A Nightly Row

I think what is hurting my wrists the most is when I go up and down stairs without the crutches. Basically, the few steps outside my house and at work aren't bad but after a few very botched and scary attempts of hopping up and down them using the crutches I took the advice of the nurse at the doctors office and I now just go up and down on my butt. I kind of sit on the bottom step, put my hands on the step behind me and using my good leg and both hands, lift or lower myself as needed. Trust me, it is just as glamorous and graceful as it sounds! Ok, so it's clunky, and awkward and embarrassing at times, but being that close to the ground means there's no danger of falling. And we know falling is bad, I want to avoid it and get the heck out of the cast asap!

Anyway, I've always worn braces on my wrists when I sleep, without them, I curl my hands in so hard I wake up and my hands and fingers are completely numb. The braces usually do the trick but since I've been lifting myself up and down steps lately I notice that even with the braces at night I'm waking up with completely numb hands in my sleep. And a lot of days I find my wrists and hands hurt sometimes, my shoulders hurt. It sucks, so hoping to avoid further damage to my wrists (I don't want to end up needing wrist surgery after all of this) I'm trying to do what I guess is a sensible thing and knit a little less.

Still, I usually can hold out until about 8 at night. By then I'm like well, I can probably just knit one row... Only thing is the one row I usually knit on the Pi Are Square Shawl each day is now probably about 400 stitches wide...



Yes, I do it on purpose. I need to knit a row that will make me feel like I've accomplished something after all. And I do feel accomplished. This is all the yarn I have left.



This cashmere laceweight boucle, has enough interest and variations in it, I'm actually just going to stick with the garter stitch until this runs out. Which if I was knitting on my normal schedule would probably be a couple of days. On this schedule, maybe a week or two. But that's ok, I do feel better with my little one row a night schedule. Plus, on another positive note I don't have to wait 2 weeks, 12 days to that walking cast and I'm hoping to say goodbye to the wrist pain and finish this baby off...

How I get myself into (and out of) trouble

I've been knitting here and there a little lately. A few rows at night won't kill me. In the meantime I'm catching up on podcasts, surfing Ravelry, petting the stash. The other day the stash was bugging me a little. It haunts me and it's levels refuse to go down. I don't know if it's that we're starting to plan our upcoming trips to Stitches and Rhinebeck, or the fact that Christmas is exactly 5 months from today or what, but I just decided yesterday the stash needed some kind of resolution. So after much deliberation I came to 2 conclusions I thought would help.

1. What's left of the Elmore Pisgah Peaches and Creme (3 balls) must be knit by summer's end.

2. Ideally, I will have knit all the yarn I purchased at Stitches last year before I go to Stitches this year.

Number 1 definitely doable. Number 2, maybe with the exception of 1 or 2 skeins, I think I can probably come very, very close. I have yarn for 4-5 pairs of socks left from Stitches last year so it will take some resolution to finish them before mid-October. But still, I was very happy with these 2 goals, they are reasonable, and I think they go well with the upcoming stash increasing ventures. I went to sleep happy and content and at peace with the stash.

Then I wake up this morning and I have one thing on my mind.




Perdita. Knitty 2006. It's not as random as it seems. First, this past weekend I noticed a pretty beaded bracelet worn by Chris, who I knit with. She's had it on a couple of times and it's so cool. I'm not normally a bracelet person but this one really catches my eye. Then, thanks to Ravelry, a couple of days ago I noticed Jessie's version of Bauble from Spring 2007 Knitty really catching my eye. All this leads me think what is that beaded cuff pattern from Knitty I seem to re-visit every few months? Why haven't I knit it yet? I better go and read the pattern again... I better go and look at the finished ones other people have knit on Ravelry... It would look so cool in black or red or purple, which color would I choose? And all of a sudden I am back in love with Perdita again! Forget the stash anxiety, the goals, I want this on my wrist!!!

But this time it's different. Remember the cast? The crutches? I still can't drive for another 6 weeks! And even if someone did drive me simple stuff like walking around a store is so tiring. I really economize on the steps and the crutchwork each day and try to save it for the important or at least the really, really fun stuff. So no way to get DMC Perle Cotton. No way to get seed beads. And it's really for the best. Do I really need to go out and purchase more stuff to knit right now? No... I guess I don't... I'll put Perdita on the Ravelry queue anyway. After all the Christmas knitting I guess... Sigh...

Tired...

