Decisions, decisions

So the question now facing me is this: Is it better like this;

or this;

or this?

I figure it will be called the fish sweater, for some reason! I thought about having some of the fish face the other direction, but the eye is not centered. Someone would be making comments that some of the fish are floating upside down which means they are dead.

Rats!

I've still not finished this little double-breasted sweater for Justin. Murphy's Law seems to be ahead right now.

First decision was to skip buttonholes, as I figured odd-shaped buttons = bad idea for a toddler.

So I sewed in large snaps. I must have been distracted on the first snap, as the second half was in backwards, so it wouldn't close. The sweater fabric wasn't heavy enough to part the snaps (found that out after they were attached.)

Next I sewed in snap tape. First time through the white of the tape showed up and down the edge. Fixed that.

Then I realized that the sweater is heavy enough that you really can't feel to close these small snaps under the sweater fabric.

Last night I decided to make this into a pullover! Sewed one button and whipped the two front neck edges together.

Today I thought about taking last night's progress out and making another change. I'm afraid that if I do, this poor sweater will continue to be modified and modified, never fixed. EEK!

The face of knitting

When I started knitting, the options seemed to be:
1. fiber -- wool, cotton, angora, mohair and fibers we'd now count as acrylics;
2. weight -- worsted, sport, baby
3. cost -- can I afford to make that?
4. availability -- can I find it locally?

Now I see people have many other concerns:
1. What is the carbon footprint of the yarn?
2. How were the animals treated whose fibers make up the yarn?
3. How green is the yarn?
3a. Is the yarn as bio-friendly as implied?

Most of us don't worry as to whether we can find it locally, the internet makes it possible to order from around the world. All we need to do is a Google search, then off we go.

Cost is still a factor for most of us. We knit because we enjoy it, not because of any illusion that we are going to have something cheaper than can be purchased at the local discount store.

Weights now vary from laceweight (many different sizes) up to super bulky. Knitters choice.

The choices in fibers have grown too.

I want to knit a ... (fill in the object of your choice) is not always a simple matter any more. Each knitter chooses what is important and buys what seems right at that time.

I'm glad for the options available.

Sorry Bill

moar humorous pics
We didn't have a shower in the house until we had lived in Utah for a few years. Mom and Dad had one installed in the basement. During that period of time they seem to have been installed in a lot of laundry rooms instead of bathrooms, just as this one was. The house didn't have a lot of water pressure. It was really easy to annoy the person in the shower by turning on hot water upstairs. So convenient if they had annoyed you... Actually there was a perverse joy in listening to my brother bellow to turn off the hot water. I don't remember doing it to Annette and wouldn't have done it to my parents. But I do remember doing it to Bill. This photo from http://icanhascheezburger.com brings it all back.

Skunks Take 2

We lived in an old house in Oklahoma that was actually two houses that had been pushed together. One side had an unfinished basement, the other side was balanced on concrete blocks. Little did we know that the concrete block side was a skunk magnet! Our first clue was waking up one night to the sounds of a cat fight on steroids. That was "exciting" as it sounded as if it were right under us. Turns out that it was. Right under our bedroom. sigh

Our children were small, about 4 and 1. You know, the age when they are either movng or asleep. The time of life when there is no mute button.

There was a wonderful racetrack in the house. They started off in the living room, then on to our bedroom, breeze through the bathroom, whizz through the dining room and wind up back in the living room. This was a wonderful game -- to chase each other around and around. Sometimes just one of them ran it. Screeching in laughter at the top of their lungs. Nathan couldn't move very fast, but it didn't matter.

Unfortunately, the skunks resented being awakened as they slept under our bedroom floor. They really didn't like the noise. And showed their displeasure as skunks are wont to do.

We tried all of the home remedies we were told about. How many of them were to tease us? I don't know, they didn't work. Eventually a friend loaned us a trap, and helped dispose of the first skunk. Which got exquisite revenge as it died. The second skunk left for a day or so, and Howard dug out the path to the den, and put down a sheet of roofing materials to deter the skunks.

Didn't work. Wasn't too long before they had moved under our bedroom again. This time the trap was dropped off, with best wishes. I'm not sure he even slowed as he dropped it off. He wanted nothing to do with it!

