Socks!!

I'm at 6" on the first sock now, planning to work the gusset up to the heel turning tomorrow night. So, tonight I still need to finish the texture section of the first sleeve for Andy's sweater, put two rows on the shawl and add another inch to the neck piece for the first of two sweaters for my ladies. Progress pictures will be forthcoming as soon as I figure out my stupid phone.

Done! Pictures ahoy!












The Sweater for Andy












Girls Jacket (just started!)












Shawl












Socks

Wednesday Night Knitting & Thursday Plan

So, what did I actually get done last night?

• Mom's socks: up to about 5" overall, one more to go before Friday.
• Andy's Sweater: nothing last night, still need to pick up more green. Hoping to maybe get the first part of a sleeve done tonight.
• Shawl: I wanted three rows by Friday and have done none so far.
• Girls Sweaters: Still need to add 2" to that neck piece.

So, that's where it's at. Tonight might be a good night to knit. Yaay!

Where I'm At and What's On My Plate for Today

Ok, so this crazy schedule. What's on for today?

• Mom's Socks: Here's the pattern Got the toe done and about 4" into the foot. I want to get 6" overall done today and be ready to start the gusset and heel by Friday
  
• Andy's Sweater: Pattern, just for reference. I made some for the girls doing the texture portion of the pattern in one color and the sc sections in another (pink/brown for Jo and black/white for Mags) Andy's will be a sort of avocado green in the sc sections and a variegated green/brown in the texture sections. I've got the main body done and I'm up to the collar section. Ran out of green yarn while I was working the collar last night, so I'll be working the texture portion of the sleeves until I get a chance to go get yarn. I aim to either have one sleeve section or the collar done by Friday, depending on when I go get more green.
  
• Shawl: If I do one row a day, I should finish by mid-March. Plenty of time to completely start over in a fit of insanity and still be done by May 1, right?
• Girls Sweaters (for the Wedding): Pattern - I'm doing these on size 4 needles with a superwash wool sock yarn in pink/yellow and orange tones. It's a KnitPicks yarn, I just don't recall which one at the moment and I'm too lazy to go look. I've got an inch or so of the neck piece done and I'm aiming to add another 2" by Friday.
• Andy's Socks: (I'll be starting this one sometime in January if all goes well)
  

So, that's what I'm looking to get done. Well, good news is that Psych is on tonight so I'll most likely be up till 11 knitting after the kids go to bed. Bad news is I have to be up for work by 4.30.

I work under the assumption that sleep is optional most days.

Christmas Knitting!

Yaay! Knitting with a deadline! (aack)

OK, so my kitchen's still not any cleaner. Not even a tiny bit. One could describe these last couple of weeks for me as a wee dip in the foggy pool of depression. And I can't say that I'm entirely out of it again. In fact, with Operation: Impending Christmas and "Attempting To Get Caught Up Before the End of the Year" at work on top of all the regular stress, sometimes it's worse. But it helps to talk. It also helps to run screaming in the other direction and share my brand new Grand Plan for finishing a bunch of knitting projects, some of them even before Christmas. We'll talk about my defective head meat later.

So, completely ignoring my basement (which has gone from a potential Craftopia to something closer to Roswell, what with all the UFO's ..... laugh, dammit.) and just looking at the things I'm knitting that have a deadline (only one real Christmas present), I sort of came up with a plan to do a little every day and hopefully come in under deadline on all the projects.

What's In My Bag Right Now:

• socks for my mom (that's the christmas present)
• Andy's green sweater (not a present, I just want to get it done before it's summer again)
• the shawl I'm sure I've mentioned before
  
• matching shrug-type sweaters for the girls
• possible socks for Andy (depends on how much time I've got left after the other things are done)

The last three things need to be done by the first of May, as they're all for the same wedding. If I stick to my plan, I'll have my mom's socks and Andy's sweater done by Christmas and all the wedding items should be done by early April.

I really want to be able to take the time to update you all on what I've got planned to do and what I've actually accomplished. And I know, if I'm famous for anything at this point, it's my dazzling inability to post regularly, or commit to a schedule. Try to have faith.

Consider it an early New Year's resolution.

Hello, Tuesday

OK, so I finished the hat for my MIL on Sunday, washed it, blocked it and let it dry yesterday. This afternoon, I'll wrap it, and this evening I'll give it to her. Maybe even get some pictures if she brought her camera. If not, I'll get a couple of shots with my phone before I wrap it and post those. The hat turned out really nice, I think, and I'm proud of it.

And then I thought about my kitchen.

I was thinking about cleaning up this morning and I think I've come up with some reasonable expectations of what I'd really like to get done in terms of cleaning up and trying to get more organized.

