What's up?!

Sorry for being so absent lately. I just haven't had the urge to blog. It might have something to do with the fact that it's been about 86 million degrees out lately and heat always slows me down. Or the fact that 4+ years of sleep deficit is finally catching up with me and I've been sleeping 10-12 hours on my days off.

Knitting has been slow. I'm still slogging along on the pair of socks I'm making for a Chrismas present. The Rivendell socks are due to be ripped and restarted....again....but I just haven't gotten to them. I did finish the Tulip sweater (did I mention that before?), but haven't started another one. What I really want to do is start a sweater since my huge order of Dream in Color finally arrived. But having a huge pile of wool on my lap in this heat has put me off starting on that project.

Spinning is another matter. The llama yarn that I'm sure I mentioned before is completely done. Twist is set and everything. Just have to measure the yardage. I also finished spinning and plying the BMFA merino/silk in Sea. Twist will be set tonight on that one. Last night, I spun on some Vesper merino/tencel in Jolly Roger. I'm pretty sure I can finish those singles off tonight as well, and maybe ply them tomorrow. So while I haven't been knitting, I've been spinning like crazy.

Tonight I'm headed over to a barbeque to celebrate a co-worker getting her BSN. She's been a tech at my hospital for a few years now, and she's awesome to work with. If you don't hear back from me, I've probably melted in the heat. If I don't melt tonight, then I surely will tomorrow afternoon when I head out to mow the lawn. I know it's supposed to be 99 tomorrow, but I can't let my lawn go until Wednesday. Phoebe is already refusing to wade through the jungle as it is.

critical mass

My house has reached it. At least it has according to the cleaning part of my brain. You that part. The little bit in the back of your mind that you can ignore most of the time and just live with the dust and not vacuum this week? It's throwing a screaming temper tantrum right now.

The list of what done/needs to be done (in the house):
-clean off the dining room table (90% done)
-clean out my purse (done)
-dust my dresser and nightstand in the bedroom (done)
-clean/organize my desk (done)
-empty the dishwasher and reload (done)
-handwash the stuff that won't fit (done)
-wash towels (in the dryer now)
-put away clean laundry (done...except for those towels)
-dust/pick-up the living room (done)
-vacuum the family room (done)
-take the recycling stuff out to the garage
-vacuum the whole house
-clean my bathroom top-to-bottom (sink and toilet done, drain cleaner down the drain in the shower)

(with the yard):
-mow (done)
-weed whip (done)
-move more rock once Eliza brings over the wheelbarrow (wheelbarrow's here!)
-plant the daylillies
-split the hostas and replant them

(with the fibery bits):
-finish the first shopping bag (finished!!)
-work on the Rivendell sock
-work on the Turquoise Monkey sock (did a few rounds before Mom left on Monday morning)
-pull out the stuff to make another Tulip sweater
-spin on the llama roving so I can get something pretty on the wheel (spun after Mom went to bed....the end is in sight!)


Now I know all of this won't be done in the next 48 hours, but a lot of it will. I think part of why I'm wanting to get all of this done is that I'm going on two different trips during the month of June. My brain knows that if I don't leave the house at an okay level, then it'll just turn into a dump between all my trips. And I know that by the time June is over, I won't want to do anything about it.

Back to the list.

the blahs....again

I've hit a time of knitting/spinning blahs. I'm pretty sure it corresponds to my work schedule since it always seems to hit during the week after I work the weekend. It's like my body just wants to physically shut down for a few days.

So there has been little to no progress on anything. Here's the current state of the projects.

Rivendell socks - Being working in DiC Smooshy in Happy Forest. The yarn acts completely differently than what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be a little thicker and "smooshier" like it feels in the skein. But once I started knitting with it, it seemed a lot thinner and more prone to splitting. Bizarre. I'm still working on the patterned part of the cuff, but once I get to the plain part these should just fly.

Turquoise Monkey socks - Done in STR lightweight in Turquoise. I'm 4 repeats into the leg of the first sock. These are what I take to work with me, so they're seeing the most action these days.

