After the con.....

I have returned. I spent most of last week off at the USITT annual conference, which was in Fort Worth this year. I've not been to one of these in 15 years. It was quite different from what I remember. Back then I was still in college; now I am a professional in the field. I had gone to the one in Pittsburgh in 1997 and again to Toronto in 1999. We always kind of laugh when people talk of a work conference as a 'vacation'. Maybe for other fields, but we're an industry that works from sun-up until the wee hours. Why would our conference be any different?
Every day is filled with discussion sessions, teaching sessions, hands-on workshops, commission meetings, showcases and xxxxxxxxx . And then there is the Expo floor filled with booths from vendors, organizations and schools alike giving out swag, demonstrating new products, drumming up business, conducting interviews mixed with the chaos of friends new and old meeting. It's fun to put faces to the voices on the phone you order from, or play with a new fogger or automation system. Programming is scheduled from 8am until 7, 8, 9pm or later. And there are no meal breaks scheduled in, so you often have the dilemma of "do I attend this really interesting session on XXX, or do I eat?" Sometimes you might pick a session where they feed you. This is not kind of conference where you go to a meeting or two with a catered lunch and spend the rest of the time at the pool.

And I loved it. Even though it dang near killed me. There was a lot of walking. A LOT of walking, and even with my cane it wore me out. Luckily we booked the hotel that was right across the street. I made some new friends, finally put some faces and face-to-face time with people that I have corresponded with for years. I learned tons. Was inspired even more. And somehow I ended up chairing a session for next year's conference. (And I was totally sober when that happened. But then again, it was an 8am session).

Texas was lovely...for what I saw of it. I didn't wander much further than 4 blocks from the convention center, and that was to hunt for food. The weather was much nicer....86 in Texas in March is nothing like 86 in Hartford in August. Especially when I come home to be greeted by a freak snowstorm the next morning.

Things I learned from this conference:

• Have business cards. Even if you aren't looking for a job. It's the best way to pass along your information.
• Have a portfolio handy....both online and a brag book in hand. Again, even if you aren't looking for a job, people are going to ask to see your work. 
• Take pictures and write everything down. You will be so inundated with information that you will never remember what happened 5 minutes ago.
• Bring your own tea if you are picky about what you drink. (so glad I did this)
• Powerbars/granola bars are your friends. Have lots of them on hand.
• Talk to everyone you can. You never know what may come of it. If you like someone's work/idea/project, tell them. Everyone likes positive reinforcement. 
• Don't be bitter. (at least out loud) There were a few Debbie Downers that ruined a good moment or two. 
• Remember this is a small business. Everyone knows everyone whether you realize it or not. 
• Drink More Water. 
• Ask the locals where they eat. 
• I hate iPads (borrowed one from the University library for the trip to use instead of my laptop.)
• I can out eat a bunch old techies and a Army veteran under the table where all you can eat ribs are concerned. (Sorry Riscky's. You didn't make any money on me that night.)

And now I am back. Dealing with paperwork, waiting for a designer to arrive, cleaning/organizing the shop, and researching/writing up ads to see extraneous shop possessions on Craigslist. You know the budget is bad when you are selling things just to fix/replace your other things.

I did get knitting done on my flights. And I only had one schmuck ask how TSA let me through with my (circular) needles. I told the guy (who had an uncanny resemblance to George R.R. Martin so I didn't want to be rude in case it was him and he decided not to finish the books because of some snarky knitter) that TSA discovered that we knitters were far less dangerous with our needled than without them.

This is what I managed to get done while flying and waiting in airports. I did knit a little in sessions but I often had to take notes, and with the cane knitting while walking was out of the question. The yarn is Glissade from Ball and Skein. (I swear I'm addicted to her stuff) in the colorway Elderberry. The color perfectly matches the new color of my hair. (What you expected me to go to Texas looking like a normal person?) What you see is slowly becoming the Medusa shawl by Amanda Muscha. I originally fell in love with this pattern because the lace is more geometric than flowery/frilly looking. So far both the yarn and pattern have been wonderful. The beginning section of this is perfect airplane knitting paired with an audiobook. (Bleak House by Dickens via CraftLit).

Otherwise I returned to a perfect shitstorm of a friendship imploding and new and scary health issues. One is the usual waiting game of doctor's appointments, tests, and more doctor's appointments. I'm doing my best not to dwell on the horrible notions that keep drifting across my brain. There's nothing I can do until I know more. And as far as the other one....who knows.

*sigh*

Back to reading about reed organs and band saws.

*sigh* Monday

First of all....screw you Monday. There. That being said, I can move on.

The morning mainly consisted of the hunt for my son's green rock and roll shirt. Yesterday was Dr. Seuss' birthday and there is a week long celebration at school. And Monday is Green Eggs and Ham day....and the wearing of green. I've discovered that as a household there is a large lack of green clothing. Shirt is missing....5 year old is distraught. 2 year old won't wear her Cat in the Hat shirt. I go into attic and dig through the clothes that don't yet fit the minions and find a Hulk shirt and a very kelly green Spiderman shirt (yeah, I know). The shirt is a hit but we're upset that we're not in all green. (Can we say 'artistic temperment') We get to school (he's on time but I'm rather late) and what is sitting on the top of the Lost and Found pile. The friggin' green shirt. 

And that was how my Monday started.

And it has continued as such. Our show floor lumber has finially arrived but it does me little good when we have no clue where the paint is. We ordered it a month ago. Didn't come with the other paint. They say it is back-ordered but they also show they have seven gallons. Supposedly it was sent out last week. Apparently it is in transit....maybe.  I could have had 1/3 of this set painted last Wednesday if I had this gallon of paint that has crossed into the ether somewhere.

The worst part of this Monday is waiting for test results. And for once they aren't mine. I mentioned in the last Ten on Tuesday that our older kitty was having issues. We discovered last weekend a lump in her chest. A lump the size of a golf ball, at least. We don't know how long it has been there. Isis isn't a touchy feely kind of kitty. And woe to you if you touch any of her underside. So we somehow missed this. Last week was spent lining up visits with a new vet as the girls haven't been in a while and we no longer care to use the old ones. Long story short...it's not a cyst. They took some cells and we're waiting for the results. She doesn't appear to be in any sort of pain.

