Just a Thursday

For my Angel Knitter.

#purplehairdontcare

99 Problems but Knitting Ain't One

It turns out I have a problem.

And I might need an intervention.

I.Can.Not.Stop.Knitting.Baby.Sweaters

Did I mention I live in the desert.

Where it is very very hot for 10 months of the year.

And I.can.not.STOP.

The idea of hugging the Queen Bean in those cuddly smooshy garments keeps my needles clicking.

I did take a teeny break from my impending carpal tunnel syndrome to cut and color my hair.

Yup.

It's purple.

I am now the five foot six fairy princess I have always dreamed of being.

I'm still not sold on the bangs.

They might be a little heavy.

But I guess it's too late to take it back.

That's the problem with bangs.  You can't uncut them.

Yet, I still haven't found time to do my nails.

9 weeks and counting.

This really is a crisis.

Cheesy Posing

I meant to share this yesterday, but I forgot.  And it is too cute not to share.

We celebrated Bird's 11th Birthday Friday night with pizza and games and presents.  It was big fun.

We left most of the party decorations up over the weekend to just prolong her feeling of celebration and specialness.

On Sunday my son tweaked the decor.

Don't you love it!

I did.

On the knitting front, it was cold this weekend.  Probably the last cool weekend we'll have until October.  And while talking about the weather may not seem knitting related, it actually is.  Cool weather = time to wear hand knits!

I lived in my new black sweater all weekend.

It is now officially my favorite sweater, and I want a million of them.  In different shade of grey or black.

Pattern:  Isabel

Yarn:  Recycled cotton fingering weight yarn

Needles:  Size 4 Knit Picks Sunstruck Needles

Modifications:  None

Review:

Ok.  I know it doesn't look like much on the hanger.  But you can see how light and thin it is.  The white hanger is showing through.  This sweater is a wisp of a thing.

But look at it on.

Ignore my cheesy posing.

Isn't it fantastic!

I love the collar, and the length, and the sleeves, and the uneven hem.

Ignore my cheesy props and gaze at the uneven hem.

It is AWESOME!

It isn't completely without issues.

The cotton yarn grew.  Which I knew it would.  And while this worked out in my favor on the overall length of the sweater, it may have gone a little overboard on the arms.

And that's not even pulled all the way down.

I'm starting to think I have no idea how long my arms actually are.  My sleeves are all too long or two short.

But I can work with this.

Since it is cotton, that also means it isn't pulling in on the ribbing.

Oh my poor naked nails.  I could be painting my nails right now but instead I am using this naptime to put on eyeliner, and take cheesy posed pictures, and attempt to be witty about my sweater.

You're welcome.

But I digress.

The ends of my (very long) sleeves end in a slight bell shape instead of neatly pulled in ribbing.  I can work with this.  But I'd like to make another sweater.  In wool.  Just to see the difference.

This sweaters is a huge win.  Sweaters like this make me wish I lived somewhere cooler.  Somewhere with weather to justify all my hand knit sweaters.

Knitting Ennui

I'm in a mood.  It's probably just this time of year.  The anniversary of my Mother's death followed so closely by Mother's Day.  I keep thinking it will get easier.  And it is.

But it isn't.

I appreciate everyone who took time out of their holiday to reach out to me.  I really do.  It is crazy how much I love the friends who live in my computer.

The Greatest really is The Greatest.

He brought the kids into the bedroom in the morning to give me breakfast in bed and flowers.

Then he left me alone with my knitting, and my Netflix queue of old Lifetime movies, and my Candy Crush Soda saga(I will defeat level 202 someday).

All.Day.Long.

He then brought the children in at bedtime to kiss me goodnight.

Basically I spent Mother's Day pretending I wasn't a Mother.

Really it wasn't a bad day.

It was a quiet day.

A bittersweet day.

A day I survived.

I'm feeling blah.

This has carried over into my knitting.

I finished knitting my lacey cowl.

But I don't want to weave the ends in or block it.

I've finished knitting the Queen Bean's blue sweater.

But double ditto on the ends and blocking thing.

Plus it turns out I didn't secure the bind off on one of the sleeves, so when I tried it on the Bean and let her run around in it (because she loved it so, despite the fact that it was unblocked and there were yarn ends everywhere) she started to unravel said sleeve.

I have no desire to deal with it.

