Oh Shknit!

Has it really been 6 months since I have updated?  Ugh, so much for being consistent.  Part of the problem was I lost my mojo in the hugest way possible and have just regained it.  What is there to post when you don’t log into Ravelry or even look at your yarn for months on end?  For the first time ever I was NOT up to date on the new patterns hitting Ravelry.  I just had no…drive.  For lots of reasons I will keep to myself.  The good, the bad and the ugly are NOT all to be posted on my blog, in my opinion.  Just the cast on, the knitted, and maybe some of the kiddo and I.

I was going to the gym a lot and I lost some weight.  I was so excited about it, but I have been playing a ‘find the right meds for Jaimie’ game and the weight came back.  I was bummed.  And I didn’t want to knit because the things I had been working on were sweaters that were going to be too tight to wear now.  And I haven’t been going to the gym as much.  Etc, etc, etc.  I ended up ripping everything out in a fit of frustration and tried to make something that would fit me now.  Then I thought…but what if I DO lose the weight again…this won’t fit!  So rip again.  I have resorted to knitting accessory type stuff.  The quickness works for what lately has been a very impatient person, plus who doesn’t love instant gratification?  I knit in one day Vickie Howell’s Cover Cowl, and I started the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret yesterday and just cast off on it before I went to sleep.  CUTE…HOLY CUTENESS.  And such a quick knit.  If want to make one of these out of cotton or something so I can wear it when the weather is warmer.  This is an alpaca blend that sheds so badly but it soft and I know it will keep my noggin warm this winter.  Once the sun comes out I will take pictures of both.  Man do I love quick winter knits!

I missed a day.  Just one day.  With mi vida loca, I am surprised I was able to participate at all.

First of all, thank you to everyone that stopped by my blog during 2KCBW…I truly appreciate it.  I hope you will stick around so we can get to know each other better!

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I got to correspond with many other knitters through this project, and I really, really liked it.  It also got several people over here visiting me, and I think up until now my blog was all but unread.  So this is exciting for me.  I have been trying so hard to keep the blog up (and really enjoying it) but finding time even now is sometimes hard because there are so many other things to be done (like knit!)

I also have a new FO, and 2 new WIPs.  My FO is a pair of socks out of Regia Bamboo…I think these will be hereon out called my psycho 70’s socks because they are bright, and one of them looks really tie-dyed the way the pooling did it’s thing.  But they are super comfortable, and my FIRST pair of socks for MYSELF!  So of course, what did I do as soon as I cast off?  Cast on for 2 more pairs of socks.  I am part of a knit-a-long that has a challenge for April to knit socks that have interesting construction.  I picked Smoking Hot Socks, which have toe-up construction.  I have only ever knitted cuff-down.  I am excited about these socks, I am knitting them in some Soja that are to me kind of easter colors…peach, yellow, light blue, pink…it should be an interesting knit.  The other pair are my 2nd attempt at Hedera.  The first time my poor feet were SWIMMING in them, so I am going down a needle size.  If you would have told me a year ago I would be knitting 2 pairs of socks at the same time on size 1 needles, I would have laughed my ass off.  No, serious.  I almost cried when I first saw how small they are, and now I own a pair of 0’s?  What the hell am I doing?  I would say over the past 4 months, my needles size 1-3 have gotten the most action.  Reflecting back to this time last year, I would say 7-10’s were getting the most action.  Now those suckers are collecting dust!  So I will ride this sock wave for as long as I can…I am enjoying it and want to make my son at least 2 new pair this year, which I think I will have done in the next few months.  We’ll see.

Hasta la Vista, Baby.

Up to this point, most of the knitting I have done HAS been for other people. My first gifted item was for my Grandma.  Her neck and chin were always cold and I used Simply Soft (because that’s so warm and all) and knitted her some variation of a ribbed scarf.

