It's happening!!

In 45 minutes it becomes Monday in the month of March. You know what that means?












IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday dearsophisticatedwonderfullytalentedknitterrrrrr! Happy birthday to me!

:)

Oh the funk!

I am in a knitting funk. Just a knitting one. Not a creative or artistic funk but a knitting one. How do I know it's only knitting related? Last night I made a skirt, sewed two slings, and started patching my husband's pants. I was on fire!!! I picked up my knitting and did a couple rows but nothing worth mentioning. You know what I did?



Yeah. I frogged it. I was almost 50 rows into the bottom section of my purse and I frogged it. It just wasn't working for me. It's the multi-colored ball of yarn that I hand-dyed myself and while I love the coloring and the basketweave I was doing (well kind of....it was more like two rows of knit and two rows of purl so it actually looked like a field with irrigation canals...I wasn't wanting to do a true basketweave) but you know what? It reminded me of Navajo patterns. While I like the concept they do not work for me. I do not like them and they make me cringe. They also make me think of my mother and her third husband. Not good.

So I just restarted it. I found a bag I liked and set off to do it. It's been frogged. This yarn needs to become something glorious as it is a glorious color scheme (at least I think so). See my plan was to make the body out of the multi-colored ball and to do the sides and strap out of the red I also dyed. When I started on the second version I was going to do it the same way but 1.) the pattern I found required less knitting/sewing than my original and 2.) I was going to add a flap to the body in the red. That sounds devine! It just ain't working.

I have also not touched the longies/shorties since casting on. Not true. I have about three rows done. Nothing more. Why is my knitting not speaking to me! I finally have a chance to do something for me (remember I was knitting for diapers) and I have no desire to actually do anything.

I suppose I could start on Christmas stuff but I don't really have anything set in stone for any body and all I have is acrylic and in ugly colors and now I am whining. How'd you like that? I am now whining. Ugh, I say, ugh!

Oh and you know what? K is a peeker/cheater!!! She finally caved, which I knew she would. Gotta give credit where credit is due. It took her longer to look than I thought! She finally came here and scrolled through and read about her project and saw the only picture I have of it so far. She called to confess. When I answered the phone she started with, "Hey there. I have to confess something. I had to do it! I looked at your blog." No beating around the bush there! I knew what it meant. I shrieked, "No you didn't! K you little cheater....so do you like it?" She does! She can't wait to get it. She still doesn't know what it is though. Maybe I should save it til December and call it Christmas to her.

An almost completly non-related to knitting post

Non-related portion: Yesterday was hard on my body. Not as in, "Oh the day was tough" but as in, "Ouch! That freaking hurt!"

Our buddy, T, wanted us to go to lunch and run an errand with him in an attempt to keep us from moving. We ran the errand first. He needed to return something to Best Buy so off we went. I sat in the back seat with S and when we got there, pulled her out of her car seat, got out of the car, and got her in the sling. Here comes the ouch part. I somehow managed to shut my thigh in the car door as I slammed it shut. Yeah. "Hello. My name is C and at 20 years old I don't know how to shut a car door." "Hello C!!!" I think it is already starting to bruise. The spot hurts pretty bad. I just don't know how I managed to shut that portion of my leg in a door!

Part 2 of the ouch. We went and saw a movie last night with T and his two stepsons. Because we had S with us (obviously) there wasn't enough room in the car for three adults, two teenagers, and a baby in a carseat. DH drove me home first then ran back and got the guys. Once tehy got back DH went over to T's to do some design work with him. I finished up what I was doing here and headed over to T's house. S was still asleep in the sling so I was going a werid kind of slow so as not to wake her up. I locked the door and headed on my way. I fell. I fell off the curb and as I fell backwards I tripped ove rthe curb AGAIN. I twisted my ankle and I think I hit S's head. I can't be sure though. It all happened so fast. I think my arm was under her enough and high enough up that she managed to not get hurt but she was upset. She had a weird night in regards to sleeping. That's what makes me think I hit her head or maybe jerked it and gave her whiplash or something. She'd wake up every now and then and scream out and cry like she was in pain. :( I am getting afraid to use my sling. This is the second time I have fallen. Granted neither time was S hurt but it's scary. Onthe flip side though had she not been in the sling when I fell last night she would have fallen and smacked her head and body onto the concrete. Thank god that didn't happen! My ankle is now the size of a golf ball and hurts like you would not believe! I woke up in pain last night just from rolling over. I know I should stay off it and elevate it but come on! Is that really feasible? I think not!

Knitting related part: I have figured out what I will be knitting for charity. I will do some burial buntings/gowns for the hospital (especially preemie sized ones), scarves and hats for the homeless, and something for the abused kids home in the state we are moving to. So that's all my knitting news for now. Off to feed the munchkin!

Charity Knitting

OMG! Why did I not think about this before?!

I just read a thread on Mothering for charity knitting. So I clicked a link, clicked another link and read some things for my state. Why am I not using the entire tupperware box full of acrylic yarn for things like scarves??!! I currently have one thing OTN and I'm being slow on that so it's not like I am swamped down with personal items! I think I need to get my but in gear and write up a list and find some things to knit and do it. What a great way to get practice, try out new techiniques, and most importantly help someone. Ever see Pay It Forward?

I'm thinking I really should do something like this. I recently just posted on Mothering about the crappy quality of items donated to food box places. We had to go yesterday and it was bad. Food is out of date (food that is iffy a.k.a. dairy and meats) and just icky. We made something yesterday that had bugs big enough to see without lifting the pot off the stove. :( Needless to say I was feeling icky for being poor. :) I posted a slight vent about it and forgot about it.

