Black Cavern Knitting

So I'm working on the Cavern cardigan right now, and I'm loving it! Thank you so much Lisa for mentioning this pattern! I see a few of them in my future. This is a top-down seamless raglan in worsted weight, I'm using Caron's Simply Soft in Black.
Here's where I am so far (3/4 through raglan shaping):

And a keen(e) eye may notice her stitch markers in action...Thank You!!! I love them, and I get to think about you whenever I knit now :D I'm going to have a hard time going back to my hack plastic markers ;) And I think you have repaid my getting you into knitting by getting me into making stitch markers - that has just soared to the top of my "I'm gonna..." list.

I also have a finished object that I managed to capture before gifting:
Pattern:Creative Knitting Magazine (Nov 2005), Precious Baby Jacket, p 46
~beware check the website there is an important revision on the front(s) shaping.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Bright Ombre and Bernat Softee Baby in White
Needle: Size 6 (4mm)
Time: Honestly I was in such a holidaze and Gracie was in rare form for most of the month so my best guess is 4-5 sittings at approx 2 hrs each so not much more than 10 hrs and it would have been quicker if I'd checked the website before I started and if I didnt have a toddler who tried to throw her schedule out the window ;)
Notes: Other than the revision in the pattern this was a great knit, the pattern is interesting enough to not be boring, but I was still able to watch TV/movies throughout. I love baby knits, quick, simple and oh so cute! DH wants me to make one for Gracie :)

As well as one of my lovely Christmas gifts from my in-laws:

That is Lion Brand Jiffy in El Paso and a pattern book from Leisure Arts Touchable Knits.
I think I like the cardigan on the front, and the shell on the back cover, but I really feel this yarn is destined for Hot Lava unless I get a few more skeins and make the ballet wrap cardigan on the cover of the current Interweave Knits (Winter 2005).
But that project will have to wait as I am madly finishing 2 more gifts (this was planned to be late, I promise!) before I head to CA Jan 21 :)

Happy New Year!

Yeah!!! 2006 is here!!!

I'm excited about this because I'm very glad to have 2005 behind me. It wasnt a horrible year, but it wasnt the best year either so I'm very happy to have a fresh start.

Good thing #1 ~ I am no longer horribly home sick. I do still miss my family and friends very much, but I dont want to throw up anymore when I think about how much I miss them.

Good thing #2 ~ Gracie got a potty chair for Christmas...which means the end is in sight of diaper duty. I would very much like to not have 2 children in diapers at once and we do plan on baking her a sibling in the near future. Which brings me to...

Good thing #3 ~ We will decide this year when to make our family grow. As much as I am a little nervous about this because I didnt take the hormonal fluxes very well last time, I really want a sibling for Gracie and I'm holding out hope for a better pregnancy this time around.

Good thing #4 ~ I am very comfortable with my knitting now, it is like breathing to me, so I am very much looking forward to what my hands/mind will create this year. I hope to get braver with designing my own patterns this year. I've already started tweaking other's patterns and I'm starting to get the math and structure down :)

Good thing #5 ~ I've finally met some moms in the area and I look forward to our playdates and mommy night outs. The best part is we get to chat everyday online and then get together when our schedules allow, so it is very flexible and just what I need right now. Plus I really want Gracie to start working on her social skills. I'm also realizing that I really need this myself and have already become much happier with myself now that I've found this outlet.

Here are some things I am going to accomplish this year (goals, not resolutions, because resolutions are broken too easily ;))

Goal #1 I will pause before I speak this year. I keep interrupting and/or talking over others, and I dont want to do that anymore. I am hoping this will also help me clean up my mouth - when I get tired/frustrated I curse (shocking I know) and lets just say I've been rather tired/frustrated lately and that paired with Gracie expanding her vocabulary is not good.
This "pause" will also hopefully stop/reduce the amount of hot-headed rudeness that I express towards my hubby (and unfortunately from time to time Gracie) by allowing me to realize what I'm saying before I say it.
~penalty - 10 cents for every curse word, I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do about the other stuff, just try real hard for now, I'll update when I come up with something.

Goal #2 I will do at least one fair isle/intarsia project by summer. I am very intrigued by colorwork, the biggest thing holding me back so far is probably budget because if I'm going to put that much work in a project I dont want it in acrylic. So I'll probably be placing my 1st order with KnitPicks this year :)
~penalty - havent come up with one yet...other than if not done by summer, I will have to purchase project for my birthday and not allow myselft to work on anything else until it gets rolling. may update later

Goal #3 I will design something that I can share on this site for free. I want to show my appreciation for other blogger's free patterns by offering one of my own. I will also appreciate any feedback generated by the project.
~ penalty - this one will either happen or not

Goal #4 I will blog at least once a week, with an aim for getting back to every/every other day. I really have a passion for blogging, I enjoy this outlet and love "meeting" other knitbloggers. Lately my very mobile toddler and my knitting obsession have just gotten in the way of making it to the keyboard (I am a loyal reader of many though - but I need to comment more).
~ penalty - I will have to blog before I can read my bloglines if I fall behind.

