Wystful's Wonderful World

As the sock saga continues...

2006-11-07T14:24:00.000-05:00

After many many designs, redesigns, starts, and restarts, I have finally managed to reach the heal on the Christmas sock. I am going with the Aran braid socks for Teri, which is designed for a medium woman, but since the man I am knitting this for has very skinny calves, I think I will be fine, just making the toes longer.

I despair ever getting any other knitting done as hubby has started taking classes on the weekend and that leaves me as single mom every weekend until Christmas. Help me!! On the baby front, Val has just started sleeping on her crib-converted-to toddler bed. She isn't too happy about it, but on night 2 last night, she was asleep after 20 minutes of crying and slept until 3ish before joining us, so I think a couple of more days will see her doing ok in it. I hope so, as I'm not sleeping well once she does join us in the bed - the old back starts acting up since I can wriggle as much to get comfy and settled with her scootched up against me. Last weekend end, she helped me rake leaves. She does not like being thrown into a pile of leaves, but does like holding a stick and imitating my raking motions. Cute as a button, but she did keep trying to "rake" where I was raking.

And the knitting continues

2006-10-17T07:38:00.000-05:00

Sorry it has been so long, but I've been trying to things done around the house. I have managed to finish and gift the bamboo socks for Rich's Dad. I've started a pair of green socks for Christmas present. I continue to struggle with the Moebious lace scarf. I dropped a stitch and am still sorting out what I need to do to fix it. It's about half way done. I started another lace scarf twice but am still not happy with the way it looks. Just what do you knit with a sturdy mohair handspun fingering weight that you don't have a lot of? First time I've ever used something like it and it handles differently and looks... stiff. Gonna hafta think more on it....

And I promise that someday I WILL upload the pictures. I've got a whole folder full waiting, but every time I try to upload at home on dial-up, it croaks. Think I am going to have to borrow a jump drive and do it from work after hours, eh?

Farm Fest 2006

2006-09-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a bit of a scare on Friday night from Valorie. She came home from pre-school sleepy. This from a child who won't go to bed until we MAKE her. Her school report cards always come home marked "Busy as a Bee." I put her down for a nap before dinner and checked her 2 hours later and oh boy, was she hot. Thermometer read 103 degrees! Not good! Called the on-call nurse to see if it was high enough to take her to the hospital or not. Nope - one does of liquid tylenol and it came back down to 98.9. She slept thru the night and work up cheerful, if a lil less energetic than usual. Hubby and I decided not to cancel my plan of going to [link=www.risingmeadow.com/special_events.html newwindow]Farm Fest[/link]. I'm so glad she got to go - lots more fun seeing things thru her eyes. So with friends and baby in tow, we set out for Liberty, NC.

We saw alpacas, sheep, rabbits, and more yarn than ANYbody could stash away into their house. They were doing demos on spinning, weaving, knitting, felting, basketweaving, and pottery. It was really great. Saw lots of handmade knitting needles, PVC pipe knity-knoddies, and spinning wheels. I managed not to buy any roving or drop spindles, but it was very difficult. I did buy some nice alpaca/wool lace weight and alpaca/silk lace weight. I intend to make a shawl from one and maybe another from the other. Might dye one, too, as both are nice natural off-white. There was also nice celtic music and grassfed beef and lamb for lunch. Add a nice homemade root beer and icecream to the menu, and we stuffed ourselves silly. Valorie did great, although she tended to get a bit overheated, I kept her shaded in the stroller and sipping drinks as much as possible. She really perked up for the sheepdog herding demo ("doggy!") and petting the german long haired rabbits. Amazingly, I made it out of there without purchasing one! All in all, it was a great day. Wish I could have bought all the handpainted yarns, etc, but I was a good girl and stayed mostly in budget....

Chistmas is coming! ACK! Gotta get BUSY!

2006-08-24T13:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I finally had enough cash laying around to afford a trip to the LYS. I walked out with enough yarn for 2 pairs of socks. The first is a nice multicolor bamboo/superwash wool blend. The other is superwash hunter green. Both of these are destined to be Christmas presents. The multi-colored will be a plain ribbed sock while the green will feature a nice fat braid down the sides. Very conservative, but not too boring, I hope.

After casting on a couple of times - yeah, it takes me about 2 tries to decide how many stitches/needle sizes/gauge, I finally got the multi-colored socks underway. After 4 days of work, I am almost to the heel flap of sock number 1. Pretty fast for me, slow for so many others.... I have to say, it is looking really nice. I'm doing it with size 1 needles, which is very tight, but the person they are destined for has skinny legs, so this will work out.

4 months 'til Christmas and I have a lot to do, knit wise. 3 pairs of socks, finish the lace scarf, and I'd like to do a sweater for the baby. That's a lot for me. No time to wait as the Christmas madness is already here! And yes, it's still 90 degrees outside and I am playing with friggin WOOL. It IS madness, I tell you....

One basic baby blankie done!

2006-08-10T06:59:00.000-05:00

Took me longer than it should have, but hey - at least it's done and it looks pretty nice. Just have to block it now. And since it's acrylic, I'll have to research how to do that - pretty sure with a steam iron....