String shopping bag - Worked on this quite a bit on Monday. I'm getting close to finishing the bag part of the bag. How close? I don't know.....I'm too lazy to dig out my tape measure to find out.

Llama fiber - Haven't touched this since the first night I sat down to spin on it. Maybe this weekend in between studying for my CRRN certification.

I forced myself out of my malaise tonight and did two loads of laundry and a load of dishes, so maybe I can break myself out of the funk.

bits and pieces

I did a little more rock moving today. Got a second piece of ground cloth down, but don't have it completely covered with rock yet. The whole process would be quicker with a wheelbarrow, but I'm too cheap to go out and buy one. Plus now I'm working on the part of the rocks where a lot of weeds have been growing so I'm having to pick through the rocks by hand rather than just scoop them up with a shovel.

After I came inside, I sat down to watch Deadliest Catch and knit a little. Managed to turn the heel of the second monkey sock in Purple Rain STR. Now I think I'm going to go pick up the stitches and start the gusset before I get back to studying for my rehab nursing certification.

So I've been thinking....

As I was walking around Wally World in my work-induced sleep-deprived state this morning, I realized that I was going to be bringing home even more plastic bags. I've been planning on making some bags to carry with me to the store but I've just never gotten around to it. Just then, I happened to wander by the craft/fabric area and on one of the end shelved was the big cones of kitchen cotton. For a little over $6 each. Hmmm....

I bought two cones. Because sometimes when I go grocery shopping, I buy a lot of stuff.

That means tonight will be devoted to my second Monkey sock in STR Seastone and to starting the first of what will hopefully be many reusable shopping bags.

Oldest to Youngest

That's the order that these pictures will be presented.....finally.

First is the Big Yellow Taxi 2-ply sock yarn, handspun by me.


Handspun Monkey socks in CMF Sock Hop I've Got You Babe, handspun by me.


Sorbet Tulip baby sweater


Socks you can see from space. Monkey socks in STR lightweight Rockstar.


And now, the just completed Mystic Light shawl. Done in STR lightweight Oregon Red Clover Honey. The color is actually a little bit lighter, but I just soaked it and pinned it out to block. I thought I would be able to make this out of 2 skeins of the STR, but I had to break into the third skein for the last two rows of the pattern and the bind off. I should still have enough leftover to make myself a pair of short socks.


That's it for now.

Since last we met....

I still haven't taken pictures of two complete projects. I gave Mom the Big Yellow Taxi yarn when she was here this last weekend, so I'll have to bug her to get pictures of it. And the Monkey socks in STR Rockstar are done, and have been worn, but not photographed. That'll be this afternoon after I get up. Here's the state of things right now.

Mystic Light shawl - Four rows into the final part of the pattern. I'm hoping to get this done this weekend and blocked sometime during the week.

Seastone Monkey socks - Started these right on the heels of finishing up the Rockstar Monkeys. I'm just two pattern repeats into the first sock since this is what I knit during work.

Leafling socks - Were frogged. I just didn't like how the pattern was working, or wasn't working as the case was. Planning on making RPMs from this doing two at a time on magic loop.

Spinning - I have started nothing on the wheel since I've been obsessed with keeping up with the ML shawl and not getting behind on the weekly clues. But the llama roving is still next in line when I finally get a chance to start it.

In a 36-hour time period this week, I did get a little letterbox obsessed and found 17 local boxes plus a hitchhiker. I need to slow that down a little or I'll have to start traveling further to find boxes. *sigh* Off to bed.

no cookie!

I've been a bad blogger. Obviously, I haven't posted the pictures that I promised. They're still on my camera and I'll be taking a few more pictures to add to them this weekend.

Let's see. Where to start? How about with knitting!