The upside of this with the cat is that I have convinced the geek-boy to relent on their nightly incarceration.Shortly after the birth of Little Dude we realized that the night time activities of the baby had somehow convinced the cats that we were up to feed them. At all hours. The only way to get any peace was to keep them in the basement during the night. I never saw this as a permanent arrangement as I love to have them snuggled in bed with me. The geek-boy is less thrilled because they still think that 4am is an ok time to start begging for food. When he complained that they had kept him up, I pointed out that he had been keeping me up more than the cats had. I think I made my point. The quantity of hairballs in the basement has also greatly diminished and all but confirmed my suspicions that they were retaliatory.

And now the kitties are back upstairs.

Other fun happenings.....the 1-2-3 punch of storms we had a few weeks ago created a lovely water feature in our home...aka the roof was leaking again. A lot.


The only really good thing I can mention right now is that I finished another pair of socks. But I don't think I want to pair that up with this post. Here's my salute to a crappy Monday and I'm going to start a separate post for the knitting.

WIP Wednesday

And it is another Wednesday. The storms last week were rather harsh and brought some very oppressive heat with them. Heat + MS = bad things. The heat wiped out pretty hard. Saturday I ended up with heat rash of all things. I've not had that since my summer of living in West Virginia where our AC was killed by a rather intense year of cicadas. That was in 1999 (Brood V if you follow those things) and it was pretty insane. This is another story and shall be told another time...(which is the most repeated and annoying line in the novel The Neverending Story.)

Anywho Works In Progress

Dude and Little Dude's Shirts- I measured both of them and figured out what sizes to cut out. I never cut down my multi-size patterns. I just mark the size I need on the fabric. I was actually shamed by Little Dude into working on this. The fabric was sitting in a basket waiting to be ironed and cut, when he saw it and asked why I wasn't working on it. I replied that it was something that I needed some alone time to do. So he asked if he could go play in his room by himself. Point taken I cut out both shirts and LD's hat. Isn't that fabric fun.

Little Dude's sweater- I worked out the needle issue and got cast on and knitted away. I ended up turning the hem on Saturday, whilst the husband and I watched The Hobbit. I even managed to impress him with how cool that whole process is. It took the whole damn movie to do it, but I was busy watching dwarves, elves and hobbits. Now there is 11 inches of stockinette stitch to do. These are the moments when I wish I could knit in my sleep.

Painted the columns- This is a project that I will elaborate on in my painting blog shortly but I needed to show here. I have a pet peeve about bad painted marble, and I was lacking in projects in my final few weeks of work. So this:    

 Became this:

Garden- Despite having a lovely and large yard, I have not been able to create my much longed for vegetable garden. I just don't have the sun. Our neighborhood is named Timber Village for a reason. With all the lovely trees that shade our house and keep it cool in the summer, (and keep us knee deep in leaves every fall) I have not one spot in my yard that gets full sun. Not a single one. Community Garden to the rescue. For a mere $30 I was able to secure a spot in the community garden this year. For that price I get a 20' x 32' area to cultivate from the time they till it until early November. Unfortunately between surprising late cold weather and the fact that our lives were very hectic this spring, we got a late start on it. Last month we went and checked it out, put up fencing, and started some weeding. We picked up some plants this weekend but I didn't make it to the actual garden until yesterday....where I found the weeds to be thick and about 8" tall. It being my first day out of work I went to it. I managed to weed half the plot by hand. The husband came over on his lunch break, shoveled the paths and planting areas, and we got what we had into the ground. I went back again today to keep weeding. I have been diligent, knowing my issues with the sun. I had a snack and plenty of water. I wore a hat and applied sunscreen before I left the house to drop off the kids. (Daycare is right around the corner from the gardens). And this is what I ended up with today...      

                       Yep. I've got a trampstamp sunburn. And it burns like hellfire. The really annoying thing is that I applied sunscreen to that area. We are expecting rain on Friday and Saturday, so I'll be back there again tomorrow hopefully getting the majority of our remaining planting done. And maybe this time I'll remember the camera.


My Double Heelix socks are sitting in corner at the moment whilst I figure what bind-off I want to do. I made a few attempts at the interlocking bind off suggested but wasn't having much luck. This woman has great ideas but I don't know if it's my brain or what....her descriptions and illustrations don't help me at all. I can elaborate more on that when I finish my project and review the pattern. I found some YouTube videos but they either illustrate doing it in stockinette or in 1x1 rib. The sock is in 2x2. And I'm sure I'd get it if I could just see someone do it in 2x2. I'd do Jeny's Surprising Stretchy Bind Off, but frankly I don't like the ruffly look it creates. Especially on socks whose colors are inspired by the Incredible Hulk. I'm considering the Tubular Bind Off; I just need to spend a little more time with YouTube. Alone. Just me, the socks and the laptop.

That's about it...the other few projects haven't been touched since last week. But I did have to show this bit of fabulousness. Whilst weeding today I received a rather cryptic text from my best friend.

Name the source of this line: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.

Geek that I am, I immediately recognize and and reply that it is from Harry Potter and makes the Marauder's Map work. I think nothing more of it until I get to our knit knite and she hands me this:

And it matches hers perfectly.



 There is a reason we are best friends.

Well, that is all for now, and I am off. And yes, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. Cheers.

WIP Wednesday

I need to type fast because we are having a humdinger of a thunder/lighting storm outside. Normally, I'd be out watching it but this is my only time today to post.

I've got several projects on the go and summer unemployment on the horizon, so I though a weekly check-in would shame me into getting things done. So here we go

1. Double Heelix Socks- I finally got to try this baby on and I think the cuff is long enough. Now I just need to bind off and seam the toe. I suck at Kitchner stitch so I need to spend some time and find a good video. Oh and do the second sock.
   
2. At knitting tonight I cast on Boys Can Wear Pink sweater, and then realized I needed a shorter cable, which I didn't have with me. 
   
