Yarn It: My life as I Live It and Knit It

What a Full Day of Knitting Amounted Too....

NOTHING!  Literally.

Let me start by saying that the weekend before this last one, Camille had two sleepovers at our house.  The first night she had three friends over and the second night she just had one.  But, you know, it keeps you busy!  Actually, for the most part, the girls keep to themselves but there sure is a lot of noise!  We also make pancakes in the morning and the girls tend to hang around until noon or so. 

This past Friday, I watched my friend Ginger's two little kids because she was out of town and her husband has a severe back injury.  So we had five little kids running around the house (Camille doesn't count).  It was quite crazy!  We had them from Friday afternoon and took them home on Saturday evening. 

I love having my kids friends over.  It allows me to get to know their friends better and I can also keep an eye on what they are doing.  I trust all of Camille's friends parents, but I would always rather them be here so I know what is going on.  So, it is all good having kids over - but it isn't very relaxing.

So Saturday night, Ginger's kids went home and my kids went to Brads and I wasn't getting them back until Sunday at 5:00.  I scheduled my entire Sunday for straight knitting. 

Ok, I slept in until 9:30.  That is a huge treat for me!  As soon as I got up I went straight to the couch, turned on the TV so I could catch up on all my DVR'ed shows, grabbed my knitting and got to work on Vivian.  Ops. 

The night before I stayed up late to finish the last sleeve.  I couldn't just stop there - I had to attach them to the body!  Not the smartest thing to do at midnight with sleepy eyes.  In all my enthusiasm to attach the sleeves I completely ignored the charts!  Don't ask me how.  I just simply followed the pattern without using the charts.  I realized this into my first row Sunday morning.

I didn't do six major cable repeats with four cable crossings in each of the six repeats.  I basically forgot to cross 24 cables.....FOUR ROWS DOWN.  I spent hours unraveling all four cable stitches for each of the six repeats one by one, crossing them, one by one, and knitting them back up. 

Scott took lovely pictures of me sitting on the couch in my PJ's, unshowered, knitting in hand, and crochet hook in mouth.  Do I DARE show this picture.  I am going to think about it some more as I finish this post because I don't usually publish such raw pictures of myself!

Anyway, after I was done fixing all the cable repeats I only had two hours left before I had to pick up my kids and one of them was spent showering and getting ready for the day.....er....evening.  So in the hour I actually had to knit....I only got a few rows done.  I was to ticked for words.  But believe me, I said many words I don't normally say. 

I guess we are all prone to such mistakes.  This certainly wasn't my first and won't be my last.  I just don't think I have made a mistake that took hours to fix!  I couldn't believe it took so long but I was being careful and meticulous.

I did spend some time knitting last night while watching the two new Episodes of "Big Love".  Have you all seen the show on HBO?  It is really good...and funny.  I used to be LDS so I just find it very interesting.  So I only have 5 rows left of the yoke on Vivian before I start the saddle's. The finish line is right before me!  I plan to wear it to Stitches West in February.

So here is a picture of Vivian.

Ok, so here I am fixing my mistakes.  I was sooo tense for hours while fixing all those cables.  I had to do the picture in black and white.  It is still bad but looked way worse in color!

We have a gorgeous green belt behind our house.  We took all the kids hiking back there this weekend.  we had a lot of fun.  Here are some random pics from the hike.

 

Sophie is crying because she fell.

 

Camille and Maddi (Ginger's daughter)

 

I loved this picture withe girls running - that is Maddie and Exie (Exie has her own style of dressing - I don't try to change her).

 

Ginger's son, Aidan, with a newt we found on the forest floor.

That is it for now!  I forgot to take a picture of my Not-A-Poncho-City-Cape!  I just needs snaps.  Maybe I will sew those on tomorrow and show you an FO!  Don't hold me to it though!

Secret Pal Package!

I received my first package from my Secret Pal this weekend and I was really excited!  She gave me something that I have always wanted to knit but for some reason haven't bought the yarn for it.  Not sure I ever would have because I am always so sweater oriented when it comes to buying yarn.

So I received the Fiber Trends felted clog pattern, the yarn for the clogs, and the leather soles!  The yarn is very pretty and I am really loving blues right now.  She also sent me a copy of Simply Knitting.  There is a pattern in there that I will be knitting but I forgot to take a picture of it.  The magazine came with a little Diary calendar for your purse which I could totally use.

Thank you, Secret Pal, for the great package!  I really appreciate it and it made my day.  I can't wait to get started on the felted clogs.  They will be perfect to wear around the house during the winter.

I was able to spend most of the day knitting....which turned into a big fiascal.  I will give you all the details tomorrow, but needles to say, I didn't accomplish much and I was very irked by it! 

I was asked in my comments about my Not-A-Poncho-City-Cape so I will give you an update on that too....since it kind of ties in with my wasted knitting day.  OMG - it still bugs me just writing about it!

What's in Progress

I am so excited to finally be working on my sweaters again!  They were in too long of a time out because of Christmas knitting.  That is a good thing but I really am glad that I am back to knitting my sweaters.