I didn't mean to get a cast that matches the cat. I guess it just kind of happened. I haven't blogged because I haven't knitted much. My hands and arms hurt so much from the crutches and pulling myself up all the time that last night I didn't knit at all. A day without knitting is a very rare occurrence and a big, big downer for me. I'm back at work which is good, it's very good because it keeps me from going crazy, which is directly where I was headed staying home all the time. However, it's also bad because since I can't drive and rely on help to get back and forth, I went back full time right away. And it's just kicking my butt. This upcoming weekend will be much resting. I am actually looking forward to resting.

19 days until I get my walking cast and can give my arms a rest. Can't wait.

What I'm Doing with my Summer Surgery Recovery

Pattern: Waterfall Socks from Knitspot
Yarn: Merino 4ply sock yarn "Kelim" gifted to me by Suzi from Darkside of Knitting 2 Punk Rock Gift Exchanges ago
Needles: Size 2 Clover Bamboo DPN's

Result? Love these socks! Love them! I wish I could model them on my feet for you guys to show you how great the lace pattern looks but with the cast and all, it's just not happening. But if you look at the Knitspot catalog my end result does look exactly like the ones in the picture. I think unless you are deliberately making changes to a pattern, if you set out to knit a pattern as is, then it should end up looking like the one in the picture. I've found to be the case so far with both these socks and the Cloverleaf Mitts. I think I'm actually going to be doing another pair of the Cloverleaf Mitts soon. I've decided I need a little break from the socks. I think I'm going to do a bunch of glove and mitten patterns I have lined up as soon as I finish the socks I just started Saturday.


Which you can tell, it won't be long before I finish these. They're sport weight Louet Gems Opal, with a gauge of 6 stiches to the inch. Plus making them short like this, you finish the cuff, and right away you're up into the heel flap! It's great! When I bought this yarn I didn't know it was sport weight, so I think the thicker gauge makes it better for short-slipper type socks for winter like these. So these will probably end up being Christmas gifts for someone eventually. Only problem? The yarn is not going fast enough! The ball you see is half the hank and I'm at least 2/3 of the way done with this sock. And I bought 2 hanks! Oh the stash will never end...

In non knitting news I've been doing a lot of... well... nothing I guess. Which everyone tells me is what I'm supposed to be doing after surgery. But it still sucks. I did have one fun day last week, the knitting girls came over and knit and brought food and just cheered me up so much. But then Saturday I started getting a little weepy when I realized I had not even been out of my house in over a week. Ick. I'm hanging in though, now I'm looking forward to Wednesday when I'm supposed to get a fiberglass cast put on and I get to go back to work. Looking forward to going back to work, words you think you'll never hear yourself saying right?

In the meantime I guess I could tell you about some of the great movies I've been watching lately. First the other day I re-watched The Girl in the Cafe.



A lot of people might have missed this when it came out in 2005. It was actually an HBO movie, never in the theaters but it really is a wonderful and beautiful movie. It stars Bill Nighy who you may remember as the aging rock star from "Love Actually" and as Davy Jones from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies and Kelly MacDonald who has been in several films, but unfortunately I haven't seen her in anything besides this and "Trainspotting." The two meet and before long Nighy's character asks MacDonald to attend a G8 Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland with him. The results are powerful and beautiful. The music, the scenery is amazing. During a time where I'm sure the new, loud, action packed "Transformers" probably has some merits, "The Girl in the Cafe" is a simple movie of people talking, but it's really so much more.

I also finally got to see A Prairie Home Companion the other day. Loved this one too. My husband told my Robert Altman had to deal with 65 speaking roles while making this film. It sounds so difficult but then look at who's doing the speaking- Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, John C. Reilly to start. Ok, so Lindsay Lohan is in it but not a whole lot, don't worry she's not that bad orangey tan, or pulling up her dress or passing out drunk or anything here. And the whole movie is just kind of sweet, a little hokey, with lots of intersting storylines and layers going on all at once to pull you in. I really liked it.

Last night I started watching Amelie. I know so many people who love this movie and now I see why. Audrey Tatou is so attractive and charming. And the whole film is so entertaining, the colors of every scene remind you of a painting, and the storyline is charming and whimsical and emotional. I just have 40 minutes to go and unless it turns into an entirely different movie somewhere in those 40 minutes I'm pretty sure I'm going to like this one for awhile too.

Elevate Good Times Come on!

It's an elevation! My life for the moment that is. All about elevating, elevating, elevating that foot. You can see by the gross foot photo (sorry) below the the surgeon has came, saw and conquered.