3.  Because it is in Little Miss's Batgirl tunic. I should probably finish this soon.
   
4. Dude and Little Dude shirts- I've got the pattern pieces ironed and cut out. The fabric has been washed and is waiting to be ironed and cut.  
5. Boy Scout quilt- I'm a good chunk of the way through the quilting. We see my FIL at the end of June and I'm hoping to get this done before we go. I need to cut the binding, which means I need to find time when the minions are not around. It's probably best to keep them away from the rotary cutter. 

There it is. I better go before this storm does bad things. 

This means war...

March is named after Mars (Ares) the Greek god of War and it seems very fitting to me. I'm feeling beat down, worn out and dammit I'm ready to fight back. 2013 was suppose to be better. I gave the year January to shake off 2012. February just ended up being a horrible month...we had a blizzard, I was sick (in bed all day sick), my husband worked crazy long hours, deadlines came up harder and faster after the shut down from the snow, both my kids got sick while my husband was 3000 miles away for work, and I didn't make it to knit-nite once the whole month. And to top all of this off, I am between treatments for the MS and feel like complete shit rather ailing.

All that being what it was, my plans for Finishuary were a failure. I was either too tired, too sick or in too much pain to get much crafting done. I did finish one of my father's potholders and almost finished another...until I discovered that the second one was too small. Frogged that and I have now nearly completed the second 'corrected' potholder. There is a rush on these since Dad so graciously pointed out that he burned himself the other day because he only had one of the good potholders (and it was all my fault). I told him that it was his fault for being a dumbass who touches hot things. Can you feel the love? I have enough yarn to make him one more, which will give him four in total. Though I ran into a minor snag yesterday with one of them. I've been trying to work on these everywhere and brought the project to the library on our family excursion. It gives me something to do while I keep eyes on two kids on opposite sides of the room. When I returned, it seems that some of the yarn was hanging out of the diaper bag when it was unceremoniously dumped on a chair in the living room. When I went to gather said project back up during nap time I thought it was odd that there seemed to be an end hanging out of the bag. I was working directly from the too small potholder to the correct one....there should have been no yarn end.
Then I looked closer....
and noticed the frayed nature of the end....
and the dampness of it...
and the compete absence of my fat black cat. The one that is the Brain in my Pinky and the Brain duo of pets. Yeah. That one.
It was fixable but rest ye sure that I am plotting my revenge.

I did manage to get some quilting done over the last month as well. The T-shirt quilt from hell has all it's machine quilting done. I just need to do the hand quilting in the squares and then the binding. Why, oh why am I hand quilting the squares? do you ask. Because I don't have a long arm sewing machine and it will be much, much easier to do the quilting pattern in there by hand then on my machine.

With spring on it's way, things are starting to look up. My husband's schedule is looking better for a while. Next month I (hopefully) will be starting a new treatment, and my design will be going up and not consuming all of my life. I have lots to write about and lots of ideas for changes. I hope you will all forgive the lack of writing and the many unfulfilled promises of regular blogging. I want to keep blogging, I just need to figure out how to fit it into the new 'normal', especially when that 'normal' keeps changing. 

So get your battle dress on...we're gonna kick some arse!

update and Rhinebeck

Well. It's been interesting. I've had a few more laptop issues as well as work going from whirlwind to absolute cluster-fuck. There are big things going down at work, and that would be bad enough if we weren't trying to open a three shows a week apart. I've been dealing with more medical issues as well. This just isn't my year and the last month or so really highlights that.

But there are some good things going on. Good crafty things.

First of all, on Sunday I went to Rhinebeck with my girls. As per our usual routine, we were up well before the ass-crack of dawn and meeting at my house at 5 am. It's amazing I can get up and be somewhat together at that hour for a fiber festival, but still can't seem to be up and functional by 6am on work days. Go figure. About halfway into our road trip we stop at a Dunkin Donuts for bathroom and refreshments. I have issue with this particular DnD, in that they brazenly advertise hot apple cider on their door, yet never have any.

On the way up I finished my Tilted Duster. Well, it is nearly finished. The knitting is done and I wove in the ends in the car. All that is missing is the buttons. My fabulous, perfect buttons. I have no clue where they are. I tore apart the house looking for them. I half expected walk in the door and see them sitting there after the festival but no such luck.

First stop when we reach our destination is Pete's Famous Restaurant for breakfast. The food is great. The staff is wonderful. It is the perfect way to start our day. This year I went for the French Toast deluxe which include French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, and ham. It's enough to keep you satiated and energized well into the afternoon.

Then it is off the the fairgrounds. This year they changed some things regarding the parking and the entrances. They switched the entrance and the exit, and I'm not sure it helped the situation. The parking volunteers this year were horrible. They didn't direct us at all. I think we ended up in vendor parking, but it worked out well for us. Apparently the day before everything was still a mudpit and lots of cars were getting stuck. I have to commend the fairgrounds for having a tow truck available to pull the festival goers out at no cost to them. Having been very close to being stuck last year, I think it was a good thing on their part. One hitch in the plans this year is that we went on Sunday. And while this meant we didn't have to fight the crowds and the grounds were a bit dryer, it also meant that the fairgrounds weren't open to us until 10am. A fact that we had over looked. We are still unsure if this is a change or we just spaced on this face. We have gone on Sunday in the past and from what we can remember we got in at 9 then. So we sat in the car and knit for an hour and in we went.