Over the weekend at work, I cast on for the March RSC Leafling socks. I've got the ribbing done for the first sock on magic loop, but I got distracted. You see, E and I had done a joint order from Blue Moon together and my 5 skeins of STR had arrived. I've pretty much decided to make Monkey socks out of all the yarn so those were cast on Friday night at work in the Rockstar (aka Cotton Candy on Acid) colorway. I finished the first sock on Tuesday morning before I went to bed and I'm 2 repeats into the second sock. This is also a bit of an experiment, since I don't know if the lightweight STR has enough yardage to complete a pair of Monkey socks for my ski feet. I've got high hopes that it will since I had a decent amount of yarn leftover from by Lenore socks.

However, both socks have been put on hold since the 4th part of the Mystic Lights shawl pattern came out today. I've been working on that tonight, but it's progressing slowly since there is now patterning on the right and wrong sides of the fabric. I can't just mindlessly purl back on the wrong-sided rows.

I haven't started spinning anything since I finished the CMF Big Yellow Taxi. I'm planning on starting in on some llama roving from a lady in my hometown. I've got 3 different shades, so I think I'm going to three-ply it and make a tweedy yarn. Should be fun!

Letterboxing will also happen this weekend. I've sucked my dad into the hobby and even carved him his own signature stamp so when he finds a box he can stamp in. We'll probably have a 10-box day this weekend while my parents are visiting. Yay for increasing the F count!

And now it's back to the grindstone. I need to finish laundry so I have something to wear to work tonight.

busy weekend

It's been a busy weekend around here.

My friend, Sarah, who I visited last April out in Virginia has since moved back to Minnesota and drove down to visit me. She got here on Wednesday and she'll be leaving this afternoon. We've had fun just bumming around the house and watching movies.

And then Saturday I took her letterboxing. Managed to find three boxes at two different locations and the letterboxing bug that had lain dormant in my system during the winter reared its ugly head. I've got the clues for three more boxes printed out to be found later this week. I might add to that pile since I've got today (Sunday) off and then three days off this week before working the weekend again.

I've also been knitting and spinning like crazy. The Big Yellow Taxi/Hawkeye yarn is done. I just have to set the twist before I send it off to Mom. I also finished the second Monkey sock out of my handspun CMF I've Got You Babe. I do have pictures, but they're on my camera so you'll see them later. And I've been knitting like a fiend on the Mystic Lights shawl. I am actually managing to keep up with the clues. I finished the last few rows of clue one on Thursday night, but since the second clue had only come out on Wednesday, I didn't feel too bad about being slightly behind. I'm currently six rows into the second clue. Since Sarah's in bed, I'm planning on putting on a couple episodes of Voyager and seeing if I can get a couple more rows done before I hit the sack.

Oh! I also picked up the Yarn Harlot's latest book. I'm only 20 pages in or so, but it's already made me laugh at several different points. And I tried baking a chocolate-covered cherry cookie, and they came out sooooo good!

just breathe

I feel like that's what I need to do this weekend....breathe. All week long I felt like a coiled spring just being wound tighter and tighter. I kept expecting to snap, but managed to hold it together. Ten hours of sleep yesterday helped with the relaxation and about 4 hours of spinning so far tonight has helped as well. I'll probably be able to finish of the CMF roving I've been spinning tonight. Plying will commence tomorrow/later today (it's not tomorrow until I sleep, so for me I still count this as Friday).

As is the norm for the weekend I work and the following week, very little knitting has been accomplished. I always take a project to work with me, but I just haven't been motivated to pull it out of my bag. I did manage to turn the heel and start the gusset of my second handspun Monkey sock in the CMF colorway I've Got You Babe. Also got the body of the Sorbet Tulip Baby sweater complete.

Right now though I'm going to focus on my spinning. I've got CMF Big Yellow Taxi that I'm spinning into fingering weight. When I'm done with that, I'll hand it off to my mom and she's going to knit socks for my uncle Jim. He's a huge Hawkeye fan (the colors are gold, black and white), and he has been doing my taxes for me for free as long as I've been working (detasseling since I was 13). He was almost giddy about doing my taxes two years ago when I bought my house. So as thanks for all the years of work he's done for free for us, we're making handspun, handknit Hawkeye socks for him. I can't wait to see his face!

