Let's reevaluate our goals, shall we?

An AFGHAN? What was I thinking? I started the Weasley Sweater in March and odds are slim that I'll finish it by Christmas, much less an afghan. Let's move to far more reasonable goals, ok? Slippers. Slippers are good, and small. Small instant gratification type projects are much more my style, and will reduce my stress level dramatically.

One more hat down, and lots of progress on the black merino scarf, a good start on the yak scarf, and fair progress to report on the dead teddy bear.

Back to the salt mines!

Air Quality Can Be Fun!

Or not, depending on how you see it... The wildfires continue to burn across California, filtering huge amounts of smoke down into our valley. Looking outside now, at 10 am, it is orange and brown, and looks like there's smoke hanging between the houses. Temps are supposed to hit 110 in my poor little town today, and it's going to look as if it's perpetually dawn. Waaaaayyyyy too weird.
At least something will benefit from this--my holiday knitting products get almost undivided attention!

Butte County Air Quality Management District - Main Page

It'll be worth it when they're 30, right?

One of my operative theories for raising kids is that they'll appreciate it someday. They may scream and yell now, but the theory is that someday, when they grow into actual adults, they'll realize that everything we did was for their best interests. Right? I was slightly surprised when it happened to me. At some point, I realized that knowing how to do laundry or scrub a toilet, plant a garden and tell weeds from vegetable sprouts, sew a button, frost a cake, make a meal, clean up after myself and generally handle things was REALLY GOOD. Useful stuff.

That in mind, I persist, but there are days, like today, when I just want to quit making the effort. After more than a week of choking smoky skies, the air has cleared enough that kids could, conceivably, go OUTDOORS. Or, if they're set on staying indoors, do something, anything, besides sit on a computer and vegetate. They don't seem to realize that they're not going to have any friends by the time school starts again, because they're ignoring them all summer.

I've tried. I made the effort. I said, "Why don't you call a friend to come over?" to the little one. She didn't hear me, with the headphones on, deep into a strange online role playing game. I want to pick her up and shake her and yell about ruining her life, but you can't do that.

I think for today I give up. I don't feel like fighting with anyone anymore, so I'll get back to knitting something for someone.

Baby things! Squee!

The news that our nice neighbor is expecting was great news around our house. Baby things to knit! We don't know if our new neighbor-to-be is a he or a she yet, so that makes the project selection a bit more interesting, but I'm always up for a challenge. The pattern I've picked is the "baby sack" from Knitty-- http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer07/PATTzodiac.html
I think this a great gender-non-specific idea, although being a non-mother myself, I had no idea that blankets for babies were now considered a no-no. Yikes, it is a scary world out there! Our new little friend will be born in December, so I'm figuring warmth is good, especially up here.

So, let's see where that leaves the WIP list:

• Hat #4
• Weasley sweater
• Xmas Afghan
• Recycled t-shirt bags
• Freeform purse
• The bee and bear
• Dying yarn
• Baby washcloths
• Baby sack

Oh, and at least two scarves and one hat to be started. Whee!

Where there's smoke...

There is certainly fire, at least up here. It seems like most of Northern California is on fire, and we're socked in with smoke. Today has been a milestone--I see some actual blue sky peeking out from between clouds and smoky haze for the first time in a week. The old lungs don't like this one bit, nosiree. I've been in full asthma mode, wheezing like crazy with any exertion as strong as watering plants. I guess it's a great summer for sitting and knitting!

The Weasley sweater has a sleeve started! Yay! The back and the front are done, shoulders joined, and stitches for one sleeve picked up, decreases in progress. This is a major accomplishment, trust me.

Yesterday, I made a bee. He's a very cute bee.

Now, the question is, "Is anybody out there?" I have no idea if anyone is reading this, but if so, I have a question.

My stepdaughter learned a cast-on method from her grandmother, years ago, and just remembered how to do it. I've looked in all my books, and I can't find a description of this anywhere. If anyone out there knows their cast-ons, I'd love to know and I'll post some photos of what she's doing.
Thanks!

2 and 7/8 down, 2 to go

Here's a quick update on the hat project--I'm making five of these on commission for holiday gifts. Two are ready for felting, one just needs another row or two. Would you believe that these

eventually (after washing, felting, shrinking, stretching, yanking, pulling and drying) turn into one of these?

I swear, it's like actual alchemy! Felting, for anyone who hasn't done it, is literally like turning lead into gold--you take this giant, shapless mass of wool, and in just a few minutes of hot water and agitation, you've made a thick, seamless(-looking), durable, waterproof, windproof hat. Or bag, or slippers, or whatever. My husband and kids think I'm completely insane, and the wet-dog smell that comes along with big piles of wet wool drying isn't the greatest, but that's why we have a garage.