Eventually the skunks were persuaded to find a different home. But every time it rained there was a skunk odor in that house.

I don't remember how long we had skunks under our bedroom, it seems as if it was a very long time. It probably wasn't, but too much time has passed to know for sure.

Skunks 1

Alison told her skunk story the other day. It reminded me of several of ours.

When we lived on the eastern plains of Colorado, the house was 4 miles out of town. The church, parsonage and cemetary were surrounded by fields. When our road started drifting over at the cemetary, it was our responsibility to call the school and let them know. There was just enough time left to end classes, get the kids on the buses and home before it was too dangerous.

Nathan had severe asthma, so we had outside cats. For convenience, the cat food was kept outside on the front porch, in a metal bin that had originally held popcorn. The cat food attracted skunks. Cucumber (and the other resident cats who were there for shorter times Rosie and Blackie) learned to eat quickly if they didn't wish to share. Didn't matter, the skunks would investigate the porch to see if there were any crumbs.

After a while, the blasted things figured out that they could open the bin by pushing at it with a nose until it fell off. There would be a loud CRASH as the metal lid hit the concrete floor. Not conducive to sleep. One night, I'd had enough. I heard the CRASH and jumped up out of bed, raced downstairs, threw open the front doors and stormed out on the porch. DUMB but I wasn't thinking at the time! The skunk tried to spray me, while balancing on the rim of the bin. Instead, it fell on its back. I came to my senses and leapt back into the house, slammed the front door, then looked out through the window in the door (heart pounding!) The skunk rolled over, looked around, then waddled off the porch.

The next day the house was sprayed in a different place about every hour. The smell lingered for a long time. The day after that Nathan, waiting for the school bus, leaned against a post on the front porch. It became obvious, as the bus made its way to school, that he had found one of the places that had been sprayed. A polite phone call from the school asked us to please pick up that coat and bring something to keep Nathan warm, so the smell wouldn't permeate the school.

After that, the cat food bin was kept inside. I do learn, sometimes slowly!

34.5 years

Howard's grandmother was a letter writer. She wrote just after we were married that we had married on their anniversary. I didn't know that. Turns out she meant that they were married on Valentines's Day, our six month anniversary.

Grandma J. felt that the best way to show her love was to feed the person. We always left from visiting them stuffed beyond the gills. Two days (or so) of eating as much as we could left its toll! Grandma would put any food that hadn't been dished up on our plates, telling us to "eat up, so the sun will shine tomorrow." Oh dear. One memorable meal she served homemade banana pudding, coconut cream pie, chocolate pie and angel food cake with strawberries. Howard asked for a small bite of each and received a full serving of each one! That was on top of a full meal! Uf-da!

giggle

You know it has been cold for a while when you drive by the bank, the thermometer says 10*F (-12* C) and you think, "My it's warm today." It took me 2 blocks to realize that my brain has been skewed by all of this frigid weather!

Knitting pics

Here is Justin wearing his sweater. I knew it was going to be huge on him, but he agreed with just a little fuss to model it for us. I think he looks darling in it. This is my version of Hanne Falkenberg's Tutti-Frutti knit with 2 strands of 3 ply Kroy sock yarn held together for each color. This way it is machine wash and dryable. I think that is necessary for any baby knitting. It is wool, but easy care for busy families.


Finally a picture of the Rogue being worn. Serena had a bad cold all weekend, and the picture wasn't flattering. So I cropped it to show just the sweater. It has been worn for a while, yet it isn't pilling. Another plus for the yarn (as well as the fact that it is so warm!) This is the merino/possum/nylon yarn from Supreme Possum in Ecology Green that I ordered from New Zealand. Absolutely yummy stuff to knit with!

New Justin pics

We had a fun weekend with Justin, Kim, Nathan and Serena.

Eek!

