Still kickin'!

Yes, dear blog readers, I am still here. :)

I got busy knitting. I was so excited after my recent adds to the obssession that I haven't really stopped since my last post. I did get a pair of shorties done. I was a bit stumped as to them though. The pattern required a lot more yarn than I used. I know I knit tight but I was on gauge the whole time! It still has me confused but they fit S just fine. I'm going to make her a wrap with the second skein since I have a whole one left.

I've also started on a nursery block from Toys to Knit. I love this pattern! So simple and quick. A friend brought over a bag of random yarn leftovers. I have no idea what they are. I think wool. They all happen to be the right amount for this pattern. I did shorten it to a total of 33 rows as opposed to 36 but only cause my first color was enough for 33. I connected my second block to it instead of binding off and starting a new one and I must say it looks great! I have the two colors connected which will make the side seam and it is freaking cute!!! I'm planning on making more with my nasty acrylic. :)

I need to finish up some washrags for my sister in law. We are leaving tomorrow for a trip back home and will be gone until the 5th. I plan on bringing my knitting with me so expect an update post with all of my knitted goods! :)

Take 2 part 2

I got to the store today. In fact we got there early! :)

I came away with TWO!! pairs of Addi circ's and TWO!!! skeins of Manos. I am in Heaven. I also got a knitting book (Mason Dixon knitting). I am so excited. I am official!!!

*Insert foot in mouth*

If nothing else I will get those needles huh? Oy vey. I'll say it again, OY FREAKING VEY!!!


I went to the store I talked of. I have been dying to buy something from here since before January. That's how in love I am with this store and I have only been in there once. I have issues. Deep, unresolved issues that came to the foreground today.

We left the house at 4. We went and paid some bills. We were running longer than I had hoped but was trying to remain calm. Yes, I was starting to feel the twinges of anxiety.

On our way DH starts pestering me about the address. Yes I looked it up! Yes I am sure that it said "Corner of 13th and Mill". YES I am positive! He then casually mentions he hopes they are open till 6 cause it was almost that.

At this point I am about in tears. I just want my freaking needles. I have been looking forward to this since the beginning of the week and if I really wanted to be honest I have been looking forward to it since about December. Call me a nut.

We end up having to stop and ask a guy where Mill street is. He doesn't know. He has no clue. In fact he says he's never even heard of a street named Mill! So we continue up the road and sure enough! About two blocks up from there was Mill street and right there where it should be was the LYS.

We pull in and I can see women coming out the door. The back door. As in the employee only door. My heart starts racing and I am trying to stay calm. Then I see the lady lock the door. I jump out while DH tried to park and ask them women if the store was closed.

"Yes. We close at 5:30. We're open tomorrow from noon to 5 though. Sorry"

Ok...here is where my deep and unresolved issues come into play. I cried. Yup, I cried over the fact that this store was closed. I cried that we were fifteen minutes late. In fact I was sobbing over it. DH just stared at me like the lunatic I am and promised to be at noon tomorrow and if I wanted I could stay till five. Sweet guy. But it just wasn't working.

Determined to get my needles I coax DH to go to JoAnn's. I rush in very excited to be getting any needles. You know what? They didn't have them. Not a single 16 inch needle. They had 29's and even 36's. Not a single 16 inch. I leave that store just as deflated as the other one. I convince him to go Ben Franklin's. You know what? We pulled up as they were locking the doors. What did I do to the knitting superior beings today that they decided to step in and mess up my plans?

I feel silly now crying about it but damn it that sucked!!! DH promised to rent a movie I've been wanting for sometime now (Woman on Top...Penelope Cruz....GREAT movie!). That perked me up a bit. You know what? They no longer have it. Today was not my day.

I was talking to a friend the other night telling her about my plans for more needles and what she said made me laugh so hard. One of those deep belly laughs that ache your sides and make you laugh silently until you can pause just long enough to actually gasp for air. As I sat in the car crying over a closed store I was reminded of it.

"You are a true knitting addict. Yarn is your smack and you've got plenty of needles." So be it!

Take 2

I have frogged what I started of Katja and now only have one cup. I don't know why this is so hard for me. Those in the yarn forum are flying through this pattern and when I click their links to look I silently seethe at the unfinished mess in my bag. It's very irritating. So I frogged it down to the one completed cup and stuck it all back in my bag very neatly. I shall come back to it sometime next week I think. It needs a break from my angry fingers and I need a break from the dumb pattern. :)

Speaking of the yarn forum. A mama posted there the other night that she wanted some knitting done. I quickly shot her a message. She chose me!! :) I shall be making ehr a couple soakers. She's buying the yarn, sending it my way, and paying me a little somethin' somethin'. The yarn she wants is lovely!! I can't wait to get it. AND it'll be good pr for me. I plan on adding knitted goods to the biz and god damn if this isn't perfect advertising! She even said she'd brag it all up. :)

I'm getting some new needles and yarn tomorrow!!! I can't wait. I can finally hit the LYS over in the town connected to me. I'm hoping they have Addi Turbos for cheap. If not I have set aside some money to get some offline. I can get 10 pairs for about 120 bucks. MUCH better than I was thinking I could get them. I am so excited!!!

