~ [Shadkitty Knitty] ~

Jul 30, 2006

Lazy Days and Small Favors

First, I start with a thank you note.

Mama E has been just one of the most wonderful, helpful women in my blogging

community! If they have an SP contest for the best hostess ... she would beyond have my vote! Yesterday was just ... not a good day for me. I was stressed due to our financial situation (I always am just before pay day), not to mention all the things that have and haven't been going on lately concerning the pregnancy. We'd been staying at the house trying to conserve gas, and my mommy-meter was way past "up-to-here". If you catch my drift. After a quick trip to the mall to just get out, I returned home to find a late mail surprise!! My yarn from Mama E had arrived...and what was this? A PIF gift! Some beautiful earrings. Thank you so much! My day was brightened significantly.

I've started plotting out my PIF gifts, though I won't be sending as many as Mama E, any little bit of effort will be appreciated I'm sure. Didn't I just witness that myself? Tomorrow I will steal (or create) a button to link to the map if you just wanna kinda look at it. Right now I should just get around to updating about my actual knitting progress.

There are pictures! Hurray! Oh, my zoom works on my cam now. Weird. I took a few of my knitpicks yarn, and the purple I dyed myself after winding into a ball myself. lol It was pretty easy actually, I just used my bedside lamp and a mostly empty pill bottle. It almost looks professional like that. Still can't wait for pay day to buy vinegar for dyeing!! hehehe The Beau that I got from Mama E is soooo tempting! I wanna wind into a ball and start swatching or SOMETHING! lol I have to be patient now though. So many projects and so little time.

I organized some of my things last night. Took the Thuja socks out and turned the heel on them today. No pics of that though. Got some of the back of my mom's top.

Which has been put on hold. I figure I really need to start those booties. No telling when little Nolan will make his appearance. Justin is going to print out the pattern for those and for the Hedera socks tomorrow at work, assuming he remembers. As soon as the Thuja socks are finished, I will start Hedera!!! Finally some things to knit for me. Because you know those booties are really for me. lol

I finished the fat feet socks too! Kyran's socks in other words. Using the leftover yarn baby sock pattern I found, I just kinda modified it to fit Ky's big "flintstone" feet. They fit kinda perfectly too, except in the heel. Dunno how to fix that though. Guess I could ask Linda. Hobbes decided to model baby socks for me. hehehe I totally submitted that to Stuff On My Cat. We'll see what they think.

The last thing I did was frog that silly "Feathers and Lace" top. It was annoying me sitting at the bottom of my sock bag. lol Now I can make some room for some other stuff over there on my progress side bar.

21:32 | |

Jul 29, 2006

Relaxation

Generally when the whole family is stuck together in the house too long we all get crabby. This week we've been doing really well though. I've finally been getting some much needed sleep. Poor Justin, he's been snivelled for the next two weeks though. I always feel bad when stuff like that happens, I know how much he loves to fly. Not a whole ton of knitting has been getting done, mostly because when Justin is here we do other things, clean, and right now we're painting the boys' room. It's simple, but hard to get done when I can only do a bit at a time. Justin has been doing most of it himself, and he's just really not all that great at it.

On the plus side, I finished the back half of mom's Baccarat top! It looks gorgeous! I'm putting it up though instead of carrying it around in my bag, I'm afraid it'll get snagged or something while it's in there. The yarn is so slippery and delicate...*sigh* What I think I'll do is start those booties for Nolan soon. I'll get Justin to print out the pattern at work.

Oh! I did get some new yarn in! shhhhh! We're having money issues right now, and when I'm stressed, um I buy myself yarn. lol I bought some of the dye-your-own KnitPicks yarn, and some black Palette yarn. The black will go together with the orange from before to make Kyo socks! The colorways I'm plotting for the dye-your-own yarn should be lovely too. :) Lately, I've been really wanting to dye again. Gotta wait til payday to buy some more vinegar though. That's enough blah blah blah for now.

11:06 | |

Jul 25, 2006

I Hate Hospitals

Okay, so most people do. But I just spent the last 48 hours in one, and most of that time I really didn't need to be there. *sigh*

Here is the story from the beginning:
At around 11:41pm on Saturday I had Justin start timing some uncomfortable contractions I was having. They were steady at 4 minutes apart, not really a good sign this early in the game. So we called up to the hospital and they said to come in. I figure, hey, we'll drop by there, they'll give me some meds to stop the contractions (they did that with Kyran) and we'll go home. Couple hours at the most. Right? Boy was I ever wrong!