The surgery did not go all that badly. My tendon ended up being worth saving after all and did not need to be replaced. It was just very, very inflamed so they just needed to clean it up a little. The rest of the foot, well, the bones needed to be 'realigned' which meant cutting and screws. Yeah, so it's not like it ended up being a picnic or anything. I also ended up waking up at the end with a deathly bout of nausea that lasted well into the evening so instead of coming home the same day I had to stay over. What a lovely post this is so far isn't it? Inflamation? Nausea? Foot photos? Alas, this is my life-hence my new motto "All Glamour! All the time!"

So the home time has meant elevation, and Percoset, and trying to use the crutches without hitting myself or the cat or the furniture too much. How do people end up getting addicted to pain killers? Really so far, they help the pain but just make the rest of me feel like crap. I'm thinking today is the last day for the Percoset. The pain has really lessened and well, honestly the percoset knocks me out and then I can't knit! And that's what I'm really home for isn't it?

So I'm not going to lie, I am knitting while the knitting's good. I'm about two thirds of the way done on the second Waterfall Sock and I still love them as much as the first day I started them! Aww...



I also finished the last cotton cloth and picked up something a little softer than cotton. CASHMERE!!! MMM! Mmm! I'm using the laceweight cashmere boucle I purchased at School Products and started a Pi Are Squared shawl.



I really like it so far. I mean, what's there not to like about garter stitch with a bunch of yarn overs here and there. It's great, the yarn is great. The true test of this project will be how much I actually wear it once it's done. I'm not a big shawl wearer now and I'm not sure knitting them myself is going to turn me into one either. But I probably won't know until it's actually done and in my hands either. So we'll have to see how it turns out.

In other fun time consuming news I got my invite to Ravelry. I haven't gotten to spend as much time on it as I would like but I am getting there. It is really, really cool. For anyone waiting for an invite, be patient, it's coming and trust me it's worth the wait!!!

A set and a sock

Maybe I'm taking this Peaches and Creme thing too far... First, a bunch of washcloths, then I did 2 baby bibs. Then 2 burp cloths. Then I reached in to the stash and realized there was yarn for a burp cloth that would match the catepillar buttons on the bibs perfectly!



But, orange and green? I know, it's pretty loud. And a big step away from the blue/green theme of the baby set so far. Not that I'm trying to follow a blue/green theme for a particular baby at all. In fact this might not get gifted for awhile. My sister has had some problems with her pregnancy of late and it looks like she won't be having a baby next January as planned after all. I don't want to go into any of the details here but things just haven't gone well. So she has some waiting to do now before trying to get pregnant again. But she & her husband really do want another baby, and say they do want to try again when they can. So I think the baby set will be gifted eventually, just probably later than planned. In the meantime I think my niece has been distracting everyone with fun stuff, like discovering just how wonderful water can be in the summertime...



In other news I'm making progress using up the sock yarn. I finished one of the Waterfall Socks.



Like I mentioned before I love this pattern. It's pretty and stretchy and fits wonderfully. I knit it exactly as the pattern reads and I just could not be happier with it! I think this was the only sock pattern I've purchased from KnitSpot. Hmm... I'm going to have to go back and check for more. Especially judging the amount of sock yarn I still have. And my surgery is later this week... Hopefully I won't be too out of it to knit, if I feel good enough to knit, I bet I could really turn out some good stuff!

Weight and creative ways to distribute it

These are done.


Yarn: Patonyle Made in Australia. Gifted to me by the wonderful Suzi at Darkside of Knitting

Pattern: regular old stockinette sock pattern knit on Clover bamboo dpns size 2.

They are done and in the Christmas bag! Look out-the holiday knitting has begun and it has it's own bag. I love putting it in it's own bag. Then when it gets to be the end of the year I have a big bag (I hope) of fo's just sitting there waiting to be gifted.

The Christmas bag is not the only new addition to the stash baskets


This is my new favorite toy. Fresh from Bed, Bath and Beyond where I practically stole it for a mere $5.99. Look it, even stores itself in itself!



Why would I have a diet food scale in my stash you ask? Well, it measures ounces and grams so I can use it to weigh my sock yarn halfway through instead of getting all the way to the end of the second sock and then realizing I'm going to run out of yarn:) In this case I can make 2 nifty little balls from one hank straight out of the gate.


This yarn was also a gift from Suzi back when I did the Punk Rock Gift Exchange. Basically, I'm trying to de-stash, it's hot and I want to knit the sock yarn the most and I'm starting with my favorites! In this case not only is the yarn awesome, but I picked a great pattern too.

