done, Done, DONE!

I've got my knitting DONE! The pants were done over the weekend. And in true bad blogger form I didn't take pictures of the finished objects. I just neatly folded them, admired their cuteness, placed them in a bag, and handed them off without a second thought. I'm hoping to get a photo shoot with the new owners soon. They turned out too cute not to show off.

And the shawl?

DONE, DONE, DONE! I put the final stitches in it yesterday during nap time, between sets of Rock Band 2. (In a marginally related side note I can play "Living on a Prayer" in expert, turns out I'm a closet Bon Jovi fan from way back).

My usual MO would be to abandon the shawl in an unblocked mess for about three months until the guilt was too much to bear, then, and only then, would I break down and block it. But I am working on being a more responsible knitter (as part of my goal to be a more responsible person, which is not at all in odds with the fact that I have been woefully neglecting my kids all week while The Greatest and I play Rock Band. Feeding them scrambled eggs for dinner is responsible parenting. I mean, I fed them!) so the lace is now submerged in a bowl of mild soapy water as I type. Alright, I'll admit it. It's not. But I'm going to soak it as soon as I get done typing, I swear. I want this thing blocked and mailed by the weekend. I'll explain the urgency later.

With empty knitting needles and a clear conscience I began knitting a gauge swatch for Tempest.

Not content with just a gauge swatch I had to swatch the stripes.

I'm not sure I'm feeling this. I might have to swatch this combination

and this

before I can make a final cast on decision.

I'm starting to wonder if my expectations of this sweater are a little too high. My mental picture of me wearing this sweater is just so perfect. I've never put so much thought into deciding on a yarn before. I fear this will either be the best thing I have ever knit or a wonderful hot mess of a mistake. (I also fear I will run out of yarn.) Either way it should be fun.

In the meantime I've also fallen in love with this sweater

and I just so happen to have lots and lots of chocolate brown wool in my stash. Maybe I'll knit a gauge swatch of that while I'm responsibly knitting gauge swatches.

And since I'm being so responsible, maybe I'll even measure my swatches to see if I get gauge.

Distracted

The plan was to fill today's post with lots of pictures like this.

I was going to tell you how cute they were playing their instruments. How happy Meaty was to be allowed to pound on something with wild abandon. How Pork Chop glowed with pleasure at having a mic in her hands. How Bird was a guitar prodigy and destined to someday win fame and fortune at some geek convention tournament. But while I got the shots that would tell that story, the reality was a little different.

For some odd reason the reality looked more like this

or sometimes this

(note the intense looks of concentration on our faces. And my hands are so fast they can not be caught on camera. I'm the Jet Li of the Rock Band world)

We didn't mean to hog the game. I swear we bought this game for the kids. We had the best of intentions. We thought "wouldn't it be fun to play all together?" We bought it with the intention of playing it as a family, parents and children together. Family fun, that's a good thing right?

The Greatest and I returned from the store and set the game up so it would be there to surprise the kids when they got home from school. We could just picture their little faces lighting up when the saw their surprise. It's the kind of moment a parent lives for, fulfilling a wish of their children. We were so excited for them, and for us. We were going to live for weeks of the "cool parent" points this would earn us.

Then we figured since everything was already set up that we should mess around with it, you know, learn the basics so we could show the kids how to play. How innocently an addiction is born. That's where the plan all went down-hill in a big way.

Two hours later The Greatest reluctantly left to fetch the kids from school. Their reaction to the surprise did not disappoint. They squealed with delight when they saw the instruments. They dropped their school things on the spot, so eager to play. Being the "good parents" that we are we told the kids they would have to finish their homework before they could play (and while they were doing their homework WE could play just a little more). Groans of protest were followed by the fastest I have ever seen Meaty do his homework. But The Greatest and I had one more song to finish, then a set to finish, then a gig, and hey, that gig opened up another venue, and just one more song!

At six-thirty we realized we'd better stop to feed the kids something that resembled dinner.

That's when the children finally got their chance to play. And, well, they got booed off the stage. They switched instruments, and got booed off the stage. Then they fought over the mic, and got booed off the stage. Then, thankfully, dinner was ready.