After we got there they did all their fun little tests, asked their hundred questions, and poked me with needles. You know how the game goes. Well, the doctor came back after monitoring me and the baby for a bit, she said that although I was feeling contractions they weren't picking them up on the monitor. So...I'm hallucinating these things? Sure, why not. I think, okay so they're just gonna send me home. Few minutes later a nurse comes in and waits for me to say I feel like I'm having one of these contractions and feels my belly, she seems concerned and says thay it feels pretty tight. In other words, I am having contractions. Then, the doctor comes back and says their tests were kinda...inconclusive, but they think my amniotic fluid sac is ruptured and leaking. Which means two things, A)I'm at risk for infection, and B)the baby is coming. GREAT. Then she drops the second bit of bad news, they don't have a neonatal care unit that can care for a 32 week old infant. Meaning, they have to ship me out to Wilmington by ambulance. Yuck!

We called to let everyone know the details, I mean, hey they said he was on his way. Of course, we get to the next hospital and go through the song and dance all over again, only it's worse because I'm all drugged up at this time. Magnesium sulfate is not fun by the way. The doctor doesn't come see me for at least an hour, we just tried to sleep, it's like 6:30 in the morning by this time. After they do their tests, this hospital concludes that oh, there IS no rupture in the fluid. They're gonna take me off the Mag and see what happens, give me another steriod shot (oh yeah, totally forgot about that before they shipped me off), yadda yadda. I get transferred to a section they call "Ladies in Waiting", how cute. The steroid shots are to help produce a chemical or something in the lungs for the baby, so he could have an easier time breathing should he actually decide to show up, our nice little intern told me all of this. lol But let me tell you those things HURT! It's like an enormous cramp or something. Of course, my contractions have totally stopped by the time they can get around to giving me this shot again (around 3:30 Monday morning). There are some final tests, just to make sure that the little guy isn't gonna put me right back in the hospital four days later or something, and I'm good to go!!

Long story short, I'm okay, the baby is okay and staying put(for at least two more weeks), and we're all a bit tired. lol I was lucky enough not to be put on bed rest. Though that would have given me more than enough time to knit, it wasn't something I was interested in. Being stuck in my bed and unable to go to the store, or pick up my babies, or hanging out with friends...yeah that's not fun.

I did get quite a bit of work done on that scarf, and some on the baby socks I started for Kyran. I kept feeling guilty because people would ask "Oh so did you make something for this baby?" Uhhh not yet. In all fairness, he's not due for another 8 weeks! Well, 7 as of tomorrow. Anyway, I guess I'll have to start moving on that top for my mom so I can get those booties started. lol Obviously, Nolan is not wanting to wait to get his life started.

Oh, and Jamie's Jaywalkers do fit!! She loves them!! This made me really happy to hear while I'm sitting in the hospital feeling all sorts of like crap. Small victories turn the world.

10:41 | |

Jul 21, 2006

Ramblings

Like a river, thoughts flow through me every day. I try to keep these posts as knitting related as possible, though my non-knitting life seeps in from time to time. And with good reason, as knitting is entangled in my every day life. It is a part of my problems and solutions, my complaints, my aches, my joys.

However, this wasn't always the case. Having just learned to knit this past December, I didn't have knitting to fall back on, to just drown myself in whenever I wasn't feeling quite right. Before knitting...there was reading. If you ask anyone who knew me in school, books were my life. I carried one with me at all times. My purses were always big enough to stow at least one. As it turns out, I haven't quite relinquished this crutch. Even now, when I'm feeling hinky for no particular reason, I read.

That's what I've been doing since yesterday. There has been some knitting, but it is done mostly out a feel of obligation and not joy. I hate that. So for a little while I think I'll just read, and not knit. Until I can feel like I'm knitting for the enjoyment of it instead of keeping myself busy or to finish things I started.

Aside from that, I want to share a bit about the Pay it Forward idea Mama E put forth. It really excited me. I love to share. My problem is...I can't think of someone to gift anything to. I read very few blogs and am in touch with even fewer bloggers. There are several things I have in mind for giving, nice things too. Not just leftovers. Hm...I suppose I'll have to get out there more and interact. It might be nice for me.

15:03 | |

Jul 19, 2006

Babies are Cute

It's true. I love babies, though I'm not happy about being pregnant or having to spend the next twenty years (probably more) of my life dedicated to the little critters, they are fantastic when they're little. Mostly, I think it's one of the things I was just born with a natural talent for. With eight weeks left of pregnancy, we are beginning the process of preparing the house for an extra resident.