I have gifted mostly hats and gloves, and I know that the matching beanie and fingerless gloves I made for my dad for Christmas 2 years ago hasn’t been worn once.  I appreciate that he knows all the work that goes into it, but dammit, WEAR IT, DADDY!

I have made my mom several hats and scarves and she wears them all the time instead of store-bought ones.  This last winter I made her a lacey pair of fingerless mitts and she adores those.  She is of the crafty persuasion also, so she really appreciates the time and effort that goes into knitting.  She also wears the heck outta her socks that I made her, that were the first socks I ever made.  She was honored to be the recipient of them.

The one gifted item that I think was the most appreciated were the socks I made for my son.  He loves them so much and wears them constantly and loves them so much.  He takes them off, bathes, and wants to put them right back on.  It blows me away that a 6 year old would love something like that so much, but oh man, he loooooves his socks.  There are definitely more in his future.

I have made numerous hats for my brother, winter gear for my son, they all get worn a lot.  I am lucky that my knitting is appreciated by the ones that receive them.  If they weren’t, I wouldn’t do it, of course.  I think 2011 is going to be the year of me, though.  I have many plans and am knitting my 3rd pair of socks, the first pair for me!

My son loves being the recipient of knitting items.  I never, ever thought that he would dig them so much.

I started knitting him Askel, and I have since come to the realization that said sweet little man has a massive sensitivity to wool.  Askel was about 75% in a beautiful blue merino.  Yeah.  I still haven’t the heart to rip it out.  I have some cotton fleece I think he will be ok with…I think I’m going to make him a hat or scarf or something and see how he does with it.  So I knit him a pair of socks.  This is my 2nd full pair of socks and they went so much quicker than the first pair (4 days as opposed to 6 months)…and when I finished the first one a couple days ago, he took both of his regular socks off, and wore the single sock all the rest of the night.  He wanted to wear it to bed, too, bless his cute little heart.

So I finished them tonight, and he wore those around all night.  I told him he had to take them off if he wanted to wear them to school.  I can see that I am going to have to be making that kid some more socks, those are not going to last too long if he wears them as much as he wants to.  Which I will gladly do with no complaint…that smile is more than worth the hole I seem to put in my pointer finger every time I knit with tiny needles.

When I saw this pattern on Ravelry, I fell in love with it.  I loved the slouch, loved the lace pattern, just loved it.

Well, when I knit mine up, it didn’t slouch so much, even though I used the largest size.  I have a big head, and lots of hair, so I guess I should have known better.  I couldn’t love this hat more though, than I do.

Project Details:

Pattern:  Pasha

Yarn:  Berroco Ultra Alpaca, Colorway Candied Yam

Modifications:  None!

Thoughts:  I loved this pattern.  The lace repeat was easy to remember, and the yarn was a delight to work with.  This was my first time using the Ultra Alpaca, and I love the tans and browns and slight ‘other’ colors in this colorway, giving it a bit of a rustic feel.  This project was a quicky for me, and I just love it.  I really enjoy the look of the ribbing flowing right into the lace pattern, I think it just adds to the beauty of this hat.

Some more pictures:

I finished the Gap-tastic Cowl.  I love it.  I used Ironstone Colorchanges yarn, which I had no idea what to ever do with.  But I am sticking with my resolution…using that yarn I have always been afraid to use because I didn’t want to ‘waste’..well wasting is letting it just sit and never be used.

I loved knitting with this, and as much as I abhor seed stitch I actually enjoyed it with this project, because the colors turned out so neat the way they changed as I went.  There were sort of long color changes, so a knit-in-the-round cowl was really a good way to go.  I knitted them on slightly smaller needles but cast on more stitches.  I wish I would have cast on even more stitches, and there will be another cowl in my future, that will be longer.  Probably 5 inches longer, preferably.  It does fit over my head like a hood though, which was my main goal.  I wanted something I could cover my noggin up when my ears felt like they were gonna fall off.

And PICTURES.  Do you believe it?

