~ [Shadkitty Knitty] ~

Oct 9, 2007

Sleepless

I don't sleep well anyways, but somehow without Mr. Shad here, it is actually worse. I fell asleep on the couch at 9pm this past Saturday...and it was very strange. So, I've finally decided to write/post my list of things to look forward to.

My bed is now all mine, which means I can use his side for blocking. :)
Nobody to eat up all my sweets. Except me.
I can watch whatever I want on TV. Without interruption
Nobody complains when I don't do the dishes for 3 days in a row.
I can balance the checkbook without worrying about Mr. Shad's impulsive buying habits.
The couch is all mine!
More time to knit.
Lesley is coming to visit! Okay, she probably could have if Mr. Shad was here. But it will be less crowded this way.
I get to decorate for Christmas without Mr. ~~Scrooge~~ Shad whining about it.
Less laundry.
If I can't find the camera, it's my fault.
No scrambling to clean the house at 5 o'clock.
We're going to my parents' for Thanksgiving, which is my favorite family holiday.
Nolan is going to be an ice-cream cone for Halloween, and there is nothing anybody can say to change my mind.
Nolan will be walking soon. And talking.
No more Netflix that I don't wanna watch.
I get to buy my own Birthday, Anniversary, and Christmas presents.

Nolan has a pre-op appointment today. I think I have neglected to mention the surgery altogether on here. Makes it easier for me to ignore, and therefore not be nervous. It's not horribly invasive or anything, and will most likely just be routine. But I am a mother, which means I worry. Besides all of that, it's his eye, those things are sensitive. Also, one of the fastest healing parts of our bodies. Anyways, he's had a blocked tear duct since he was born. It happens to all babies, but it usually goes away. When it did not, the doctor said, "Well, it should clear up by the time he is one." He's one...and it's still not. So, doctor gave us a referral. It will be nice not to have people recoil from my baby when they

see his eye. Really, Nolan is such a sweetie. Oh, and Lesley, I forgot to tell you, but I scheduled his appointment for Thursday. Hopefully it will not interfere too much with our plans. He's a trooper and at the very worst it will just mean that we can't go out. :)

Over the weekend, I finished almost 3 projects. The sleeves for the Skating sweater (seen in above photo) were blocked (for procrastination reasons mostly) and are awaiting seaming. When I am good and ready. Also, Goddess and MSCS 2 are officially off the needles. Both need a good blocking. But I did take a few pictures of Goddess. It fits like a dream. Too bad there is a "seam" where the EOR was. >.< D'oh! Hopefully nobody will notice it. I'll take a picture for you guys at a later date, but for now just wanted good pictures. Showing off my mad skillz. Yo. lol Alright, that's it for now. Must go take Nolan to his appointment.

Labels: babies, finished object, Goddess, life, lists/surveys

09:21 | |

Sep 14, 2007

The Long Goodbye

This, my friends, is going to be a long post. So long in fact, that I am going to post all of the non-knitting related stuff elsewhere. Mr. Shad leaves tomorrow. :( And I am going to miss him, but that is all I will say here. If you really want to you can go read the other post.

In knitting news, I did start Mad Color Weave with Amazonas. Actually, I started them later that evening. There were several "false starts", I couldn't decide which size to do, then I couldn't wrap my head around the pattern. It's funny because it's such a simple pattern. Could have something to do with using 3 needles instead of 4, ya think? All that is left now is the toe, then I can start the second sock. They are a little snug, but that can actually be a good thing. Thelonious has a tendency to sag a bit, and I hate that.

Even though we are still in full on summer swing (weather-wise) down here, my mind has already started to turn to sweaters, Christmas gifts, and other fall knits. Mr. Shad helped me choose between knitting the Luna Dress or the Somewhat Cowl. He said that the Luna Dress was too frumpy. :/ Whatever. Anyways, I'm okay with the Somewhat Cowl, actually the more I look at it the more I like it. I even ordered yarn for it, which Mr. Shad also picked out. He would pick olive drab. lol The color is called Fern, but it's actually much nicer in person than it looked online. I was having second thoughts at first. The original appears to be green as well, for some reason I kept thinking it was brown. Then again, certain shades of green and brown look almost the same. If you don't believe me, come over some time and I will show you my living room walls.

Okay, I must admit to something, I hate knitting those stupid Converse Booties. I

started another pair for a friend's baby, and nearly threw the yarn across the room. Why on earth did I make the toe so complicated and ridiculous?! Oh yeah, because it looks good. >.< Anyways, I ended up modifying the pattern so it could be done in the round. When I am through with all of my posting I will go add those alterations to the little pattern so that it can be done either way. Still a lot of ends to weave in, but at least there is no seaming. Finishing the second booty is part of my goal for today. Which includes: finishing the booties, finishing the first Amazonas sock, swatching for the Somewhat Cowl, and knitting at least 1 rep of the pattern on Goddess.