I'm off to get food, watch the last three episodes I've got of season 3 of Smallville, and spin some more.

another weekend post

I guess I must be feeling particularly chatty this weekend. Here's a pic of the second Tulip sweater I finished. It's in the Sweet Baby Boy colorway from Coldwater Collaborative.


And then tonight as I was spinning the first 4 oz of Big Yellow Taxi CMF roving, this is what I kept seeing through my wheel.


I had given her a new bone as a distraction from the ball of fiber rolling around on the floor, and every so often she would just look up at me through the wheel and wag her tail. Too cute!

WIP central

On my way to bed this morning since I'm in the middle of working the weekend.

Handspun Monkey in progress on magic loop.


Fibertrends' Leaf Lace Shawl....it's blurry, take what you can get.


Branching Out from Knitty...blurry again, deal with it.


Austerman Step sock....mindless project for the purse


Tulip Baby Sweater in Sweet Baby Boy colorway


And one FO!!

The original colorway of the Tulip Baby Sweater


And now to bed.

another one for the finish-a-long

Early Saturday morning, I finished my January RSC socks. Yarn is STR lightweight in Dragon Dance. Pattern is Serendipity by Adrienne Fong. I knit the medium size and went up to size 2's. I'm kind of wishing that I would have done them on 1.5's since they're a little loose, but that could be the construction too. I followed the pattern and used the short-row heel and star toe....neither of which are my favorites, but the point of the sock club is to expand your horizons, right?

Here they are.


And the weekend of my birthday, my parents and their dogs came down to visit. That Saturday afternoon, all three puppies decided that the only place they wanted to be was in my big chair with me while I knit. Once they settled in, I couldn't really move. Want proof?


I don't know what I'm going to knit on tonight. I may spin some more since I got a lot done at SnB last night.

Now where are my stretchy pants?

After church stuff was done tonight, I made a Target run and then went to Applebee's for dinner. After a bruschetta burger with fries, sizzling apple pie, and two glasses of strawberry lemonade, I'm stuffed. Definetely need to find some pants with an elastic waist before I do anything on my list for tonight.

The list!

- Laundry. No, seriously. I feel like I do nothing but laundry lately, but I've really got to or I'm going to work naked tomorrow. I've probably got at least four loads to do.
- Dishes. Standard mountain of dirty ones in the sink after working the weekend.
- Serendipity sock. Do the heel already!
- Leaf Lace shawl. One pattern repeat.

I think that's enough to be getting on with. Now to find the stretchy pants.

ETA: That laundry detergent I bought? Completely says on the front label that it's meant for front-loading washers. Yeah. Don't have one of those. I have no other detergent in the house so I'm going to use it anyways. Seems to be working okay. At least the washer hasn't exploded....yet.

Two down!

Two patterns have been written, one has been sent out to the test knitters. I haven't sent the other one simply because I'm waiting on a couple of people to get a free account on the system I'm using. I'm lazy and don't want to do attachments to emails.

Now it's time for a little food/knitting/movie break, then I try to bust out the third one....or at least get a start on it.

And can I just rant a little? Don't companies have people testknit their stitch patterns? I'm using about 17 different stitch pattern books and liked the looks of one picture better than another. Then as I was writing it out, I thought it looked funky so I pulled out the needles to knit a swatch. Sure enough, instead of the little motifs I was looking for, I got zigszags of eyelets. Went to the book with the picture of a similar pattern that I didn't like as well. That one came out with the motifs the way I wanted them. What the heck?!? Needless to say, I used the second one because I just wasn't in the mood to rewrite a stitch pattern that should have been correct in the first place.

Now I'm done.

It's here!!!

The first shipment for the RSC '08 came in the mail yesterday. Of course since I didn't get out of bed until almost 9 last night, I didn't see it was here until even later. It's really not my colors, but the pattern looks neat and it's top-down so my yarn is already wound into a ball and I'm getting ready to cast on.

