EyeKnit

I might have to take Sue up on her offer to borrow the digital camera-- I have one sleeve done, and am working on the second. I am hoping to finish this sweater for Alison's shower which is August 13th (I can say this now that I know it's not a surprise!)... and I'd like to finish Sam's sweater (yes!) for his birthday party August 14th.

My husband, who is just about perfect, left the digital camera at the Low Vision Center... chances are we won't be back there until Friday, so I will have text-only posts this week.

You'll have to take my word for it that I finished the front of the new hoodie sweater & am about halfway through the first sleeve.

I got the pattern for Bobbi Bear in today's mail... yay! Now I have to go out & find size 17 circular & DPN's! Maybe I'll get to Glenmarle Woolworks tomorrow-- or if not, I'll order online.

Did anyone see "Amish In The City" tonight on UPN? Such a funny premise... Real World, but half the people are Amish. I don't think the show was nearly as funny as the concept... but the concept cracks me up. I LOVE reality TV!

Uh oh... better call the doctor... I have a BAD case of STARTITIS!

I've been friends with Kim for forever... I think we were 2 years old when we first met. I'm an only child... so growing up, Kim's sister Alison was as close to a little sister as I had. Alison is pregnant... her baby shower is in the not-too-distant future... so I decided to put down the fir cone lace sweater for a bit, and make her a hoodie sweater. It's the same pattern as Sam's, but I'm using Lion Microspun... the back is finished, and I'm working on the front.



I also called Knit Happens today & ordered the pattern for Bobbi Bear. I love the pictures on their blog-- he is SO cute! I bought "Thick & Quick" yarn at Michael's... and I know I'll be starting that as soon as the pattern arrives! I actually considered asking them to read me the first few lines of the pattern over the phone so I could get started... I restrained myself.

As promised...



Isn't my kitchen floor lovely?



Blocking is really amazing.  I think I may quit knitting and just block things all day.  I was quite sure this sweater was going to be way too small (although my gauge was okay)... I wanted to do at least a quick preliminary steam blocking, just to make sure I'd be able to get the right size, before starting the front and the sleeves.  It really takes something from handmade looking to very professional.  I'll block it for real when the front is done, but very cool.

The Treasure Island sale was fairly disappointing... I got a few skeins of Lion Microspun, but that's it... mostly baby yarns I wasn't really interested in.

(waving tentatively)

I'm still here! 

Work has been stressing me out-- Kiesha's been out sick (nothing like a week away to remind your coworkers how important you are), another part-time staff person resigned... and we only had 4 people (2 part-time) to begin with... so it's been nuts!  I interviewed 2 people that I really liked, and part of the stress has been trying to figure out how to hire both of them.  They're different, and have different strengths, but would both fit in to our office really well.  We have about enough work right now for one full time person, plus half of another, but we are growing so quickly, that it won't be long until we can support a 4th full time person.  So the question is whether we should just hire both now, or take the chance that a great person gets away.  I should know by the end of today.

Anyway, the perfect antidote to stress is knitting, of course (I'd hate to check the gauge on the rows I did last night... I kept having to remind myself to breathe and let go of the yarn).  I finished the back of the fir cone lace sweater.  I was all set to take a picture and come up and post... when I spotted a MOUSE in my house, freaked out, and ran into the bedroom (with my sweater of course), and stayed there for the rest of the night.

So I will post a picture tonight.

Today, I'm going to Treasure Island's big clearance sale-- hoping to enrich my life with some really cheap yarn.  Last year, I was just coming out of my crochet potholder phase, and was delighted to find Sugar N Cream for 23 cents a ball.  I hope there is lots of yarn on sale!

Sorry, I've been stressing and not knitting.  Work is way too stressful.  Did you ever think the world might be a better place if there weren't people in it?  Grr.  Goal for the rest of the week-- less stressing, more knitting.

In response to Peggy's question, the baby blanket pattern is the Entrelac Shawl from Debbie Bliss's Baby Cashmerino book. I used Cashmerino Aran, instead of the Baby Cashmerino, so that it would be a little bigger. The finished size is around 37" Square, and it took almost exactly 14 skeins of Cashmerino Aran, which was very nice to work with. I bought the yarn on EBay... good deal. For the record, it's more of a pink/raspberry color in real life... the photos make it look red. I usually take pictures at night, using a flash, so it's hard to make the colors come out right.

I am back to making forward progress on the Fir Cone Lace Sweater (the pattern for this is from Vermont Fiber Designs)



And here's the texture...