These are the Waterfall Socks from Knitspot. I said nice things about Anne's patterns before when I knit the Cloverleaf Mitts from my mom and now you're going to hear me say nice things about her patterns again. I love this one! I don't even want to put it down. And this is not my usual experience with patterned socks. A lot of time patterned socks to me feel tight on the needles and I always find myself furrowing my brow and sticking my tongue out while I try to do weird stuff like purling 3 through the back loop and crap. So far with this pattern-not the case. The hardest thing is a k2tog and even I can do that. And it's coming out so pretty and stretchy- so I know it will fit well. Anyway, stay tuned to see where this one goes, I have really high hopes for it.

On the non-knitting front the sports medicine doctor did not give me good news this week, he basically reiterated what my podiatrist has already said. So I went ahead and scheduled my surgery for the very end of this month. I have 6 weeks on crutches, and then 4 weeks in a boot and then 4 weeks of physical therapy to look forward to. It sucks, but what can you do? It was bad news to get but I'm trying to be positive and keep a sense of humor about things. This brochure really helped a lot


I can choose, if I like instead of the boot to use a Roll-a-Bout! Fantastic! (sarcasm) The first thing I said when the doctor showed me this "Oh now that is SEXY!!!!" My crazy mother of course had to ask "Does the man in the picture come with the Roll-a-Bout" wink wink (Note to self-get mom boyfriend) Now I apologize if there's anyone reading this who has experience with the Roll-a-Bout and just loved it and feels strongly about their connection with their Roll-a-Bout but well, it's just not for me. I know the boot will be big and clunky but I just think it will still be slightly less noticeable than the Roll-a-Bout. Although I think it might be fun to hang out the skateboarders at the train station with the Roll-a-Bout and gauge their reactions... Am I sensing a new sport here maybe? Synchronized Roll-a-Bouting could be performed by teams set to music. Extreme Roll-a-Bouting would require helmets and elbow pads of course. Just think of the decorating possibilities- flame decals along the bars, ribbons and streamers to wave in the wind, rims on the wheels... Tony Hawk, I await your call...

Catching up so I can hurry up and wait...

I didn't blog at all last week. I've fallen a little behind on a few things. Like getting the buttons on the red cardigan. I was with Tracy when I finally bought the thread to sew on the buttons, which had arrived a few weeks before. She said if she had finished a sweater she would have stayed up until 3 o'clock in the morning sewing them on just to see it done. This made me feel bad. Not bad enough to stay up that night sewing on the buttons... but bad enough to get it done like a couple of weeks later I guess.



I'm not crazy about this photo, it's on the hanger and kind of dark and kind of cheezy. But I promise the sweater is awesome. It fits great, it's just way too hot now to put it on for a proper photo shoot. I promise eventually to take a good photo that does it justice. Hey-for now I got the buttons on at least right...

And example #2 of not liking to sew on buttons. Two finished (almost) baby bibs from the Mason Dixon knitting book. One just needs to have the other caterpillar button sewn on.


You caught the cute caterpillar button right? See, he's on roller skates or something. Cute!



Don't worry-I still have plenty of time before the babies arrive (whichever one is getting these, don't know yet). I promise the button will be on by the time the item is gifted. Other than the crappy-having-to-sew-on a button part these bibs are kind of fun, neat gifts. They go super fast and I like how the cotton is easy to take care of the colors are kind of modern and fun and gender-neutral. Definitely a good pattern to have around to whip up as a last minute baby thing...

And I'm almost done with these socks.



I've realized the sock yarn is what has me most anxious of all the yarn amounts in the stash so I'm trying to focus my knitting attention there. There's just so much of it, I feel like I will never get through it all. The tragedy of which is that I will never be able to buy more. What an cruel, cruel circle the stash runs in!

But I might have more knitting time than usual very soon-here's the hurry up and wait part. I found out a few weeks ago that I tore a tendon in my foot when kickboxing and I'm going to need to have surgery. The bad part is-I tore the tendon in January. And I have been walking and kickboxing and cycling on it since. Yikes. When it happened I figured I had just sprained my ankle or something and figured it was temporary. I've had pain since but I never ever thought it could be something this serious. Boy was I wrong. At first it looked like I was just going to need the tendon surgery and would be in a cast for 3 weeks. That would be a pain in the tush-but something I figured I could deal with. But when we finally go the MRI done and I went back to my doctor for him to check it out he told me that since I have walked on this injury for so long the bones have been affected and the ankle is beginning to collapse. (Yikes again) It's now likely I'm going to need to have bone surgery (yeah, like they CUT off a piece of my BONE and put a screw through my ANKLE) and I will have to actually be in a cast for 8 weeks. Yes, after receiving this lovely news I am not happy. I am scared and depressed. Because of this development I've been referred to a Sports Medicine Orthopedist in Princeton. (Do you know how laughable it is that I have to go to a Sports Medicine doctor??? Do you remember the post about the hot dogs???)