Excuse the re-re self photos, but I had just cast-off and was doing a happy dance because I actually FINISHED SOMETHING.  Love it.

OK, so I have huge monkey feet (no offense to any monkeys intended).  I had turned the heel on the first Jaywalker and was working on the decreases to continue onto the foot, when I noticed this gaping hole and I could NOT figure out what I had done.  So I took the needles out, ripped it back  or so rows, and decided now was a good time to just try it on for size.  I COULDN’T FIT IT OVER MY FLIPPIN HEEL!  Granted, I am swollen as hell because I am 38 weeks pregnant, so I had my mom try it on because her feet are much closer to my ‘real’ feet size.  She couldn’t either.  I was in love with how they were turning out, too…

So I did look for other Chevron patterns that I could use, but I am going to wait.  I think I am going to get a more solid color sock yarn and just knit something lacey.  It stretches more, and frankly, I have been working on this sock so much lately (for me) I just need a break from this type of pattern.  I was very happy with how it was turning out, so I don’t hate you, oh ripped Jaywalkers, but we must part for a bit of time.

Finished the gloves for bro’s friend…will post pics of that tomorrow, they are going out in the mail and they are outta here!  WOO HOO!  Also need to post pics of the kiddo with his minion, which he has slept with since I made it for him…he loves it.

I also was working on a Grumpasaurus tonight for my son using LB Magic Stripes in black, white and red (his choice), and it turned out looking like poo.  I realized this when I was just about done with his body, so mommy is making an executive decision tomorrow and picking some solid colors for his wee Grumpy dinosaur.

I am the hugest fan of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, and it’s killing me not to watch the episodes from this season, but I have my C-Section scheduled soon and I figured that would be a really good thing to do while I was recooperating from that.  I wasn’t sure how droopy/drugged I would be and wasn’t sure about the knitting, but TV watching I could handle.  If I can knit, great, I will when I’m watching my shows, if not, no biggie I still have something to do.

That’s about it, my so-called life!

My dad had to leave rather unexpectedly to get out of here before the weather went sour, so I haven’t had time to take those pics I promised a couple of days ago.  But today was Johnathan’s first day back at school, so this morning after I dropped him off I took those damn pics and here they are! (I think I would do anything right now just to distract me – having him for 2 weeks and then the house being so quiet is killing me!)

First off, the Gathered Scarf that was a Christmas present for my mom.  I am very happy with how it knit up and it is sooooo soft.  She said it doesn’t itch her neck at all which is the whole point of a soft and squishy scarf!

Lace Gloves.  The thorn in my side right now just because I hate weaving in ends and there are too many for my liking.  Eek.  This is the first time I had used Cascade 150 and I LOOOOOVE it.  I still have quite a bit of it left, not sure what I am going to do with it.

Next up:  Fingerless mitts for my boy.  He loved them.  And they look so freakin cute on him.  I just made it up as I went along…no pattern.  I did a 3 x 1 rib and thumbhole.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy as my son says.

Finally, some dishcloths I gave my mom for Christmas.  She used to knit her own but with her arthritis her paws don’t like to knit so much.  She made the plain ole Grandma’s favorite dishcloth, so I thought I would mix it up a little for her.

That is all for my FO’s.  I have to seam up the first twin sweater, make the 2nd twin sweater…I just haven’t felt up to doing much of anything, this baby is coming soon and I have been pretty uncomfortable.  So small things make me happy right now.

A couple of UFO’s…a minion from Despicable Me at the request of my son, and the Jaywalkers that I FINALLY started that I can’t believe I didn’t start sooner.  I love how easy the stitch pattern is, but this yarn is knitting it up in an interesting pooling pattern.  I usually hate pooling but this is pooling…cool.  At least so far.  And the yarn is some I have never knitted with before and it really is a nice knit, especially with the affordable price range.  We will see how the FO holds up!