First stop was the Journey Wheel booth. These are the only spindles I own. I have three of them (maybe four?) I have a purple heart Midi, a cocobolo Mini and I picked up my Moosie last year. I love these spindles. I've not spun on the Moosie yet because I insist on picking up some beautiful fiber for it. I just haven't found what I'm looking for yet. I wasn't in the market for a spindle this year, but some of the girls were considering. From there we went to Little Barn. I was highly disappointed this year. I'm not sure if they were just depleted from the crowds the day before or they just didn't have much. I left without buying. From there we did our circuit of all the barns. There were a lot of lovely things to see, and touch, and smell. I had a list of several things that I was on the lookout for...many of which I didn't find. I had hoped to pick up some silk hankies to try my hand at spinning silk. Nothing really grabbed me. I was on the look out for yarn to knit up a Citron. I don't have a specific color in mind for this one, which is odd for me. I found one potential yarn at Cephalopod Yarns; I fell in love with the colorway but it was 70 yards short of what I needed. And it just wasn't worth buying two balls. However, I did not leave the Cephalopod booth unscathed. I trapsed away with two balls of Skinny Bugga, in Nebraska Conehead and Purple Soldier Fly, for my redo of the Double Heelix socks. (I have a fun plan for these. But that's a future post). Other than that, I didn't see anything that made my heart sing. I'm trying to only buy for specific projects. And I'm not really drawn to fiber since I still don't have a place to set up my spinning wheel yet. Being on severe budget doesn't help either.

There is one issue I do have to mention. Why. Why are there dyers who can't seem to get the vinegar smell out of their wares. There is one company in particular while I love their colorways, I can smell the vinegar before I even get into the booth. This year, it was like a punch in the face. It makes me hesitate a little to purchase from them. If they are skimping on the rinsing, what else are they skimping on? Does that make sense? And besides, if I'm going to be smelling that much vinegar it should be in the form of pickles.

The big difference for me this year is that I brought my cane. The MS has broken my internal gyroscope and the uneven ground really throws me off balance. I use the cane less to facilitate in walking and more to keep me from tipping over.  I managed not to fall, but my cane warranted me some odd looks. Most of them were questioning looks but some were outright hostile. Some of the joys of having an 'invisible' disability. Yeah I'm young and I look fine, but you have no idea what is going on with me. (enough rant. I could really get worked up on this one. another time.)

 In other crafty news I've been sewing. Halloween is nearly upon us and I am in full costume production. What has really helped is that I rearranged some furniture and set up my sewing machine in my bedroom. It's not ideal, but I can leave it out and set up without anyone 'helping' with things. This makes all the difference when it comes to finding time to sew. Little Dude had said all summer that he was going to be Darth Vader. Then about a month ago he decided he wanted to be a T-rex. My mom came to visit for a MS Symposium and we used the opportunity to get going on his costume. Little Dude picked out the main fabric, a lovely orange with a black batik effect. The rest we've been supplementing from stash. The spots, stripes and claws are from a purple satin I had on hand. Mom started the project and cut the pattern and fabric, and began sewing. Thankfully she did the zipper. I hate zippers. After she returned home the rest of the project fell to me. More details and pics to follow.

OMG! Progress!!!!

Sadly not with my knitting. Well...that's not totally true. I'm making some progress on my Elementary Socks. Just not as much as I would like. I've started the gusset on the first sock.




That light colored line you see on the bottom of the foot is the lifeline I put in before I started the gusset section. Gaia is slowly plodding along. She's my take everywhere, multi-task knitting, therefore she's going very slowly. I'll be taking her to tomorrow's infusion. Until I'm off the Benadryl, it's vanilla knitting while in the chair.

What has really been hindering my knitting is the upstairs. And that is where the progress is really starting to happen.
Remember this:



It now looks like this:






If you are looking at those pictures and saying, "But..but...those are only half done walls!?!" you would be correct. There is a reason for that. To be able to read the upper levels there was a piece of plywood that spanned the opening of the stairwell. It rested on blocking that was attached to the unfinished areas of wall. It allowed for us to walk around and work instead of dangling from scaffolding and ladders. The plywood door/floor was not of our creation. It was how we found the upstairs when we bought it. There were no stairs there when we acquired the house. Now I've got to tie in the lower part of the walls and finish painting. I need to stain the wood around the skylight because the trim molding that will go in there won't cover all of what is there. I know I should have done that before painting but these things happen.
As for the color of the walls....I LOVE it! We were stuck between two colors that were very close. One was a little more brown and the other a little more grey. We tapped up color chips of the two and I kept moving them from wall to wall and changing our minds every time we walked by them. My love and the Little Dude picked the greyer of the two. Little Miss, after going back and forth went with the browner one. I'm the artist and the one who paints it, so final color decision is made by me. I picked the greyer of the two: Sherwin Williams Mega Greige SW7031 painted in their new no-VOC line Emerald. I'll be reviewing the paint once I've used it a little more. My color choice was inspired by the many old black and white photos we have of our families. This color will be used in the first floor hallway that this stairway merges into. And I plan on displaying many of these photos on the long wall in that hall.
We did hit a small snag in that the ceiling fan we had bought years ago (it says 2003 on the box, though I think it was more like 2005 when we bought it) is too wide for the space. It will, however, fit in the studio and coordinate with the fixtures for up there. So now we are hunting for a small ceiling fan with light that fits our aesthetic. As you can guess that last part is the hardest. The one I really like is no longer available. And now the hunt is on.

So that's what I've been up to. There has been more progress on the studio side of the upstairs but that only looks like this at the moment.

A lot done, but not visibly so. I hope to be able to prime that side within the next day or two.

Well, I'm off to sand and mud and listens to podcasts.

Finished, Frogged and Started

I've a few finished objects for you.

First is the Tardis shawl for my SIL.


Pattern: Bigger on the Inside by Kate Atherley
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Soulmate  2 skeins
         55% Superwash Merino, 15% Nylon, 30% Outlast
Colorway: Bigger on the Inside
Needle size: US 2 circular
Thoughts: While I love the outcome, I would make a few changes when I knit one for myself. First and foremost I think I will knit the two sections separately and graft them together. Picking up 311 stitches is daunting enough without it being done over a piece that is 400 rows. It is a pet peeve of mine when you are picking up dissimilar numbers of stitches over a piece. I might toy with the lace section as well. It's a nice lace but it didn't knock my socks off.
The yarn knitted up very nicely. It's my first foray into Lorna's Laces since I've been warned by others of their tendency to pool. I wasn't too impressed with the colorway. I'll probably dye my own. I guess I was hoping for a little more variation in the blue. It did take several rinses before it stopped bleeding color when preparing to block it. I'm not surprised with such a dark blue...it tends to be the nature of such a color. I through a little white vinegar into the final rinse.
I'm also not sure I really needed two skeins. I knit the lace out of one skein and then the Tardis section out of the other to avoid the need to splice. I've not measured what is left to see if I could have done it with one. I do believe I have enough for a small pair of socks. 

