New Yarn

I received my first order of custom-dyed sock yarn this week. The colorway is Bombay, from TwoWaters Fiberworks. 100% merino. I love it.

Craft Report, 1/12/05

Time for a crafty update!

Things are moving right along, though it feels slow. Mom's silk scarf is now about a foot long. If only she had a Barbie-sized neck...


My Project Linus blanket is making good progress, but it is most definitely *slow*. I love the pattern. Think it's very cool. I just wish it went faster. Yarn is Caron Simply Soft in Blue Mint. Size 7 needles.


And finally, Cedric2 is getting a heel flap! I had to wear Cedric1 last night while I worked on this...just because I could.

Just pick one!!

I'm so sick of the weather being totally different every day!! 30-something one day, 72 the next...how's a girl to know if it's a scarf day or not??

Knitting progress:
-finished My So-Called Scarf
-that scarf and the two throws will go in the mail to my aunt today
-added about two inches to Mom's silk scarf
-started the heel flap on Cedric2 (Jaywalker)
-put a few rows of stockinette on my sister's sock
-started new Project Linus blanket...had some trouble, had to frog, but now we're on track
-started second Project Linus blanket on the gigantic needles, but have put it aside for now - will use that as a last-minute finish

Jaywalker Update

All is well in Jaywalker land! In case any of you missed it, these socks are named "Cedric." If you're an HP fan, you'll understand. If not, don't worry about it - just nod and smile and say "ok!" Anyway, I'm pleased to report that Cedric1 is finished and Cedric2 is on its way!

As you can see, Cedric1 has some interesting pooling at the beginning, but I don't mind it. Just adds character.

Craft Report

Time for a crafty report. This is a new sock that I've started for my sister. Pattern is "Panorama Socks" from the Knitting Pattern-a-Day Calendar. Yarn is Plymouth Sockotta. Size 2 needles.



Here we have My So-Called Scarf in Manos del Uruguay (color: Stellar), on size 11's. This will go to my aunt Marcia in Alaska.


Next up is the start of my mom's scarf, Misty Gardens from ScarfStyle, which is actually just a feather & fan pattern. Yarn is Fiesta La Luz silk, size 7 needles.



Finally we have the Diagonal Blanket, which I thought would be the death of me. It's not hard, but very tedious. Homespun yarn (color: Montana Sky, photo makes it look a little lighter than it actually is), on size 13 needles. This blanket will be sent to my Aunt Marcia, who will take it (and others) to Mexico to give to some of the Maya who lost what little they had in hurricane season.

Crazy Yarn Lady

Yep. That's me. I must be insane. (I seem to be saying this a lot lately. Since yarn came into my life, really.)

Went to JoAnn's (technically, JoAnn's, Etc.) this morning to get some Homespun and a new size I crochet hook. That's it. I came out with the required Homespun, 4 skeins of Caron Simply Soft worsted and new circular needles. Somehow, while inside the store, I managed to convince myself to make two totally new blankets for Project Linus - rather than finish the one that's about halfway finished and then make a second one. Oh no. Couldn't do things the easy way.

The Homespun is for a very cute, slightly funky baby-sized blanket. Four strands worked together on size 50 needles. Yes, folks, you read that right...SIZE 50. They are like telephone poles. I kid you not. I'm hoping it will be cute when it's finished - right now I'm not convinced. I'm consoling myself with the very soft Simply Soft in a delicious "Blue Mint," which is actually turquoise.

A New Year

I can't believe it's 2006. Where does the time go? Really?? It's insane.

We got back home on New Year's Eve night. We spent the entire week out of town, which wasn't really what we'd planned, but it was fine. Well, I say "planned," but I use that term very loosely. Persingers aren't known for planning. They are known for a very laid-back, "whatever" sort of mentality, which can be a good thing...but sometimes it sure would be nice to know in advance what we'll be doing. Anyway, I digress.

We spent the first few days in Jefferson City, MO at Greg's parents' house. Christmas was nice and I know his parents were very happy that we came. My SIL and BIL are just odd and I have to remind myself of that, so I don't take things personally. It was nice to see everyone, but I was thrilled that Greg was agreeable to going to IL to spend some time with my family. As luck would have it, I was also able to go to an Illini basketball game while I was there, which totally made my holiday! (IL vs SE MO State...IL won, of course) It was so nice to see my family - I really hope the kids and I are able to go back in the spring.

The kids were thrilled with their Christmas presents and now I need to do some serious pruning of the old toys. My big gift was an iPod, which I'm very excited about. Podcasts here I come!

I did get a lot of knitting done over the holiday week. Finished my first Jaywalker (Cedric1), started the second, worked on My So-Called Scarf, my mom's silk scarf and started a new sock for my sister. Last night I finished the Diagonal Baby Blanket, which I'll never make again. It's not hard, I just didn't enjoy knitting on the diagonal AT ALL. Pics to follow later, of course.

I think that just about sums it up. I do plan to blog more often this year.

A heel!