(Which was when the baby saw her chance to finally have the drums all to herself)

After dinner it was so late it was bedtime, no more Rock Band for the children. We put them to bed and hurried back to the X-box, after all, we had a gig in Montreal! I don't know how the kids fell asleep with all the music and the banging and the crowds cheering. We played every song that came with the disc, we tried taking it off easy but The Greatest didn't like that, so we switched instruments instead. But I didn't love that so we switched back. We went shopping with the money we earned from our gigs searching for new clothes for our characters, but in the end we didn't buy anything. Around one a.m., when our 98% was looking more like 84% or worse, we decided we'd better go to bed. Sweet Pea doesn't go easy on us just because we stayed up into the wee hours having fun without her.

I got absolutely zero knitting done yesterday. And my hand looks like this

(you try taking a picture of your dominant hand, it's really hard)

but it was so much fun. I highly recommend it.

I'm anxiously waiting for The Greatest to wake up so we can play some more, we still haven't unlocked L.A. And I can't wait for The Greatest to go to work tonight. If I can pry the mic from Pork Chop's hands I'm gonna try the vocals. Knitting will have to wait just a little bit longer.

Lazy Day

It's cold and rainy today. So cold we turned the heat back on. The perfect kind of day to snuggle under a blanket on the back porch and watch the rain dance across the surface of the pool.

The perfect kind of day to put the baby in hand knit pants and try to catch some action shots of her new skills.

She can walk, but prefers not to if someone is watching. She knows she's got a good thing going by being carried everywhere. Why ruin that by letting us know she can walk? She's a smart cookie. She's seen the way we make the older kids walk through the store when we go grocery shopping. She doesn't want that to happen to her. So as far as we know she still needs lots of help walking.

It's the perfect day to cuddle on the couch with my long list of dvr'd shows and knit.

Nine rows to go! NINE ROWS TO GO! Every stitch gets me closer to a Tempest of my very own.

But there might be a new distraction in the house.

I may never knit again.

Showing Off

Pattern: b13-3, such a romantic name

Yarn: I'm a bad bad blogger. This isn't even old yarn, but I've misplaced the ball band. I bought it at Hobby Lobby if that helps. And it's acrylic. And it's really soft! And I got perfect gauge with it, which never happens with my yarn subs!

Needles: Size 2 Harmony Needles

Modifications: None

Review: Love, Love, Love! Take a moment to admire the button.

Isn't it perfect?

And just drink in that crochet edging.

Not that my technical skills with a crochet hook are that perfect, but look at how much that little detail adds. I didn't feel like crocheting the edging, but I'm so glad I took the time to do it.

I think part of the appeal of knitting this sweater was the fact that I got to use my Harmony Needles. Oh how I love my Harmony needles. Otherwise I don't know what would possess me to cast on for a sweater on tiny size 2 needles. But it was a tiny sweater, so it wasn't so bad.

This sweater is knit entirely in garter stitch, knit stitch after endless knit stitch. I've never paid much attention to garter stitch. I took a moment to ponder why I never use garter stitch and I am ashamed of my answer. I didn't realize I was such a snob, or that I had such a high opinion of my own knitting. I don't use garter stitch because I tend to think of it as a beginning knitter thing. I know, when did I get such an ego? I am ashamed to realize I am such an elitist. I suppose my logic is this: the first thing you learn to knit is garter stitch, and I guess I never realized it has value beyond that first swatch. But oh it does.

A swatch in garter stitch will produce a much thicker fabric than a swatch knit in stockinette. And this sweater is wonderfully thick and smooshy. She is such a cuddly baby in this sweater. Put this sweater on my baby and she is transformed from adorable to absolutely irresistible, must be cuddled this instant! I've put her in this sweater every time we leave the house for the last two weeks. I think the other Moms at school think the baby only has one outfit. But just look at her.

Don't you just want to scoop her up and cuddle her? I wanna go wake her up right now just to kiss those cheeks. But I won't.

The sleeves are a bit long. They are intended to be folded back once. It's a look. Hers are folded back three times. That give her plenty of room to grow. I'm hoping she'll be able to wear this sweater well into fall.

And just in case you were wondering

the pants are progressing nicely.