Verdict: I'd knit it again with a few modifications and in different colorway.





Next was my Little Red Hooded Cape



Pattern: Fair Isle Hooded Capelet by Teva Durham
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool  3 skeins
Colorway- Bohemian
Needle: US 35 Circular
Thoughts: I loved knitting this. It was a fast project and an interesting knit. I did make a change...I came nearly to the end before I realized I didn't like the hood seam. Here it is unseamed...I just knew it would look ugly and who wants a big seam at the top of their head?



I restarted it, this time using Judy's Magic Cast On and knit it back and forth instead of in the round. It came out beautiful. Much better, isn't it?

I made the body a little bit longer, but not long enough that it impeded the use of my arms. I didn't quite use all of the last ball. I really enjoyed the Rowan Big Wool as well. I could see myself buying more in the future.



Verdict: Love it. I'd knit another one in a heartbeat. It's a fun, fast knit and the end product is lovely.

I also frogged a few projects in the last week. The Double Heelix socks went to the pond. Unlike my friend Kris, who will never touch this pattern again, I have plans to knit these in the future. I just have different yarn plans. I had started striping the whole thing and liked how it was coming out, but then I had a bit of inspiration and I need to go buy some yarn before I divulge.
The other victim was my long languishing Kyoto. I like the pattern, though I was having some difficulty with the neckline. I just wasn't in love with the colors anymore. I hope to make this in the future but not from this yarn.

I'm really taking a hard look at my stash of late. I've got a huge queue of things I'd like to knit. I'm on a severe budget restriction that means I'll be working out out stash almost exclusively. It's about time I start pairing up projects with stash yarn. I've also started organizing things on Ravelry. My friend Amy has a clever system. She favorites patterns she likes but only queues project she plans on knitting in the next two years. I had been queuing everything I wanted to knit indiscriminately.  I'm slowly shifting to a system more like hers. I've moved many things out of my queue and into favorites, many being shawls I queued when searching for a pattern to make out of my Ball & Skein stash. I've left the shawls that I have definite plans for in the queue. From here on out patterns that strike my fancy get put into favorites. Ones that are paired with something in the stash or I know I'll be getting the yarn for go in the queue. I'm also working out a system of tagging items to make it easier to pair them with stash.

In my quest to work through some stash and start prepping for the Ravellenic Games, I cast on a pair of socks for my husband. This is my first pair of socks in a sock weight yarn. The pattern is Elementary Waston Socks inspired by Watson's sweater in the BBC's Sherlock series. If you haven't seen it yet, you are truly missing out.  I'm knitting two at at time on DPN's and though it's going well, I'm thinking it's time I learned to Magic Loop.

Ten on Tuesday (plus update)

10 Favorite Ways to Eat Strawberries.

1. Plain- what is better than a perfectly fresh strawberry. Even better if eaten while picking. 
2.  Dipped in chocolate- the caveat being it must be dark chocolate.
3. Sugared- chopped up, sprinkle with sugar and let sit to make their own juice. Easy-peasy and wonderful for the next few. 
4. With cream- whipped or otherwise. Strawberries and cream are an absolute delight. 
5.  Shortcake- either pound cake or homemade shortcake. Those spongy little cake bowls they have at the grocery store are sacrilege.
6. Blended with lemonade- this was my drink of choice while pregnant in the summer and I crave it still. Throw a bunch of frozen strawberries in a blender with some lemonade and maybe some additional ice, hit the button, and you are good to go. Warning: very addictive.
7. In pie- with rhubarb. 
8. Jam- I will be making jam this summer and strawberry is on the top of the to-do list. I use water bath methods for my jam, and I'm currently looking for a sweetened with fruit juice recipe. But that's a story for another post. (hrm...I almost said podcast. Now what does that tell you?)
9. As Popsicles- puree and freeze. I never use juice for homemade Popsicles. It's too thin and watery. Pureed fruit works so much better. 
10. in boozy punch- I once spent an entire day of my college's Springfest buzzed off of the fruit that had been soaking in people's alcoholic punch. The strawberries were by far the best. I have a fabulous rum punch recipe and strawberries are a wonderful touch to it. 

And the update.
I had every intention of posting this weekend but my laptop never came out of my work bag. Friday was my second infusion of my MS treatment. This is a once a month treatment that requires me to spend several hours at the MS center. For the first six treatments I also get an IV dose of Benadryl, incase I have an allergic reaction to the medicine. My first treatment, the Benadryl knocked me on my ass. I slept through the treatement, and then the rest of the day and a full night as well. This time I did better. I was able to knit on my Gaia during the infusion, but I did take a long nap later in the afternoon. My treatments are going to lead to two new projects. It's rather cold in the infusion room (I'm always cold anyway) and getting two IV bags full of a chilled liquid doesn't help. I bring the quilt my Mom made me for my 20th birthday, but come winter I'll need more. The issue lies in the fact that I need to leave my one arm uncovered for the IV. So, I see a pair of fingerless gauntlets in my future. The other project is some sort of wrap or long jacket that I can wear but leave my arms free. I've not searched Ravelry yet so expect a future post on the search.
I did, however, finish knitting Bigger on the Inside. My goal is to block it tonight, then I'll post the pictures and write my thoughts on the pattern. The weather this weekend was lovely and on Sunday I spent a good portion of the day outside. Little Miss was in taking her nap and Little Dude wanted to play in his pool. So, once I set up the pool, I settled into a patio chair and knit away. I knit some more while watching Game of Thrones after the kids were in bed. (FYI- I'm still catching up on the first season).

