Getting All Set

On Sunday we headed out to Butterprint Farms to pick out our pumpkins. The sun was warm and it helped because of the strong wind gusts. It's a great place to take the kids. You have to pay and entrance fee, but with the hay ride, corn maze, goats to pet and banjo music it's a blast. The kids love the flavored honey sticks, which you can see Eric had hanging out of his mouth. They have hives on the property and sell their own honey which is fabulous.



Monday night was carving time and when we lifted Eric's top off his pumpkin, a wet sickly sound was heard. The smell drifted and I just about tossed my cookies. rotten. He was disappointed and Mac shed some tears over his loss. He carried that 23 lb prize from the patch back to the cashier which was no easy feat. Another pumpkin has been purchased and round 2 of carving will happen any night now.

As for knitting, I've started the September club package for the Rockin Sock Club. Cloning Anemone Rib is coming along fine. The colorway is definitely fighting with the pattern... but I'll see how far I want to take this.

FO: Ogee Tunic

Pattern: Ogee Tunic by Norah Gaughan (published in Knitting Nature)

Yarn: Bollicine Dolly - 10 skeins

Needles: US 7 circ's

Start Date: June 20, 2008

End Date: October 22, 2008

Comments: This is a classic case for needing the right yarn to go with the pattern. The pattern is easy enough and the yarn is just yummy. They just don't go well together.



I definitely have learned that you don't always get what you want even after having knit and blocked a swatch. The only thing that irritates me on this project is the really long monkey sleeves, but totally wearable;)





Had a little helper with me during the photo shoot.

Where I Open My Big Fat Mouth

So y'all know I hardly ever knit anyone anything, right? Oh, sure there is the occasional gift, but in general I'm pretty greedy when it comes to my knits. Well, the other day I was thinking about how the weather is changing and scarfs, hats and mittens sound like a lovely thing to make.

I then pictured Mac with a cold neck... making her a scarf would go quick. In fact I have some squishy alpaca yarn that would be perfect for her. It's a lovely shade of brown and tan that barber pole together.



So I say to Mac, "Hey since it's getting cold outside would you like for me to knit you a scarf to keep your neck warm?"

She replies with a resounding "Yes!" and off we go into my room where I pull out the stash bin that contains the alpaca. She then comments that this is going to be so fun!

I tell her that I've found this really soft yarn that I'm sure she'll love. Right as I'm grabbing the yarn she dives into the bin and pulls out some Berroco Chinchilla in Hot Pink and Purple.



"I want these MOMMY!"

"Oh crap."

"These are so purrty mommy and it's pink and purple and my favorite mommy" as she bounces up and down.

"Sure sweety. Anything for you."



It was torture. I'll never knit with that again, but how could you resist that face? She wears it all the time, which makes me feel so good that it makes me want to knit her 10 more, if she asked;)

One Love

There have been some things going on lately that have me in a funk and I didn't want my blog to be dragged down by it. Not that my peeps could not handle it or be there completely understanding and all that. You guys are awesome that way. It's just that family can get complicated and I don't think it would be good to broadcast via blog the frustrations of my daily life.

The one thing that hits the spot and lifts my spirits is a little Bob Marley....

Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One love)
There is one question I'd really love to ask (One heart)
Is there a place for the hopeless sinner
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?
Believe me

Ya-mon!

Enough of that, how about an update in my knitting world? Of course you do.. Ogee Tunic is off the needles, blocked and seamed up.



A better photo shoot will happen soon. I'm just not happy with the lighting situation around here lately. I want nice pictures and it's hard to do that when the sunrises and sets at funky hours of the day. Lets not even talk about the overcast clouds making it gloomy... I like that kind of feel, but it doesn't help in the good photos kinda way.

In other exciting news... the man child made the basketball team.



We are so proud of him. It has been a rough battle to get him to this point, but he made it and now we just need him to stay there.

Blind Knitting

What the hell have I been doing? Why the hell didn't I notice that the sleeves are 14 inches at the opening cuff????? Do I blame the designer or myself for not fully understanding what I would end up with as a finished project?



The picture in the book clearly does not have extremely belled sleeves... so why would I assume that the cuffs would be extremely belled? The smallest size has the cuffs at 12, which seems a fair bit large, but what I don't get is why do we need to make the cuffs 2 inches deeper for the larger size? They added a repeat on the edging... but why? I'm sure the difference in a small woman's wrist is not much different then a large!!