I also spent a couple of hours working on the secret project. I've still got a few stitch patterns I need to find and then tonight I'll buckle down and try to write out at least two of them, maybe three and get them sent out to the test knitters. Now if I could just get the charting software to load onto my computer.

Off to snuggle the puppy and spend some quality time knitting.

a night of rest

....and getting rid of the housework looming over my head.

Work is slowing down a little...thank goodness. I just think that a lot of my stressing out over work has been from lack of sleep. I was able to get some good rest on Monday and again yesterday. I'll be in to work tonight, then it's three glorious days off.

I dashed off a quick crochet bath pouf tonight, just to give my hands something to do. I also finished the laundry (so I had a uniform to wear tonight), vacuumed the house, and washed the dishes. Now I just need to find time this weekend to pick up all the general clutter around the house and do a little dusting. Yes....I said the D word. I despise dusting, but when the dust bunnies begin to morph into dust buffalo, then it's time to break out the dust rags and pledge.

And since I finished Mom's socks, I don't know what my next pair will be. I'm kind of waiting for the first kit of the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club to arrive. If it's something that I really like, I want to be able to cast-on right away. I can hear you all now, telling me that I can have more than one pair of socks on the needles at a time. I tried that once and it didn't really work. I hit a point where I got sick of both of them and just didn't knit on either one for about 3 months. So one sock project at a time. That's fine with me. I need to get going on stuff for the finish-a-long anyways.

Tonight I also finished re-writes on the second pattern for my secret project. This weekend I'm setting a goal of writing up three more to get out to the test knitters. More if possible.

A couple days ago I signed up for the Mystic Lights shawl KAL. It won't be starting for a while, but it's knit in fingering weight yarn. So now I need to decide what to make it out of. I'm leaning toward STR in the Oregon Red Clover Honey colorway. I'm thinking that it'll be a warm enough yellow that I won't look jaundiced if I try to wear it. I'll have to look at E's skein of it when I'm out there on Friday.

I guess that's it for now. I need to go try to get warm. My feet are freezing!!! (Even with wool socks and felted slippers.)

relaxing

The tension of this previous week is slowly working its way out of my back and shoulders. I can feel the stress melting away.

And my absolutely least favorite team was kicked off Amazing Race tonight. Yay! I honestly don't know which of the three teams left I'll cheer for. I'd be happy with any of them winning.

I've started designing some sock patterns and put out a call for testknitters on The Daily Chum. Talk about overwhelming! I've had over 40 people respond so far. Plenty to do all the knitting. Now I just need to write the last 13 patterns. *gulp*

The first monkey sock is about 8 rows away from being finished. I think I'm going to eat some nachos and then buckle down on that so I have a sense of accomplishment for the weekend. I might even get wild later and do the dishes!

just keep swimming...just keep swimming swimming swimming

I am about on total burnout from work. I was never so glad to have a weekend off as I am right now. Yesterday, I slept until 8 pm or so then went out to E's to record a new podcast. My back was killing me from work, so we didn't do any dyeing while I was there.

Came home and finished watching a movie while I worked on Mom's monkey socks. I'm ready to pick up this gusset stitches before I head to bed for the day. This sock is just flying and I'm hoping to have the pair done in plenty of time for Mom's birthday.

I'm also working on designing some patterns, and will be in need of testknitters very very soon. If you'd like to volunteer, keep your eyes on The Daily Chum for an announcement. The turnaround time needs to be quick on this.

First FO of 2008!!!

I completed my Lenore socks last night at work. These were from the Rockin' Sock Club October kit.

Pattern: Lenore by Yarn Harlot
Yarn: STR lightweight in Lenore
Mods: I knit the regular size, but went up to a size 2 needle.



And here's the color in sunlight. These are really hard to take pics of and don't do the color justice at all.


I'm off to one more night at work, then I'll have the weekend off to recover. Working 6 days out of seven does not a happy Carin make.