I finally finished the 100% angora shawl I started in August. A variation on a shoulder shawl I've done many times. Instead of a square back, it is triangular. It can wrap around me and tie. I knit and knit on this. It was hard using the circulars, as the yarn caught on the needle each time, as it relaxed while on the cable. I finally gave up and put it on mis-matched straights. One wooden and one plastic. All I had! Whatever, it rescued the project from UFO-dom. The problem? With all of that knitting, the shawl weighs in at a whopping 2.2 ounces or 63.5 grams (the scale couldn't decide between 63 and 64 grams, it kept fluctuating back and forth) or 138 yards! This doesn't seem fair. It feels as if I knit a LOT more than that! Sure doesn't do much for my stash knitdown, as I still have 16+ ounces of the yarn/1049 yards left and no clue as to what to knit with this 3/10 or 62.5 yards/ounce angora! Suggestions?

Here is a friend's teddy bear wearing the Tutti-Frutti. I thought it looked kind of cute, but I couldn't get Teddy to look at me!

presenting

I'm really pleased how this sweater turned out. I'm glad I made the changes that I did. Now to wait for Justin to grow enough to be able to wear it! I'm wondering whether I should make the matching hat, or call it.

So far in January (the month is almost over, but there are a few knitting days left) I've knit 1.2 miles of yarn. My mind boggles a bit over that fact. It helps that this sweater was done with two strands at a time, double the amount of yardage used!

I did learn a valuable lesson. I was 21 ridges away from finishing. Decided to do the math as to how many stitches remained to be knit (as I was determined to finish all but one gusset and the ends Sunday evening. I found that to be an intimidating number. Instead of thinking "21 ridges, I can do that easily!" my thoughts turned to "21 ridges is 42 rows times 50 stitches is 2100 stitches that I expect to finish tonight? Who am I kidding!" I went back to "21 ridge, I can do this!" And, I did. Perspective. The way you think about things makes all the difference in the world.

We got haircuts yesterday and I love mine. Although today, with the dry air, wind and sleeping wrong, I have cowlicks! The bane of my mom's existence on picture day. I won't make you giggle by posting a picture, but you can giggle at the thought of my hair creating its own design today. Still in the shape it was given -- almost! grin

ah-ha! moment

I found the cable to my iPod, thank God! It was hiding near the printer for some reason (another room, let's not go into reasons.)

Had an ah-ha moment a bit ago as I was trying to resize a cable pattern from Ivanova and Carter Knit the 1/26 post. That one triggered an immediate idea for a new sweater. I spent probably 5+ minutes on the activity to suddenly realize that if I save it to the computer then put it in my picture editing program, I can resize it easily. Actually, the program does it for me. Whew! Takes seconds instead of minutes.

Justin's sweater is moving along. I will admit to measuring it again and again (actually counting rows, but it is the same thing!) The adult version of "are we there yet?" grin

If anyone finds my brain, please let me know!

Justin's sweater is a simple color pattern, row 1& 2 black, 3 & 4 white, 5 & 6 black, 7 & 8 red. Today I skipped rows 5 and 6. Not as much frogging as it could be, but still! After knitting along this far, one would think I would pay attention to the pattern. At least a littl bit. Yes, it is mindless knitting, as garter stitch is wont to be. But the reason I like it is the color changes. Hello brain? Can we have a discussion here? You want to knit Hanne Falkenbergs, so you aren't bored stiff when knitting garter stitch, you gotta pay THAT much attention. Please. I'd really appreciate it.

Then I went to download some of the books I bought from Audible.com. The plan was to put some on my new iPod so I can read while I knit. The cord, she has gone poof! I actually picked up my knitting room! Not so much that others might notice, I still have the box of books up for trade at paperbackswap.com and I don't see a lot of point in putting them in a bookcase to come out when they go to a new owner. But still, there is a noticeable (to me) improvement. No cord. Maybe I should go back to bed? Take my knitting, of course.

Howard's cast

As per request, here is the picture of Howard's cast. He is so glad it is coming off Thursday! He'll have had a total of 20 days in restricted movement. It is hard, I'll agree. Here's to a healthy wrist!

Happy Birthday all!

Today is the middle day in a cluster of family birthdays. There are 10 cousins on my Mom's side. My brother's birthday was yesterday, my cousin Nancy's is today (as was my Mom's father's) and my cousin Robert and my birthdays are tomorrow! What are the odds to have 40% of us born within 3 days?

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF US!