Well, the start of a heel, anyway. I decided on a 4 1/2" leg for my Jaywalkers and am now several rows into the heel! The purl rows are giving me a hand cramp, so I'm taking breaks. The yarn striping is doing interesting things, so I can't wait to see the finished sock. Pics to follow soon.

Midnight update: heel is turned and gusset is picked up!!

Technically...

OK, so technically, I'm finished with the Christmas knitting. I have all of the gifts that need to be given over Christmas finished. My sister's orange wrap and my aunt's scarf are still technically Christmas gifts, but they both know they will be mailed sometime after Christmas.

So now the push is on for the post-holiday knitting. (sigh) I need to finish the second blanket that will go to Mexico and then finish Marcia's scarf - then I can send the blankets and scarf together and be done with it. I think Karen's orange wrap will be an ongoing project. I also need to get yarn for a scarf for my mom, but that will have to wait until after Christmas.

In the meantime, I've made some progress on my Jaywalker sock! Cedric is now 3 1/2" tall and is coming along quite nicely for a first sock. I think I'm going to do this pair at 5" instead of the 6 3/4" or whatever it is in the pattern. The stripes are slowly starting to work into the giant mass of taupe pooling, so I'm very curious to see how the rest of the sock unfolds.

A little something

Here is what I've been working on yesterday and today. You'd think it would have only taken a few hours, but no. I had to try 4 or 5 different patterns before I made up my mind. So here it is, a dishcloth for my mother-in-law. It's the Bee Stitch pattern, worked with Peaches & Creme cotton (from WalMart).



Now on to the next dishcloth while I continue my gift knitting...

Jaywalking

In my quest to copy Rosemary, I have started the Jaywalker sock. OK, in reality it isn't so much that I yearn to copy Rose - it just happens to be a really cool sock pattern. I'm using Cascade Fixation SprayDyed. While I really like the colorway, it's hard on my hands. It's kinda rope-like. Not soft. It probably doesn't help that I'm knitting as tight as I possibly can to compensate for the elastic in the yarn AND using bigger needles than the pattern calls for. But all in all, I'm pleased with my sock progress so far. This is my first "real" sock. My only experience sock-wise has been a basic sock pattern using double stranded worsted on size 8 dpns. But...so far, so good. Oh, and I've also joined the Jaywalker Knitalong, which makes me feel a bit more like a real knitter.



In other news, this past week, I made another hat (gift) and finished FIL's scarf! I also decided to switch plans for SIL's scarf and finish one I've already started (that was going to be for someone else). So this week's push is that scarf and the orange wrap. I'll work on my sock when I need a break from gift knitting.

One step forward, two steps back

On the knitting front...

Will finish gift hat tonight. Thought I was going to finish my 2nd sock tonight, but made a very sad discovery. I didn't switch to bigger needles after doing the cuff, so the whole sock is 2 needle-sizes smaller than the first sock. RATS!!! Got into the gusset before I realized it. The really sad part is that I used one whole afternoon/early evening on the sock instead of gift knitting. Rats again. Good news is that the socks aren't a gift, so there's no deadline there.

Back to my knitting...

Getting Closer

Current handknit gift tally: 11 of 15 are now finished.

Sadly, I ripped out everything I'd done on the cabled scarf I was doing. It just wasn't perfect and while the mistakes weren't all that noticeable, they were to me. Plus, it was kind of time consuming (the pattern). So now I'm doing a much simpler and faster pattern. Nice enough, but kind of boring.

I joined this knit-along this week and I'm quite happy that I did.

I'd really like to finish my second sock so I can use my size 8 dpns for the hat I need to make...perhaps I'll work on that today (the socks, I mean).

My new hat

Here is my lovely new hat! Noro Kureyon yarn on size 9 needles.




I just love it.

Too much to do

Well, I'm sad to report that my Thanksgiving was a flop. We had invited someone over, but she graciously declined, which was fine. It's just as well she didn't come. Since it was just the four of us, I decided to roast the chicken I had in the freezer instead of buying a turkey. Seemed like a good idea, right? Put it in the refrigerator to thaw on Monday, but apparently three days was not enough. I planned out my Thanksgiving morning so all the food would be ready at noon. Put the chicken in an oven bag (the way I always do my turkeys) and after two hours (which should have been plenty long enough for a 7 pound chicken in an oven bag), the wings and drumsticks were falling off, but when I cut into the breast, it was barely warm. Ick. I opened up the bag and let it cook until it was really done, but after cutting into it not-done, I couldn't bring myself to eat it. Just too icky. So we had a meatless Thanksgiving. The side dishes were good, though.

Other than that, I've spent most of my free time knitting, of course. I realized that I should type up a list of what I've made so far. I fear it will be a ridiculous amount of stuff in the short time I've been knitting/crocheting, but here goes:

k=knit, c=crochet...duh

-Homespun wrap for Jeanine (c)
-Homespun wrap for myself, twice the length of Jeanine's (c)
-large afghan for my parents (c)
-two spiral scarves (c)
-three double-ruffle boas (c)
-two chenille hats (c)
-three baby afghans (c)
-one small afghan to go to Mexico (c)
-Homespun scarf (c)
-one baby-sized mitten (c)
-Fancy scarf (c)
-ribbon scarf (c)
-two kids' scarves (k)
-Noro hat (k)
-long scarf (k)
-checkerboard scarf (k)

Current works in progress:
-Linus project afghan, 3/4 finished (c)
-diagonal knitted blanket, 3/4 finished (k)
-scarves for SIL, BIL, FIL, started this weekend (k)
-orange wrap, 1/4 finished (k)

Is that it? I've lost track. I think I learned how to crochet in late August? or maybe early September?

