Christmas Knitting

Despite the fact it is likely to hit 100 degrees here today...my mind is turning to Christmas. I would like to do some knitting for Christmas...but I am such a great starter/poor finisher....I wonder if I should even try!

I certainly could not imagine finishing sweaters or anything on a very big scale...but I am thinking a few scarves perhaps....some dishcloths....a "Norma's Sofie" or two....I definitely could to some major stash busting.

The thing is...as soon as I say "This scarf is for Aunt Trudy"....it becomes a chore. Something I HAVE to finish...and therefore, don't want to. So I am thinking of just making what I want to make, no recipient in mind....stashing them away and when Christmas time comes, going through the finished items and dishing them out to whomever comes to mind.

So, the Question of the Day: Do you "do" Christmas Knitting? When do you start? Do you find a special pattern for everyone....knit everyone the same thing....

Do tell.

Somebody Save Me From Myself

I want yarn. I want new yarn. I want to go to the yarn shop and not just fondle the yarn...but bring it home with me.

I do not have any business buying yarn. I have enough yarn to keep me busy for a really, REALLY long time already.

But I am lusting to purchase yarn. Brightly colored yarn....smooth silky yarn.....rich jewel toned yarn....classic creamy aran yarn.....sock yarn...oh, how I want to buy sock yarn.

It is a tangible ache...a need no one in "3D" can understand....sigh. But you understand, don't you??? You're like me, I think....wandering around the web in stolen moments from your job....mouth literally watering over new projects...new yarns...

The sane part of me (granted, this is not a big part of me....) says..."LISA! My god, look at all the yarn you have! Don't you DARE buy yarn!" That is the voice of reason. Boring...lackluster reason.

What do YOU do when you want to buy yarn...when you NEED to buy yarn....and shouldn't? Tell me quick...before I do something I could regret....

Ha!

Ryan just cracked me up this a.m.....If you haven't already, you gotta go read her. Norma's cussing always makes me laugh and I have even said under my breath a time or two "Oh for f**ksake"...

You know as a kid....mom always said "people won't like you if you use bad language." I took it pretty seriously....like Ryan, I came to cursing later in life than some...in fact, I do not recall ever using any eff word variants until I was in in my late 20's! Now...well....ahem...I'm no Norma....but if I'm mad....oooooh boy. It is somehow strangely satisfying to be able to curse effectively. Let's not examine that too closely, aye?

Knitting Content:
Norma got me started thinking about dishcloths...geez it IS all about Norma isn't it?...and I got this pattern (very first one, Double Diamond) and a ball of this (133 Shaded Denim) and cast on. First wedge came out perfect. Second wedge...not right. Looked right, but not the right amount of stitches at the end of the last row. Ripped back....but not far enough. Ripped back farther....still not right. Tonight, I will rip it back to the last row of the first wedge, where it actually WAS right and go from there.

Yes...I am being completely derailed, by knitting a dishcloth. Humbling experience. Still working on Branching out...wondering, is one skein of Silky Wool really enough here?? Guess we'll see. Found the sheet for Good Ole Cable (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY RACHEL AND LALA!) and can get back to that.

Now is my life exciting or what? :)

Actually....it is. Sunday at 2:05 a.m. my sweetie arrives at PDX. For good. She is leaving her entire family....friends...her life....to come to me. That is pretty damn exciting to me.

Just Call Me Grumpy

I do not do well in the heat.

That is sort of an understatement...and yes, I realize I have little room to complain as we have zero humidity here and getting to 100 is a big deal. Yup, I know, it's a lot hotter in other places.

I don't care. I don't do well in the heat.

Knitting: Working on Branching Out....misplaced my sheet for Good Ole Cable Scarf, so I have no clue what row I'm on....and that just ticked me off this a.m., let me tell you. I remind myself of all the bad things in the world, misplacing my paper with it's little chicken scratches to tell me where I am on a scarf is not a world-altering event...but as I said, I'm grumpy and you dontwannagothere with me right now.

