of phlegm and twisty yarn

I have been slogging away on an assortment of projects with the discouraging result that I haven't made a significant dent in any of them. The only thing I'm almost done with is an assortment of items for a crochet group gift swap. I just have to finish a dishcloth. There will be pictures. Eventually.

I'm past the heel on the two first socks now: the plain Trekking one and the Official Sock of Autumn done in Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch. Let me rant about this Mega Boots for a moment. It twists. It coils. It spins and curls and does acrobatics that my gymnast daughters would envy. One can knit maybe ten stitches before one discovers that one is trying to knit with a Slinky. So one stops knitting for a second to disentwistify a little, only to find it retwisting with the first stitch or two. Currently I am experimenting with using my LB Homespun technique, where one lets the yarn flow very loosely so the twists just get knitted in. It does seem to be working so far. On the positive side, the yarn looks gorgeous and feels wonderful, and I suspect it is going to produce Favourite Socks.

I really like the Trekking. Reminds me of Opal more than anything, I think, but don't take my word for it as I am something of a Yarn Idiot.

My other main WIP at the moment is a sweater for Sydney. I'm using the big honkin' balls of Bernat acrylic. I can never remember whether it's called Big Value or Super Value. But whatever kind of a value it is, this is the third sweater I've made with this stuff and I'm always amazed at how nice it feels. I KNOW! I really need to work on my yarn snob skills. And to further establish my status as Knitting Trash, I am using the fair isle pattern from the label. Just gonna buy me a big ol' double wide and serve the young'uns some Coca Cola outta them baby bottles.

As for the phlegm portion of our program: I have a cold. I caught it from Taylor and the husband. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that I am not knitting anything for either of them.

I'm lonely. And I'm knitting.

My stint on the disabled list lasted until 9:00 this morning when I found myself alone. The daughters were still sleeping and the husband was out teaching his Saturday morning dog obedience classes. What is a knitter to do? And now here it is, 8:20 on Saturday night, and the girls are at a party while hubby is working at the charity bingo for the gymnastics team. And here is poor pathetic mom sitting at home alone with the hockey game on. How in tarnation am I supposed to resist knitting?

Yes, my thumb still hurts. No, I don't really care at this particular moment.

(Rangers just scored. Damn it.)

I have been struggling to review Mason-Dixon Knitting in a semi-interesting manner and failing miserably. May I just say that I like it? That I give it 7 out of 10? That I intend to play around with the log cabin formula and probably try out some of the dishcloths, towels and rugs? As a person on a budget, though, I am frustrated with some of their pricey yarn choices. Yes, I know substitution is not illegal, but they're using nice linen for a reason. And I haven't really investigated thoroughly yet but I'm betting I can't afford nice linen. Which lets out many of the cool patterns in the book unless I want to gamble on an inferior fibre. I wonder if the husband bought a lottery ticket for tonight.

(Rangers are still ahead. Stink.)

Time to go pick up the daughters now. Thank you for keeping me company.

My birthday is now complete.

This evening, as I trotted out of Michael's with Mason-Dixon Knitting in hand, I was advised in no uncertain terms that I would be posting the above statement on the blog. To be fair, my birthday didn't turn out to be half-bad even before I snagged the book. Taylor bought me some scented candles, and the husband jumped through a few hoops to obtain a gym bag that I had been coveting which, it turned out, is no longer available for purchase. He also bought me a novel that he wanted to read.

I didn't say that.

Some crab appendages were, in fact, consumed at dinner. By me, in case that lingering whiff of snark caused you to leap to a different conclusion.

I am considering putting myself on the DL for the weekend. Having received my assignment for a crochet group gift exchange, I have been crocheting like a fiend for the past week and have done some damage to my left thumb. I know I should rest it. My experience as a gym mom tells me I should ice it for ten minutes twice a day, though Sydney is currently hogging the ice packs for her twisted ankle (she fell off the bars last week) and neglecting to put them back in the freezer.

All I can promise is that I will try to be good.

Random Act of Stupidity for last week

I found the error in the Moonlight Mohair shawl with the wonky stitch count, and errors do not get much more mundane than this: I had split a stitch. This yarn, for those who do not stoop to use it, consists of a strand of sparkly cord and a strand of mohair. I had purled the two separately. There must have been something good on TV at the time.

This is the kind of thing that makes me special.

