It's not the big Goodbye

That is, if there's anyone coming around anymore to see if I post anymore.

I just seemed to have lost my blogging mojo. It's from a combination of things, I think. Personal and emotional and I don't know what all. *shrugs* That, and with summer here, I've been hanging around with the kiddo and not knitting all that much. (I did make some dishcloths for the kitchen lately, does that count?) {edit: where else would i make dishcloths for? d'oh!)

And, does it sound funny?, I almost feel guilty about not blogging. I'll get back to it at some point, I'm sure.

So this isn't a "Goodbye", it's more of a "See ya later, alligator". Drop me a line, if you have the time (k1yop2-at-msn.com -you know to fix that, right?), and have a great rest of the summer!

~Kim

Summer Vacation

So, here it is. The first full day of the first full week of summer vacation. It's not even 8:45a.m., and the kid has already told me that she's "bored".

My reply? "So go clean your room"!

I'm almost done with the tank top! Yaah! I may even get it finished today, provided I actually sit down and work on it. Pic coming soon!

Proof

I have too been knitting!

Hey there!

O.K., so it's turning out that I'm not around as often as I thought I would be. My poor, sadly neglected blog! It's been so long that they went and completely redesigned the Blogger interface when I wasn't looking, so I've had to go and re-learn my way around. Jeepers Crow!

Let's see, what's going on for those who may stop by to see if I'm actually still alive...

Getting my hours cut at work really did turn out to be such a blessing. We are so completely flat broke it isn't funny, but Tony isn't pushing me to go and look for something else. He knows that I'm actually ~doing~ things (photography), and not just sitting around on my butt eating bon-bons. And he knows that if things get really bad, I will look for something part-time.

The really humerous part of the whole thing is that my friends tell me that I am the happiest they've ever seen me! Yeah, I have my down days. But who doesn't? That whole human condition thing.

And, who'd of thunk it, but my baby girl's frist year of school is over in two weeks! Damn, that happened pretty fast! (I'm now understanding the frenzied look my Mom would get in her eyes at this time of year) I'm so proud of my kid! Nine months ago she couldn't read, now she's reading chapter books, at an easy second grade level. Completely boggles the mind, it does!

And, more amazing: I have been knitting! (You: "No!" Me: "Yes!") I've been working on a shell for myself with a lovely varigated cotton that I bought at last years New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival. I *will* get a picture of it up later this week. Yes I will *nods*

So I'm off again. It's what looks like is going to be the only decent day this week, so I'm going to go enjoy some of it!

Well, hey...

I *think* I'm back :)

Things are definately better now, frame of mind-wise. I still haven't done any knitting in a while, but the coat on the front of the KnitPicks catalog might just be enough to kick me into going again! It is just way too adorable!

If you're wondering just what I have been doing...I've been hanging around over at Worth1000, working on honing my photography skills. Some of the favorite contest enteries I've made are Silk Roses, Miss You, and Lotion. It's very cool discovering another new creative outlet!

So, I won't be as much of a stranger as I have been lately!

Yeah, I'm around

More then a little down and depressed, but around. The slump continues, I haven't knit in ~weeks~. Poor pitiful me.

I've nothing else to say right now.

Umm, huh?

So, I had Irina wear her rainhat down to the bus stop, even though she complained that it was too small. At the stop I relented and told her that her head would get wet, but she didn't have to wear the hat if she didn't want to. She gave me the hat and was happy. The bus came, she got on it, and away she went.

Now for the weird part. While I was talking to the kids I was winding the hat up into a tube, just a playing with it in my hands sort of thing. The bus came, the kids got on, and away they went. As I walked back inside I suddenly realized...

I didn't have the hat anymore!

It wasn't on the floor, outside on the ground, I didn't stuff it in my pocket. It.Was.Gone. And I have no idea what happened to it!

The only thing I can think of is that I reflexively stuck it on the kiddo's head as she went out the door, but I don't remember doing it.

I'm too young for a senior moment, so it must just be long term loss of short term memory.

***

So, I've been putting together a portfolio of some of my photography, and making some card samples to take around to some of the local gift type shops to see if anyone might be interested in selling them. It's an itsy-bitsy, teeny-tiny, small start.

Now if only the sun would come out so I could stop yawning!

Well, patootie (for want of a really strong word)

I just had my hours cut in half at work. All part of a 'restructuring' of the department. And while I can (sorta) understand the reasonings (Ok, no, not really, dammit), it still really stinks. I don't know if I should be depressed or angry at this point, but I've got a huge dose of both and it's really wearing me out.

I hereby give myself a week two days to stew on this, and then I need to figure out what I want to do. Maybe it's just time to leave. Damn. I hate change. Is it a cosmic kick in the butt, maybe? I don't know that I've been 'happy' there for a while, and just coasting through isn't what I really want to be doing. *sigh*sigh*

/self-indulgent, tmi, stream of conciousness ramble off

And, yes, Mom, I am OK. A little stunned, but OK. :s

Slump

Great big honkin' huge knitting slump. I haven't knit anything in days and days. *sigh*

Life continues

And so does Inishmaan:

I really am enjoying the pattern.

Also, be warned, anyone who's seen me lately has seen this (crazy hair and all):

Say "Cheese!"

Oh yeah, I forgot! The tooth fairy came Monday night and left a very happy girl four shiny new quarters!

Anyone miss me?

Between having yet another cold (and if I figure out who gave it to me they're toast), and having one of those times when I'm asking myself all sorts of deep, life altering questions (Who am I? What am I doing here? What is my greater purpose in life? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?) that posting has fallen by the wayside.