If last night had been even a bit cooler, I would have gone into the THE ZONE (i.e. garage full of half-opened boxes) to find Ribby and yank it out into the light of day. But it was hot...ugly hot...and I couldn't spare the energy.

Found this on my travels about the web this a.m., killing time. It intrigued me.

Question of the day: Do you think you knit less in the summer (or whenever the hot months are where you are)? I hear a lot of people here say "I only knit in the winter." I know it's not about there not being stuff to do here in winter, cause it is like sports paradise here year round. Not that this has anything to do with me since I am NOT sporty....not sporty at all. What about you??

I finished something

Those of you who have known me awhile...know that this is a momentous occasion. I finished the Baby Surprise Jacket. Now...the shoulder seams aren't seamed yet, but It's done. I even took pics of it and the Branching Out Scarft as well...but there are still 20 some odd pictures left so you must wait a bit, besides you know the whole posting picture thing just makes me crazy.

Thoughts on Baby Surprise. This is aptly named, because when I cast off and looked at this strangly shaped thing in my hands I thought, this is not right. My older Drama Queen, almost 17, laughed at it and said, "I think you did something wrong....that does not look like a sweater to me!" So I trotted it outside in the sunshine, laid it on the grass and took a pic. Then I got the directions and tried to figure out how to fold it to make it a sweater. We won't talk about how long it took me to figure this out, even tho the directions were right there in front of me. Finally....I got it. Seemed ridiculously simple once I "saw" what she was after. I like it overall...but wonder if a variegated yarn was not the best choice. I can also see one area that will bug the hell outta me, the neckline. All the other edges are very nice, but the neck edge is raw garter stitch....I am not going to like that, I can tell you. Thinking about adding a I-cord bind to it for some finishing. We shall see. Now I have to get some buttons for it...sew up the shoulder seams, decide on actually doing the i-cord neck or leaving it...sew in the ends....But for me, it is amazing it is this far done.

I was visiting with Amy of Threaded Thoughts last week about startitis, perfection, etc. I rarely finish anything ... the minute it has a flaw...I get fed up and stuff it somewhere. But I also think I have some kind of ADD...I get bored doing the same old thing for very long. Probably why I have a ton of projects going on at any one time. I am still gearing up to drag Ribby Cardi out from oblivion and back onto the needles tho...I am feeling a need to finish some things.

So...Question Of The Day: How many projects do you have on the needles? Are you actively knitting on more than one at a time? Right now I am about 10 or so repeats into Branching Out and 5 or 6 repeats into Good Ole Cabled Scarf...Have to do finishing details on Baby Surprise...

I Love You But

Struggling a little here today...Not much knit content...it's at the bottom. If you came here and don't wanna read my angst...no harm no foul. Come back next week...back to knitting angst only.

You know I'm gay, right? Like, I have never hidden it here. Been pretty up front about it. It is who I am...and I am slowly coming to be at ease with myself as a lesbian. It's been seven years since I came out...left my marriage of 14 years...lost all family on my mother's side because you know...they are such good Christians they can't have relationship with me anymore. Lost damn near every friend I had for much of the same reason.

"I love you but I don't approve of your lifestyle." Yeah, I don't approve of having to work and do mountains of laundry and chauffer kids around and juggle bills either. My "lifestyle"? Puh-leeze.

"I love you but the Bible says homosexuality is a sin." The Bible also says slavery is okay, multiple wives are okay, men can't shave their beards and wearing clothes made of mixed fibers is, as I recall, an "abomination." Nor should women speak in church or cut their hair. Now, I am not a Bible scholar and I am not interested in debating... I have been basically beaten about the head with the Bible and what people say it says... Frankly, mostly my mind just shuts off when they start on this vein. I feel no condemnation from God...the Universe....whatever IT is that is out there. None. Only from those who purport to follow Him/It.