Oh yeah, that. That's right, I haven't posted about Goddess in forever have I? Eh. Everything is pretty much done except the 5.5" of pattern at the end. Let me tell

you how much I loathe it. It is only 4 rows, and I'm lucky if I get half a rep done. I'm trying to do at least one a day, I should need about 13 total. Right now there are about 4 of them...so only 9 to go! If you don't see a FO post about Goddess in two weeks, start complaining. Apparently when I put things into hibernating they go in there for several months. Currently in hibernation (thanks for reminding me constantly Ravlery), I have the Uber-crop Raglan, Butterfly Headwrap, Harley Quinn, and the Martha/Nermal socks. I guess 4 out of 57 isn't bad, right? That leaves 47 things I have finished (4 in progress, and 2 frogged), including mom's top. If I can finish that I can finish anything. Once the cold starts to hit, I'll probably pull Harley Quinn back out, they are actually almost finished. Just gotta do the entrelac cuff on the second sock. Okay, now I am just rambling!

Last up on the dockett today (I think), Flint Knits swapped me her copy of

Twinkle's Big City Knits for a skein of CTH Supersock in Yellow. I think I got the better end of that deal. :) This is why I love knitters though, we were just pondering sweaters together and I mention thinking about buying the book. She says, "Ah, I have that and can't use it! Would you like to swap?" Would I ever?! Oh, but what do I have to offer? A quick look over the stash ~~tempted her~~ gave her an idea of what she wanted. I would have given her my leftover Wollmeise Poison Nr. 5, but feel kind of badly about it only being half the skein (literally, it's 76g). Probably should have sent both. :D The Skating Sweater (see above links) is really calling to me. So much so that I have been looking into yarn for it, and actually agreed to buy some Cascade Magnum off of a fellow Raveler.

In other news, this kind of upsets me. It's cool they mention knitting...but I don't want them encouraging others to fake it. :/ Okay, I am just ridiuclous.

Labels: alpaca, blah, blogging, booties, Goddess, gratitude, procrastinating, progress, purchases, rambling, Ravelry, socks, swaps, Wollmeise, yarn

09:10 | |

Sep 4, 2007

Knitting Fairy

Either I've taken up knitting in my sleep, or the knitting fairies are working overtime here at chez Shad. The second Fancy Silk Sock was finished on Saturday morning. However, I decided there was really no need to go put both socks on for pictures and all, since it's basically like the other picture I took, only with two socks. lol Actually, this weekend didn't have much knitting because my family came into town*. They had to pick up a car for my brother and wanted to say goodbye to Mr. Shad, since he is leaving in a couple of weeks. In my head I've been making a list of things to look forward to while he is gone, it's not really long but any little thing to distract me from how much I'll actually miss him.

That was mildly depressing. Anyways, I decided to teach my mom to knit while she was

visiting, actually I was excited to have the chance. I think everyone should learn to knit, but I'm biased. She was doing pretty well right up until I decided to teach her to purl. After that she must have gotten all confused because she threw it at me and said "I'm done!". lol I saved her progress though. In case she wants to try again. While I was getting yarn for her to practice with (from Michael's) I picked up the new Bernat with Alpaca in it. Interesting. So far it seems decent, though I haven't actually knit with it. What I think I will do is swatch it to see if it would be a good substitute for the Black Forest Naturwolle for the Luna Dress from the Fall IK. It's so pretty, but somehow I doubt I could afford 9 balls of it. I should probably concentrate on my current WIPs though. Shouldn't I? Goddess is about halfway done, I just didn't feel like going through the routine of putting it on waste yarn to try it on again. Did that twice yesterday.

What else? Oh yeah, I was going to start that half-clapotis pattern...but

realized that Wollmeise Merino-Lammdochtwolle probably was not the best idea in a pattern where I needed to drop stitches. So I will just do another My So Called Scarf. Really, any soft-spun single ply yarn will felt on itself very easily from being knit, and hates to be tinked. Could you imagine purposely trying to drop stitches without creating a fuzzy mess? What a shame. The colors would have been scrumptious in the half-clap pattern. I'll find something else to use for that pattern.

I baked bread. Didn't I tell you I love freshly baked bread? Seriously, it makes me happy. I'm already down to half a loaf and they were just baked yesterday. If you gave me a choice between the bread and chocolate, I'd pick the bread. It's the best snack ever. And only slightly more healthy.

* I just wanted to note that Mr. Shad really does always look that cranky. He's weird.

Labels: baking, decisions, family, Fancy Silk Sock, finished object, Goddess, knitting, rambling, Wollmeise, yarn

09:44 | |

Aug 30, 2007

Knitting is Hot, and He's Got the Burn Marks To Prove It!

Sorry! I can't help it! This was supposed to be posted yesterday, while I was still in a good mood. And that was when I came up with the title. Since then, I've started my girl time and had to sit up really late with Heather as she had some sort of coughing fit. So, I'm a little tired.