New day, same blog post

So, I'm still dreaming of Tempest. It really is getting silly. I should just grab a yarn and swatch, that might narrow my choices right away. And I must confess I was inspired by a comment left by Tammy and probably not in a good way. Based on her experience I've started contemplating purchasing yarn to knit my sweater with. Bad Tammy, do not enable the knit-blogger. Realistically I know I do not need to buy new yarn. I came up with ten potential sweaters from my stash. Certainly I can knit one of those and not have to jump on-line and order something new. (Although if I order the dark blue semi-solid from Socks that Rock I can knit the tweedy blue sweater AND the dark blue with blue and green sweater. I'm just saying is all). While I waffle in indecision, cause these decisions are critical to the future of life as we know it don't-you-know, my WIP's look like this.

I swear they are new pictures. There really IS progress. The pants have been tried on twice now with the leg lengths tweaked to perfection. Now I need to sew, which I prefer to do during daylight hours, so I really shouldn't be wasting good light like this blogging, but that's how much I love you all.

The shawl has progressed as well. I swear it has. See the edge.

That's a completed Chart 2 right there. Two charts down, two to go. ONLY FORTY ROWS LEFT!

Alright, when I put it that way it is a bit demoralizing. *sigh* Forty long rows.

I think I'll go back to TWO CHARTS DOWN! TWO TO GO!

I was going to show off a baby sweater today, but she is napping right now so I can't take pictures of her in it, and I'm wasting precious daylight. Maybe tomorrow. I need to get off the computer anyways before I accidentally place an order for new yarn.

Must.freeze.debit.card! Must.resist.evil.interweb.shopping!

Waiting

Still here. I haven't been completely swept away by my obsession. At least not yet. Still here. Still anxiously knitting, trying to clear my knitting queue as fast as I can so I can cast on for my Tempest. Still contemplating color choices for my Tempest as I knit. I might have it narrowed down to this

or this

I'd knit them both, but I don't have enough yarn for that. I waffle. The blue tweed looks so nice against the blue and green yarn (or maybe I'm just drawn to this picture by the super cute baby fingers). On the other hand, I fantasize about wearing a dark blue tweedy sweater unbuttoned over all my t-shirts. I think that would get infinitely more wear, but the other one might be more fun to knit (STRIPES!) and would just be a more interesting garment. I don't know. I've got time to consider. I could just go all crazy and knit this

instead.

Until then I work furiously on my WIPs. As of this typing they look like this

Two pairs of toddler pants, one approximately 3T, the other 5T. They need tried on so the leg length can be tweaked. Then the cuffs can be sewn and the pants embellished with hearts just in time for Valentine's Day. So Cute! (if I do say so myself) The future owners should be here this afternoon for their fitting.

The shawl looks like this

Chart 1 is complete. And if you've knit an Icarus you know that means the hard part i, thankfully, over. Charts 2-4 go much faster. Not exactly fast, but they go as fast as knitting with 375 stitches per row and counting can go. I'll have 523 stitches in a row when all is said and done. This yarn is a dream to work with, absolutely a dream. I want to buy more in every color it comes in. So I really shouldn't complain about "having" to knit it.

In the mean time, while I wait for the real knitting to begin, let's look at some actual Finished Knitting!

Pattern: Revenge of the Mummies Socks, a Ravelry download

Yarn: No idea. I know it is cotton, but I must confess the ball band got lost two moves ago.

Needles: Size 2 Harmony Needles

Modifications: A 72 stitch cast on was just too loose for me, so I scaled it down to 64 stitches. The heel was worked on 32 stitches . The foot was worked on 60 stitches.

Review: I seem to have a bit of a monster sock obsession going on. First the Zombie socks. Then the Vampire socks. Now Mummy socks? What can I say. My parents used to show me all kinds of classic horror movies as a child. It sure explains a lot doesn't it! Now I need to find a good Alien or Werewolf pattern.

I love these socks. The cotton wasn't the greatest to work with, not bad, just not my favorite. But it was so worth the effort. They are comfy! I love padding around the tile floor in my hand knit socks. My socks have seen more wear since we bought this house than they've ever had before. (my plastic shoes don't hurt either. It is fun to walk around Wal-Mart in my plastic shoes with my hand knit socks. The downside is I spend a lot of time watching my feet, they're just so cute, and not looking where I'm going.)

There's something about sock knitting that makes me infinitely happy. Add my Harmony needles? *sigh* Knitting Heaven. I might like the Harmony needles better than my Addi's. I know. It's heresy to say that out loud, let alone put it in writing where it shall stand forever as a testament to my heathenism. But there you go. I said it. I might like my Harmony needles better than my Addi turbos. But not better than my Addi Lace. Does that buy me a measure of redemption?

