picked despite that nagging part of my brain that told me it wasn't a good idea to substitute in a cotton yarn...) and all the ends that need to be woven in, and all the places where I have woven in the yarn and it's not staying woven in properly but popping through the rightside and generally making bumpy, ugly stitches, you know, that one? I showed it to him and said, "Don't tell me it will be fine, just look at this." And he looked and he said, "It will be fine. It's homemade."

Yes, BUT! I know what he means. It's homemade with love and attention and the best of intentions and no one should expect it to be perfect and the recipient will love it anyway. Okay, I get that. BUT. I want it to be known for being "Hand-Knit" not "Home-Made." This isn't kindergarten where everything is lovely because it's finger-painted with gusto. A better comparison, in my mind, is home-cooked food. What do you hear about home-cookin'? That it's great, it's wonderful, it's better than a restaurant, it's better than the freezer aisle offerings at the grocery store. No one (except my husband) ever says it's home-cookin', made with love, doesn't matter that it doesn't taste that good. You know? I'm going for great home-cookin' here! I don't want my quaint, finger-painted offering to be adored because I tried so hard!

So, two lessons learned the hard way here...DON'T use cotton yarn (even when it's 25% merino wool) for your first major project unless the pattern calls for it. If you don't heed lesson one at least remember lesson two, defy the pattern and make sure your yarn ends end up in place that doesn't matter, rather than the part of the piece that people will notice first!

Oh, and one more thing? Let your loved one's know that you are working on a hand-knit project, not a home-made project. They might not know the difference, but you will.

Things

I've been working on this post for SIX days. It's kind of boring but I am going to hurry up and finish it so I can move on!

Fletchersmama, I love your PLEATS! That is awesome and so inventive, no wonder you don't frog! Oh, but wait! Now you do! It's a new world, let me tell you. Next thing you know you'll be unravelling a column of ten stitches just to fix a little spot that know one else would notice.

Short Rows
Jess, you asked me about Short Rows & I'm not sure my answer was very good. I recently discovered this:

What the ---- are short rows?

Ahh, a wonderful technique that no knitter should be without. Short rows make curves or soft angles on the mostly straight-edged, flat-paneled knitting landscape. They accomplish this by partially knitting an existing row to a pre-determined stitch count, then turning the work and working back to the same (or another) count, and turning again. So really, you are adding shaped rows within the body of the garment without increasing stitches, or casting-on more stitches. Most importantly, you're not changing the overall shape of the exterior of the garment.
Short row shaping can eliminate the step effect you get when you bind off shoulders. Or they can make sock heels elegantly curved. OR, and this is where we are going to live for a while, short rows can add some curve if you got the nerve.
A little cuppage created right into your garment might just be the difference between gaping armholes, an un-intended ride-up by your belly button, or having to make a size larger that fits your chest but sags on your hips and shoulders, because the garment is just too big. This is an easy, sophisticated, non-obtrusive technique.

--from the La Bonne Tricoteuse article at Knitty by Bonne Marie Burns

SKP
My latest Secret Knitting Project is consuming all of my knitting time. And Fletchersmama, I feel like this projet is a real adult knitting project for me...Monday night, despite several hours of knitting, I was no further than I was when I set the SKP aside the night before. In fact, I had less done. Yup, I noticed a mistake made many-several-lots of rows before and had to frog back to fix it. And then I did it again. And frogged again.

I've also tried to be adult about this project by not waiting until I'm done knitting to start weaving in ends. Turns out that is a good idea because what I thought was a pretty good job of weaving in ends on wrong side has proved to be a not so good job. As I knit more I realized that my ends were making the front side bumpy then the very end of the ends started popping out onto the front side and fraying. I think part of the problem is that the yarn I'm using is a 75% cotton and 25% merino wool blend and the cotton just doesn't want to stay woven in!

I bought a pair of little Clover circular needles for this project. I like them except...