I have already gotten another 2 inches or so done on these.  They are going way faster than I would have expected on size 1 needles, but I think it’s because every row is a little hidden surprise for me.  Weeeeee.
Well, that’s it for now.  I started this post this morning and am ending it 10 minutes before TOMORROW morning comes around.  The days are so busy even when I have my ass planted firmly on some seat or other.  Tomorrow I hope to working on some (gag) weaving in ends and more Jaywalkers.  I am going to get googly sew-on eyes for the Minion, and have to do his feet and arms, and then more Jaywalker.  That will be my guilty pleasure for now, I think!

Yes, insert generic title up yonder.

My Christmas was wonderful.  I actually got some yarn from my mother who is constantly riding my ass about not buying more yarn, so that put a huge smile on my face.

I just finished her ruffled scarf this afternoon, so I will post some pics of those tomorrow.  I am on glove 2 for my brother’s friend, and have the index finger, thumb, and weaving in allllll those ends and I can get them off in the mail.  My brother and father both showed up for Christmas and I thought it was going to be a very melancholy holiday for my mother and I.  But it made it a wonderful Christmas.  I told them they could take all my presents back because I had what I wanted – my family together.  I found out the day before my brother was leaving (he only stayed for 3 days!) that he was indeed leaving, so I didn’t get a chance to finish the gloves to send home with him, unfortunately.  But they should be done in time for me mail off on Monday.  Then I only have to finish the 2nd twin sweaters and get those off.  Those who know me know I am a late runner always it seems, so I am hoping that the fact that these are handmade items will lend some forgiveness.

I have been cracking out on getting caught up on Knitmore Girls, and KIPing it Real podcasts.  Every night I listen to them without fail, and when I am cleaning and stuff, they are always playing.  I am thoroughly enjoying both of them.  It took me forever to get caught up on the CogKNITive podcast, and I did get caught up, so I found some others that I really enjoy, and the 2 mentioned above have been my onlies lately.  I am listening to Jackie’s darling voice as we speak, as a matter of fact!

Johnathan’s fingerless mitts were a hit, I have some pics of them and they are so comfy on him, he LOVES them.  So tomorrow, scarf FO, glove UFO update, and fingerless mitt FO pictures.  I hate blogs that don’t post pics, and I am horrible at posting them.  Pot calling the kettle black, much?

Back soon with more updates!  I have some exciting things coming up I hope, and knitting is at the top of that list!

He wants out.  Now.  He is not due for another month.  This has been a rough pregnancy, I am extremely uncomfortable and I am not getting around well these days.  So who knows when he will show up.  Sooner rather than later, I hope though.

I have been continually working on Christmas gifts.  I have abandoned the gloves that I originally was making for my brother’s friend.  They were coming out too small, the yarn just wasn’t working for the project, and I just wasn’t feeling it.  I can’t give away something I have made that I don’t feel 110% proud of.  So I went to plan B, picked up some Cascade 150 in this gorgeous red color (which was his friends first choice anyways), and am making the Lace Panel Gloves from the Vogue Knitting Fall 2009 issue.  I am almost done with the thumb increases and ready to start on the fingers.  This project is giving me much more of the warm and fuzzies.  It is the first time I have knit with this yarn and I ADORE it.  Great stitch definition, not splitty at all, and it just knits up so nicely.  I am excited to try it on another project one of these days when I’m not broke!

I still have to finish the sweater for Marie’s twin #2, and I am making a last minute hat for my son per his request that knits up on US 7’s, so it should be a fast project.  It’s the Batman Hat, and I just went and bought some acrylic for it.  He has several wool hats that I have made him, and I think that this hat is going to be more used to run around the house wearing his ‘Thing’ hands, a scythe, and an Iron Man costume.  Yes, you read right.  His outfit combos CRACK ME UP.

So I have just been knitting away, trying to stay off my feet, and ignore the contractions as much as I can.  That’s about where I am right now!