First up is Vivian :

 

This is a picture of the back.  One sleeve is complete and the other is about %65 done.

 

This is the front.

This pattern is a work of art.  With all the different cable charts, the main crossings all occur at the same time.  The rows numbered so it is easy keep track (use your row counter!).  Though it takes a few rows to master the pattern, it can be done.  Genius.  This is a wonderfully fun sweater to knit!

Next up is Francis Revisted :

 

I am using some mill spun alpaca that I bought from an alpaca farm about a year and a half ago.  It is soooo soft and wonderful to work with.  I have started a couple different projects with this yarn and have frogged them.  This is finally the perfect sweater.  Knit at a looser gauge for a worsted weight yarn (on US 10 needles) the fabric has an amazing drape.  Pure alpaca has a tendency to be heavy in a sweater so the looser gauge and simple stitch pattern eliminates that to a large degree. 

As you can see, the stitches are a little "wonky".  That is because I frogged something and didn't soak and hang the yarn afterward so it had a weird twist to it.  I steamed blocked it and the picture you see is much better than it was before.  The last few inches are from a clean skein that had never been knit from.  Hopefully it all evens out after a good soak, but if it doesn't, I am not too worried about it.  It still like the sweater!

Here are some other projects on my list:

Asymmetrical Cable Cardi to be knit with this:

 

Sundara Yarn Aran Silky Merino in Blooming Fuscia

Fireside Sweater to be knit with Cascade Ecological Wool

Snow White to be knit with Sublime Yarns Cashmerino Aran in a pretty plum color.  I loved how Robin's sweater turned out and now I have to have one!

Charlie to be knit with this:

 

Knit Picks Andean Treasure in Embers

All of it is stash yarn except for the Sublime.  That will have to be purchased.  There are a few other things on my list that I will also be knitting from stash but these are my top ones for now!  Hopefully next week I will be able to show you more progress on Vivian....and I am going to try to blog more than once a week.  I am really trying!

The Women in Our Lives

You must watch this video.  It moved me to tears and reminded me of how grateful I am for all the wonderful women in my life - best friends and my mom.  Sometimes we take those things for granted and until something knocks us back into appreciation.  I am thinking how lucky I am to have friends that I can share all the things with in life that this woman is speaking of.  How lucky are we as women to have such strong support systems among our friends. 

On Knitting - I am hoping to give an update on my projects later today.

Friendship Shawl

I FINALLY finished the Friendship Shawl for my dear friend, Ginger.  I was hoping to have it done before Christmas, but that obviously didn't happen.  But....it is better late than never, right?  I really loved knitting this shawl, though in the end, I couldn't wait for it to be done!  The motif patterns were pretty easy to memorize which made the knitting go faster.  If you read the meaning behind the motif patterns on the designer's website than you will understand why I decided to knit this for Ginger.  It is a perfect symbol of our friendship. 

 

Blocking

 

 

Yes, I still do not have a blocking board!

 

Modeled on Camille

 

Pattern:  Friendship Shawl

Yarn:  JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool Silk

Needles:  US 5

I gave the shawl to Ginger last night and she loved it.  She is amazed that anyone could knit such a thing and we should all feel so talented that we can!  Lace knitting can be so time consuming but the end product is so beautiful and delicate that it is very much worth the effort.

Now that this is done I can get going on my sweaters that have been on time out for a couple months now!

A New Year....

I have to say, I am glad to say good bye to 2008.  2008 was an eventful year in many ways.  It was full of growth, learning experiences, pain, happiness, loss, love.....there were many tears shed but there was also a lot of laughter.  As I look back on 2008, I have so many hopes for 2009.  I know this is going to be a good year.  The worst is behind me and there is a bright future ahead of me.  Many hurdles have been jumped and I am still standing with smile on my face. 

As I write this, I feel close to tears because I spend so many seconds of my day thinking about how lucky I am.  I never imagined life could be this fulfilling and happy.  I love waking up every morning without grief in my heart...or pain.  I love knowing every night when I go to bed that I have another happy day to look forward to. It is amazing how positivity affects your life and the lives of those around you.

These feelings don't just have to do with Scott.  I have realized over the last couple years that I may not be able to control everything in my life but I can certainly control my own happiness.  I finally made the appropriate changes not just for myself but for my children also.  It wasn't always an easy road and many times I wondered if it would always be hard and sad.  But after some time, the gray clouds faded away, the bad days became farther and farther apart and soon enough there were many more good days than bad days.  It was a gradual process but a worthy one in many ways.  

As far as blogging goes, I look forward to blogging about happier times this year because I know this year will be filled with them.  I look forward to knitting more and blogging more - until I get into the nursing program, of course.  I just look forward to a more positive outlook on life in general.

I don't have any New Years Resolutions this year - I just plan to keep moving my life in the right direction.

I wish I had photos to show you but I am crazily working on completing the Friendship Shawl for my friend, Ginger.  I am soooo close and I am quite positive that I will have it finished by the weekend.  I am so looking forward to getting on with my other knititng projects! 

I wish you all a wonderful year in 2009!