"I love you but you are hurting everyone with this phase you are going through...you are being selfish." Being true to who I am may make you uncomfortable. I can't help that. The choice was live a lie...or live the truth. I choose truth.

"I love you but you haven't tried hard enough not to be gay." Oh, really? Fourteen years of marriage wasn't a good enough go for you? Sorry to hear that.

This is all old stuff...brought very personally back as someone I love is going through the same thing. Coming out and being hurt on a daily basis by people who say..."I love you but..." Can't they just say "I love you..." period? Just once? Must they, really, every time say "but...."?

If you have someone in your life who is doing something you don't like, today, just for today, please leave it at "I love you." No buts.

Knitting content: The Surprise Baby Jacket continues. This is not difficult knitting...simple garter stitch...but I find I have to pay attention constantly to what row I'm on...now am I knitting even or decreasing? What row is this again? arghhh. I have to tell you, I am a little freaked by how fast the yarn is going. I am telling myself if this requires more Lorna's Laces...it may have to become an heirloom for my first grandchild rather than a shower gift for someone I like very much....I mean...I love her and all ...but I don't know that I love her so much as to spend mucho bucks on a baby sweater....am I cheap or what? I AM enjoying this sweater very, very much...the riot of colors - rainbow, how appropriate for this post is that? - and enjoying being all anal retentive about perfection with it too....but I tell ya, if I have to spring for another skein to finish it.......It's mine.

My Brain Doesn't Work Like That

So....got the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern last night, and promptly cast on.

Then ripped. And knit again.

Then I tried tinking back.....no go.

My brain doesn't work the way EZ's brain works. There is a point in the "pattern*" where she says "see what you're doing? Now just keep on doing that till you get to here... (paraphrased)."

Uh, no actually I DON'T see what ever the hell it is that I'm doing!! I am apparently as a very small child...you must give me plain directions....give me numbers....TELL ME WHAT TO DO FOR GOD'S SAKE....PLEASE!

My salvation has been that there is actually a Yahoo group for knitting these patterns....where some other poor soul whose brain was probably boiling over at this point as well has created a spreadsheet which tells you what to do.

Okay...so I am not a free thinker....never have been. Give me directions, I can do anything by damn. Say..."here make something up..." and you'll be sorry. Or I will. Or maybe we both will.

Using Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in Rainbow....you know...same stuff Ryan had once upon a time which threw me into fits of lust. The baby is to be a boy...at least...so they say. Tired of the baby= pastel thing...I went for BRIGHT. I am loving it too.....

Now....if I just didn't have to work I could be knitting. Then again, I just bought two skeins of LL at $16 a pop for a baby sweater. Guess I better be glad I do work, eh? I was tempted, and I do mean tempted, to use acrylic. But the mommie to be "gets" it.....she gets the natural fiber yummy goodness of wool....she gets the work and love and time that will go into it...she will keep it and use it with other children or pass it along to someone equally understanding. She merits the LL.

*pattern. Apprently, Ms Z wasn't big on actual patterns per se.....more the knitting by the seat of yer pants kinda gal. Now I admire that immensely. Will I ever be that? I doubt it. I know many love it...and kudos to you. Meanwhile, thank you very much to the kind soul who created the spreadsheets on that yahoo group. You kept me from throwing in the towel at row 14.

Fiber Fever...

Wandering around the web...reacquainting myself with favorite blogs...I see the Flower Basket Shawl has been the "it" of knitting while I was away.

I want one.

Will I try one? Not likely. I also wanted a Must-Have Cardi...which has never come about. I should know by now....I do not play well with others. I cannot join the crowd. The minute I try...doomed to failure.

Several repeats on the Good Ole Cabled Scarf have managed to appear, and the same goes for the Branching Out Scarf. Both were the subject of some frogging yesterday...I had messed up on both and knew if I didn't rip it the mistakes would make me crazy. There is one row of seed stitch I mucked up on the cable scarf...about 3 knits instead of k/p/k/p. It is mildly irritating to me...but it is also at least one and a half repeats back. Doesn't irritate me THAT much...

