KnittyBug

Alright the snow excitement is over…or well just melting away. It was funny to see the news reports….of the winter storm blast…and warnings to stay off those treacherous roads which were covered with less than an inch of snow. It was just too funny that this area takes the first few sightings of snow flakes to stock up on supplies and gather their emergency lists together. Seriously people it was only 2 inches of snow…if that. Peanut was doing her snow dance and repeating looking outside and saying “keep snowing…..mommy make sure it keeps snowing”. I kept reassuring her that it’s going to snow again sometime and if it stays cold enough we’ll just have to flood the backyard and make an ice rink. That wasn’t my most practical idea but the thought of sliding around on some ice made her smile. We are supposed to get hit with some more later this week and we are looking forward to it. Jake made sure that he walked through every inch of the snow in the backyard so that footprints were everywhere. He also went around to all the mini mounds and made sure that he tasted them. He is too funny. While the melting began yesterday I wasn’t in such a good mood. I have been very slowly working on the sleeves for Pasadena…..but it’s so boring.

I do five or six rows and then I go looking for one of my books to skim through and get other ideas. During one of the book skimming moments I notice a pattern that I forgot about…..that I really wanted to knit when I first got the SnB book. But after pulling out some yarn that I had gotten for it and gauging and trying to alter the pattern…I went back to my sleeves. I really do like that Lucky pattern but I want to just knit it in one piece…and of course from the top down. Again my gauge is always off and using tiny needles for a sweater is not my idea of knitting fun so I started my math and then though I will just re-write the damn thing. So after a few gauge checks and really confusing myself calculations I decided that I didn’t really like the stitch pattern and I would leave that out and just knit a plain wrap. My first attempt is just…bad. I can see this is going to be really wonky and big so I messed up on some part of the calcs. But since I am still at the beginning I don’t mind ripping. So this is my new side project in between the boring sleeves and since I start it yesterday it goes along with yesterday being Blue Monday….well just because it’s blue.

Woohoo it’s snowing! Jake was so excited…he’s such a snow dog.

Yeah doesn’t he look thrilled. This pic was taken when the snow began this afternoon and the muddy smudgy glass is from him insisting on coming inside. All the warm weather has left him without his winter coat. Now that there is a little more snow out there... he doesn’t want to be inside. I love my dog he is too funny.
On a doggy note if you’re an animal owner/lover you have to check out this site A Place to Bark….and meow . Bernie has a huge heart. Her rescue of Noel is a tearful one but it does have a happy ending. She is just amazing to me.

Hmm what could it be?

I wanted to use up some of my left over’s so I started this the other night. It was fun except for having to use dpn’s that were 4 sizes to small and made the star on the bottom a little wonky. Honestly I have been pretty bored lately and I just wanted to do a quickie project. We have again missed out on the snow Peanut has so desperately looking forward too. There is really nothing else to do except be in the house all day. Too cold and windy outside and just plain boring inside. It’s amazing how bored a toddler can get too. She has been driving me crazy with the “mine” syndrome lately. I blame her cousin for introducing the meaning of that word. And I am bored of having so much free time. Well not really fee time because most of my day is spent doing housework….but hey that’s a job. We did go out for a little bit yesterday because I decided I was sick of the dust. Hint hint I bought myself a big item I’ve been wondering about for a while. Yes a new vacuum……a Dyson. Not like this item was in the budget but man I love it. If you have a dog, a toddler, and a messy guy then you need one. It’s amazing! Ok enough with the sales pitch but I do love that vacuum. Yep I can say that I have reached the bored SAHM stage that a new vacuum is like a trip to Disneyland. Anyways after I finished vacuuming my entire house yesterday I decided to finish my mystery item. Peanut decided it was a hat and refused to take it off last night. But once I got her to bed I felt like felting. So cycle after cycle after cycle this thing went through. Now it’s left over Fisherman’s wool that I used for my Lucy bag but it didn’t felt as nice as it did for the bag. You can still see rows in it but not the v’s. I just got lazy and decided that was enough and I didn’t mind the lines. It’s kind of a decorative detail. So here it is with a fuzzy picture for a sort of fuzzy bowl.

Pattern: Felted bowls from One Skein
Yarn: Lion brand Fisherman’s Wool 3 stranded
Needles: 15 circular 10.5 DPN’s
Finished in 2 nights

My first completed FO for 2007.

Started on Dec. 27 finished last night (with a break in the knitting because I ran out of yarn). The sweater is based on the pattern Child’s Placket-Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
However because I’m obsessed with top down knitting in the round I altered the pattern and honestly just knit this on my own. I skipped on the little beaded button thingy’s because…well Peanut loves to rip buttons off things these days. So it was best to skip that and just make a half placket thingy. I also subbed the yarn with Landscapes Rose Garden from Lion brand (4.5 balls) and used larger needles. Peanut picked out the color a while back and I thought it would be perfect for a hat….but that soon became a sweater idea. :) The yarn will felt if washed and dried even though it a wool/ acrylic combo. I don’t mind hand washing this because it is so soft and the colors (which my crappy cam doesn’t capture well enough) are so lovely. I finished weaving in the ends last night and laid it out for her to see this morning. She loved it but because “ Mommy there’s no snow” she won’t try it on. Snow is supposedly in the forecast for tomorrow….so we’ll see if we can try it on then. I also knit the 4-6 size so it may be a little big…but hopefully not to big that she won’t get a chance to wear it this year.

Well we snuck away for a visit with family and friends. It was a last minute decision and a fun trip. We got to see friends we haven’t seen in a while and family too. There were a few incidents that happened like getting the 24 bug, having no snow, and getting colds the last few days there, and having Peanut’s favorite toy in the world destroyed that were no fun. ( The toy story will be told a a later time) I did manage to get a little knitting in and I even managed to sneak away to LYS for a little shopping. I managed to finish a scarf in two days.

It’s just boring garter stitch but I love the colors. I also brought along a sweater I started for Peanut. But I didn’t get a chance to work on it and after being in my bag for a few days I noticed that it’s really getting fuzzy. She won’t notice though and she loves the colors. I also tried to knit wrist warmers but didn’t bring any dpn’s so I skipped on them. I didn’t manage to get the Jo Sharp book I’ve been looking for, but I did find a Debbie Bliss book on sale. It has some really nice patterns. I also got some sock yarn from OnLine, 2 balls of Yukon, and 3 balls of Cascade 220 Superwash in a lovely green. I already have plans for it all. :)