Flashbacks

A while ago my Mom gave me some hardbound copies of Vogue Knitting from the late 80's-early 90's that had been discarded from the library, and I've been having fun flipping through them lately. Some of the patterns hold up pretty well, like this one that I do plan on doing at some point:


And if I could ever find the pattern to the coat in this ad, I'd be a happy woman:

Not that I'd ever actually do it! Maybe if I was independently wealthy and being kept in the style I would like to become accustomed to I would; but it would remain a pipe dream until then.

But when it comes to the sweater in this ad from the late 80's, all I can say is: "What the hell were they thinking!?!"

I was thwarted

In my attempt to make it to the Knitsmiths this weekend, that is. It was a combination of factors, including in-laws calling and saying: "Are you going to be home this afternoon?" What are ya gonna do?

I've been ignoring my scarf the past few days, but in the process I've made my little girl happy:


That makes two sweaters finished in 2004! I'm on a roll.

And I've started a stash busting, neck down raglan cardigan for, well, me! (Am I the only one who feels slightly guilty when I knit something for myself? I mean, this is the first sweater I've knit for myself in a long, long time) I'd love to show you a picture of it, but the minute I put it down on the ground I lost custody of it:


Of course, if I made him a cat bed do you think he'd use it? Not likely!

Still Scarfing


I'm thinking three full green & purple triangles and it might be long enough. Might. But I also know that it takes me three hours to knit each triangle, so that might be the point where I just run around yelling "That's it! I can't take it anymore!!! Aaaaaaaaa!!!"

And, yes, that is my hand. Of course I could have put all of me in the picture, but that would run my reputation as ze internationaaal voman ov mystery.


Hmmm, no football this Sunday. Do I dare take a ride into Brookline for the Knitsmiths? More to the point, do I have the nerve to walk into a group of people I don't know?!?

Can you get any more relaxed looking?


Poor boy had two teeth extracted yesterday (bad parent guilt!), and is still recovering. He has let us know that he's fine though. At three o'clock this morning he decided to sit in our bedroom door and meow his head off. The door was open, mind you. He just wanted to let us know he was there. Then he jumped up and groomed Tony's beard until he had to hide his head under a pillow to escape.

I'm actually very happy to see him crashed out on the couch. I missed my buddy terribly when he was at the vet's yesterday. (And, yes, he will ignore that yarn. If it were alpaca though, it wouldn't stand a chance!)

Button band, take twenty million and six!


I just can't seem to get this right for some really bizarre, unknown reason. I know that I've picked up the right number of stitches, but it just ain't working, grumblegrumblegrumble. I should be finished with this sweater by now! I know that the short one is ready for it.

And, since I took this picture yesterday morning, I knit the button hole band, and ripped it out again! The button holes didn't come down far enough on the sweater when I did them yesterday. Guess who's going to stop following the directions and wing it?

And I broke my "no buying yarn" edict yesterday, but it was for a good reason. Starting this afternoon I'm giving knitting lessons to a pair of sisters who live upstairs, ages 6 and 8, who are at the bus stop with us.

The oldest informed me thay she wanted me to make her a sweater. Explicit directions of what it should look like and all. I told her that I wouldn't make her a sweater, but I would very happily teach her how to knit so she could have the skills to make one of her own someday. She seems to think that she's going to just take off and make a wildly fantastic sweater. And who knows, she just might! But I have to keep reminding her that she needs to learn how to knit first.

I am still scarfing along...

WAAAAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

We're going to the Superbowl!!!

Too freakin' cold!

Brrrrr!!!!!!!! As I've got another day home because school was canceled today, and a girl can never have too many scarfs, I've decided to join in on Sandy's Scarfalong. I dug into the stash and pulled out some Cascade 220 that I had bought with another project in mind (which completely blipped out of my head the minute I walked back in the door at home), and gave into my current obsession with multidirectional knitting.



A thinner scarf is fine, but give me a big, long, wide one that I can wrap around my head a half dozen times!

Yarn Diet

Yup, I'm going on a stash-reducing yarn diet. Or, at least, I'm going to attempt to! I can't promise that it's going to last too long; but if I manage to keep myself away from temptation, I should make it a few days weeks. (Eep. That makes it sound like I'm buying yarn on a daily basis! I'm not. Really. It can just seem like it at times!) I've realized that I have enough sock yarn to knit a sock a week for the next, oh, four or five months, and who knows what all else I have stuffed in the boxes in the closet. It's time to weed through the boxes, find out exactly what I have, tho' I shall most likely stop short of making a list, and find something unusual to do with it!