Goal #5 I will do better at keeping in touch with my friends. I get "too involved" in my own life and let too many weeks/months pass without emails/calls and I need to do a better job of letting my friends know how much they mean to me.
~ penalty - If I dont naturally get better at this I'm going to have to make "dates" on the calendar and hope this gets the ball rolling for it to become more frequent and not "required"

So that's what I have going so far, I also hope to read more books this year, and get some non-fiction in there, but I've always read a lot so that isnt much of a goal, it is more an effort towards intentionally reading instead of reverting to old habit.

Happy New Year! Knit something!

And the pie was just fine...

...actually, it was rather good! I'm very proud of my first pumpkin pie, my ever trusty mini cheesecakes werent so great, but that's because I neglected to specially buy 2% milk instead of the skim milk DH prefers, so they didnt set so well, everyone was too full anyway to miss them ~ and the pumpkin pie was a hit.

Didnt really bother messing with the "black friday" deals...this is going to be a "light" Christmas with my family any way because of everyone's financial situation, so there really was no need to get bumped and bruised in order to save a few bucks - plus, I think most everyone is expecting handknits anyway ~at least they should be ;)

I am making incredible progress on child cardigan #1, this is my first major branching off from a pattern, I'm only very loosely following the structure of a cardigan shape I really liked, but changed the stitch pattern, I'm pretty excited about it, but the colors are "jumping" off it differently than I'd planned so now it looks more peach than pink. Then followed the debate whether to continue the striping pattern onto the sleeves, but I really wanted something to "pull" the pink back into attention, so I think I'm leaving the sleeves just pink stockinette, which I think will do the trick. Now to decide if child cardigan #2 will be purple, purple/white, purple/varigated, or purple/pink...tune in next time to find out :)

Easy as...Pumpkin Pie?

I decided to be industrious this year, and instead of buying the Pumpkin Pie I'm supposed to bring to the feast tomorrow, I would make one...easy enough right? Just follow the directions...

Well, I'm proud to say that I followed the filling directions to the "t" and it smells and looks quite yummy ~ I merely neglected to follow the pie crust suggestion (really should be a rule) to use a glass pie dish (because I wanted to be able to leave the pie at my SIL's if they want it - I'm making another one just for us...shh) So, I bought the ever trusty foil pie tins...now I should have caught on as I was pouring in the evaporated milk that this is a "soupy" situation, not to be entrusted in foil; but no, I have to learn the hard way...

Thankfully, I'm (and my floor/counter) only wearing a small portion of my pie filling, I was humble enough to admit defeat before complete disaster, and discovered that the foil tin fits snuggly inside my glass pie dish - disaster avoided and I'm doing my best to not cry over spilt pie filling ~ I'll just tell the "world" about it instead :)

The other good news is that I decided to wait to make the 2nd pie until after we saw the finished result of the 1st one (just in case I need backup). Also, the other dessert I'm making I can do in my sleep, so no worries there :yay: So, tonight I'll finish up my mini cheesecakes, and tomorrow morning I'll do the green bean casserole, and then put on some "big pants" and gorge ;)

I am pretty excited as this will be Gracie's 1st Thanksgiving where she gets to actually take part in the spoils (and not just get it 2nd hand through me), it should be fun watching how she responds to all the hub-bub.
On to knitting news, ***hold on, gotta put the foil around the crust ~ ouch!!! why didnt I understand how necessary a pie shield is? A good number of my fingers are now overly toasty from trying to figure out how to get the foil around the crust now that I'm using the stupid pie dish with handles...ugh, at least the mission is nearly accomplished and hopefully my crust wont get too burnt *** I got my latest issue of Creative Knitting in the mail yesterday and there are quite a few new additions to my "to-do" list thanks to their latest publication ;) The good news is I have enough yarn stashed away to get me started on quite a few of them before I need to go say "honey, ..."
I also have most of my Holiday knitting settled, I cant disclose who gets what yet because I have random family members who drop by here, but I may play a little "guess what I finished" and if they want to figure it out that's their problem ;) (I will do a final project break down- after the Holidays - and who got what ~ because I know you care)
I'll try to get some pictures up this weekend, I'm just not motivated right now to take pictures because I'm so darn busy knitting when the toddler's napping...and she is very demanding right now when she is awake (we have already entered tantrum mode and she's only 17 months) I think most of the problem is due to the fact that she doesnt speak (understandable) english yet, so we have a communication barrier.
Well, I'd better get back to one of my various UFO's (I truly have them scattered all about, in very random stages, and my sanity is basically being held together by the index cards each project is assigned (thanks Mel)).