Today we bought paint for the boys' bedroom, and all of the accessories needed to paint. Justin should clear out the room this week. I think I'll wait until Heather starts preschool (August 1st!) to actually begin painting. But I can always clean

the walls and things for now. Gotta find some stencils of baseballs, mitts, etc for the room too. I really want my dad to come stay with us for about a week during August to help out. I want to put some shelves and things up in there too, he would really be handy to have around. We can finally begin to move Kyran's clothes (which have been occupying a plastic tub in both our bedroom and the living room, not to mention some space in my closet) into the closet in that room. It'll be nice to free

up some of that space. Especially since my stash seems to be growing and taking over my bedroom! I'll take pictures of the room when it's all done. The room the kids are in now was an adventure in art that I don't really want to take again! Though it looks cute, as you can see.

Okay, so we all know I need to focus and get that top done for my mom. Seeing as how it should have been done this past weekend. But I'm procrastinating again, which I'm just fantastic at! I made a baby sock. It just kinda flies off the needles!

Even though the pattern was written for two circs (which makes adapting to one long one super easy) I did it on some DPNs. Just for the heck of it. Though it was annoying to shift the stitches all over, the sock was fun. I was mad at the stitches I picked up for the gusset. They were pretty loose, guess I just have to watch my slipped stitches next time around. When I knit some for Kyran (which I plan on doing) I will have to seriously adjust the pattern, I will have to actually swatch for it. He's got some chubby little flintstone feet. That's Kyo modelling the sock for me...I tried to find Hobbes to torture (hey then he could be on Stuff on my Cat!) but he wasn't here. Ironically he showed up at the back door mere minutes after I took the picture. I was happy with it though and decided to leave him alone.

My mom's top is sitting next to me...I swear I'm working on it. After I finish the current row I'm working on I'm going to start the shaping for the armholes and whatnot. Tonight is Nightmares & Dreamscapes!! Woot! Since Justin has a night flight I'll be knitting to TV most of tonight. Hopefully I get the back done.

18:43 | |

Jul 18, 2006

Mission Completion!

Too much cartoons for me.

Okay, where to begin? I guess I'll begin with the finish. As in, I finished the Jaywalkers! I know I said that I was going to put them away, but I decided finishing them would be just as easy, being so close and all. If (when) they don't fit Jamie she can just give them to her younger sister, or something. Whatever. I just need to remember that when I go to make the pedicure socks. Maybe I can just ask her to measure her feet, she knows about the Jaywalkers I'm making.

Next up on the agenda, my Niddy Noddy!! Well, it's not a real Niddy Noddy. It's the one my dad made for me. He does fun stuff like that. It may not be very pretty (being made out of PVC piping and all) but I'm sure if I slap some paint on it or something it'd look just fine. And one way or the other, it sure works! I meant to take some pictures of it in use, but totally forgot. However, I took a picture of the teal/orange yarn that I had dyed after I used my brand new toy to put it in a new hank. Heather is convinced it's a pogo stick,

and likes to blow into the tubes when it's not assembled. Oh yeah, that's right, it can be disassembled for transportation purposes. Which is pretty neat. Ya never know, I might wanna take it somewhere with me. Maryland...maybe vacation. As if we'd ever go on one. lol I can't wait to make some self-striping sock yarn! It'll look so awesome.

Hmm...what does that bring me to? I don't know. The top for my mom is coming along, it's almost time to start the shaping for the armholes. Hopefully I get it done soon, I've got

a million other projects to get done by the end of October. RENFEST! YAY! I'm so excited about it. No more baby in the belly, lots of crafting, acting like silly, crazy people, and just loads of glorious ren-fun! Since I'm basking in my nostalgia and what not, here is me last year at MD Ren-fest. My dad made the wings expandable (and also out of PVC piping), they were a big hit. Though extremely uncomfortable. They also made going in and out of shops difficult. Had to watch the wingspan. This time around I'm a pixie whose wings are too small to fly, just to avoid that situation. My color theme is turquoise and brown.

Oh yeah, here is that yarn that I used the Niddy for. Isn't it lover-ly? Justin said it made him think of the Miami Dolphins. >.< I had to whack him upside the head with my pretty new skein. lol

10:54 | |

Jul 15, 2006

Right Quick

Well, I did go to the knitting shop today, only did a bit of knitting. Mostly I just sat around and talked to Linda. Don't know why, but I wasn't in the mood to knit a whole lot. I was mad at Justin, so really I was just there to work that all out.

I'm starving. Hey goofy, you look depressed...did you gain weight? This site is awesome!! Stuff + Cats = Awesome My SP hooked me up with it.