I bought the size that had a huge "8" in the corner & took them home only to discover that they 4.5mm rather than 5.0mm. So woe is me I had to buy another set, these ones claiming to be US 10 but measuring at 5.1mm. Of course this all works out in my favor as I happen to me a needle hoarder (right Jess?) and love buying new knitting accessories almost as much as I love buying yarn.

Okay, I'm gonna finally wrap this up. Here to brighten your day...bad cellphone picture featuring Ted the Brown Dogman in all his glory!

Public Apology & Other Things

Public Apology
I just want to publicly apologize for claiming that computers hate me. Apparently, they don't. Itty-bity 5 port 10Base-T Hubs on the other hand.... Well, they cause problems. Week long problems that a person with an Associates Degree in Computer Network Administration (for cryin' outloud!) should be able to figure out. In my defense, I think we had other issues going on also and I got those straightened out along with (finally!) figuring out the real problem. So, Computers, now that I've fessed up won't you all help me out with my little "Image Not Available" problem? Hmmm?? Please? Or maybe you think I should be able to take care of that one on my own too, huh?

Scarfy Progress (warning! bad-cellphone pictures ahead!)
My "My Computer Sucks But At Least I Can Knit Scarf"

is coming along well (sorry, Computers, about the name, whoops!) I've used up one whole skein/hank/ball of Noro Silk Garden. I actually really like this yarn--the colors I mean. I guess it just wasn't meant to be for my Clapotis (SKP #1) but I like it for this scarf. Too bad I've already decided that this will be a gift...now that I'm liking it so much I want to keep it...but those are always the best gifts, right? The ones you want for yourself. I'm going to send it to Aunt Michele...she's so teeny though and this scarf is kind of wide.... My one problem is how to handle the Noro striping. I attached my second ball so the color pattern will be the same as the first ball, but that means that the two scarf ends won't match. Does that matter? I'm thinking I will use all or part of a third ball anyway, should I reverse that one? I'll post pictures soon (hopefully) and maybe that will illustrate my problem more clearly, but until then...

New Secret Knitting Project!
Yup, yup I'm planning a new one. The yarn should arrive via UPS today (along with Fletchersmama's set of Denise needles...Yippee, we'll all be in the Interchangeable Club!) This SKP is secret out of necessity, someone who may read this blog will hopefully be getting a this SKP as a gift (keep your fingers crossed that this SKP goes better than my last one!). But it may stay a total SKP for fun....

Sockies!
Fletchersmama, how are the socks going? I wanted to let you know that The Knitting Fiend has great patterns & instructions for socks--they actually calculate different sizes (I'm using the Sockulator II for my dad's socks--they're knit toe-up and have short row heels!! Short Rows! Love!).

Yup and about those short row heels? Well, I worked the short row decreases for the first heel last night. Except I was also watching Law & Order SVU and mistakenly added a stitch somewhere and so my short rows weren't working out so well. So tonight I'll have to FROG back to where I started them and pay more attention this time.

One thing about knitting toe-up socks (at least those that use the "backward loop" cast-on) is that I can't cast-on the way the pattern says to. Even with the great instructions by Denise Powell (that I read after casting on the 6th time & realizing that no, I wasn't going to suddenly get it!) I still can't manage to cast-on properly. My problem is this...I'm supposed to cast-on 12 stitches in the backward-loop method (all on one needle)...that I can do. Then I'm supposed to knit across (got it) and twist the tail over and behind (umm...okay) turn the needle upside down so the bottoms (where the loops are) of the stitches are sticking up (that's easy) and then pick up 6 stitches/loops on each of two more needles. This is where I run into problems...I can only ever find 11 of the 12 loops. No matter what. So after many more agonizing cast-ons I finally decided to cast on 13, (so I could find 12 loops later) and then not increase one of the stitches on the first row of the first needle. Does this make sense? Well, maybe that's part of my problem too!

Hot Head Hat in the Round, How to Avoid Making the Dreaded I-Cord & More

I actually started a post a while ago about making the Stitch N Bitch Hot Head Hat in the round but hadn't gotten around to finishing it. Now that FletchersMama posted our first ever comment (yipee!) asking about it, here goes.