I just don't have the patience for frogging this project. I'll finish and be done. If I like it then I'll wear it. If not I can always rip it out later.

Leftovers Anyone?

I've got a little bit of a problem.



Leftover yarn from previous sock projects and this photo is only half the pile of bits I have stashed. I just don't have the heart to let them go. Not enough to really do anything individually, but if you put it all together then, Presto! a project is born.

What project could I possibly be talking about? Well, the great Leftover
Sock Yarn Blanket of course!



You work these cute little squares up and then randomly pick up side stitches and add another square. The pattern is pretty mindless and you really only have to pay attention to one middle stitch on one side.

I got so zealus at the hospital yesterday to where I worked up a couple more additions.



Okay, so the first reaction most will give is "Are You Mad?"... Yes, yes I am. I'm not planning on finishing this project next week, next month or even a year from now. It would be nice, but I know I don't have all the sock yarn I need for it and I'm okay with that.

I love that all these chunks will then create a masterpiece. Even after the original socks have gone on to a better place I can enjoy the colors and fond memories of each project.

FO: Hunter Payge

One big finished object for my Sister-in-law. She was a champ, a rock star and now the proud mother to Hunter Payge. Bore October 14th at 3:52 pm, 8 lbs 1 oz, 21 in long.

I was lucky to be by her side for the whole thing. I'm spent, but not as much as these parents are about to be. He has a good set of lungs on him.

FO: Gumdrop Socks

Pattern: Gumdrop (only available for Rockin Sock Club members)

Yarn: 1 skein of Socks That Rock - Goody Goody Colorway - Light Weight (not available to the general public until 2009)

Needles: US 1.5 circ's

Start Date: August 23, 2008

End Date: October 11, 2008

Comments: One of the easiest patterns I'm knit up in long time. Yeah, it took awhile to finish, but not because the pattern was difficult. I think I would have been done with these sooner if I had gone two-at-a-time.

The funniest thing is during the photo shoot for these socks, Miss Mac had to join in. Do you think she's got the sock pose down?



Yeah, I think she does. Seriously...all on her own. I'm so proud:)

Continuous Cables and more...

I can't put this down. I did not walk to the bookstore yesterday, I ran. Melissa Leapman's new book came out just the other day. And what was hilarious was the dream I had last night after spending time with this book. Where Melissa and I were at this cute cafe in New York chatting away about cables. Giggling to our selves at how something so easy looks so fantastic!

I'm so smitten with her cleverness... Hey Melissa, if your ever in the Chi lets hook up and have a latte!

The only thing that I didn't care for was the staging of a Malabrigo blanket on the beach. I don't think I would be placing my 17 skein single ply wool afghan any where near such a setting. If that is my only complaint, then heck it's a winner!

In other knitting news: I've started the sleeves for the Ogee Tunic. There is a lot of shaping involved with these sleeves and I'm just not doing it. The yarn has no structure for this kind of shaping and would be a waist to time. It should be smooth sailing for about another 17 inches or so...



I'm still thinking over what to do about the back. It's bigger then I wanted, but within the limits of wearable. I will most likely block the front to see how much the yarn blooms and make my decision then.

The Gumdrops are coming along just great. I've reached the heal portion of the sock and kinda kicking my self for not doing them two-at-a-time. This involves me looking over the last sock to make sure I'm repeating the adjustments. Oh bother.

I Want to be a Kid Again

You ever have one of those days where you just wish the world would leave you alone for oh say FOREVER! Not the "oh cruel world, take me now" kind feeling, just having a hard time dealing with the bullshit life issues.

One major pain in arse is the school system. I could just lay into the vulgar language right now, but what would be the point. I've gotten to the point in my son's academic studies, where I've reached out to a Educational Advocate. Yes, they do exist. They know how to play hard ball and unfortunately I might have to start playing that way.

Mr. E has been on a 504 plan since the 3rd grade and just to keep you up-to-date he is now in the 7th grade. A 504 is basically a list of rules that govern how Mr. E goes about his daily schedule with teachers/parents and any other resource the school might provide. Because Mr E. has a learning disability the school is required to work with the parents on getting the pupil to a appealing learning environment.