I sent an email to Tony telling him that I was having a hard time resisting the urge to go to the LYS and fondle fiber. His response: 'And you know you just can't "fondle" yarn. They coat it with something to make it irresistable once it makes contact with flesh.' If only he knew!

I'm down to the sleeves on Irina's new sweater, which should take no time at all! I wish that the pattern came in adult sizes, because I'd love one too! And this yarn just feels really nice. It is acrylic (that kids/washability thing), but it's wonderfully soft and looks good. Unlike the first sweater I ever made. That thing will still be around with Twinkies and cockroaches when we're all gone! I'm curious to see how badly this one pills once it's washed.

The next project, which is already more than half way done thanks to an awesome football game saturday night! (Even if it did throw my gauge all to heck at some points) For some reason my kid requested that I do the sweater in black! I'd have done it for her in fuchsia, myself. (Hey! I like fuchsia!) But when I mentioned to a friend that I couldn't fathom a five-year-old wanting a black sweater she gave me a funny look and said: "Your kid? Doesn't surprise me in the least."

I'm still trying to figure out what she ment by that.

Well, that was quick!

Just 10 days ago I decided to focus on finishing one of Tony's sweaters, and yesterday I completed one of them! It's a nice, plain, basic sweater, and it is impossible to take a good picture of it! This is the closest I can get to show the incredible color of the yarn:


Just a wonderful, heathery blue with tinges of purple. It looks perfect with my guy's blue, blue eyes!

And, remember those 21 inch long sleeves?

I could have made then an inch or two longer! (All I can hear in my head is John Ratzenberger's voice in my head, as Hamm from Toy Story, saying :"Impressive wingspan"!)

On the mend

Man-o-man, it's been a long couple of weeks! Even Tony (he of the amazing immune system) became a victim of the 'flu. He was even miserable enough to call into work sick a couple of times, which is something that never, ever happens. But, (finally!) we all are slowly getting better. Now we just have to get through the rest of the winter with our health intact!

I've been doing pretty well with my promise to finish some UFO's, even though the sirens lure of new projects keeps calling to me. In a week's time I finished the back of one of Tony's sweaters, which was sitting on needles with the ribbing done and nothing else, and one of the sleeves. I mean, I thought I had finished the sleeve, until I held it up to Tony's arm and realized that I needed to add at least two more inches to the length! Silly me, thinking that 19 inches would be long enough. As he likes to say (regarding the length of his arms): "Remember, I'm not all that far removed from our ape ancestors!"

I did do a few small projects. It's hard to resist when someone wishes that they "had a nice, home made wool hat to keep their ears warm. Hint. Hint."

As the saying goes: Uuuuggghhhh!

OK, this flu officially s*cks! Irina has been miserable for almost a week now, and I hate to think about how much weight she's lost from not eating. Poor kid's eyes are just huge holes in her head at this point. Where's that Mommy Magic Wand that makes things all better when you need it? I've also spent the past few days being wickedly unhappy. Any illness I get goes straight to my throat, but I've never had it hurt as much as it has this week.

Today, I have decided that I just can't be sick anymore. I've got too many things to do. Like stripping the Christmas tree of it's ornaments so it can be taken to the recycling center tomorrow and I can reclaim my living room, which was completely rearranged. Of course that means I need to find space for all of the short one's stuff that's still under the tree, which means a major cleaning of her room. Sigh. I'd rather be knitting.

And, when it comes to knitting, I finally finished the second glove, mate to the driving finger glove from a few weeks ago (which will make my left hand very happy). Unfortunately I don't have a picture to show, because the batteries in my camera are dead and all of our available AA batteries ended up in the girl's gifties.

Finishing that glove is the start of my New Year's Promise to myself, which is to finish some of the projects I have on needles before beginning any new major projects. I realized that I have two sweaters for Tony in the works, and they've both stalled. So I'm going to focus on finishing at least one of them at this point. I also have a couple of single socks looking for mates, so those make the list as well.

And, as for making resolutions, I don't because I never seem to keep them. However, seven years ago I promised myself that I'd never have another cigarette, and I still haven't! WooHoo!!!