In other news this is my last contract week at work before my summer hiatus. I'll have seven weeks off (unpaid), two of which the kids will be sans daycare. Therefore that leaves me five weeks with a to-do list that is a mile long. And I plan on blogging like crazy in that time. I've a lot of thoughts in my head to share. Meanwhile at work, I'm doing a semi-major reset of my shop. Nothing is sacred this time around and I should have some pictures by the end of the week. Right now it looks like a complete disaster....which means I should get of the computer and back to it.

Till the next time.

Ten on Tuesday and an update

10 Favorite Work Out Songs: This topic is rather timely. Part of my MS treatment includes working with a physical therapist and an occupational therapist. I'm working on hand strength and coordination at the moment and next week we will start on my walking and an exercise routine. So here we go...

1. Dragula  by Rob Zombie
2. O Fortuna by Apotheosis
3. Only by Nine Inch Nails
4. Du Hast by Rammstein
5. Breathe by The Prodigy
6. Machinehead by Bush
7. Blue Monday by Orgy
8. I'm Shipping Up to Boston by Dropkick Murphys
9. Bodies by Drowning Pool
10. Whatever by Godsmack

I think you can get a sense of what I like from that list. Someday I'll have to do a list about my painting music. I like to pair my music with the project. I try to do the same with my books. When I was painting Time After Time, I listened to the stories of H.G.Wells.  When I was doing these really beautiful blood red walls, Dexter is Delicious was the book of choice. For Pippin and all of it's medieval glory, it was the original Shannara trilogy.

I've been trying to write my update post for days. It has been that kind of week.
Last Tuesday I had to pick up Little Miss early from daycare because she wasn't feeling well, which we attributed to teething. Wednesday she stayed home with her Daddy. When I picked Little Dude up that afternoon there was a notice announcing that several of the other kids had hand, foot, and mouth disease. Sure enough that's what she had, in addition to the teething. Then in the wee hours of Friday morning Little Dude came down with a fever too. Normally that isn't such a big deal, but Friday was our 10th wedding anniversary. 10 years was celebrated by caring for two sick kids. (I'm trying not to read anything into it.)

I should have known it was going to be a weird week when I went on our annual pilgrimage to Mass Sheep and Wool and Webs and bought nothing! Well, I did buy some lunch, but nothing fiber related. Partly because I'm facing a summer without a paycheck (again!). And partly because nothing really spoke to me. I had been hoping to get another Stitched by Jessalu bag but I just couldn't decide on what one to get. By the way, if you don't have one (or more) of her bags...get one. They are wonderful and beautifully made. Plus she has tons of sci-fi/geek ones. You can't go wrong. But nothing was really grabbing me. The same with Spunky Eclectic's fiber. And this is the first time I've ever left and not bought something for Ball and Skein. Though, she's got just what I've been hunting for to make my Mina scarf. But it's something I know I can order later. Webs didn't have any of the books I was thinking of, though I was able to peruse Vampire Knits. There wasn't enough in there that I would make to warrant buying it.

Despite my lack of stash acquisition, I've made significant of progress in my knitting of late. Actually, knitting is sanctioned by my occupational therapist to help with hand coordination. So, it's not just a hobby (addiction), it's good for my health (and that of those around me if they don't want to die).

It took me a week but I finally picked up the stitches on Bigger on the Inside. I finished the lace section and blocked it to make the picking up the stitches easier.

As I feared, it is one of those patterns where the number of stitches to pick up and the place they are being picked up from differ. In this case it was 311 over 400 rows. I won't go into what I went through to figure out how to do it evenly. I'll just say, this is a gift and my OCD was running rampant...and thankfully my husband is much better at math than myself. Honestly, that is the hardest part of this pattern. I'm nearly halfway through the TARDIS chart and it looks good. I'll be making a few changes when I make this one for myself.


Gaia is making progress too. She's a great project for when I don't want to think or I'm needing to set it down a lot (read keeping the kids from killing each other).

And the other fiber related news I've started spinning again. We can thank Little Dude for this one. My wheel was around and he had been playing with the treadle for a few days. Finally I said I'd show him how it is used, grabbed some fiber, and then proceeded to spin for about the next 5 hours, with breaks for dinner and getting said minions to bed. I finished a bobbin that night. I just did the second one a few nights ago and I hope to ply them sometime in the next few days. This fiber is some BFL dyed by my lovely friend The Painted Sheep. The colorway is called Pine Meadow. I was an idiot when I split the fiber and didn't bother weighing it so one of the bobbin has more than the other so it won't ply exactly the way I was hoping but I think it will be nice nonetheless. I'm happy to say that now that I am using better fiber, my spinning is much more even. The inherited wool that I had been using was partially felted and not that great. I'm glad I abandoned it. I'm not sure what this yarn is going to become yet.
 

Next on the project list is the caplet from Teva Durham's Loop-d-loop. I'm able to do this now because my lovely friend Peggy had the gigantic needles needed for this project and so graciously lent them to me. I've had the yarn for this in stash for years.

And a little bit of trivia. The background on the above photos is the floor I'm currently painting at work.

Update Monday

Let me just start off saying that the package of yarn arrived safely, but not after it had left the state to figure out where it needed to go. I really don't know what the mix-up was since the address on the package was correct. Watching the package tracking was sort of like watching the downloading bar progress and then jump back when you are really waiting on that information. But it came and here is what was in it:


The yarn is more of a blue than the photo shows. It is Lorna's Laces Solemate and it is destined to be come Bigger on the Inside. Unfortunately, or not, this particular shawl isn't for me. I'm making it for my sister-in-law, who surprised me with an amazing Dr. Who inspired present for my birthday.

Yes. That is a stained glass Tardis candle holder. Which she made. So I think she deserves the first of these shawls that I knit. I'm about to the halfway point of the lace panel on the shawl. The pattern is a very interesting construction. You knit the lace section from one end to the other, increasing then decreasing as you go. Then you pick up stitches along one edge and knit the Tardis design down from there. I can't say that I'm really enjoying the lace section. It's an easy enough pattern but I just can't seem to get into the groove of it. Perhaps because I'm trying to do it while watching TV. I'll try listening to podcasts instead and see if that helps.