I've decided the only thing I can do for my purple sweater (the fabulous rusty one, not the other fabulous purple sweater) is to unravel it, remove the rusty yarn, and re knit it.

Double ditto on the no desire to deal with it.

Triple ditto on reknitting Tweedy.

And there's my sock.

And I hate it.

I want to love it.  I TRIED so hard to love it.  But I hate it.

So I made it a ball of yarn.

I'm just not feeling it today.

I've Got Issues

You  might have noticed that despite all my talk of craving texture my last two hand knits have been miles and miles of plain old stockinette stitch.  Just boring old, no thinking required rows of knit stitch, followed by rows of purl stitch..

Someone recently informed me that my local library now lends out kindle book.

It is magic.

You borrow a book, and it appears on your screen.  And when the loan period ends, the book just disappears.  No late fees.  No lost books.  Just hours and hours of reading enjoyment.

I may or may not have been told by The Greatest that I am not allowed to set foot in the local library because every time I do we end up owing $40 in late fees.  So this might be the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I have a lot of reading to catch up on.

And I can knit stockinette stitch while I read.

Let us all rejoice!

So I knit my way through "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," and "Afterworlds" and "The Husband's Secret" and "Dark Places" and, well, you get the idea.

I've done a lot of reading.

I'm currently 74% done with "Written in my Own Heart's Blood."

And I've hit a snag.

After finishing all my beautiful stockinette sweaters I cast on for a lovely lacey cowl.

All that lovely lacey goodness.

All that smooshy holey lacey goodness.

All that smooshy holey lacey goodness that demands attention to knit.

It is perfect TV marathon knitting.  I've watched countless episodes of CSI (all the while listening to The Greatest complain "that isn't what the crime lab does" "the crime lab doesn't interview suspects" "the crime lab doesn't make death notifications" "the crime lab doesn't carry weapons"  He's not wrong) while knitting this.

But I haven't done much reading.

I decided I need to cast on some book knitting.  After careful consideration I chose the perfect knit.  I was going to knit another sweater for The Queen.  A Playful  Citrus  with its miles and miles and miles of plain boring perfect for reading stockinette.  I was going to finish my book and get an early start on this year's crop of Christmas Weasley Sweaters at the same time.  It was a win win situation!

But when I went to download the sweater from my Ravelry library I got distracted.   At the last moment I was seduced by a different pattern.  I am nothing if not flexible.  I may have accidentally on purpose downloaded the pattern for Elizabeth instead.

What can I say.

It called to me, and I was powerless against its siren song.

Things started out well.

The bodice went quickly as I read to my sweet heart's content.

It was a little more challenging when I got to the cabled section.

But I emerged triumphant.

And can we all just take a minute here to admire this wonderful shade of sparkly turquoise.  The Queen is going to look so good in this color.

Moment over.

I finished the cable section and realized what I had refused to acknowledge when I was being seduced by this pattern.

The rest of the sweater body is lace.

Miles and miles of perfect for TV watching lace knitting.

Suck Monkey.

I need to cast on for a new project.

Business As Usual

First of all...

Nine Days.

The Queen's baby sweater sat in water for NINE DAYS.

This picture wasn't even taken on day Nine.  It was taken around day Four.  I was hoping to shame myself into laying the sweater out.

Evidently I am shameless.

Surely there is a support group I can join.  Some sort of 12 step program.  There must be help available for someone like me.

And I only do this with my own knits.  When I block something for someone else I soak it overnight, I lay it out first thing the next morning.  Easy-peasy.  No trouble at all.  Is this a self-esteem issue?  Do I not love myself enough to block my hand knits?

I need help.

But not all hope is lost.

I have achieved the impossible.

I have washed all the laundry in the house.

Ever single item.

Seven people's worth of whites, lights, darks, jeans, towels, sheets, and even that laundry basket full of special wash items.  Including all the dirty hand knit socks.

I am currently trying to convince the children to wear the clothes they are currently wearing for the next week or so to avoid making new laundry.  Surely they can sleep and play in the same clothes for a few days without suffering much mental trauma.

They aren't buying it.

But I digress.

Since I was washing all the dirty hand knits, I figured I might as well throw Queen Bean's sweater into the wash with the load.  And then I laid it out to dry with all the other soggy woolen items.

It is officially blocked.

And without any unexpected safety pins.

Redemption!

Speaking of the Queen.

She is killing me with her cuteness today.

Seriously, this is why I can't get anything done.

How can you ignore all this cute?