My "future projects" list:
-mittens for my sister (c)
-mittens for the kids (c)
-Noro hat for my sister (k)
-scarf for Greg (k)
-socks (k)
-clapotis (k)
-sweater (k)
-HP scarf (k)

Trying again

I really did try to post recently. Really, I did. But the net goblins ate my post.

Not much to report, really. We had lots of sickness for two weeks straight, but I think we're all back to 100% now.

I've been doing lots of knitting and some crocheting. That's about it.

So what do you have?

We had a guest speaker at church last night - Dan Sneed. He offered quite a bit of food for thought. His premise is that when we are faced with a seemingly impossible situation, God almost always asks us, "What do you have?"

For instance, in Matthew 15:29-38...we see the challenge to face the impossible, which in this case, is feeding anywhere from 10,000-12,000 people. The disciples tell Jesus that they don't have enough food and where on earth could they get that much anyway? So what does he do? He asks them, "What do you have?" Um, HELLO JESUS!!! We just said we don't have anything!!! That's the problem!! But they tell him they have a few loaves and fishes. Jesus takes them, prays over them...everyone opens their eyes...and there's still just a few loaves and fishes. No change. No miracle. Still not enough. Can you imagine what was going through the disciples' minds? I think I can because I'm sure I've thought the same things when it didn't look like my prayers were answered the way I hoped they would be answered. But what does Jesus tell them to do? Well, it doesn't say exactly in that passage, but he apparently instructed them to start passing out the food. I'm sure they thought he was totally nuts - or at least some of them did. But they did it. And they passed out food, and passed out food, and passed out food...until "they all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up SEVEN BASKETFULS of broken pieces that were left over." They had to act in faith. The miraculous thing didn't happen until they started doing what Jesus told them to do. And it seems that in at least some part, it happened because they responded when he asked, "What do you have?" He will always ask us to give what we have.

In Exodus 4, God asks Moses "What is that in your hand?" It was his rod. At best, a really nice stick. But when God told Moses to throw it down, he did - and it became a serpent. Then God told him to pick it up (can you imagine??)...but as soon as he did it became a rod again. It was this rod - this thing that Moses had - that God used to part the Red Sea and to draw water from a rock in the middle of the desert.

In 2 Kings 4:1-7, a widow is left with her sons. They have nothing. Creditors were coming to take her sons as slaves. The prophet Elisha asks her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" Uh...HELLO!! We have nothing!!! Sound familiar? Nothing...except a little oil. So he tells her to ask her neighbors for empty jars...not just a few - he's very specific. Then go in, shut the door, pour oil into all the jars and put them to the side. Her sons get the jars, bring them to her and "she KEPT POURING." When all the jars were full, she tells them to bring her another one...but there were none left. "Then the oil stopped flowing." She tells Elisha what happened - he tells her to go and sell the oil and pay her debts. Then she and her sons can live on what is left.

God can take what we have and turn it into something beyond our comprehension. He will never ask us for what we don't have - but he will ALWAYS ask for all of what we DO have. What "we" have will never meet the need. It isn't until Jesus touches what we have that the miracle happens.

Amazing.

Natalie & her work of art

This is Natalie (not a fabulous picture, but she insisted I take it). She is 3 1/2.

One day last week, I went to get her up from her "nap." I use that term loosely because she is taking fewer and fewer naps these days - BUT, she does have to stay in her bed for some rest time every day. When I came in, she asked if I was ready for my surprise. Curious, I said yes and she threw back her blanket with a flourish, revealing this work of art:


In the center are Natalie (in the crown) and Ethan (with hair). In the lower lefthand corner is a 3-tiered cake. Above that are Greg and me. I look like a Potato Head and he looks like a squashed bug - but note, my legs are longer *smirk*. Above Natalie's head are balloons and to the right of that is jello. I don't know why. In the upper righthand corner are music notes and the shapes around Natalie and Ethan's feet are presents.

I was impressed.

Like I needed another new hobby

Just fyi...I'm knitting now. Pics to follow.

**4:00 PM: scarf is now approx. nine inches long. I started it this morning. I'm not terribly fast, but I'm getting more confident and my stitches are becoming more uniform. Unfortunately, due to the variegated colors in the yarn, it doesn't show the knitting pattern very much (k4, p4 - makes a checkerboard pattern). It would probably be better in a solid color. Oh well.

You're still here???

Wow - never thought I'd go THAT long in between blog posts...sorry about that. Not really intentional - life just got in the way. Well, that, and I wasn't terribly motivated.

So here I am, back again. Still crocheting. Attempting to get back into scrapping. But mostly crocheting.