Drum roll please...Hot Head Hat in the Round
First off, I bought some new sixteen inch Crystal Palace circular needles (#10.5 & #11) because I've been making so many hats lately that, even though I have the wonderful Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needles, I decided having a couple sets of dedicated hat needles was worth the expense (and I love, love, love knitting with Crystal Palace needles!). Anyway, I have perused a lot of hat patterns and those knit in the round seem to always call for sixteen inch needles, which of course, makes sense because you want a needle that is slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the finished product. In addition, you'll need a set of dpns in the same size (or close to it, I used 10.5 circ & 10 dpns) (unless you want to use two circs instead, in which case, have fun with that! you're on your own there). As you can see in the pictures of my post about Steven's hat, I used four of the five dpns that come in a Crystal Palace set.

So, basically follow the pattern with the exception that you need to join in a circle after you cast on. Make the majority of the hat as described in the pattern (k2, p2 ribbing around and around and around...). When you get to the decrease rows transfer to your dpns after the first or second decrease row. Even if you've never transfered to dpns from a circ (and if you're smarter than I am) you might realize that the easiest way to transfer to dpns is to just work a prescribed round with one dpn after the other acting as your working needle, rather than with the other end of the circ (if on the other hand, you're like me, you might not think of that until after you painstakingly transfer each little stitch to a dpn in between working rounds.)

Shaping the Crown:
The "Shape the Crown" section of the pattern is where the difference is between flat and in the round knitting. I didn't do this properly with Steven's hat so the very center of the crown of his hat looks stockinette stiched rather than ribbed (but I figure the guys I am making hats for are so tall no one will see the top but everyone would see a messy side seam!). I forgot to use double-reverse math* (my term) on the "flat" directions to make them "in the round" directions (I used "single-reverse math" by accident instead). So here goes, this should work...

Knit the first row as instructed (k2tog, p2). On the second row, however, you need to reverse the knits and purls twice so you'll k1, p2tog across (rather than k2tog, p1). For row three just follow the pattern (k1, p1 across). Row four is the tricky one because the directions in the book for row four are exactly the same as for row three which shouldn't work for flat knitting (that row has always bothered me and I've never done it as prescribed). So I would do round four exactly as the book describes it because to my mind it is already reversed. Make sense? I thought not. Rows five and six I've never liked either because they would create a garter stitch in flat knitting. So five and six in the round would be (k2tog, p2tog) around. Yipee skippy, you're done! Almost...

Finishing:
Break the yarn off and with a tapestry needle draw the remaining stitches off the dpns and pull tightly to close the hole and weave in end (blah, blah, blah we know all this right?)
Then look back at the end where you first started. If you knit like I do (or maybe this just happens to anyone knitting in the round) you'll have a one stitch gap in the first round where you joined. Just weave your cast on tail through it to close it. Presto! A lot easier than mattress-stitching (sixteen times because you (I) can never get it right the first time!) an entire seam closed!

And now, in the second half of our regularly scheduled program, we'll move on to a segment I like to call...

How to Avoid Making the Dreaded I-Cord
No, I have never made an I-Cord. I started to once...cast-on 4 stitches okay, slide to other end of dpn, okay, pull
yarn across blah, blah, blah, okayokayokay...I managed about 4 rows before I knew that I was crazy enough without trying to finish the damn I-cord.

Fortunately for me, the pattern (Stay-On Baby Booties from Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas--I love this book!) I was working from provided options other than the dreaded I-Cord (I'm guessing Melanie and Kristin know how some people feel about I-Cords).