At least when I'm making something useful, like a hat or some slippers, it doesn't seem too entirely insane. My obsession with felted flowers is another thing entirely sometimes. Our last trip to Hawaii proved that. I've created my own version of knitted Hawaiian blooms--hibiscus, anthurium, heliconia--and I decided, for some reason, that the cool girls we'd met on our snorkel trips needed some little thank-you gifties on our last excursion. Tropical Storm Daniel was making his appearance right around that point, so we had some nice, relaxing downtime in the condo, watching the ocean roil and wind whip the palms. Perfect time to whip up some little knitted flowers, right? Fast forward to me spending an hour at the sink with a little pile of lava rocks gathered from the beach (yes, I returned them when I was done) scrubbing my knitted anthurium until they felted up nice and firm so I could dry them on the lanai.

I don't know about most people, but this is entirely normal behavior around my house.

The mystery of blogging...

Here's the big question--how do people find so much to say?!
I sit here and stare at the screen, and I just can't think of anything vaguely interesting to write about!

Uh...I cleaned a lot, and organized my new sewing cabinet. It's an Ikea cabinet with a fold-down front and doors, so I can hide my sewing machine and supplies inside until I need them. Then I reorganized the bookcases with all my knitting magazines and hid my felting supplies inside the big desk. And I refilled my bird feeders.

Isn't that exciting?

It's really a good thing I didn't learn to knit until after my wedding. I'm thinking about that because we have a wedding to attend next weekend, held at the same location ours was, and it's June, so there are weddings popping up everywhere. I nearly drove myself insane planning our wedding as it was, and now I can imagine myself obsessing over each hand-knitted, felted and assembled decoration, favor and centerpiece. I shudder just thinking about it.

I think my main problem is that I suffer from some knitters' version of ADD, and flit from idea to idea almost as fast as I can think them up. A hat here, a bag there, ooh! let's start another sweater over here! Forget second-sock syndrome, I think I have second-pattern-repeat syndrome sometimes.

The goal of the week is to have manageable goals. (How's that for circular logic?) It's mid-June, and I'm paring down my list of Christmas must-knits as far as I can, but there are just still too many neat ideas and not enough time. Sweaters! Scarves! Felted slippers! People need hats! Recycled t-shirts knitted into reusable shopping bags! Needle felted Christmas ornaments!

I don't know where to start, so I'd better find somewhere to start.

And she's off...

And she returns...

Just in case anyone's watching...
I'll try to actually start updating this. Many projects completed, many in progress, and a photostream available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/26490663@N02/

It's time for Christmas knitting in June! Time to work on Weasley sweaters and warm hats.
More to come...

Meta-knitting?

An old friend used to call all those meetings and prep sessions at work "meta-work"-- or "work about work." Sometimes I feel like that's what all my web searching, website designing, pattern reading and pondering is--meta-knitting. I think I like actually doing the knitting more than thinking about knitting. Ah well. The bag that was fighting me turned out great. Sweater and halter top are still in various phases of design and progress. Since then I've also created a pair of badly designed slippers, a sunglass case, more work on socks, and an utterly beautiful lace capelet modeled from SnB Nation. I could swear there was something else, but I'm forgetting what. Time to knit and quit just thinking about it.

Zen knitting

I was somewhat disappointed, but not even slightly surprised, to discover that someone had already written a book titled "Zen and the Art of Knitting." I don't know what it is about wrapping a piece of string around sticks that is so relaxing, but apparently I'm not the only one who gets it. Now, if only I could make my husband get it...lol. Right. That'll happen. Other things I've learned recently: No chain-store sells 16" circular needles. None. Every pattern that interests me requires 16" circular needles. Grr. There is a direct correlation between the number of times you leave the house and the growth rate of your yarn stash. There is also a direct relationship between how much your head hurts and how many times you will frog the same piece because you screwed up. This attempted-purse hates me.

What, me blog?

I can't say I'm the most social person out there these days, so having a blog is something of a sea change for me. But, I am now an utterly obsessive knitter, and sharing some of what I'm doing and learning actually seems interesting. I guess it's just a matter of finding out if anyone else out there finds it interesting or not. If anyone reads this stuff, let me know. Current projects: My first pair of actual socks, a self-designed halter top, an experimental sweater and a basic bag, to be embellished and felted. Coolest tip I've heard this week: Use puffy fabric paint on the bottom of knitted and felted slippers or slipper socks for a non-slip tread. Way cool.