As for my next project, I think I will concentrate on finishing the lace weight moebius scarf and go spend some money on sock yarn for some new socks. Looking ahead to Christmas, I definitely want to do a couple of pairs of socks for a couple of special men in my life. I'd also like a pair for me. After that, I'm not sure what will be next - perhaps a shawl.... Yarn Harlot has me lusting after one.

Free Time

2006-07-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

Remember how much free time we had when we were children? I can remember hounding my Mother all the time for something to do because I was bored. What ever happened to all that free time? I don't have time to get 8 hours of sleep any more, much less actually sit still long enough to be bored. My daily schedule typically goes like this:

6:30 - 7:15 Get Up, Get Dressed, Get Out the Door
7:30 -4:30 Work
4:45 - 5:30 Do Chores I can't do with baby underfoot
5:30 -6:00 Cook Dinner or watch baby, depending on who's turn to cook
6:00 -7:00 Clear the table, clean the baby, eat, feed baby, clean baby up
7:00 - 8:00 Play with baby, run a bath, wash the baby, dress baby for bedtime
8:00 - 8:30 Read to baby, get another bottle of milk into the baby
8:30 - 9:30 Clean the kitchen, do laundry and other semi quiet chores
9:30 - 10:00 Shower and "relax"
10:00 - 10:30 Get ready for bed, make sure I have work clothes to wear
10:30 - 11:00 Take vitamins, make a bottle for the baby's middle of the night wake up, read
11:00 - 5:30 SLEEP - wake up when baby starts crying
5:30 - 5:50 Feed baby bottle, put her back into her crib or collapse with baby into bed
5:50 - 6:30 Spend 13 mins getting back to sleep in time for the alarm to interupt good dream.

When am I supposed to get any knitting done? I spent my lunch hours at work trying to get some exercise in, but a knee injury has slowed that down. Sometimes I knit at lunch and I tend to get some knitting done in the evenings - maybe 20 minutes worth. At this rate, I will have my baby's blanket completed in time for Valorie's graduation from high school. Does every mother deal with this? I am blessed with a husband who does cook and help clean and care for the baby, but since he gets her ready in the mornings, I tend to get her in the evenings. Don't get me wrong, I cherish my time with my kid, but how the heck am I supposed to work in me time? I'm slowly getting caught up on household chores, so I might squeeze some in right after work soon. Thank God that I am allowed to work some flex time at work. If I didn't get home until 5:15 or so, I'd go bonkers.

Busy as a Bee!

2006-07-13T09:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long lapse of no entries, but since March, Hubby lost and found a job, I lost and found a job and Valorie had almost 5 months of being a stay home baby. Finances also got so tight that we lost our internet access for a bit. It was worth it though, because I got to be at home to see Valorie's first steps at a late 15.5 months. She also has gotten in a mouth full of teeth. Currently she has one molar and 4 front teeth. She is working on 2 more front teeth and 2 more molars. She gets mighty grumpy when those molars break thru the gums!

On the knitting front - being stay home mommy for a while did allow me to get most of a baby's blanket done. I'll post a shot of it soon. I did finish my Dad's green socks and knitted a nice pair of cherry hill socks in a cabled pattern. Colors were browns, blacks, and turquiose - loved the yarn! I knit them for me, but with money so tight, I wound up giving them to my mother in law for her birthday. She also just had gastric by pass surgery this month. She is doing well and has already lost 20 lbs. My mother also had surgery in June - knee replacement. She is also doing great and is walking without a cane, these days. It's amazing how quickly the body can bounce back!

I'm still working on the burgundy lace moebius scarf. It's about 3/4 done. I'll post pics of it, soon too. Promise! In the meantime - here is a recent shot of miss Val!

Birthday Weekend Update

2006-03-08T12:49:00.000-05:00

Didn't knit much over the weekend as it was Valorie's first birthday. Was very busy helping Mammaw change apartments and then getting ready for the party. I baked a 2 layer 5 inch cake for Valorie to eat all on her own and a 9 inch one for everyone else. We also cooked pintos, coleslaw, okra, and cornbread. All things she could and did eat. Party was fun with the exception of a bloody lip on Val's part. She was trying to pull herself up on a coffee table and instead slipped and did a face plant down the leg of the table. :( She got a bloody lip and I think a bloody nose, but she wouldn't let me see it close enough to be sure. She was happy enough to suck on an ice cube to keep the swelling down. Poor thing - first blood on her first birthday. Life is like that sometimes. Just never know when a lesson is gonna show up, eh?

Since Sunday, I'll have had time to do is knit a few rounds on Dad's second sock. It's about 2/3rds done now. Hopefully I'll get it completed before it's too hot to wear!

Olympic Knitting

2006-03-02T08:29:00.000-05:00

Well, despite some equipment failure (ordered needles just now arrived!) causing me to change what I was knitting. I did indeed manage to win the gold with my purple chenelle-like Clapotis scarf. With an 11 month old baby and trip to the in-laws taking up all free time, this was indeed an Olympic effort. But, after sacrificing some serious sleep, I did finish it Sunday morning. I've never finished a project that big in 2 weeks before. I am amazed at the skills of those like the yarn harlot who completed a very complex sweater. WOW - I'm not sure I could do that nice a job in a year!

New Blog!

2006-03-01T14:26:00.000-05:00

Hmm, Trying out this new blog. I think I am going to like it much better than the other place I blogged. It was rather limited. I'll have to try and move my logs from it to here. More later! :D

Wystful