If nothing else, I WILL get a size 8 circular in the 16 inch length. That way I can be so positive that that sucker is 16 inches that when my 70 stitch cast on turns out to be a 120 stitch cast on I can know it's just my SUPER tight and splendid cast on and not the needle or my inability to cast on.

Stupid....grumble grumble

I am not feeling the Katja love. I got the cups done yesterday (well almost.....I've been so excited about this one that I didn't do the I-cord on the second cup yet) and got them attached to the body piece. That in itself was a difficult thing. I needed one more hand and I could have flown through it. Instead I sat on my living room floor scrunched up to about two inches above my knitting which was pushed into my hip bones to steady it. It was a beautiful sight.

After finally getting it on and starting on my first actual knit row (row 2 in the pattern) I realize I had forgotten to cast on the last 22 stitches. Yup, I FORGOT to cast on 22 freaking stitches! So I unravel all the ones I had just done (all but about five of them) and cast them on. I didn't know what kind to do so there is naturally a space between where the cups connect and the cast on. Oh well.

I thought my issues were over with. I figured I was doing too bad since it was late (read after midnight). So I'm plugging along on row two of knit all stitches and reading ahead. I notice row 5 is right side. Row 5? As in the odd number of 5? As in my "right side" is an even number.Yup, I cast on, added my cups, and cast on again and it's freaking BACKWARDS!!!!!!!!!! I KNEW something was going to happen as I sat there srunched up. I had an uneasy feeling. I thought to myself before I connected the cups, during, and after I connected the cups "I should post on the yarn forumand double check." I'm kicking myself. Now I have to figure out a way to flip things around so that it works out the right way.

Stupid...grmuble, grumble.

Yarn galore

I have a friend. She is a lovely lady and truely wonderful. For S's birthday she sent a splendid box. In it was some clothes for S, a pair of shoes, and some toys.

And for ME in that same box was a little knitting book full of little facts and some yarn. This is awesome stuff! It's Kraemer Yarns Tatamy Tweed (45% cotton, 55% acrylic). I have two skeins, one lime color and one oatmeal. It's the perfect yarn for Katja and I am on my way with it. I have one cup and about 6 inches of the I-cord done. I wasn't sure what to make out this. I didn't know what I could do. I have only had acrylic, wool, or cotton. No mixes. So I figured I could do the tank top pattern from Tiny Bird Organics. I wasn't feeling the love though so I put it off for a few days. Someone on MDC posted about Katja though so I clicked the link and read through the pattern. Seemed simple enough. Then I noticed the yarn it asked for. A cotton acrylic blend!!! I'm making her two. One with lime cups and an oatmeal body and one vice versa. I'm going kind of slower than I would like though. I had to learn how to do an invisible cast on which kind of sucked. I ended up casting on one less than I should have. I also hate doing I-cords. They take forever and it's something I can't do super tight. I like tight. I-cords are not tight.

I finally got the Picky Pants pattern!!! I can't wait to start on a pair! I'm going to finish up at least one of the two Katja's I am doing before I get to it though. I have so many have finished projects laying around that I'm starting to get irritated. I just need to exercise some control and do one thing at a time. As it stands right now I can see four projects in some stage of completion. That's not counting what I know is in my bucket. Or bag downstairs.

I went yardsaling about a week ago and got a little bag of yarn. Most of it is wool and it looks like the lady who sold may have spun it herself. She had a spindle there for sale as well. I wish I ahd grabbed it but it just didn't feel like a good buy. Not enough to do anything with really...maybe a couple small toys for S. G, the lady I went with, grabbed me a bag for 2 bucks that had a couple pairs of needles, a ton of crochet hooks (neither of us noticed them in the pocket they were hiding in), some hideous 70's yarn, and a handheld battery operated embroidery thing. Definitely not worth more than 2 bucks. Well maybe the hooks are but nothing else....it was pretty poor quality.

G and I hit the new Goodwill over by us last week or so. I'm glad I went. I got a huge bag (originally from Target for $18) for 2 bucks! THis thing is massize but not overly so. I can fit about 12 skeins of yarn in it if I stack them three high and four across. It has a pocket the perfect size for a standard needle. Plus it's cute. It's a dark khaki on the outside with a lighter khaki colored straps. Then the inside is striped. I love it. After there we went to Michaels. The only other craft store I have been in lately that sells yarn is JoAnn's and Ben Franklins. Both charge a ton on yarn. Especially in comparison to Michaels. I got three things of Paton's merino and a thing of cotton for something like $12. I can't remember but I know I didn't spend more than $15. Once in the car I realized my wool is the same coloring as the stripes in my new bag. hehehe. I got earthy shades of green and brown. Kind of boyish but I think I can add some enbellishments on whatever I make to make it more girly. If not, who cares. S is one. She can wear boyish things if she wants and still get away with it. hehehe