Mmm... Hot dogs... Anyway, yes sad and depressed and even the looming possibilities of hours of uninterrupted knitting time are not enough to cheer me up yet. Talk to me once I have the screw in my ankle and I'm spaced out on some decent pain meds. We'll see, I'm trying to remain positive. I am. I hope to know more after I see the sports medicine doc Wednesday. In the meantime like I mentioned I'm trying to catch up (at work, around the house, socially) so that I will be prepared for when the healing period has to begin.

Stash Anxiety

Sometimes I get anxious about the stash. I know, it's weird. Most of the time I love it and appreciate it and pet it and all is well. But sometimes I get flashes of "I'm never going to to get all of this yarn knit" and I gasp and hyperventalate a little. Sometimes I get a few hives. And my stash (from what I can tell) is really not all that bad compared to some so it's really a strange thing. Anyway, this week I've felt like that a bit so I'm trying to knit my way through it.



The Peaches and Creme yarn is good for this. It knits up pretty fast and each time I make a couple of these dishcloths I'm down 2 balls. I've also decided to use it to start some of the knitting for babies I should be doing.



This doesn't look like much now but it's a baby bib from the Mason Dixon book. Again, fast fast and the lovely garter stitch is easy easy. My easy easy sock is also going along great and has hopefully beat the bad sock karma of last week.



Compared to a patterned sock these are going really fast too. Not bad for the past few weekends we've had. It's just been really busy around here. Saturday we had a wedding in Vermont and then Sunday we drove home and rested, did some stuff around the house. Then yesterday, we had a Memorial Day BBQ to go too. Every weekend has been like that lately. Thankfully next weekend it looks like we're getting a break. So far the social schedule is wide open. Finally! It's still 4 days away and I'm already looking forward to it. I get to catch up on my knitting (maybe knit enough to make the stash anxiety subside a little?) And maybe (finally) get to take photos of the completed red cardigan.

Sock carnage and taking it on the road

Earlier this week I found myself working on a sock, once again praying to not run out of yarn before finishing the 10 rows left I had to go in the toe.


I took the sock with me to work and on my lunch hour officially ran out of the ball of yarn before finishing the sock. I then completely LOST MY MIND!!! Logic went out the window and I got this crazy thought that "I know, I'll just cut off the cast on edge, frog what I need from the top, and then bind of the top edge again." WHAT????


Argh. Well, it worked when I had to shorten my Main Street Pullover but you see, that was stockinette. This is not, this was knit 5 purl 2 ribbing. Which meant tangling. Which meant that idea I had was just dumb. These were supposed to be socks for my dad for Father's Day. The pattern is the Diagonal Cross-Rib socks from the Favorite Socks book from Interweave and it was going just fine. I wasn't loving the yarn which was Fortissima Socka but I'm not sure it was the yarns fault. I had bought it at a LYS where I (along with other people I know) have had problems in the past. Basically, the place is totally unorganized and if you interrupt the help from their constant non-knitting related chattering amongst themselves, well, they kind of treat you like crap. I'm not going back there anymore and that's ok. I wonder if maybe the yarn has some of that bad-shopping experience karma stuck on it and that's the problem? Well, yeah that and of course, I told you about the part where I completely lost my mind.

This sock massacre was a big bummer for me. I really wanted to have socks for my dad for Father's Day because he specifically asked for them for Father's Day. (Even though I keep thinking Dad, it's in June, you're not going to be able to wear them yet anyway!) Between these and the Jaywalkers, I'm kind of sick of frogging and bad knitting luck. Problem is as the weather's been getting better lately, our social schedule has been filling up and sometimes it feels like we spend most of our weekend driving in the car. Which of course requires car knitting. Which is usually socks. Time to take it down a few notches.



Simple, stockinette sock with beautiful variegated yarn. Can't beat it. This is awesome Patonyle yarn from my Punk Knitting Swap pal Suzi. I haven't seen this yarn anywhere here ever, and it says 'Made in Australia' right on it, so I'm not sure I ever will. But I really, really like it. And going back to a simple stockinette sock is just making me feel like a genius. It is flying! And looking great! Who me lose my mind? Run out of yarn? (Oh yeah, note to self-stop making these socks too damn long, you keep running out of yarn) Never! Throw it in my favorite silk Lantern Moon bag, rig up the ipod and don't forget my favorite LED Ear Light so I can even knit in the dark, and I'm ready for the road.