Sounds great right? not so much. It does not help when the teacher requires all students to write in cursive. It does not help when the teacher requires that all spelling words must be copied from the board. It does not help to have no lines of current technology available for lines of communication. How is it that this teacher does not have an email account???

So... this is nothing new. We've come to an agreement and I'm in the process of setting up a proper 504 meeting to have things updated and changed. Yet, they want to meet at 11 am. What? Miss another day of work to deal with these incompetent fools!!

The icing on the cake was this past Sunday night. I received a call from my cousin who I haven't spoken to in months! Life gets in the way sometimes, so we were gabbing away for almost 2 hours. It's getting late we say our goodbyes. I round up the kids wondering why they haven't been getting ready for bed, but whatever. It's 11:30 by now and Mr E. hands me a paper and requests that I sign it for school.

Do you have a sinking feeling? Of course, it's a progress report stating missing homework assignments. Half of his work has not been turned in. What does this mean? Yep, a failing grade, huge letter F ... forget basketball. sigh. The teacher did allow for him to turn in any missing homework, but it's due when? You guess it, Monday.

We stayed up till 2 am. My brain was mush and he had only finished two out of the 10 missing. You know it couldn't be easy stuff, like 1200 divided by 2!!! No, it was word problems like if Fort Wayne Texas has a population of 534,000 and.... I better stop or my brain will burst right here.

What do you do? This is the same behavior we experienced last year. What am I going to do with this boy? Ground him? Pin him up by his ears?

Being a parent is hard. Seriously, if I'm having a difficult time now, then what happens when he's staying out late with a girl... or stealing the family car? or bailing him out of jail!!

I've got it easy right now and I'm kinda freaking out. Gosh, to be four again.



No school, all your meals are served to you, you get books read to you all day long and the worst thing that might come up is the occasional picking up of your toys.

I then start to think... I've got to do this all over again with her! Someone save me.

YarnCon

This weekend was full of high points. A:) and I got to spend the day with fiber lovers at YarnCon. This is the second year running and I hope it gets bigger and better every year.



This is the main exhibit hall that contained half of the vendors and it's absolutely stunning. The Mason-Dixon Ladies were there to sign the new book, unfortunately they ran out of copies! It was nice to see project pieces in person and to chat it up with the southern gals.



Considering I had no budget for fiber, it was difficult, but handing out with my fiber peeps was just as rewarding. Don't you just love those impromptu cheesy shots? Miss Linda was a doll.

My SnB Buddies from Froebe Fibers had a booth at this years event and aren't they looking just adorable!



I also got the opportunity to see two knitting stores. One was Nina and it's a very boutiquey. Great lighting yet I didn't really want to touch much, although I did;) I think it's having the displays so structured. The second location was the Knitting Workshop. Complete opposite of the other store. This felt more like your best friends apartment turned into the ultimate stash location. Both had good and bad points, but I'm grateful to have a wonderful yarn store closer to home.

D'oh

I have fallen to my knees and looked up to the sky to plead to the Knitting Gods.

Why?

It's really not their fault. I take full blame for my incompetence. You see folks, I did one very bad thing when I started on the back of the Ogee Tunic. Do you want to know what lameness I've done? I'm sure you do... and I'm quite embarrassed to admit this on my blog.

The reason why my back was coming out too wide was.... I did not read the pattern chart correctly. sigh. The front was done perfectly. The back I just assumed I was doing it correctly without counting my stitches before moving on to the body of the sweater. You see, the chart contains cabled sections where you preform a decrease. D'oh!

This means an extra 32 stitches forgotten. Within the past week I've reworked and made the same mistake twice. I. Really. Don't. Want. To. Re-knit. So, you know what? I'm not. So There!



In the mean time I've been putting a little time into getting the second sock done for the Gumdrop pattern.



Not to bad... I've been working these while watching the debates. I'll just say that last nights VP debate was a snooze.

Last but certainly not least are the belts for the Pea Coat. I figured I'd work on the small pieces while still having Ogee looming over me. Now I'm seriously tempted to get the main body of this project cast-on too.



This weekend in Chicago we're celebrating YarnCon. If all else fails I'll be there. It's really up to the mommy soon to be... See you there!