That, and the fact that I haven't bought batteries for my camera yet, so Inishmaan update pictures aren't possible at the moment. But both sleeves are done, and I've made good progress on the front.

The other big news around here is that the Tooth Fairy is going to be making her first visit to our home some night soon! I think Tony and I are more excited by this than the squirt is! Does anybody know what the going rate for a tooth is now-a-days?

and ever since I asked tony the exact qoute about the swallow he's been sitting behind me quoting monty python with great abandon. i've created a monster.

I think I've recovered

From school vacation week, that it is! One of the best parts of vacation was escaping to my in-laws for the weekend and discovering a new yarn store in Sturbridge!


The Mt. Laurel Yarn Boutique is a cute little gem of a store.

I spent some time looking around and talking to the owner's daughter (who admitted that she wasn't a knitter, but had an index card file full of cheat sheets!). The store is only about three months old, and looked like it was doing great business. There was a lot of fun novelty yarns, mixed in with what looked like every single color of Lamb's Pride worsted weight wool, some absolutely gorgeous Manos Del Uruguay.

I did break my yarn fast, but it was worth it. I picked up a few skeins of Chester Farms cestari, which is wonderfully soft, and several of Silky Wool in the moss color. And I have been told that the owner is very amenable to order requests.

So next time you're out Sturbridge way (and if you haven't made a trip to Old Sturbridge Village in a while, isn't it time?), stop by and check the Mt. Laurel Yarn boutique out! It's right on Main St, the main drag, AKA Route 20, right next to Basketville. What are you waiting for? Go! Go!

{edit:one of these days i will learn to use spellcheck before i post something!}

Well, Pbththththththththth!

There I was yesterday morning, knitting away, trying to avert any more disasters and appease the Knitting Goddess, when I realized that I had made a mistake.


See the cable at 'a'? It's suppose to look like the cable at 'b', but I twisted in the wrong direction. Fortunately it was only four rows back, so I just dropped the stitches down there and reknit the cable. (I took pictures as I did it, but they turned out really yucky looking, so I'm not going to force them on you)

I ended up not getting that much knitting done yesterday (school vacation, trying to amuse a five-year-old, and all that); but my tall guy has taken today off so we can have some family fun. So I started my day by knitting several rows before I even crawled out of bed. Ah, glorious!

Chelee asked yesterday for suggestions about doing cables, because they look kind of scary. They're not, really! I find them to be a lot of fun.

Knitting is, from my perspective, all about manipulating the stitches. Working cables is just another way of manipulating them, saying "No, I'm not going to knit you yet. You go wait over here until I'm ready for you" I think that it helps that my first sweater ever was kind of cabled, so I just dove into doing them without even really thinking about it.

So my suggestion would be to grab a book of knitting stitches, sit down, and just do some test swatches. It doesn't take long to figure out that it's really a lot easier than it looks! If I'm working with a chart I tend to take the time to write it out row by row. Writing it out also gives the option of easily checking off the rows so I can figure out where I left off once I've put it down.

Does anyone else have any suggestions for doing cables?

So far today...

Coffee grounds have been spilled on the kitchen floor. Used coffee grounds. I knocked over my cereal onto the floor. I whacked my coffee cup with my elbow and created a lake on the table. The cat ate something that diagreed with him, and I had to clean up the results.

I firmly believe that this run of bad luck is connected to the fact that I've only knit four rows of anything in the past three days. Now, should I push my luck and go and take a shower, or should I sit and knit a half dozen rows first in hopes of breaking the cycle?

Yaah! I get to do Inishmaan in red! It's a happy thing. :)

Swatches done

So today I get to take these to work for Katie to look at and figure out which one she wants. Personally, I'm voting for inishmaan in red.

click for bigger

Closer still



One more sleeve, a few buttons, a couple of ends to weave in... I'm so close I can almost taste it!

And, ya know, it wasn't untill Marg pointed it out that I noticed the colors in the sweater and the flower pictures are almost the same! Intentional, it wasn't.

I have my next project lined up. A friend at work has hired me to make a sweater for her (I could get another job just making sweaters for co-workers at this rate. Now if only I could actually make a living at it!) She didn't even blink when I told her how much I would charge her for it. Ahhh, to be 21 and have a disposible income again!

Right now she's trying to decide between Inishmaan and another cable pattern from a Paton's booklet. We picked out a few color possibilities yesterday, and I'm working up some pattern swatches to see which one she likes better. I'm personally hoping she chooses Inishmaan. It looks like the more interesting, and challenging, of the two patterns.

Is it soup yet?

No, not quite


I'm getting anxious to wear my sweater! It's going to be incredibly warm, which sounds good after having the coldest January in over 100 years. But I'm becoming afraid that we're going to have the warmest February to balance it, which means that a heavy wool sweater won't be an option. (For me, at any rate, because I generally don't wear sweaters. I'll put a mock turtleneck on if it's really cold)

One more button band, and then the sleeves. And as I only have one more skein of black left, I'm sensing knitting stripes in my future...

Since the groundhog has predicted six more weeks of winter, I thought a blast of color might come in handy. It really does help, being able to go to work and see things like this when I get there.

YEEEHAAA

Now *that* was a game! Not the runaway for the Patriots that people had been predicting, a real nail biter! I literally had my eyes covered when Adam Vinatieri kicked that last field goal. OK, I was peeking through my fingers. Great, great, great, great,great, great game!

I heard that work productivity goes down 25% the day after the Super Bowl. I know that mine is going to be majorly lacking!

Kids...

Just when you think that they've driven you so crazy that running in front of a speeding bus looks like a really good option...



Have a fun Super Bowl Sunday!
GO PATS!!!