Starting Over

Things in my life have been so different that I thought I needed a new way to journal and share what I'm up to. It will not be all about knitting however but will likely involve craft content but it will not be limited to that.

This Crazy Crafter

Ready to Frolic

I'm getting very excited about the Knitter's Frolic tomorrow! Pick up Sticks will be there at Booth #46 come and say hello.

I have been working on the Baby Sweater a bit more. It is still to early to tell if the stitch pattern I decided on is going to make me happy or not. I had a few other choices. I will have to see after a few more pattern repeats.

Tomorrow I think I will take a plain sock for me and the other sock for my niece for in the car and such.

One of those things

This week I was dog sitting my parents dog. I spent a good amount of time assuring my mother that everything would be fine. That leaving me with the dog and as the emergency contact for my grandmothers was not too much for me to handle.

The weekend did go fine. Monday was the disaster! It was one of those days when nothing seemed to go right at work. I couldn't wait for the day to be over but then some of my partners wanted to work together so I was at work for a while after.

My mother visits my grandma everyday. So with my mom being away, I felt the need to give my grandma some company. While I was there I reminded my grandma about Bingo that night which prompted a hunt for her wallet. My grandma has dementia and neither of us could find her wallet. I finally convinced her to go down for dinner and look for her wallet after, thinking she would forget about it, only to find her wallet with her walker.

I was going to leave from there to go get groceries but it was already after 5pm and I just wanted to get home so I stopped by my parents house to get some spaghetti sauce. At which point my car broke down and would not drive anywhere.

When we bought the car used we planned for some maintenance costs but it has been a while and nothing so when the dishwasher broke down we bought a new one with the money set aside for the car. Now it looks like the car needs a new transmission. GREAT!

My brother in law has been riding his bike to work so very kindly offered us his car. He wouldn't take no for an answer so he drove an hour to our house with his wife and two kids. We were finally eating and I had assumed that they would have eaten first before coming. As they were leaving they commented about going to pick up something for dinner. It was now about 8:30pm and the kids have school the next day. I felt terrible.

After they left I thought it was funny that my parent's dog has not eaten anything yet. He wolfed it down the last few days. So I bribed him with treats. I remembered that we needed to get the stuff ready for our taxes. There was one piece of paper that I could not find. Hubby told me that he had left in on the fridge because it was important. I have been holding myself together all day and it is all I can do not to scream at him that the fridge is not a filing cabinet. I go looking for the paper and my parent's dog throws up twice. Yuck.

I clean it up and finally find the paper we need and by this point my pregnant self can't hang on anymore. Hubby was a little freaked that I was crying saying "I found the piece of paper"

The dog woke me up a few times in the night when he was sick again a few times but ultimately the week got better as we went.

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Now to backtrack just a bit. I got a "push present" a little bit early. He upgraded my phone for me!!!



I have joined the iPhone world! Hubby is just a addicted as I am as he has all of his sports things on there and angry birds. I have a few knitting apps too and I am sure I will be adding some more.

As far as my knitting goes. I finished my Gnome Mittens. They were a lot of fun to knit.


I have also started the first sweater for Baby Preston. E.Z.'s Baby Sweater on Two needles. I have changed the gauge and think I might use a different stitch pattern on the bottom section. I will keep you posted as I go.

What to work on?

Well I have a few things on the go right now (not counting the bin of unfinished things) and am enjoying both.

This is the first project that I have started for baby on the way. A log cabin blanket out of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton.

It is always nice to have a fast moving simple project on the go. It is exciting to work on things for the baby. I have been organizing things in the nursery and getting other things in the house ready. I figure I need to do it now because if I get a lot bigger in the next few months I won't want to or be able to.

The other project is the Gnome Mittens by Spilly Jane . These are so much fun and they remind me why I carried the different yarn colours up when working on the Four Seasons hats.

I didn't start out that way on the mittens and was feeling overwhelmed by the many strands hanging down inside my mitten. Then I got part way through the second Gnomes and realised I had left out a row of the beard. So I ripped back and had all the separate strings of yarn to pull out. I have restarted and finished one repeat of the pattern using up all the strings and weaving in those nasty ends as I worked then when I had to add yarn I left it attached when I was finished with it. It is annoying to carry the strand up but I find it more annoying to have all the extra ends.

I have a picture of the finished Autumn Hat but it is on my phone and I can't find the cord to download the pictures. I will post a pic when I can.

Fun is Finished!...Or is it?

Here it is!


Pattern: The Four Seasons, Winter - Tanis Fiber Arts
Yarn : Tanis Blue Label (Four Seasons Kit)
Needles : 3.5mm

I just wanted to say how much I loved knitting this hat.



I got the kit at Pick up Sticks and I have another kit in my bag. The Autumn colours this time. I also have in my hot little hands the Gnome Mitten Kit. I can't decide which to start first.

Winter Hat

I started yet another project. I have no willpower. This one is so much fun!

I am knitting the Winter Hat from Tanis Fiber Arts Four Seasons patterns. I might like to have each colourway because I am LOVING this pattern and the yarn soooo much.