These socks came dangerously close to being identical twins through no effort on my part. But halfway through the second foot I found a knot in the yarn. Grrrrr. Why do yarn makers do that? But since I wasn't trying for identical socks in the first place its no big deal to me. These socks land squarely in the Winners column.

I must say it is about time I had some real knitting content around here. Feels nice. Feels like I'm home.

The start of an obsession

I can feel it.

The pressure is building.

It is calm now. The calm before the storm. The air is still and silent. In the silence you can feel the wrongness of it all.

An obsession is coming.

Sometimes a pattern grabs you and there is no denying it. You must knit it. It clouds you mind. You can think of nothing else until you cast on. Your fingers itch to knit. But do not try to scratch this itch by knitting any other pattern, or it is the itch of a phantom limb. Knitting any other pattern will not satisfy this itch. It can only be cured by knitting the object of the obsession. In fact knitting any other pattern will only result in anger and frustration that you are not knitting THE PATTERN. There is no denying the knit.

I'll admit. It has been a while since I've felt this obsessed with a pattern.

Until now.

It was an ordinary morning.

Well, not entirely ordinary.

I had a stomach bug. It made me want to die. Lying flat on my stomach gave me sharp stabbing pains. Sitting up straight made me dizzy. So I sat in a half fetal position at the computer, with a cup of herbal tea, trying to amuse myself. I read all my favorite blogs. I read my message board. I read my e-mail. I was out of things to do on the Internet. So I turned to knitting heroin, that is to say, Ravelry.

This did have trouble written all over it.

I read all my forums. I joined a few new ones. I started looking at all the message boards just searching for something interesting to read. I found a thread titled "What to do with leftover sock yarn." I was intrigued. I've got lots of leftover sock yarn. Tell me what to do with it!

Most of the ideas were ones I've already seen. Make tiny squares and sew them into a blanket. Wind them into one a huge ball and then knit a crazy pair of socks from you ball. Or my personal go to idea: knit baby things.

I did happen upon the Stashbuster Spiral Socks. I really am a process knitter at heart. I love to knit things just to see how they are made. I am intrigued by the construction of the stripes, so I might have to knit a pair just to see how it turns out.

Then it happened.

Someone suggested Tempest

I had seen this sweater before. I saw it when it was originally released as a Knitty surprise. But I paid very little attention to it. I was too enamored with Juju (which so happens to be the pattern I used for the baby pants I keep talking about but have yet to show you) (and now that I think about it I also knit a pair of Emma's Unmentionables for Pork Chop, that have yet to be shown on the blog. I'm such a bad knit blogger. No diet coke for me *sob* )

Anyways, I don't know why I passed over this sweater upon initial viewing. It might have been that green color of the original sweater. I might have been too blinded by the baby knits. Or (and this is probably the awful truth) I might have been carrying too much left-over baby weight at the time to consider knitting myself anything more than socks. (and I'm not saying I'm not carrying left-over baby weight now. I'm just saying I've gotten to know my baby weight. Those last few pounds don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, so I've made it my friend. We've spent the past year bonding over lots of cookies and milk. I've made peace with it, mostly. It keeps me warm in the winter. I might have to keep my friend around).

Whew, I'm tangenty today!

Anyways, yesterday something changed. I don't know if it was the lighting or the faintness I felt from the stomach bug, but I fell in love with this sweater. Just look at the line of the collar, and the buttons, and the three-quarter sleeves, and the tiny buttons. And it is knit from sock yarn. This light sweater might be just what I need for the mild climate I live in. In short, this sweater spoke to me. An obsession was sparked.

I looked at every picture of every Tempest ever knit on Ravelry. I read all the forum posts about the sweater and the problems with the sleeves. I looked at every yarn used to knit this sweater and began to consider my stash, wondering what I had to use. After all, this only used enough yarn to make TWO PAIRS OF SOCKS. I raided the yarn cabinet to see what I had.