Almost there...

Buttondrawer.com came through with much success! Although I'm still surprised that what you see below is $30 worth, they are all quality items, and I'm sure what doesn't get used this time will definitely be used eventually.


The "Smoked Agoya" buttons are nice, but larger than I wanted for this sweater. I kind of got them just in case I changed my mind. The metal buttons called "Ripple" are really, really cool, but not for this sweater, this time. I'm going to go with the "Gray Seashell" since they're closest to what I had picked originally and are exactly the thing I had in mind.

Mamarama!

Happy Mom's Day all!!! Guess what? I'm not a mom but I did get some good mom-related news today- I'm going to be an aunt again! Yay! My sister told us this morning she is pregnant with their second and she is due in January! They are thrilled. We are thrilled. Everybody's thrilled! So let the baby knitting begin! We also found out recently some good friends of ours are also pregnant and expecting in November, so I guess I better get cracking. Gosh, even though my niece is only 18 months I feel like it's been forever since I knit baby stuff. I feel kind of out of the loop with the baby patterns. Time to do research! And of course the challenge-I don't expect either set of parents to find out the baby's sex in advance, so I'll try to make the items gender neutral. So any suggestions? Anybody knit a baby pattern recently they love? Let me know, I guess I'm just going to have to my more yarn again. Sigh.... :)

Sunny days are here again!

The woolly cable scarf is done. And wonderful. It was fun and I love it. I love the colors, loved the stitches, it knit fast and I'm happy with the finished project. But I do remember knitting on it on a couple of warm days towards the end and it was starting to feel a little sticky. So... onto something a little drier, a little sunnier.


These are the first 2 of what I'm sure will be many Buttonband Dishcloths from the Mason Dixon knitting book. The yarn is the great stuff I ordered from Elmore Pisgah a few weeks ago, and what can I say? The colors are like candy, they just leap right off the needles. The pattern was fast and easy and enjoyable. And something interesting to note-the pattern is exactly the same as the one on the paper band on the Peaches and Creme yarn. While I love the Mason Dixon book and think there's something in it for everyone, it's good to know too-if you don't want to commit to the whole book, just pick up a ball of this yarn and the pattern is right there.

Oh Drat!

The red cardigan is all seamed. Sleeves set in. Side seams sewn up. The neckband is done. Now to just do the button bands.

But how wide should they be? Well it depends on the size of the buttons right? Herein lies the problem. The day I went into the city for the Radical Lace and Subversive stitching show I bought the buttons. At the amazing store M&J Trimming. I liked that store a lot by the way. It's bright and colorful and cheery and clean and super-organized. (My local sewing/button store is a little dingy and could really benefit from some cheer and some clean) And they have a huge selection, so of course I would find the perfect buttons there.


See? Perfect! Only, not-so-perfect. This is all I bought. Five buttons. Five buttons?!?!?! What was I thinking? All I can think is that in the past I have knit sweaters with only five buttons I guess. But you always need an extra, for just in case. Plus this sweater is different. It's a smaller size, a smaller gauge, everything is smaller. (Which is making a much better fit, in the past things have turned out somewhat drapey at times) But smaller buttons also would mean-more buttons. These guys are on the smaller size and only five looks ridiculous. And alas. I just don't have more. I've emailed M&J Trimming's customer service email a couple of days ago. And well, maybe they'll write back but... I HAVE NO PATIENCE!!! I AM ON THE BUTTON BANDS AND I JUST WANT THIS THING DONE!!!

Really, it's so close to done it's ridiculous. So what's a girl to do? Head to the dingy not so great local store? Get a crowbar and try to find time to schlep back into the city somewhere in my joke of a schedule? Of course not! The times that try women's souls are also often perfect opportunities to whip out the charge card. Enter The Buttondrawer.com. My new source for buying buttons online. So I did some damage, ordered 10 of 3 different kinds of buttons that I think may be comparable somewhat to the 'perfect' buttons and well, we'll just see where this takes us. And if M&J Trimming comes through and emails me back that they've found more of my button that I can order then I'll probably order them again from them too. Something tells me I can just see myself getting in this situation again, so maybe it is time to start stockpiling some buttons...