I am borrowing a friend's copy of EZ's Baby Surprise Sweater pattern today for a shower gift for a dancer in my troupe. Said baby is due to make it's appearance within the next month to six weeks. I chose this pattern because it is all in one piece, which means it has a chance of getting completed....it is garter stitch, but also sort of different.

Now...I know I am about to bring the wrath of the knitting goddesses down on me here.....but I have been sort of apathetic about the whole "EZ is the most revered of knitters" thing. I fully recognize I should probably go back and look at her stuff again now that I have a little experience under my belt. I looked at her books when I first started knitting......and well....it didn't move me.

Don't hate me, okay?

Another day...another dollar....another row....

Making myself post...I don't have much to say...but I don't want to get in the habit of not blogging now that I've finally started again.

Knitting: I have begun the "Branching Out" Scarf from Knitty....sandy colored Silky Wool. So far, I have about six pattern repeats done. I am really enjoying it. Not too easy...not too difficult. Needs just enough attention to take my mind off of everything else, which is what I need.

Also started the "Good Ole Cable Scarf" from Rachel of Yarnagogo fame...In yer basic Brown Sheep Worsted...dark teal. Having fun with it...same deal as the aforementioned pattern...have to pay just enough attention to keep me from thinking too much, which is exactly what I need.

Been gearing up to redo the back of my Ribby Cardi.....you will recall in March I made the discovery I had royally effed up the back...when it was about 3/4 done. I was so upset it got crammed away and I haven't touched it...much less thought about it...since. Now I am thinking...hmm....get your butt in gear girl and get it out...you might have it done for fall. So, that is on my agenda as well.

So the question is....for all you oh-so-wise ones....Do I rip the back of Ribby out, ball it and knit from there? Do I simply knit as I rip from it? Do I bother to do the whole washing-the-yarn-so-it-isn't-wavy thing? What is your opinion? Enquiring minds want to know.....

So much stash...so little time..

As I mentioned....moving brought my attention to just how much yarn I really have...

Going to work on getting photos this weekend and trying to post them...wish me luck with that...y'all know just how computer savvy I am....NOT.

I took a class last year at Gossamer Knitting to learn the Kaffe Fasset style of colorwork...and that would be an idea to use up alot of stash....not too hard, just time consuming. Don't have a lot of time at my disposal anymore either...working full time to afford my life. Unfortunately, that means no stash enhancement for me...but I'm at the point that going through my yarn is like Christmas..."oh! I forgot about that!!" Almost as good as buying new....almost.

Catching up with blogs...geez you women have been busy! Looking forward to re-connecting with you-who-take-the-time-to-read-me-even-though-I-don't-have-pictures....When Jodie gets here... July 25th....Hopefully she can bring me up to speed on loading pictures....Then watch out...I may go picture crazy....

So here's a question of the day for those who have nothing better to do:
If the poncho was last fall's hit...what do you think will be "it" this fall?

Yes....I am still among the living....

I haven't posted in months...haven't really knit in months either.

Life has a way of getting messy.....getting complicated....

Let's see if I can update just a bit:

1. Moved....rent went up $525. The move was a very good thing...the rent change a bigger shock than I guessed it might be.

2. Long-term relationship ended. Even when something needs to happen, it doesn't make it easy, you know?

3. Lost 40 pounds....quit program because of money issues....probably gained back some but too chicken to get on the scales and find out.

4. Started another relationship. Yeah....I know....a lot has been said to me about the speed with which I did this...but I don't care. I am happy. If you feel the need to say something....don't.

5. Realized JUST HOW MUCH YARN I HAVE.....OMG.

6. Started the potholders from "Shadow Knitting" and a baby sweater that is pissing me off.

I'll start posting again....really. I miss everyone, to tell the truth.
4.