How to avoid making an I-Cord (by Barbara, adapted (in part) from the above mentioned pattern):

• have someone else make it for you (good luck there!)
• Cast on six-gazillion stitches then bind them all off (what I like to call the Magic-Tie-No-I-Cord-Cord). This is the method I used for the bootie ties (I cast on 100 sts & then bound them off). The ties were a lot smoother than the bumpy I-Cord I never finished. The problem with this method is, if you need a big cord (like a purse handle anyone??) you would practically have to make a small scarf, especially if you're planning on felting.
• Crochet. Yes, I said it, crochet. If you are going to felt it no one will know the difference! Chain that gazillion stitches then do a few single/half-double/double or triple crochet rows and you're done!
• make something called a Monk's Cord that I read about in Knitting in Plain English that requires three times the amount of yarn as the length of whatever you want to make, a pencil (or a hand held egg beater), a book and a doorknob. This one I can't help you with. I read the instructions. They require you to walk back and forth across a room three times. I kept expecting to read something about a cauldron or bats or lizard tongues. And try as I might I could not grasp the pencil/book/doorknob contraption that was supposed to make the whole cord magically appear once you get the torque right.
• and finally, knit things that don't require I-Cords (this is the plan I'm following).

And finally, in closing, since another SKP has met the same fate as mine...I'll reveal the nature of my SKP: It's a SCARF...it's a WRAP...IT'S A CLAPOTIS! (clap-o-tee) by Kate Gilbert. This pattern won the Knitter's Review 2005 Design of the Year Award (even though it was published in 2004) because EVERYONE in the knitting/blogging world made/ismaking/wantstomake one (with some exceptions, of course). With my recent addiction to all things knit I kept tripping over this pattern (so to speak) when reading knit blogs. So I had to try it myself. Poor, poor Clapotis...perhaps I'll try to make another one someday...

new stuff!!!

I have laid down the SKP!  Is this the fate of  SKPs?  They just don't work out?  I am not enjoying the pattern at all, but I may give it another chance.

As for my lesson learned the hard way, I may do it again.  Here is the basket/bowl that came of that lesson:

And heres the hat that took just two days to knit and aslo two to felt!
while I don't love this picture (note to self - do something
about the mustache ASAP!), it is the best of the hat itself.
It took two days to felt, because the first time I stopped too
early.  Fletch and I are heading to Seirra Friends Center
tomorrow with Mom.  We'll be there till Thursday visiting
with all the family and getting some time with Miko while
he's there.  I wanted to finish the hat to keep we warm, we
may see snow!

I just got an early birthday present in the mail from Granny today.  The Second Treasury of
Magical Knitting by Cat Bordhi.  I'll be trying it out this weekend for sure!!!!!!!!!!

What are you trying to do to me?

Fletchersmama, are you trying to thwart my sock-knitting-passion before I successfully cast on and knit more than one inch (yes, more about that later) and throw me full force into having-needing-absolutelycan'tlivewithout-sweater knitting? I'm not there yet, you know? Sweaters SCARE me! Did you see the lumpy, funky toe on Jason's slipper? Did ya notice that I had to make three booties to get two matching ones? I am not ready to try and make two sleeves, a front and a back and a neck-hole and everything else that needs to fit just right to make a sweater. But those sweaters, oh, especially the jacket one and the caped cardigan (I need that! I love that! I want to marry that! ) make...me...want...to...knit...one.......NOW! By the way, when are we all gonna pack up and move somewhere that gets snow on a regular basis so we can wear wool handknits more than two and three-fifteenths weeks a year?

So, I'm am eighty-nine point nine percent sure I'm gonna frog my SKP (nope, not an afghan by the way). It really might be an unfair SKP so don't get mad at me you guys--it is a scarf/wrap BUT it has a specific name for the pattern. Unfair, huh? Yeah, well, as my momma always said, "Life is unfair." Wanna know the name? Maybe next time... Oh, and, thank you both for the generous offers to help free up stash space by taking my SKP yarn off my hands but I think I'll hold onto it for awhile. Because I have a magic-stash box. It is really amazing, I bought this cheap plastic bin at Target or K-Mart five or seven years ago and it never runs out of space to hold yarn. It is the Magic Stash Box (MSB). No matter how much yarn I bring home it keeps taking it in. So, for now, I'll keep the MSB full and think of something (but not a sweater, I told you, I'm not there yet! I can't head down that path!) to do with my rainbow Silk Garden.