Ummmm what am I doing...what am I doing? Oh, let's see today is my mom's birthday. The Baccarat Player is so not finished. She doesn't mind though. I've got about...13.5 inches done on the back. Haven't touched the front yet. I think I'm going to have to switch back to the Denise needles for it, not sure the straight needles I bought will allow for all the stitches for the front.

Also, I'm kinda paused with those Jaywalkers.... I think they're gonna wind up on the back burner for a bit. *sigh* In the meantime, I'm going to finish up the Harry Potter scarf I started (the colors make it look like some kind of Redskins thing...oh well), and when Baccarat comes off the needles I'll start the Converse booties for baby Nolan!! YAYYYY!! This is more for me than him...I mean, he won't care. As long as I feed him and snuggle him when he's born, he'll be a happy critter. I plan on pulling out the Thuja socks and continuing them in the stead of the Jaywalkers.

Alright, we need to hunt down a babysitter so I can catch a freakin break this week!

17:42 | |

Jul 12, 2006

Picture of Happiness

Okay, so I'm really just having too much fun with the titles. But I owe pictures.

My Hedera sock yarn still has to be dyed, or at least finished. It's purple, but I'm waiting for the weekend so that I can get two of my friends to stand in the back yard at the appropriate distance. lol Eunny Jang's tutorial uses lamps, I don't own lamps. I was going to use doorknobs, or a doorknob and Heather. But Heather can't stand still long enough and the doorknobs aren't the right distance.

The Italian Ice is all pretty and wound up into a skein. I had it put away but

realized I'd forgotten the pictures. So here it is! I even untwisted it just for you, because you can't see

that Italian flag effect otherwise. It's important to see it, trust me. The pink looks more red in the pictures than it really is. Turned out drying to a nice neon pink...kinda like my hair. lol

I finally started on that Baccarat Player top for my mom. It's got about 5 inches on it right now. I really need to hop on it, but it's kind of a boring pattern. lol Besides, I hate working flat. My sides always end up all wonky, even with the trick that Linda taught me. The gem yarn is still a pain too, anywhere the sparkly gold stuff is, the

loops are a different size. Which makes it look like I'm knitting unevenly. *sigh*

Alright, I ought to be cleaning or knitting...or something! Probably, I'm gonna knit, yesterday was rough and I need a breather. So, I'm off! Enjoy the pictures.

09:30 | |

Jul 9, 2006

Any Given Sunday

*yawn* I am SO tired. And for no good reason. Making up for lost time I suppose. I couldn't sleep in Maryland really. Anyway, this is just kind of an update post.

Not much has been going on because I've been trying to clean up the house and things. Got out to the Tail Spinner yesterday, so I finally got some advice on what to do with the gem, since it's been giving me such a hard time. Also picked up some more DPNs, cuz well, I felt like it. lol

Let's see...
Jaywalkers - I've finished the gussets and am merrily working on the foot
Italian Ice yarn - Is dry and wrapped up all pretty like, pictures to come (my buddy Matty who is Italian, from NY, even agreed it looks like the Italian flag)
MP - I have still to frog the top back and make it smaller...I'll get there. It's kinda depressing to have to do that to something you "finished" already.
Other dye experiment - Dry, I'll probably finish the job tomorrow during nap time.
Presents for my SP - Are done actually, I'm just building up the anticipation. lol

Alright, that's what I've been doing. Oh yeah, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest, totally awesome. Go see it!

19:18 | |

Jul 7, 2006

Bring Knit On!

Yeah yeah...back to my silly post titles. :D

Anyway, I feel like I have so much to post about/show off! We'll just see how long and rambly this post gets. Muhahaha! Obviously I'm in a good mood, and that's probably because Pirates of the Carribean 2 is out tonight, and I have tickets!

In honor of the occasion, Johnny will be making a few cameo appearances. The first is on the cover of my new pattern organizer. Okay, so it's a binder with dividers and pockets. But Captain Jack is on it! I bought myself a hole puncher and organized my patterns. Looking at them all muddled in my small projects bag was starting to make me crazy. The inside pockets are holding all of my yarn labels, I'm

very nutty about that. I keep just about ever single one, even though I use a lot of the same yarn. Like I've used Cascade 220 several times, and still have like 4 labels I keep around. *shrugs* I'm a packrat in the process of reform.

Okay, so that's my first big announcement. Second one is yarn! YAY! lol Now...the stupid gem yarn is making me nuts! I really want to start this top for my mom, but I have NO clue why the yarn won't work for me. *sigh* I don't want to, but I think I'm going to have to buy some new needles for it, because the Denise needles snag. So, tonight, I will have to make a quick stop at the Tail Spinner to get Linda's advice, before I do anything else. She's probably worked with it before, usually she samples things that she has in stock. Makes sense anyway.

