Finally a sweater

Not that the sweater took that long, it's just that it is the ONLY thing I've finished in a while exept for the Clapotis. There will be no pictures of the Clapotis on here. It's a very easy knit and everyone has shown pictures of it to death. I made the mistake of using a thin fingering weight (if there is such a thing) and size 2 US needles. It made it necessary to do LOTS of increases and LOTS of repeats and to be honest, it really is pretty, but I'm sick of looking at it right now.

It started out as a pattern I'd found, but I modified it to death since I didn't like the sleeves and the bottom. I can say, however, it is a raglan sweater.



This was made out of CARON SIMPLY SOFT SHADOWS in the 'Autumn' colorway. Hopefully it will be big enough to fit mystery baby when the weather cools down next fall. PLUS next week, the kids will find out if it's a boy or girl (if he/she isn't too modest) and everything should be color/pattern suitable after that.

The reason I picked this color was 1) I liked the long changes in it and 2) SOMEBODY ought to be having a redhead at some point in time.

• I'm a redhead (sort of old penny, but still)
• My mom was a redhead (true auburn)
• TWO my son's great grandmas were redheads

That li'l gene is gonna pop out somewhere, so just in case ....

I've also been moving a lot of my knitting stuff into one room. It has taken over the whole house and HAS to be gotten back under control.

Not much, but a start and this room as the added benefit of having access to a full attic if the stash starts to explode again.

Ta Da

Ok Here's the sweater for grandchild on the way. When we find out the gender, then it'll get buttons. Right now I'm leaning toward the square ones, but we'll see.

When I was looking for a teddy bear pattern, the ones I was finding had NO TUMMY to speak of. Well, what good is a paunchless bear? That's not cuddly. Plus there was a lot of sewing/seaming. So out came the needles and here's what happened. The only seam is about 2 inches across the top of the head between the ears. I was very very good and wrote down everything I did as I went along, but don't think I can read it now because my abbreviations at the time make absolutely no sense to me now. What can you expect when you're keeping track on a big sketch pad with a hot pink highlighter.

I'll probably run it through another cycle in the washer/dryer to get that last bit of felting in, maybe embroider some features and then make some clothes. Probably should ask if the kid will need a boy or girl bear.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Blogger won't let me put in pics, so I'll try again later....

It's Official

The kids got married today.....

Oh Crap, I'm a Mother In Law

(Doesn't this mean I've got to get my witch face on? - OK for Hallowe'en, but maybe not so much for the rest of the year. I make a pretty good boyfriend's mom, so maybe I won't be so awful to be related to by marriage. Maybe someone should send the poor girl some sympathy cards.)

Rollercoaster ride

Whew! I'll be so glad when this summer is really done, not just calendar done. Everyone has periods in their lives that are just bursting at the seams with turmoil. This summer has surely been one of those for us.

1. Husband changed jobs to a commission position where you have to build a client base. The outlook on this is extremely good, but until you build up your base, it's a struggle.
2. You get a gift package in an exchange from a total stranger who gave you the most awesome perfect gifts.
3. DIL & Son get pregnant. This is the second time in the past 5 years that I have actually burst into big blubbery snotty tears because I was so happy.
4. We thought the baby was lost. Heartbroken and mourning someone we truly loved but had never met.
5. Washing machine dies.
6. Landromat has city water and the white clothes are MUCH whiter.
7. Refrigerator dies.
8. Find out the baby is fine. (We are crediting a miracle for this one) DIL is fine. There goes the ole chubby woman happy dancing around the house and doing lots of baby knitting.
9. Realize how big your stash is and you've got plent of yarn for all the knitting
10. Water pump dies. This is even MORE fun than the refrigerator dying. Neighbors are generous with letting us haul buckets of water. You realize that you CAN take a shower with a few pitchers of water if you're careful and you really don't need to keep the water running that much when you're doing dishes.
11. Your best friend's son makes it back from Iraq safely.
12. New water pump! Husband is downstairs with neighbor putting in a new one even as this is getting typed.

You realize you are so blessed to have a husband who works so hard doing unfamiliar chores and jobs because it's for you. There ARE miracles (See #7 for this one). A good neighbor is a true gift and should be appreciated. For every crummy thing that happens, the good things that happen outweigh them immeasurably.

Oh Crap!!! (Run fast, it's a rant)

I'll try not to do this again for a looooooooong time, m'kay.

Ever open your mouth and just wished you could do a big rewind?

Bear in mind, I've been extremely sleep deprived lately (Can you say 3 hrs or so per night?) It's never a good idea to disagree when your tactful part of the brain has gone on vacation....

I'm in this Yahoo Group and one of the members was unhappy about being chosen for jury duty and the probability of not knitting for a while. There were suggestions on how to get out of it.

OK, nobody wants to pull jury duty. BUT (It's that big ole but again) in this country we have the awesome privilege of voting for our leadership, protesting when we feel our leadership is screwing up, we're innocent until proven guilty, and so on and so on... One of the obligations we have in exchange for these privileges is that when we register to vote, we do so with the understanding that we could be called for jury duty.

(Yes, we vote at our house. I took my kid to the polls with me from the time he was 4 years old and explained to him that it was important. We get to hire politicians - this goes from local council members up to the president of the country. We hire the one we think will do the best job for the most people. If we don't think they're doing a good job, we "hire" someone else to work for us the next round. )

Some days....

...are just like that, aren't they.

I like knitted stuffed animals, I really, really do, BUT I don't like sewing a bunch of little pieces together. I decided that there was going to be a teddy bear that didn't require a lot of pieces. Sat myself down with my needles and started knitting.

Knit two little feet and legs, attached a rounded booty, chubby tummy, couple of arms, skinnied everything down for a neck, chubbed it up again for a head with turned up nose, on and on for days this went. Stuffed the sucker, picked up and knit on a couple of ears. Ta-da!!! The only seam was about 2 inches across the top of the head. I wrote out what I was doing row by row. To make sure it wouldn't get lost, it was written in hot pink highlighter on a sketch pad.

"So, what's the problem?" you may ask. Well, it's so darn cute even if it is nekkid and lacking features that I wanted to share this with you. The freakin' camera batteries are dead! Aaarghh!!!! Surely we'll get around to getting some new batteries soon and THEN you can see how cute he turned out with his big ole belly.

Got the grandchild to be a sweater finished except for weaving in some ends. It's blue and white. Even though the blue is a bright turqoise, it's lacy enough that it could be acceptable for a girl with the right buttons. This non-gender specific knitting is going to have me sewing on dozens of buttons when we find out if this kid is a boy or girl. Have I mentioned enough times that I'm not a seamstress??

Pictures of that to come, too.

Anyway, I've got the endless Clapotis still going on - just a hint - don't knit this on US2 needles with lots of extra repeats. It's good reading knitting or TV knitting, but if that's all you're doing, it gets a little mind-numbing.

Also got one of the lacy toe up socks for one of the husband's processors almost done. They're going to be short house socks and I'm on the last couple of rows of ribbing at the top. (Ditto on the pics)

The 'Secret of the Stole' starts Friday, so I should probably finish up a couple of things.