Anyways, let's move on. My friend Tyler came home Tuesday night! It's very exciting for me, every time a friend comes back from deployment, it makes me feel a little better. So, I used my knitting night to go out with him and some friends for a welcome home. And, I used that chance to prove to him that knitting was definitely a cool thing to do. When he first learned that I knit, of course he teased me. I got several compliments on Coachella that night, but mostly from Ty himself. You'll have to excuse the pics, I was dead tired and he was drunk. Hey, I told you it was his first night home. :) Oh, and does anyone else notice he was wearing a thermal shirt in August??

In other news, I now have one and a half Fancy Silk Socks. I put the sock on outside for pictures, wow was that a silly idea. It was so hot out there, and even putting on one sock for pictures was too much. Now I remember why I don't wear socks in the summer. I'm already starting to think about what socks I should knit next. lol Elizabeth keeps raving about the Charade socks, so I'm thinking those in the Fleece Artist I got a little bit ago.

Goddess is progressing really quickly. I can hardly put it down! There was a brief problem with the pattern, I think it was just a typo though. After doing a lot of crazy math, checking and re-checking...I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. The

Stitch Diva people have been contacted, they said they would get back to me by the end of the week, but we all know that I can't wait that long to knit! It's really coming along beautifully, as soon as I get the back done I can join it to the front. This might actually be finished before the summer is over. Well, that depends on where you are. Down here, summer (meaning the heat) lasts a lot than just August. It's still not even getting cold at night yet. Which means that the fall, or at least cooler weather is not around the corner. *sigh* Maybe that's a good thing? Maybe not. If it's still pretty warm when I finish Goddess I'll get a chance to wear t, but also I'll have to change what I planned to knit next. Which was going to be Tubey. Also gotta cast-on for some Christmas presents, probably a Montego Bay scarf, or maybe a mini-clapotis? Whatever, they are basically both scarves. lol I'm also thinking of adding fringe to that butterfly headwrap and calling it a thin scarf. According to my scale, I'm a little less than halfway through the ball.

Here is Eiffel, all finished. I'll probably take more pics, but for now this will do. It's a bit faded, which is kinda sad, but still pretty.

Labels: Coachella, Fancy Silk Sock, friends, Goddess, pictures, socks

11:00 | |

Aug 23, 2007

Finishing

It seems like I've been on a finishing kick for the past few days. I decided to skip the last 3 decreases on Eiffel (hey, I tried it on first), because I was running out of yarn. So I bound off on that Tuesday, then washed and blocked it yesterday. It's still wet, I was hoping putting it in the garage would make it dry faster. That thing is like an oven. When I was dyeing last summer I would hang the skeins in the garage and they'd be dry by that evening. Of course, Eiffel is bigger than a skein. Anyways, here's a picture of me trying Eiffel on, at that point it was still 2 inches from the bind off point. And night, keep that in mind.

You remember Baccarat Player was finally completed. I mailed it off on Monday, and my mom got it yesterday! Now we have pictures of the FO on it's model, I admit that I like it a lot better now that it's on my mom instead of my needles. For something so fiddly to knit, it looks gorgeous. The Fancy Silk Sock has a heel and gusset now, there are pictures but really no reason to post them. It's not much different than the last couple of times I posted pictures. My camera has me all excited. not to mention Ravelry. I'm ALWAYS on there. Updating EVERYTHING. *sigh* Oh, and checking up on you guys. :D Man, I don't know who has more projects in their queue, Lana or Mouse. Every time I turn around Lana has queued a new project (a lot of them make me go Oooo! I want to knit that too!). Eventually I will update my bloglines to reflect my friends on Ravelry, I've got like...30 some friends or something. :)

Also on the finishing table were the green baby booties. All I really had left was to sew on the buttons. I love the little green buttons, they make me happy. These ones were done in the round. My LYS owner had also done some in the round, and come up with a way to eliminate that little indent from

the Turkish CO. Mine is still there but it's on the inside. These are also slightly larger than the first two pairs, they fit one of Heather's larger doll babies, but still not any of my actual babies.

Just for fun, I changed my hair again. I've had some purple hair dye in my bathroom since like, May. lol But just got around to bleaching it on Sunday. Tuesday I got it cut and then put the purple in. In case you are curious, it's Raw color, Purple Passion. Fair warning it smells like grape candy. Which, for me, was great! The smell of hair dye doesn't really bother me, but grape candy smells way better. Yummy smelling hair products are always a plus. There aren't any good pictures of the back of my hair after I put the purple in, so you'll have to deal with one of the pre-dyed ones. It was right after I had gotten my hair cut. The girl who did it did really well considering I could only give her a vague description of what I wanted, and that Nolan was on my lap being all cranky.

Labels: Baccarat Player, booties, Eiffel, Goddess, hair, happiness, knitting, project spectrum

09:28 | |