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!!!

Mama scarf, Daddy scarf and Baby scarf!




Mine is from Noro Kureyon, and is using that multidirectional diagonal stitch pattern that I've seen several people using lately. Tony's is made from some of the wool that I picked up in Vermont this summer. (I cast on 250 stitches on size 10.5, 40 inch long circs and just knit until I deemed it wide enough-which I highly recommend! It's the first scarf I actually finished!) And Irina's is the Two.Two/Linie 42 that I mentioned yesterday, in a simple gaters stitch. I'd have made it a little longer, but she requested that it be short. I'd have made *mine* longer, but I was running out of yarn!

Now I'm trying to convince myself that I really don't need to start anything new. I've got enough UFO's floating around here to keep me occupied for...a good long time.

But for now I'm crawling back into bed. Yup, guess who woke up with a massively sore throat this morning. (joy. rapture. yippee.) At least Tony had already planned to take today off, so I don't have to try to Mommy and take care of myself at the same time! This is *not* how I had planned to spend school vacation week!

(Oh, and yesterday's feel bad moment turned out to be paranoia on my part! My face is a little red about it, but I'm glad that I didn't do anything to get someone upset at me! Phew!)

Plague House

At least, that's what it's feeling like around here. The small one has the 'flu, after direct exposure to it from a couple of cousins ant Christmas, and she's miserable, the poor thing. I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not getting sick, and I'm hoping that Tony's immune system holds out through this illness. (Knock wood)

I'm using the quiet time, as she's been mostly sleeping, to work on a scarf and hat in Classic Elite Two.Two in black with Linie 42 in dalmation black and white to give it some oomph. Hopefully they'll turn out as cute as I want them to.

And, I'm feeling personally rotten, because I think I offended someone without realizing I had done it. I'm definitely not having a feel good moment.

She liked it!


Yes, the sweater was for my Mom. At least I hope that she liked it. There was so much going on at that point that I'm not sure. As Tony would tell me:"Kim, stop being paranoid!"

I have to admit that I really am quite pleased with the work I did on the finishing of that sweater. I took my time with it, and it really did turn out nicely. But you will notice that there are no buttons on it. In fact, there are no button holes! I was going to make frog closures for it, but as I was running out of time and getting slightly stressed about other things, I decided to skip them for the time being. I'll get some nice metal ones and put them on next time I'm down there.

As for us, Santa was a jolly old elf all the way around. Who else would give your husband daughter a huge pirate set with over 300 pieces to put together? And would make sude that you had all of the assistants you need to help you out?



The best part for me was seeing all my of family, laughing a lot, and generally having a great time. I hope that your day went just as well!

Yikes! and Gadzooks! I actually finished it. The Christmas giftie is done and ready to go onto it's intended recipient. You will, of course, understand and forgive me if I don't post a picture of it until it has gone on to it's new home.

Today was slightly on the bonkers side. I did have enforced down time this morning, two and one half hours sitting at the dealership having the water pump replaced in our car. Better having it done than to have the car suddenly stop while cruising down the Mass. Pike! That was when I finished the previously mentioned project (FIP instead of KIP?).

I normally wouldn't have minded, but today was what I consider the day before Christmas. My day for running around getting sorted and organized. (Organized? Me? In my next life, maybe!) I should be wrapping now, while I have the quiet time to do it; but the ambition ain't there at the moment.

Tomorrow we travel and have the mega Christmas Eve bash at the in-laws. Twenty-something people crammed around the table, tons of food, the sister-in-law who always brings the *huge* box of Godiva chocolates, trying to figure out who your secret Santa was, and placing bets on which child's head is going to explode first from the excitement!...And then we come back home and do it all over again the next day at my parents house! Significantly fewer people, but somehow we manage to get just as loud!

So, as I head off on my wild & crazy next few days, I wish you all a Happy Holiday. Stay safe and have fun!

Whoever You are, if You are reading this, You have no idea what your kindness means to us. Thank You so much!

And, yes, I am being deliberately vague about this! I don't know if the person I'm talking to reads my blog; but as we received an *anonymous* gift, I have no other way of reaching them!

I solemnly swear with my right hand in the air, and my left on my Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches (volumes I and II), that next year I will decide to start any holiday knitting in JULY!!!

I did this last year too. I managed to get sucked into thinking that I have to make something for this person and that person, and "Ooh! That yarn would make the perfect {fill in the blank} for so-and-so."

Actually, I'm really not stressing that badly about it. I just keep finding other projects I want to do as well, distracting me from the one that I feel like I *should* be working on. Any keyboard psychologists want to give a whack at analysis?

Well, I've ended up with an extra knitting day today. The small one came home with a runny nose yesterday, and great big circles under her eyes, which was enough to get the Mommy radar buzzing. And she was really touchy, too. The slightest thing set her off. This morning she had progressed to being completely stuffed up, and even touchier, if that's possible! With that scary 'flu going around, we decided that keeping her home was the wisest choice. So, if I can convince her to actually rest, I should be able to finish sleeve #1 and make good headway on #2. It is entirely possible that I may even have it done on Sunday.

Now, if I can just ignore the siren song of the other projects I have lying around...

Yes, I lied. I said that I wasn't turning the computer on again today, but Blogger is giving me a hard time! It says that publishing is successful, but I'm seeing no changes in Netscape or Internet Explorer. So I'm trying this to see if I can kick it into actually working.