Spring has sprung

And I've been buying some yarn! This is the Mason Dixon Pre-Pack Kit from Elmore-Pisgah. Isn't it just so pretty? I actually knew about Elmore-Pisgah before the Mason Dixon knitting book. I don't remember how but I've had that link in my favorites from way back. I had always wanted to order a bunch but could never decide on colors. I think they did a great job matching these up. Originally I thought, wouldn't it be nice if I could knit a bunch of washcloths for the moms in my life for Mother's Day? Wouldn't it? But wouldn't it also be nice if Mother's day was more than 3 weeks away? Alas it is not. So perhaps I'll be knitting those gifts for the moms in my life for Christmas. Or next Mother's Day? I don't care all I know is I can't wait to cast these on and knit them in all their spring and pretty color glory.

But I haven't cast on yet, because I'm in the middle of this.


Wheee! One more bit of wool knitting before Spring settles in for good. This is lovely Taos wool made by Crystal Palace. It was gifted to me by my Knitters Tea Swap Pal Anne from Wandering Cyberspace from the Cornfields. I ordered some extra from Jimmy Beans Wool because I knew I would want the wider version. Between getting this yarn and the Peaches and Cream from Elmore Pisgah in the mail I have decided the yarn buying alone could be a new and fun hobby for me in and of itself. Anyway the pattern for the scarf is actually here and it's free and wonderful. They actually have a bunch of great patterns there you should check out. I memorized this one after just a few rows. I love the texture and it's soft and warm. It keeps my attention but not so much that I can't concentrate on other things. Like the tivo I finally got to catch up on today- especially that cute-as-a-stitchmarker Apolo Anton Ohno. Oh no? Oh yes....

Cuteness. At warp speed.

Blog activity has been temporarily interrupted. We have a visitor.


My niece isn’t the only one visiting this week. My sister and her husband are here too. It’s great to have them here and hang out and have family time together. Which is also time to try and overcome my new photography challenge. Try to get a decent picture of this one during the .003 seconds she might actually stand still once in awhile.


It's tough.

Even though there aren’t knitting pictures I assure you there has been knitting activity. I gave my mom the Cloverleaf Mitts for her birthday and she went nuts over them. She adores them. I adore them too. And now I find myself coveting them. Time to make some for me now I guess. I’ve also cast on for a scarf I'm completely in love with. But between the toddler photography challenge and the low light conditions created by this weeks nor'easter, better to wait until next week and do it up right. I feel bad not properly blogging this week, but the niece (and her parents, gosh I keep forgetting them!) is only here for a little while, and you know she won't be this adorable, hyper, and very sweet age forever!

(And did I mention it took both my sister and her husband to get her dressed yesterday! And they're both college graduates! My sister went to an Ivy League school!!! But getting a toddler in tights, I guess it just levels that playing field huh? I don't know, maybe it's just funny when you get to watch your sister do it. High comedy!!!! How did I miss getting pictures of that? Hmm....)

Off and on the needles

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. And to those who don't a very Happy Sunday to you also.

We're off to my in-laws today where they are having a crowd of people. This is the take along I've made, an Orange Dreamsicle Cake from one of my favorite baking books The Cake Mix Doctor. For my foodie friends-if you have not checked out this book you should. I've had it for years and have yet to make a bad cake from it. With hits like "The Coca Cola Cake" and "Mississippi Mud Cake" no, it's not high culinary culture or something you'd want to make your wedding cake from. But everything is a crowd pleaser, and with the cake-mix doctoring methods, a lot of time it's like mix it up, bake it, frost/glaze/ice it and go.

While I don't have good easter egg or candy pictures to show you, I do have a good picture of some easter egg colored socks.

Pattern: Jaywalker Socks by Grumperina

Yarn: Trekking XXL and then leftover Kroy socks when I ran out of the Trekking

Modifications: Obviously there's the different colored toe-thing which was completely unintentional. I also made the heel flap a few stitches deeper-and they're still pretty snug.

What I think: At the moment I’m just glad these are done. Running out of yarn wasn’t the only issue at the end, somehow when I decreased & went to kitchner the toe I had more stitches on one needle than the other. Sorrowfully frustrated at that point I honestly just divided them evenly between the needles and grafted away.