First, my house will never be perfect. It will be reasonably messy, considering I have three kids and a full time job and I just don't have that kind of time. Things will not always find their way back where they belong, and I'll still find sippies under the cabinet from last week. However, I do not need to hang on to every scrap of paper and it does good to get rid of things I don't use - I joined Freecycle for a reason, dammit. I was also a bit taken aback by the number of things in one cabinet that were expired or rotten. Cleaning is good, obsessing about cleaning is bad.

Second, it will never last. I will mop the floor and ten seconds later, a sippy will explode chocolate milk all over the kitchen. Spahgetti night will always resemble a crime scene. Legos and matchbox cars have a way of traveling as yet undiscovered by modern physicists. God, grant me the soap to clean up what I can, the right tone of eggshell to paint over what I can't, and the wisdom to know when I'm beat and just get rid of it before we move out.

Accepting these two givens, I have two goals. I want to get my kitchen in order. I want things I actually use on the top shelves, not just things I don't know where else they should go. I want a little room to be able to let Andy play with his crafty stuff out of reach of his sisters. I want some space to stow my work bag and set up a laptop and do a little work in relative peace and still keep an eye on the kids.

Second goal - get the basement to a point where I don't have a panic attack thinking about the utility room. Maybe even be able to find a project or two without having to unpack five boxes. Stop tripping over (and feeling guilty about) projects I didn't finish or crafts I'm not as into anymore.

I Know, It's Been Some Time ...

I've gotten out of the habit of updating and writing about my projects. This has led me back down the road to "my desk runneth over". While some of this madness has been fueled by birthday presents in progress and making sure I finish sweaters for the kids before they grow again, most of it has been just plain disorder and letting my needles (and hook!) run away with me. So, I'm kind of back where I started - a pile of unfinished work and that icky feeling in my stomach every time I pass my desk and its ever-growing pile of projects. (It's best not to remind me that I have a basement at this point, much less remind me what's down *there*)

Oh, and my camera died. Bah.

So, what's on my desk at the moment? Too much.

First, there's another birthday project - a colorwork hat for Jon's mom. She liked the one I made for Andy a couple years ago and asked for that for her birthday this year. Unfortunately, I didn't ask her what she wanted until last weekend, so I just started it and I have three days left to finish. I don't think it's going to be done in time (birthday celebration is Saturday, actual birthday is Tuesday) but it's what I'm working on until it's done.

For the kids, I've got matching hats to go with some super-cute sweaters I finished last month (the girls). Andy is getting his own version of the sweaters in green and brown and has asked for a hat as well, so that's next on the table after I get the birthday present out of the way.

*shiver* I haven't even considered the birthdays coming up - Jon's dad, Sarah, the girls. Or Christmas. Ack. Well, that'll be next then.

After that, I need to get rolling on the wedding present again. I restarted Sarah's shawl with smaller needles and I'm super-happy with the results so far, even if starting over did cost me a ton of lost work. The girls still need short sweaters to go over their dresses and I haven't really finalized the pattern for that yet. (I was hoping to replicate the Madeira lace pattern from the shawl in the body of some short cardigans for my ladies. We shall see ....)

Well, time to acknowledge the outside world and get on with things. Here's to hoping this is the start of me getting back on track and posting on a regular basis. (Once again, we shall see ...)

I Did Promise Pictures, Didn't I?

And here we are. A pile of babies. Also, rejoice with me that a project from my list is done - the Scrap Bag was finished last night, and according to my husband, already claimed by the girls this morning while playing. I snagged it back for pictures during nap time.

Neat, huh? I'm really happy with the way it ended up looking - just slouchy enough. It started as a grocery bag and a way to use up scraps, but I think I might dig it (or one like it - I have tons of scraps) as a purse.
What's next for my project list? Well, when I get my yarn for the Wedding Present and for the girls' sweaters, I'll be casting on for those things and two projects will be temporarily dumped for these until they're done. I absolutely must finish these on time - it's become sort of a personal thing as well, showing myself I can set goals and deadlines for my knitting and come out with something (hopefully) fantastic.

The tea and cookies
were the surprise I'd been working on for my swap-bot buddy. She was very sweet and sent me a ton of postcards, including several just for Andy, so I decided to send a snack that lasts all day. The cup is filled with alpaca roving to look like tea and the cookies, cup and plate are all acrylic. I wish now I'd gotten a better shot of the teacup handle, as I kind of made it up on the fly.


As for my other two projects, they are both coming along just fine. Here's the hat, and yes, I'm working it on a 40" size 1 circular. I swear, all I really need anymore is a set of interchangeable tips and a 40" cable.

Here's my Skew Socks.I tried to get a good shot of the heel of the finished sock, and nearly broke my own leg.






On the second sock, I'm just before the point of finishing the heel and folding it over to join (what the designer calls the "origami moment"). It looks funny, not very sock-like at all. But, trust me, and trust the pattern. Totally going to be a sock.


Well, I need to take a few minutes and let my brain process some things. I may be back later for a discussion on why I need to get off my ass and write some patterns.