Okay, so I have the gem yarn, but some KnitPicks yarn came in just yesterday. I got 3 skeins of Palette, in Apricot and two of Cream. I'm using the cream for dyeing since I'm too impatient to wait for the color your own yarn. It's currently soaking in vinegar and water. Earlier I dyed the Cascade for Jamie's Pedicure socks. It came out beautifully! Except the pink is too dark, but that's okay. Pictures will come, right

now my house is in a bit of disarray due to just getting back from vacation. I've already decided to call it Italian Ice...because it makes me think of the Italian Flag and of course, the delicious dessert!!

I gave up totally on trying to make it self-striping, that would have made no sense since the Cascade was already in a hank. However, the Palette yarn needed to be wound, so that I decided would be a fun experiment. I needed a pattern though! What I ended up doing was settling on Hedera. Which I wanted to make anyway, hopefully it'll work out well, even though this is a lace pattern. I was trying to avoid using a lace pattern for the self-striping yarn, oh well. What I plan on doing is dyeing the whole she-bang purple first, then over-dyeing with my other two stripe colors. There's no way I'd fit three bowls in my poor little microwave! lol It already has trouble with just two. They'll also be the first socks I do one at a time on DPNs.

Since we are talking about socks, let's talk about the new Knitty! It is fraught with socks this issue. Not that this is a problem of any sort, they seem to be the obsession of most knitters at the moment. These patterns look so exciting! I'm especially attracted to Beaudelaire (I don't even think I spelled that right) and have already decided to tackle it in the near future. Mayhaps it shall be made of the very lovely Beauregarde...I mean the two seem to be made for each other. lol Or mabye that's all in my head. Mama E hasn't sent me a bill for the Beau yet, which leads me to believe she is extremely busy. (What?! A knitting mama busy?! Impossible!) That's okay, it'll get here when it gets here. We don't wanna discuss how busy I should be. The yarn is finally starting to pile up.

On the further topic of socks, the heels have been turned!! Yes, that's right, I turned the heel on those Jaywalkers myself! Currently I'm working on the guessets. It's all making me very happy, the directions were pretty simple. Generally, I like to make sure of what I'm doing by having it shown to me. This time I just kinda...watched the video on Knitting Help and then followed the directions. Of course, I'm still crossing my fingers because I was told the ankle was tight and all...but it was an accomplishment either way. Oh, and here is another cameo by Johnny, on my Pirates of the Carribean pillowcase. Also, you can see my cute little chibi Kyo doll that now hangs from my small projects bag. He goes with me now. (As an aside, Hobbes, my beloved kitty, also seems to like hanging out with me now, especially while I'm knitting socks.)

14:06 | |

Jul 3, 2006

On Vacay

Okay...so it's not really vacation when you are staying with your in-laws and have to sleep on the couch. lol But it's all good. Anyway, I finally got around to binding off and weaving in my ends on the MP. I missed the deadline for the fall issue, but maybe I can try for the winter one? I'll try anyway.

I finally got my chance to gauge swatch that Gem for my mom's top, that stuff is so hard to work with. It might just be my needles, because the Denise needles aren't perfectly smooth and kinda snag the yarn a bit. Or maybe it's just because I'm not used to using ribbon yarn. When I get back to NC I'll ask Linda about it. Because I was getting like almost an entire extra stitch per inch, and I'm not a tight knitter.

My mom tried to take me to the Yarn Garden in Annapolis today, but it was closed. I guess I should have called, but I'm a little slow sometimes. All of the other sites had notes posted about when they'd be closed, so I just assumed no notification meant they'd be open. It's alright, we just went to lunch. lol Really, I just wanna get my hands on the right shade of yellow Cascade 220. I'm just gonna order it I think, got some other colors of the Cascade that I wanna pick up. It's just kinda a pain in the rear to order it when my LYS stocks that yarn, just not the colors I want.

I'm about to start the heel on my Jaywalkers...pray for me! lol I'm doing this with no help, I'm going to read the directions and just try to not mess it up. The girls at the shop said that the ankle on them tends to be tight, I'll have to cross my fingers because Jamie has wide feet/ankles and I really hope they will fit. Since I'm taking them with me tomorrow to a mini-reunion type lunch we're having, I'll at least measure Jamie's feet. The Jaywalkers don't have to be a surprise, but I really don't want her to find out about the pedicure socks. So if I have one pair of socks that I finish for her, the second will be like a cakewalk...right? She'll probably be amused one way or the other.

21:38 | |