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I'm a Squib !?!

***to jump to knitting content, look for the bold print***
So, I came across one of the various "Sorting Hats" (from Harry Potter) and the one at okcupid declared me a Squib.
Squib
You scored 8% Slytherin, 44% Ravenclaw, 44% Gryffindor, and 28% Hufflepuff!
Are you sure that you belong at Hogwarts? You show no defined personal characteristics and therefore no house preference. Perhaps you should seriously consider a lucrative career in dentistry or tax preparation -- or allow the Sorting Hat to redetermine your place at a later date.

Once I recovered from my shock, and actually read the results...I find it hard to deny. I really do equally identify with Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, am ambivalent about Hufflepuff, and dont care much for Slytherin...and Hagrid's not too bad off, he still got to stay at Hogwarts ;) Although I dont get how a less than 50% identification with a house makes me a squib...
The funniest part is that just before I met DH, I had finally gotten my college career on track to be an accountant (which is on hold and/or I will pursue real estate once the kids are in school).
Later on, I came across another Sorting Hat, and it placed me in Gryffindor...so who knows. I am excited about the new movie, and my muggle hubby even said he wants to see this one ~ so I may not have to see it alone after all.
**********************************************************

On to knitting...well, I'm actually avoiding my knitting right now, I started working on Fall (05) Vogue #4 this afternoon, but felt guilty for not finishing the last mitten and seaming up the ensemble, so I finished the other sleeve/side seam during House, and then the poop hit the fan when I started seaming the first mitten. I tried to just backstitch the seam, but it looks HORRIBLE, and my efforts to pull out this seam ended in the mitten flying across the room and me escaping to the computer, hoping for a distraction while my blood pressure resumes normal levels. I used the blue yarn for the "finger-tip" portion of the mitten, and if you noticed in yesterday's pictures, the pink and blue are speckled with the cream color and now I cannot "find" the seam I just put in. So I'm going to either have to wait for better light tomorrow or just give up and redo what I did manage to pull out and figure no one else will notice the goofy seam anyway, Gracie moves too fast.

Well, I feel better now, I'm off to watch Beyond the Sea, and either work on mitten 2 or Vogue #4.

Coordinating set in progress...

I am finally in the home stretch of finishing Grace's Cardigan/Hat/Mitten set...what started as just her new fall sweater has turned into an ensemble. This wasnt necessarily planned, the yarn just keeps stretching into each new project. I still cannot get over how I had 2 coordinating yarns in my stash...finally I have succeeded in knitting a project without having to run out to a store ~ oh shoot, I still have to go get a zipper for the cardigan (or I could alter the pattern, add a button band, and finally have a complete stash buster) ...hmm, I'll have to think on that one - if anyone who stops by has an opinion on this, please share.

I dont think I've shared the prospective stats on this project, I'm doing the Accordion pattern from knitty, with the yarn I was RAOK'd by Stephanie as the main color and stash busted my way through the contrasting colors (perfectly). As I realized there was going to be plenty of yarn left over, I began a hat from adorable knits for tots (earflap hat pg 120) and then flipped over a few pages (as there was still certainly a sufficient amount of yarn) to work up some mittens (pg 130). If there is still yarn left over, I may have to finish with a scarf, but I'm not counting on it.

Here are some [not very artistic] in progress photos:

1st The Ensemble


The "original" project


Her Earflap Hat


And, finally, one lonely nearly finished mitten


Well, I'm off to see what I can get done on the last mitten before my eyes/patience send me to bed ;) Hope your week is off to a good start!

Hoppy Halloween!