I'm liking the yarn so far. It's quite lovely to knit with and not turning my fingers blue while I knit, as often I find the deeper blues do. My only complaint is the condition of the skein. One of them wound perfectly. The other....

as you can see, not so much. I don't know why this keeps happening to me. I'm not sure if I blogged about the Rios debacle a few years back. Two of my three skeins did this. It is as if when winding the skein they went the wrong way for a few rounds and then back again. My husband has spent several hours this weekend working on this. He's like a vampire with a knot obsession, a real vampire, not the sparkly kind.

I'm making headway on Gaia.
 I really like this pattern. I'm further along than the picture here shows, but this gives you the idea of how the yarn split up when I separated the knots. Oh Noro, why? But the nice thing is that I can follow this pattern when I'm completely drugged up, so that's good.

And why was I drugged up, might you ask? I had my first infusion to treat my MS on Friday. I finally got my test back and found it was safe for me to begin treatment. I was armed with my two shawl projects, a book and my DVD player with some Babylon 5 and Pride and Prejudice (wasn't sure what my viewing mood would be). I took the day off, not knowing how it was going to effect me. And it's good I did. The first six doses of the once a month treatment include an IV dose of Benadryl, in case of allergic reaction. Now I regularly take Benadryl, and it doesn't have much effect on me. Well, Friday was a whole different story. That stuff hit me fast and hit me hard. I had been reading the pattern for Bigger on the Inside, and suddenly it was just a blur of letters to me. I spent much of the infusion napping...well I spent most of the rest of the day (and night) asleep. To be fair I had been hit with a small stomach bug that struck down my husband earlier in the week. It took him a day or so to sleep that off, so I think it was the one-two punch that knocked me out. Either way I was next to useless. I guess we will see with next month's infusion.

Mother's day was low key, but rather lovely. From Little Miss I received a version of the handprints poem and her prints on some nice watercolor paper. From Little Dude it was a box painted and decorated (handprint on top) and the poem inside with a bracelet that he strung. My husband gave me some flowers and a package of smoked salmon all to myself.

We had our trees worked on finally. The damage from Snowpocalypse left them in need of major attention. We had a lot of hangers that would drop whenever the wind picked up. I was terrified to let the kids play outside. We joined forces with our neighbor so that the tree company could come out once with the heavy equipment. In the end, we each had a tree removed. I'm sad to see the lovely old red oak go, but it needed it. Our tree guy is one who prefers to keep trees, if it is safe to. So when he says it should go, I trust him. It ended up that this particular tree was rotting down the center from the top down and and bottom up. The hadn't quite met in the middle yet. But now we have somewhere to put the big pirate ship playscape in our yard.
Here's a few pics of the felling of our tree:

Tickled Pink

I'm sorry about the lack of posting. Blogger has changed again and I'm totally lost...and apparently so is a post or two. I'm very confused.

So I want to thank those who donated to team Pirate Robots. I was deeply touched by and it means so much to me. By the post title you might guess that we reached our goal. Not quite but we came close enough that I went pink anyway. We raised $1,734 out of our $2000 goal. (You can still donate until May 25th.)

I'm loving the pink. I'm not quite loving my hair's reaction to the bleaching. The ends took a beating and now my hair is very easily tangled. I'll be getting a cut soon...and we may work some purple into the color. Little Dude loves it and has requested that it goes purple next. He also wants it blue for his birthday party.

Life has been a little bit of a whirlwind lately. I've continued to have numerous doctor's appointments and tests. I'll be receiving treatment at phenomenal MS center very near to where I work. This place is truly amazing. They have state of the art equipment for just about any issue you could have with this disease. The staff is very warm and welcoming. I keep saying how lucky I am. It sucks having the disease but when we caught it and the fact that I am located near such a wonderful treatment facility, I really am lucky.

Now I've just got to fight the exhaustion that comes with the disease. At least now I know why I'm so damn tired all the time. Of course chasing down two minions doesn't help in that area either. Little Miss is really taking off on the whole walking thing. She's now shifted to more walking than crawling, and a lot more walking without hanging on to things. And she's really perfecting her climbing. She climbs EVERYTHING. I had to pull her off the front of the stove the other day. And when you tell her 'No' she just turns her head and smiles. Luckily I'm immune to such wiles. I keep telling her that I invented that look. She's also not afraid to express her opinions (not my daughter?!?!). Yesterday I tried to put her back into her pj's after changing her diaper first thing in the morning. She immediately started to complain and point to her closet. So I stripped her down and then held her up to her clothes. Little Miss pushed aside clothing until she found the dress she wanted and then grabbed onto that. Mind you, she's barely a year old!!!! I'm in trouble with this one.

With Little Dude we are still having Adventures in Potty Training. Last night/this morning what had a major set back. He sneaked into our bed a some point in wee hours without my husband noticing. Normally that's not so much a problem but he slept so deeply that he peed in our bed. The bed I had just changed the sheets on (for the first time in longer than I'd ever admit). Not how one likes to start their day.

On the knitting front, I've been knitting, but don't have much to show for it. I started a Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. In usual form I didn't bother with a gauge swatch and that came back to bite me, only because it is bigger than I wanted for the intended giftee. So I put it off to the side a day or so ago. I may continue on it or I may frog it.
What I did do, however was a little sit down with my Noro Kueyron Sock. I have a love hate relationship with Noro yarns. I think they are beautiful, but my god are they full of knots. I've not had a skein of Noro that has had less than two knots in it, which can really suck when working with their colorways. A friend of mine was knitting the Gaia Should Hug and came across a knot. She continued on and then realized that the next run of yarn had the color changes going in the other direction. This is the shawl that this yarn is destined for and when I initially wound the skein I ended up with 3 separate runs of yarn. It was very Goldilocks....I had the big ball, the medium ball and the itty bitty ball. So being the freak that I am, I sat down, rewound each ball and wrote down the colors as they would so that I could line up the color changes. Ok, a little OCD, but when it is the look that you want, go for it. I found that what I have isn't too far off and I should be able to make it work without too much variation from the intended gradation of color. The colorway is a lovely mix of maroon, orange, green gold, green brown and a deep and light purple.