Here is my thing-people shouldn’t complain about public television. They shouldn’t complain about the free samples in the grocery store or free knitting patterns on the internet. They’re FREE after all. We pay nothing for them. If you don’t like it don’t partake. That said I will now contradict myself and probably come out sounding like a total hypocrite. I have noticed some times there is a difference between that free stuff and the stuff you pay for. I don’t know why I had so much trouble with these socks. Maybe it was me, frogging this so many times in the beginning was hard. Definitely somewhat my fault-I chose to do a 'gauge sock' instead of a 'gauge swatch'. But still, the un-stretchiness of the sock completely surprised me and was difficult to work around. I just feel like I’m a little spoiled I guess. I’m used to getting my needles, getting my yarn, getting a pattern, and sitting down and knitting a pair of socks. At one point when I was knitting these I was whining about this to a friend who said "Yes, but now that you've frogged the socks, now you know what you're doing." And I continued to whine still more saying "Yes but I thought I knew what I was doing before I started them..." That said will I knit these socks again? Maybe. Someday. I do really like how they look. I like it that the stitch pattern was easy to memorize. After I had my sizing issues though, I’m wary to make them for another person as a gift. And there are already many more patterns in line I’m ready to try and I'm going to have to start my Christmas sock gift knitting sometime.

Cast on cast off, cast on cast off. Cast on is the Cloverleaf Mitts in Misti Alpaca, just ready for me to pick up the thumb stitches and finish it off.


I had bought the yarn for the Anemoi mittens in grey and green. It was a bad purchase. Not only is it almost impossible to tell the difference between the colors in anything less than perfect sunlight, I somehow managed to get 2 balls of sportweight in gray, one ball of sportweight in green, and one ball of worsted in green. Duh.

I came upon Knitspot when I noticed the Yarn Harlot knitting their pattern for the Delicato Mitts. Anne's catalog has lots of cute patterns for mitts that don't take a lot of yarn. Perfect for using up stash, and if you buy patterns from her you get the gratification of buying something knitting-related for yourself without adding to the stash too. The patterns are clear, well written and the photos are great. Again-possibly the big difference between some free patterns and the patterns you pay for. The Cloverleaf Mitts pattern is wordy. It is wordy and it is detailed. And that is wonderful-they’ve really gone above and beyond anticipating any confusion I might have along the way. And I think so far the mitt is looking great, I would really recommend purchasing this pattern!

Totally Radical...

So Saturday I packed up the second Jaywalker sock and took it into New York City for some culture. (See how the sock is almost done? Yeah, so is the yarn. I see an unmatched toe in this socks future and I really think I'm ok with that at this point.) Along with my knitterly friends Tracy and Chris we went to the Museum of Arts and Design to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit. Definitely more art than craft it was really something to see. Some of my favorite pieces would have to include an untitled piece by Hildur Bjarnadóttir which was actually a crocheted lace tablecloth surrounded by 3 dimensional skulls around the edges. Very cool. Another favorite-the work of Piper Shepard written about in Knitty here, was simply stunning. She had taken huge swaths of fabric on rolls and hand cut what seemed like miles and miles of lace panels out of the fabric by hand with exacto knives.



Before the museum we went for a visit to the amazing School Products. Wow. What an amazing yarn store. It was big and bright and just had tons and tons of stuff. They seemed to have a lot of laceweight which was good for me, that's just what I was in the market for. They had an impressive stock of Koigu. I see why this stuff makes people weak. It was hard to resist. But I remembered my new 'No New Sock Yarn' mantra and stayed strong! Lots of unusual things, silk blends, coned yarns, and cashmere.... Now this might seem silly to some but I always kind of wondered what the big deal was about cashmere. I think maybe I just let myself stop at the price tag and that was enough to dissinterest me right there. But at School Products cashmere is actually affordable. It was reasonable to find skeins in the $30 dollar range that would have enough make a nice, respectable lace weight scarf. I on the other hand just blew that figure right out of the water and picked up enough of the stuff to make a big ol' drapey shawl for myself. It's actually a cashmere boucle, in a dark hunter green with a few variances of brown and gold here and there. I'd show a picture but the photo I tried to take in today's cloudy weather of it looks so bad! It's enough to sour generations on cashmere in the future! So no picture, I promise when I start knitting with it you'll get to see it, promise.

And of course the company just made the day a complete success. We knitted on the train both ways, took part in a great lunch and libations at a brewery near the museum and giggled and giggled a whole, whole lot.


In the spirit of the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting show when I got home I decided to try my hand at some Subversive Knitting and come up with some soft sculpture pieces. You know, maybe to keep in the wall unit by the tv, or to submit for an exhibition or something.


Just kidding. It's not sculpture. But it is the finished pieces of my red cardigan! Finally! Let the drudgery of seaming and button bands begin! Sigh. But this has to mean I'm at least halfway there right? Maybe?