I know its not Halloween any more, but I can only use the computer (at night) on Thursday nights, when hubby is distracted at poker.
So...without further ado, here's my little baby bunny:

Here's her close-up:

A view from the rear:

Just the 2 of us:

And, not to be left out, our pumpkin:


Why yes, that is a hand knit bunny suit for my little girl. The pattern can be found here, because the yarn is discontinued, I used Lionbrand Woolease Thick & Quick in Pewter that I got on clearance at Joann's (can you say stash-buster?) It took me about 4 days to complete...its hard to say because I gave up multiple times worrying that the woolblend suit would be too warm and settled with leaving the arms off for ventilation (which worked quite well, and of course we had a cold spell which really helped). I also did not enclose the feet because we had considered actually trick-or-treating and I needed her feet to fit in her shoes. It ended up raining so that made up my mind to stay inside (she doesnt know any better).
The pumpkin was expertly carved by the hubby, he did a pretty darn good job. We did have 2 pumpkins, there was a baby one too, but it was too little for the candle and was trying to burn up so I blew it out before we got a pic.
Well, that's all for now :)

Gracie's sweater

Someday I'll get those pictures [I keep promising] uploaded...just been too busy, busy, busy lately. I started Gracie's sweater yesterday (and it's more than 1/2 done!) I love knitting for babies/toddlers, talk about instant gratification knitting ;) The main color is done in the creme colored wool blend yarn RAOK'd by Stephanie, and the 1st contrasting color (the one you see more of) is pink, and the second contrasting color is denim blue. I will see what I can do about carving out some time this weekend to get those pics up.

Hope you have a great weekend, we'll be rooting on the Sox, and tonight we are eating out at Panda Express, yum!

**I edited out the blogthing-a-palooza, there's something funny going on in my blog and I'm trying to figure out the culprit**

Yummy, yummy, gummy goodness

Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you're so darn cute.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

I love gummy bears!!! So you can guess I'm pretty excited about this match :D

And my favorite childhood candy led me to checking how happy my inner child is...

Your Inner Child Is Happy

You see life as simple, and simple is a very good thing.You're cheerful and upbeat, taking everything as it comes.And you decide not to worry, even when things look bad.You figure there's just so many great things to look forward to.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Apparently, she's doing just fine.

Onto the knitting front, I'm over 2/3 completed on the charity blanket...which means I've got to get cracking on choosing which pattern I want to be Gracie's new cardigan. [and be more disciplined with keeping a blanket on the back burner for "brain dead" nights] But really, I'm very happy that I've made so much progress this week. I really do like this ruffled garter baby blanket , not quite as brain draining as the diagonal blanket, for me anyways. I think the next one will be this very nice basketweave pattern a friend shared with me...we'll see.

We made it to the pumkin patch today! Very neat!!! I'm hoping that we can make this return event every year because the set up is wonderful, free admission and you just have to buy tickets for what you want to do (they have hay rides, pony rides, a few carnival rides, a petting zoo, and a haunted house). Because Gracie is just 16 months old, we just went to the petting zoo and she had a blast! I'll get the pics up tomorrow, I'm too exhausted tonight ~ had a little too much fun I guess ;) Oh, and speaking of yummy, we got some cotton candy (it's been awhile since either my DH or myself indulged) and it was good ~ Gracie couldnt quite figure it out, so her daddy ate her share ;)

~off to get a few more rows in on that blanket :)

Finished a project, but no photo, sorry :(

So, once again I've gifted a project without getting the picture first, I was working so furiously I didnt even catch an "in progress" photo. Maybe this will have to be my excuse to get myself over to their place and check out their nest they've been working so hard on.

"what on earth is she talking about?" ~ well, as I mentioned previously, I was furiously knitting away on a wedding present for my dear best friend who got married Oct 1st, this present happened to be an afghan - well, lapghan, but it blocked bigger than I'd anticipated - and I bravely conquered it in 2 weeks. Some would ask "why the last minute?" well...first I was going to make her a shawl/shrug, but had a hard time selecting a pattern/yarn combination that I liked (could afford) and I was so very close to making her I Do that I bought the yarn in the right quantity and then did the gauge swatch and then it hit me...would she really like this or am I just trying to knit her something...so now I had some beautiful yarn and nearly gave up knitting anything and then I remembered a pattern I had come across in Creative Knitting, The Rosebuds Throw, and it was just perfect. I really wish I had a picture to share, I will remedy this as soon as I can, but she lives 3 hrs away so I cant exactly "just swing by". They returned from their honeymoon today, I hope they had a wonderful time.

My immediate project is cranking out a charity blanket, I feel bad that I havent been more diligent...I was soo excited to find this opportunity and then all these (personal) gifts keep popping out of me. I'm trying to work a better rotation in my knitting goals so I can get more done since I seem to slow down as I lose excitement in a project. Once I get my new housekeeping schedule down better, I think I'm going to add a monthly knitting goals series (but I'm not ready for that much structure all at once right now). Anyway, I have the latest blanket over half done, so I'm almost there and can return to getting a sweater for Gracie done.

Well, off to finish a few rows before hitting the pillow!