Stuff

Should I call this a Medley of Mitts? I also thought Melange would work as well. I couldn't post until they were received, now could I! As shown in the earlier picture, my sister and parents were so pleased with the mitts I sent right after Christmas, they asked for more. So more they got. These are made from (from upper left) dark green Patons Kroy, Trekking and Patons Kroy, (center) Brown Sheep Wildefoot Symphony, Patons Canadiana, Patons Astra and Brown Sheep Wildefoot Violet Garden (I don't think that color is on the general market, I got both of these skeins at the Factory outlet. That was ALL of the symphony!)


Here is the Hanne Falkenberg "Tutti-Frutti" in my variation so far. Two strands of Patons Kroy for each color. I need to finish the back as well as the ends of both sleeves and the neckband. And, as you can see, I have ends to sew in. I really like how it is turning out. At first I'd planned to just use black and red, but it seemed so -- blah. I think the white really pulled it together and made it. I've gotten many compliments already on it!

This is for Stacey, who complains that it doesn't get cold there. Hm, I think she may be bragging instead of complaining, actually. We set a new record low temperature last night, this was the inside pane of a double paned window this morning. You KNOW it is cold when the outside door has frost on the inside.This happened in the kitchen, the lower edge of the door and the sill were white with frost on the inside. BRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Yeesh!

Today has been one of THOSE days. Drove DH to the doctor (45 minutes away.) As we left town, I stopped to get gas. Could NOT figure out the gas pump. I interpreted what it was saying as push a button to start your gas. (It said select gas, and showed a row of buttons.) Finally DH told me to flip the lever. sigh

Doctor told us that he could drive now. I said "you can drive home!" Nope, he didn't have his wallet along, so no driver's licence. The nurse put the cast on. Home we went. I seriously considered stopping to get something to drink, but we didn't.

As we pulled into our driveway, his cell phone rang. My purse was still at the doctor's office. This isn't normal behavior for me. Neither of us can remember that happening before. We piled back in the car and took off. With his afternoon meeting in town, there wasn't time for lunch.

We decided that he should drive back, as he now had a driver's license with him and I didn't. First indication of trouble: he couldn't turn the key in the ignition.

As I was passenger, I knit. Or tried to. The yarn tangled, badly. I finally gave up and broke the offending yarn and untangled it that way. By the time I had that sorted, I was only able to knit a few rows.

When we arrived he again couldn't turn the key in the ignition. His movement with the hand is also restricted. He decided that it is going to be the better part of valor to wait until the cast comes off next week.

We came home again, he called on the way to have his secretary put off his appointment for a half hour. I got him there 2 minutes late. Are we having fun yet?

Odd occurence

Sunday afternoon Howard went to the nursing homes for worship services at each of them. The churches in the area take turns so that there is a short service every Sunday afternoon, with lots of singing and a short message.

I dropped him off, with the understanding that he would call when he needed a ride home. The second place is across the street from the first, so he would walk between them.

Around the time that the second one was to start, the home phone rang. When I answered, I heard people singing "Jesus Loves Me." I realized, just before I hung up, that it was the second service. I listened through it (what I thought was the end) and left to pick up Howard. When I got there, he denied all knowledge of calling me (and if he had called, he would have called on my cell phone, not the landline.) Yeah, I checked his phone, he didn't call me. There wasn't a telephone in the room where the service is held. NO ONE that was there admits to calling me! We don't have caller ID on the home phones, so I couldn't figure it out that way.

And, to top it all off, he had a ride home! So who called me? It was an enjoyable phone call, but I'd feel better if I knew who had called!

Justin's Sweater

I have a bad habit of writing here when I'm in the car (doing a lot of that recently!) and then not actually putting it down. Blast it!

I started a Hanne Falkenberg Tutti-Frutti for Justin. Before you get offended at the idea, I've changed it so much, I'm not sure it would be recognized as her pattern. I'm knitting it in 3 colors with 2 strands of Kroy 3 ply sock yarn (what in the world was I thinking -- that is 6 strands on each piece!) and removing the bobbles.

I'll post a picture when I get home (and edit this sentence), as I just enjoy the way this is turning out. I confess that I stop knitting just to admire what I've done so far! My plan had been to knit it in red and black, but the thought came suddenly to add off-white as well. What a difference that makes! The colors play together so much better than just the black and red!

May you find pleasure in your tasks today! Even better, I hope you find joy!