I'm hoping to cast that on tonight.

The red vest is sitting alone until I have some coherent alone time to work the shaping on the top. My double heelix socks are...somewhere. I ripped back the cuff on the first sock and are staring to continue the striping pattern and teaching myself jog-less stripes as I go. I'm planning on a ton of projects because I've been listening to knitting podcasts and they are adding things to my knitting queue as well as my reading and watching queue. But another post about podcasts later. I must be off to liberate the minions from daycare.

Update Monday

It was a weekend of contrasts.  Saturday was busy with my son's social schedule, which by the way is more active than mine. Sunday was spent at home cleaning and trying to keep the peace between the minions. Little Miss thinks the Little Dude is just amazing and wants to do what ever he is doing, and he just wants her to stop touching his stuff. And Mommy just wants 10 minutes of quiet and to finish a mug of tea while it is still hot....if she can find where she left it.
Now that Little Miss is nursing less and doesn't require being held all the time, I'm able to get some projects done. I finished a new pillowcase and blanket for Little Dude's nap stuff for school. I had noticed when I passed through school at nap time that his blanket was suddenly too small (when the hell did he get so big?!?). So we took a trip to JoAnn's and I let him pick out his own fabric. We started by picking out fleece for the blanket. Well, there was so much to choose from; everywhere we looked was a new superhero. First one he saw was Batman, then Superman, then Captain America, then Green Lantern (I'm raising my kids to be both Marvel and DC). Then I found it....the fabric with Thor, Wolverine, Hulk, and Ironman. "THAT IS AWESOME!!!"

 

Then we rounded the corner to the fabrics and I was astounded at the number of superhero fabrics (thank you Avengers movie). He picked his favorite and I decided that I need to make a quilt. Well two actually. I can't have Marvel and DC together in one quilt. (My husband thinks I'm nuts). I'll be fabric shopping soon.

I've been trying to get knitting again. I started the Double Heelix socks way back in July. After a rough start and some abandonment I'm almost done with the first sock.

I've some things to say about this pattern but I'll wait until I've finished. I have some ideas for the second sock and I want to give them a try first.

I also cast on for the Orange Twist Child Hat-Scarf last Wednesday. I've been wanting to make this for my son. I showed him the picture and said he liked it. I asked what color he wanted, "PURPLE!" was the reply. It's his favorite color (mine too!) and I'm not the kind of parent who is going to have a conniption fit about my son liking purple. I grabbed a skein out of my stash and asked him if he liked it. He preceded to hold and hug it for about 3 hours. (I think he liked it).  I'm having to make a few adjustments because the largest size is still too small for him.




It is coming along well, and once again this weekend I proved that I can do cables while on Percocet. I might not be able to walk normally, but damn it, I can cable.

Then there's my perpetual use-up-the-stash, leave-on-the-back-of-the-couch, knit-a-few-rows-here-and-there project. I'm clearing out my stash of the yarn I bought before I knew better. Well, some of it I bought. A lot of it I inherited from various people. I'm making mostly scarves, but also some hats and gloves for the mitten tree at the library.



That's all the knitting for now. I'm hoping to cast on a dress for Little Miss's upcoming birthday soon.

I thought I'd keep a running list of what I'm reading, listening to, and working on. Here it is.

On the nightstand: Skein of the Crime, Heroes. Volume two
On the Ipod: finished The Time Machine, podcasts : Wait, wait don't tell me, Car Talk, Geek Girl Crafts
On the Kindle: Knitter's Life List
On the needles: Double Heelix socks, Orange Twist Child Hat-Scarf, charity scarf & hat,
On the wheel: nada
In the sewing basket: finished Marvel pillow case and blanket
On the easel: nada
On the shop floor: Time After Time

Moving on

Tomorrow is the big day. I start my new job. I'm both excited and nervous as hell.

I finally finished the left front of the Ballet Wrap Cardigan. I'm a tad frustrated with this pattern. I found the directions rather confusing...so confusing that I had to rip back 3 times. I'm also a bit miffed with the sizing. The bust size jumps from a 34 to a 40. That's a huge jump! I am going with the smaller size hoping that it won't look too horrible.

Today's mantra: The words "at the same time" should always be in bold lettering. Always. And a larger font or colored text wouldn't hurt either.

Knitting update

I actually have some knitting to show you. I've been a busy little bee...


These are my purple Knucks. I still haven't decided on embroidery yet so they'll stay plain for now. The yarn is Silky Wool. One skein with a fair amount left over. I lengthened the cuffs to 2 inches since I like my gloves to come up higher. Yes, these are actually for ME! I'm halfway through a pair for my little brother. I'll have those done soon enough.


Then there is my Ballet Wrap Cardigan from Interweave Knits. The yarn is from a sweater I got at Goodwill. I don't remember the content but I'll find the tag when I post the completed project. The back is finished and this is the left front. I'm loving how fast the bulky yarn is knitting up.


This lovely little creature is my Foliage boot sock. You may remember the blue ones I made my mum or the green ones I made myself. These are for me. I fear the warehouse that I will be working in at my new job will be quite chilly in the winter, so warm socks for me. I love, love, LOVE the colorway. It reminds me of Autumn, my favorite time of year. This was the project I took to the hospital with me. They got a kick out of my knitting in pre-op. Good I had it too, the doctor was held up and I went in for surgery about an hour late. It helped (somewhat) to keep my mind off how hungry I was. (No eating after midnight and surgery scheduled for 2pm. When asked if I needed anything my reply was "a cheeseburger')

As for me. I'm doing better. Glad to have gotten through my last few days in retail hell. Physically I am recovering; still a little pain, but getting better day by day. Emotionally I'm...I really don't know. I have to say my husband has been the greatest through all of this. After he brought me home from the hospital he went and bought all the foods I couldn't eat while pregnant (smoked salmon, smoked salmon spread, and a wheel of brie as big as my head). He also bought me Gone with the Wind. My all time favorite movie. I knit the whole back of the ballet cardigan while watching that.