Leverage

The darling husband forgot to shop for my birthday. He didn't actually forget that it was my birthday, nor that he had to shop, merely that the 14th of October generally does follow quite soon after the 13th and the progression is not likely to stop and wait until he takes a minute to remember what it is that he should be doing at lunchtime. I had asked him to buy me Mason-Dixon Knitting and I had expected to have it in my hot little hands this morning. Now he tells me to go to Amazon and order it myself. And if I need to add something else to get up to free shipping, well you gotta do what you gotta do.

But wait a minute. Doesn't this give me a bit of leverage? Could I not parlay his faux-pas into some yarn acquisition in addition to the book(s)? Michael's is having a big sale starting tomorrow and while they don't have the most exotic yarn on earth I could certainly stock up for charity knitting and maybe an afghan or two. I'd like to upgrade my needle collection too. And one can never have too much sock yarn, can one? Of course Michael's is not the place for sock yarn, so I may have to do a little bit of online shopping. I've never tried Socks That Rock but I hear it's fabulous. It no longer matters that I just bought five balls of Trekking XXL. There's a new bad guy in town and he must pay, if only to ease his own conscience.

I am so going out for dinner tonight, and I do believe there will be crab legs involved.

(p.s. I haven't been totally neglected. Eight-year-old Sydney just presented me with a Kleenex containing twenty-five cents and a scallop shell.)

Some WIPs, with Pictures!

Have you ever noticed that this blogger does not post enough pictures? Well, I am here to rectify that. It is a dark rainy day here in the wilds of suburban southern Ontario so I am working with what little light is available. Bear with me, she said with a straight face as though her previous efforts represented the pinnacle of photographic art.

As I've mentioned before I am not much of a blog reader, and I've just recently discovered why everyone was nattering about "Socktoberfest". In honour of my finally catching on, I present my official Socktober sock.




Does that scream "AUTUMN!" or what? It's the current SOTM from Red Bird Knits, and it already has its inaugural mistake. This Mega Boots Stretch does in fact stretch, and dropped stitches have a tendency to go pinging off into the netherworld. I dropped a stitch in one of the little garter sections and could not for the life of me figure out how to work it back up correctly. So I am leaving the screw-up there in the interest of not offending the gods or whatever the mythology says.

Now, here's what I really enjoy the most.




Your basic no pattern, plain stockinette top-down sock in pretty yarn. This is my decompression knitting. And I have more of the same waiting. The blue one is my favourite.



I did earlier resolve to use one of these balls for a PGR toe-up, short row abomination -- I mean sock -- and I am not reneging on that. Yet. And I believe that in a moment of insanity I did babble something about two circs.

Here we have two items that did not want to photograph well, so I threw them together.




On the left is the feather and fan shawl in Moonlight Mohair that I hope to donate to the silent auction for the gymnastics team. As previously mentioned, the stitch count is suddenly off and I am ever-so-slowly picking it out until I figure out where it all went to hell. It has to be in the last couple of rows. As everyone knows, mohair tinks a lot like Velcro so the process is not fun in the extreme.

On the right is the freakin' baby blanket that I have been crocheting since the beginning of time. I decided yesterday to cut it short and begin the edging. I am almost halfway through the second of three edging rows and intend to finish it today.

And here's something with which I am rather pleased.




Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, this is a Finished Object! It will be donated to the charity group. It is a pattern from the Knitlist gift exchange, done in Cottontots and it's soft as heck. Better yet, I've already started a second set in mint green and am almost finished the jacket.

OK, I still need to weave ribbons through all the little holes. But it's as good as finished. See, I am capable of completing something.

frustration redux

Following my charity group meeting where I sat and crocheted the very same blanket I had been working on at the previous meeting, much to my humiliation, I made a vow to complete a heap of stuff before the November meeting. I got home, pulled out a ball of Shetland Chunky and googled for a suitable hat pattern. I found a cute quick cabled beanie here and whipped one up that same day. It worked out well. But looking at it without a head inside, it looks like a small shrivelled cone. If I were to submit this thing labelled as an adult hat, the odds are very good that the label will be removed and it will be given to a small child.

So I decided to abandon the beanie plan and knit more traditional hats that leave no room for confusion. I offered the beanie to my kids and it was quickly snatched up by the younger one. Naturally the older one pouted because she wanted one too, making me feel like a Bad Mom for only having one to offer. Guess what I spent yesterday knitting? Now both my offspring have new hats, which is nice, and they look adorable, but I still have nothing to donate.

The feather and fan shawl, by the way, has a mistake somewhere in the last couple of rows and is skulking in a corner awaiting the day when I have patience for tinking.