If you are looking for a project that you can't put down this is it!

Still no baby knitting but I have a few things in mind. Not knowing if it is a boy or girl is holding me back I think. 6 months down. I can't believe how fast the time is going by. In June I will get to meet the little person who is kicking me all day and night.

Quick and Easy

First of all, these are the flowers that hubby gave me for Valentine's Day. I am always glad when he doesn't get me roses. I love roses other times of the year but I feel they are too overpriced for Valentine's Day.

I have been enjoying these plain socks for my 4 year old niece. As per her pink and purple request this Dye Hard Serendipitous Sock in You had me at "Hello" is perfect. She wants them up over her knees and when I saw her last night they were at her knees. I knit a bit more straight and have now started the ribbing. One extra long sock in two days...Not to shabby for a busy little me.

This is me, using my arm to visualize my niece wearing her long socks over black tights.

And yes I am a little envious too, thinking I would love a pair of tall stripey socks socks for myself.

Finally

I am very glad that I am finally done the Tongues of Fire scarf. It isn't that I didn't like the project or disliked the yarn I was just done with it. I was ready for something else.

Here it is all done. Not blocked however because I am giving it to Connie to do that for me as she has blocking wires and I do not (at least not yet).

Here is a closer shot of the pattern.

And this is all that was left. It actually looks a little bigger in the picture than it really is. It is about a quarter in diameter and I would not have been able to do another full portion of the pattern.

Next up. A nice easy plain pair of socks for my 4 year old niece. She wanted pink and purple stripes and no other colours but the little bit of grey in Dye Hard's "You had me at Hello" (available at Pick Up Sticks) was acceptable for her taste. She wants them to be really tall so I will have to weigh out half and start at the toes to see how far I get.

Another plain sock that I started a while ago is also from Dye Hard. The watermelon self striping yarn is a lot of fun.

Ouch

My thumbs hurt! I am trying to knit as much as possible on Tongues of Fire. Considering that I work full time as well that means I am really only knitting for a 1-2 hours a night.

That is not nearly how much I knit at other times (weekends, Pre-Christmas) so I don't understand why my thumbs hurt so much.

I am not loving this very much so I thought I would take a break and write a quick post (complaint) about my discomfort.

Yes I know I should probably just not knit tonight but instead I'm just knitting slow.

Knitting/Driving on my Mind

I'm feeling much more like my old self this weekend. I finished a lot of work on Friday so spent Friday just relaxing.


Hubby brought back the new (used) vehicle Friday night. We bought a 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe and so far I love it. Not that I still don't wish the accident had never happened but I think this will be perfect for our little family. It is only one year newer than the Explorer that I was driving but it looks much newer and the interior is nicer.


When my hubby bought the Explorer he bought it is a winter car that he didn't really care to much about. He had a fancy car that he drove in the summer and went to shows with and stuff. Then when we moved in together we started to have some trouble with my car so he sold the fancy car an bought his truck and I got the Explorer. It was a great vehicle but it always had coffee and grease stains that I could never quite get out of the beige interior. This one is clean from the get go and we can keep it that way (as much as we can with a little one one the way)!


As far as the rest of my week has gone. All I want to do is knit or read about knitting or organize my knitting projects. Unfortunately I have to spend a good chunk of time cleaning the house that has been neglected while I worked every night last week on my reports.


Tongues of fire is slowly growing. I am itching to work on something else (socks and mittens are on the top of my list right now), but I am determined to finish the scarf first.

It is lovely and the yarn is a dream but..... you know how it is sometimes.

Progress

I'm excited that I actually made some knitting progress.

It has been one hell of a week this week.

I'm not going to go into detail cuz I don't want to get into everything but here is the just of it.

1. Went back to work.

2. Got into an accident the first day back to work and now have to find the money for a new car.

3. Less then two weeks to do reports for work on top of my regular work day.

My stress level is .... a little high.

On a good note. My house is now brother-in-law free! I have a few things that I need to do before I can do this... for the rest of the night.

Happy New Year everyone!

I can't believe my holiday is almost over already. It has been very busy and I could use another week to do all of the things I wanted to do.

Christmas was nice. I love to see my family and do the whole Christmas thing. Then I'm glad when it is all over too.

Hubby was very thoughtful and put a lot of effort into my gifts.

My present was this beautiful singer sewing machine.

My "Stocking" was this playpen with some baby stuff in it. This one meant a lot to me!

He is so hard to read sometimes. We got pregnant so quickly after I stopped taking the pill. He was a little shell shocked and I didn't know what he was really thinking. I think spending two hours in Babies 'R' Us with no one to help him and going into a maternity clothing store alone says something about how he feels about this baby.

I have been working on Tongues of Fire scarf if you were curious about actual knitting stuff.

All of these pictures were taken with my new Camera! Well it is "OUR" camera but I'm always the one taking pictures so....

This is it. It was a gift from my husband's side of the family. I was going to save up to get a new camera before baby came but they beat me to it! I'm having fun playing with it and figuring out everything it can do.