I was WAY too tired to knit last night... so what did I do? I knit (knitted?) anyway... just a few rows... enough to make a mistake, and then somehow knit four rows over it without realizing there was a mistake in the pattern. I spent this morning's knitting time (in the parking lot of Target, with Sam asleep in the carseat) figuring out why I had 106 stitches instead of 113, finding the mistake, and then tinking back (tink = un-knit) to the mistake so I could fix it, which was not an easy task with all of the YO's and K2Tog's and PSSO's!

I hate making not-progress.

The good news is, I fixed the mistake, and re-knit back to where I was... which is really a big thing for me. Projects have been sent to the cabinet-of-unfinished-projects for lesser offenses... so now that all is said & done, I am proud of myself for fixing the mistake, and am looking forward to continuing the sweater.

The Entrelac Shawl for Amy's not-yet-born baby is done!



(and without the flash, so you can see the stitches)



I'm tempting fate a bit. My original intent was to leave a few stitches unfinished... but it is so rare that I have the patience, desire, and time to finish something... and tonight I had all 3, so I just went for it!

I will be freaked out if Amy goes into labor or has the baby tonight... but I looked at the clock just in case... the blanket was finished at 10:14 p.m... Sunday July 11, 2004.

Note to baby: This does NOT mean it's time for you to come out.

Now there's room in the knitting basket (thanks again, Gail!) for the Fir Cone Lace Shell. It was feeling quite cramped in the cheesy canvas tote bag. Maybe I'll keep the finishing needle out, and get around to Sam's sweater one of these days.



Hey, Mommy! This boy needs a sweater!

I'm blogging today with a very awake almost-11-month-old in my lap, grabbing at everything on the desk...

I have 3 sides of the border sewn on to the entrelac shawl blanket for Amy... I'm still undecided on whether to tempt fate & finish the blanket, or wait until the baby arrives on her own.

In the meantime, I started the Fir Cone Lace Shell... which in my case will be the Fir Cone Lace Sweater. I am making it with Rowan's Calmer yarn... and I feel calmer already!



Ordinarily, I would have been turned off by the bumpiness of the pattern... but now that I know the magic that can be achieved by blocking, I am undeterred... I knit on!

Wow. I haven't said it yet... I was quite unsure in the beginning... but as the finished product starts to emerge, I will say it...

I LOVE THIS PROJECT!

Blocking... wow! I definitely needed to do something to the curled and tangled mess that was the border. I've never blocked anything before... so per my mother-in-law's instructions, I took a wet dishtowel, placed it over the knitting, and PSSSSSSSSSSSH... steamed away! It was awesome... although I think I was a bit overzealous, as the border was then about 4 times the perimeter of the blanket...

But I carefully started sewing (which I am not good at), and slowly, the side seemed to even out... and IT LOOKS AWESOME! I LOVE IT!

I've done 3/4 of one side, and am ready to call it a night... but I am really happy with the way this is turning out! In the old pre-Sam days, I would have stayed up all night to finish... maybe. Now, 10:00 pm, child is sleeping & I should be too. Photo tomorrow.

All 56 border triangles are done... I actually felt sad as I was knitting the last few rows of the last triangle!




Tonight I will attempt to block (maybe), and then sew the edging onto the blanket at some point this week. Finishing things is my weak point... especially since I am headed off to the yarn store to start something new... but I will try. Just in case there is some odd cosmic link between the blanket & the baby, I will probably leave the last few stitches unfinished... just so the baby energy doesn't think "ooh, the blanket's done, it must be time to come out."

We interrupt this blog entry for a public service announcement from Sam: Don't let your parents keep you in the pool too long-- you'll turn into a prune!

51 triangles... and no baby yet! This race is getting exciting... although I am hoping to lose.

If anyone (Rachel?) has advice on blocking, I'm happy to hear it... I've never blocked any of my knitting before, and I know this is going to need blocking. I want to make the blanket more square, and then flatten out all of the edging before I sew it on to the blanket. How do I do it?

I think I'm going to go to the yarn store tomorrow to pick up yarn for my next project. I'm going to make the Fir Cone Lace Shell from Vermont Fiber Designs. Here's the picture in case you've forgotten.



I'm going to put short sleeves on it, though... so it will be a short-sleeved sweater instead of a shell. Yes, that's correct... Bethany is going to deviate from a pattern! Can it be???

I'm going to also do that Dale of Norway sweater with the ladybugs for Sam... maybe work on both at once... but I want to go back to Belmar for the yarn for that one... so it will be a little while until I can get there.

Off to do a few more triangles during Road Rules.

8:30 p.m... 43 triangles... no baby yet (good news)

36 triangles... still no baby (which is a good thing). I'm spending 4th of July with my Canadian husband and Canadian mother-in-law who wonders why everything is closed.

32 triangles... no baby yet.

Well, it looks like it's going to be a race to the finish.
Amy is on magnesium sulfate to try & stop her labor.
I have 28 out of 56 border triangles done.