This morning I open up my homepage (which is set to Mothering) and I see I have a PM. I open it up and it's vauge and odd sounding. The person wants to know if I have paypal cause they got a big tip today. My first thought? Porn spam. I write back anyways cause I am curious. The lady wrote me back and apologized and clarified. She had seen my whine/rant and had wanted to send me some paypal. She had received a big tip at work today and since they don't need it (her words!) she wanted to pass it and some good karma onto me and my family. I was shocked and so overwhelmed with this strangers generousity. I let her know my paypal and went about doing some stuff. I went and checked and you know what she sends me? 55 dollars!!!!!!!! Yes, folks, a complete stranger sent me $55 because she didn't need the money herself. It's people like her that really make the world go 'round. :) (If you are reading this THANK YOU yet again!!!)

Pay It Forward is definitely a concept we do in my household and I think Charity Knitting is something that needs to be done in this instance.

Finished!!!

Another project done and gone! As I realized it is NOT a purse due to lack of yarn but that doesn't mean it isn't wonderful! :)

I finished it up and it is currently pinned to my chair being blocked. I read how to do a cold water blocking so I tried that. It feels dry but knowing my hastiness I am forcing myself to keep it pinned to that chair until tomorrow morning. This is my first blocking of any kind so I'm nervous I did it wrong.

I successfully whipped out an I-cord as well. It took one attempt that was frogged before I got my current finished masterpiece of an I-cord but it wasn't too hard. I think my issue with the first try was too many stitches made it tough to work with.

I suppose you wanna know what, if not a purse, this project is? I decided to make it an eye glasses case/holder. It shall be lined with something pretty :) and it'll close with an I-cord wrap (to wrap around a button as there is a length on the end of it that is NOT I-cord). I need to find a glorius button and then my lining and tomorrow morning finish it all up. I think it'll turn out great! When it's all done I will post pictures (that should be a given).

And to think! I compared my masterpiece to a clutch the Queen might carry around cause I couldn't get my mind off the idea of a purse! The shame.

Hmmmm more yarn needed........

or a different idea.

When they say to buy enough yarn of a color lot they mean it...especially when coming up with your own pattern to make something. Granted, I had no say since K bought the yarn (on her own awhile ago...I had nothing to do with it) but it is irritating none the less. It looks like I WILL NOT have enough yarn to make an entire purse. Maybe a small clutch. But who uses a small clutch in their day to day lives? Seriously. Maybe the Queen but that's all that's popping into my mind.

Ugh!

Ugh is my idea for my afghan. Well not really. Ugh is the sentiment for it right about now. I bought (actually my sister, K, did) some funky yarn in my color scheme to make into an afghan/throw. Only problem is I am too newbie of a knitter to feel confident enough to do it. I'm uncordinated and the yarn is hard to work with. I've not done anything this big before!!! I am so tempted to send it to someone and have them knit it up for me. I would so love it if someone did that! I'd even let them have some merino wool as an exchange cause that is one big knitting project to tackle (I think so at least).

I talked to K on the phone the other day and asked if she reads my blog. She said no and asked why. I told her I wanted to be able to talk about her Freedom yarn project on here and of course post pictures but I didn't want her to peek. She promised she wouldn't. So you wanna picture? Of course you do!

This is the yarn I'm using. It's Freedom wool and heaven on the hands! Like I said, not my coloring but definitely K's.

This is a picture of the pattern. Not the best picture but you get the idea. It's a simple basketweave and way easy to do. This is my first time doing it.

When we were in K's LYS she saw a saw a scarf with this pattern on it and was in love with it. So when she gave me this yarn I wanted to do something in it for her. I decided on a purse. I am thinking of lining it with a purple inside cause the opposite side is kind of ugly. :)

Whew! Back home.

Well that was an interesting bus ride. both to my sister's and coming home. I shan't bore you with details right now. Maybe later.

I did no knitting. Scratch that. I did none of the knitting I boasted I was going to do. I did find an excellent sock pattern and had managed to do a few rounds on my DPN's. Packing that into my bag for the trip home though proved to be a dumb idea so off the needles they came! Good thing I wasn't halfway through a sock.

I started on a washcloth for my sister though. I accidentally left it behind though which kind of bugs me. Not like I was going to get much knitting dome on the bus (daughter being sick and all). My sister had found some Sugar and Cream cotton yarn at the dollar store. Man!!! What a different type of knitting experience that was.

I bought (well my sister did) some yarn (I don't remember what kind) for a afgahn.throw for my couch. It's all the colors I am using. A beautiful combination of dark red, darker orange, and brown. I can't wait to get it started.

I babysat my neice while there (actually none was needeed. She was in bed the whole time) and for my payment I got two metal straights, a set of circulars, and some Freedom yarn. I do have something in mind for that yarn. I can't say what though because my sister may be reading this and I don't want her to know. :)

There is a thrift store in my sister's town that seems to be a congregating spot for wool yarn. My sister has found awesome wool there for a buck a skein so I naturally wanted to go. I got a small portion of grey wool (I love the look of grey wool for some reason) for 15 cents and a skein of black wool for 25 cents. I also got a wool knit sweater for my daughter for 50 cents. On the last trip there they had a basket LOADED with metal straights and some DPN's. I so wanted the whole thing! I didn't get any though. I wish I had. After using the pair my sister gave me it's nice. There's a different kind of slide to them than wooden ones.

Well off to start my Freedom yarn project!