So, socks. I have cast on six-sock-toes because I am trying to use the fabulous Sockulator II to knit a pair of toe-up socks. And despite the wonderful directions and all the links to more detailed directions (all of which I printed out totally about twenty six pages for one pair of socks, yeah, because I have another problem, a preparation problem, but I'll get to that) and the also-awesome directions by Denise Powell I cannot manage to cast on and do the increase rows properly all on the same toe. When I've managed to cast on correctly I forget to increase at the end of needle one (repeatedly, so that I end up having a very lopsided toe (which, hey, come to think of it might work for my dad's feet)). When I can't get cast on correctly I fudge to make enough stitches but then I find these unsightly blobs of yarn (stupid superwash wool! all your fault) on the back side (how was I supposed to know? It's on the back side! I couldn't SEE the back side!) just where my father's super sensitive seam-hating (and blob hating too, I'm sure) toes are supposed to go! So, either way I end up ripping it out and starting over. But, never fear! I may scrap the idea of a toe up sock and go for a normal sock pattern (like one from Knit Socks! that I just happened to pick up at Ann's Books today on my lunch break...) and hope that the decreases before the grafting of the toe don't bother seam hating toes.

So, my preparation problem (yeah, you all want an H there, right? you want it to be a preparation-H problem, but that would be a hemmoroids problem and a preparation solution, so there!). I super-prepare for everything. Take coming to work for example. I bring my purse of course, and a tote bag. In the tote bag is (in no particular order)

• my mp3 player (one of the few things I might acutally use during the day)
• food for breakfast (I eat whatever it is 75% of the time)
• snack food in case breakfast food isn't enough (often it's fruit. often, I forget it's there. often, it turns into an ugly (smelly) situation--time for new tote bag)
• a book or two or a magazine or two (for smoke/reading breaks)
• my knitting. okay, this one makes no sense because
  • I don't knit at work. No, really, I don't.
  • I don't knit on my smoke breaks (because, hey, although I admit I might have thought about it ONCE it would be gross and I know it (yeah, don't point out the obvious about smoking being gross enough, and that if I quit smoking I could take knitting breaks (now that I've thought of about sixty times))
  • the knitting might run into the scary fruit
• crap I've stuffed in my bag so that I won't have to look at it anymore. This stuff is in my bag so that my husband can't call it clutter. It will probably stay in the bag until it is eaten by the fruit

Okay, and that is just work. Something I do everyday, twice a day in fact, since I go home for lunch (and my bag has to go with me so I can knit at lunch). But, you guys, what if I got stuck in traffic for a really long time and had to knit to stay sane (yeah, so really bad traffic in this town lasts about two minutes, but worse could happen! Best to be prepared!) There are plenty more what-if-justifications, but I won't bore you. The bigger problem is that I am going out of town for two whole nights (Sunday and Monday) to a place that is maybe forty-five minutes, an hour or an hour and a half away (I don't know, how far away is San Simeon?) and I need to be prepared!
List I've been making in my head of things to take

• at least three knitting projects (BUNO scarf, Dad Socks & something else)
• extra yarn, needles, patterns etc in case I
  • finish all other projects (don't laugh, it could happen!)
  • get tired of other projects
  • something tragic happens like someone steals the needles I'm using on other projects
• at least two books (if I only take one I might not like it) because I might
  • get tired of knitting
  • learn to read and knit at the same time
  • need something to read while I smoke & go potty
  • have all of my knitting stolen
• clothes (eh, who cares if I've got the knitting, right?)
• ...I know there is more, but I haven't really gotten that far, I'm still concerned about taking enough knitting...

Um, yeah, so don't bother reminding me that it's only two nights or that my husband will be there and I will be expected to socialize with him (hi honey!) or that there are only twenty four hours in a single day and that doesn't equal one-hundred-and-sixty-four hours of knitting time in a single weekend! So, that in a nutshell is my preparation problem.

Oh, and FletchersMama, I'm intrigued by your SKP. That yarn is beautiful, is it the kind made from recycled saris? I can't wait to see more pictures...

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)!