I could go black with pink and yellow

or blue with blue and pink

or blue with blue and green (do not be distracted by cute baby fingers)

or blue with a different blue and green

or dark blue with light blue and brown

or brown with blue and brown (although I'm not sure I have enough of the two tone brown for this one)

or brown with blue and brown (but that solid brown is alpaca and a little thicker than sock yarn, and I think I've learned my lesson on striping yarns of slightly different weights.) (or maybe I haven't)

or I could be practical, all black

or all tweedy dark blue

I have a few projects I must finish knitting before I cast on a new project, but in the mean time I am obsessed. I run over the different color possibilities in my mind wondering which one to use (the tweedy blue is the most practical, but the black and pink might be the most fun). What I would wear with each one? Where I would wear them? How nice the pieces will look all laid out blocking with my blocking wires. It was my last thought when I fell asleep last night, and the first thing I did this morning was visit the pattern. I am a woman obsessed. I'm predicting I get my knitting (two pairs of toddler size pants and a shawl) done in record time so I can cast on for a Tempest of my very own.

Prepare yourself for the storm.

Friday Love

When I was a child I used to play this game with my Mother. I'm sure many Mothers play this with their children. I would take the deepest breath I could, expanding my rib cage and stomach to full capacity. Then I would exhale it all in the longest "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" my tiny body could manage. My Mother would sit beside me. Rapidly, but gently, she would tap my mouth with her hand. My long "Ahhhhhhhhhh" was transformed into a staccato refrain of "Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa." This fascinated me. The fact that my body would make sounds I didn't intend to make based on external actions was such an interesting phenomenon to me. I could play this game for hours. And my Mom WOULD play it for hours. Looking back I wonder how she could stand it. It had to become tedious for her after the first two or three hundred times. But she played it with me, and I loved every second of it.

When Pork Chop was an infant my mother tried so very hard to teach her this game. But Pork Chop was not having any of it.

The same goes for Meaty.

And Bird.

No one wanted to play this silly beloved game from my childhood with Grammy.

I had all but forgotten the game.

Enter Sweet Pea, stage right.

Earlier this week I went to get her from her crib after her nap. She was lying in her crib playing this game all by herself. Such a flood of memories filled my heart as I lifted her into my arms and kissed those perfect cheeks. We played that game all afternoon.

And we've been playing it all week. Every time I hear that sweet baby "awwwww" turned into "wa-wa-wa-wa-wa" followed by giggles I feel my Mom near me. Sometimes I feel like she is right beside me, watching over my shoulder. Watching my baby smile and loving my baby. Watching me be a parent and feeling love and pride in me. So very close.

Sometimes I feel like she is just waving at me from across a long room, too far to touch, to far to really say anything that would be heard, just waving, with a smile.

Always with a smile.

I miss her and I'm loving this gentle reminder of Mom and her living legacy.

What are you loving?

Peace Baby!

I wanted to blog today. I really did. I have good intentions of being funny and witty and full of pretty pictures. And doing it every single day. But I'm lacking inspiration. Going to bed at 1 a.m. and getting up at 5 will do that to you I guess. Not to mention being funny and witty and full of pretty pictures every single day can put a bunch of pressure on a girl. How do the really good bloggers do it?

As I was cleaning the kitchen after lunch and pondering my neglected blog it occurred to me. Duh. This is a knitting blog. And I have five FOs that have not made their debut yet. Throw a sweater on the baby and hey, I've got a blog post!

Pattern: Peace Baby

Yarn: Knit picks shine sport in apricot
Sinfonia in pink

Needles: Size 6

Modifications: I added a stripe pattern to the sweater. I also added cute picot edges to the hem and sleeve cuffs.

Review: This is quite frankly, and it pains my soul just a little to admit this, this is not the best sweater I've ever knit. Don't get me wrong. The pattern is great and the sweater is cute as a button. The problem is not the pattern. I'd love to blame it on the pattern. Doesn't it always feel better to one's self-esteem when the problems can be blamed on someone else? But sadly, this is not the case. The problem is not the pattern. The problems lie in my execution of the pattern. Striping the sweater was a good idea. It's so cute. I love how the double raglan decreases line up.

But striping the two different yarns might not have been such a good idea. The sinfonia is skinnier than the shine, and I think it shows.

My keyhole neckline also has some issues.

Again, while I'd love to blame it on the pattern I'm afraid the problem is all me. Poor finishing skills in the form of sloppy sewing are the majority of the problem. I'm also thinking the slippery cotton made a bad situation worse. It really is an unforgiving yarn, showing off every fatal flaw.

But despite these obvious issues she seems to like the sweater. And it looks super-cute with her orange pants. And the weather has cooled off enough to justify dressing her in knit pants and a knit sweater. So it's not a total fail.