Thanks to everyone who sent me “better day” thoughts today . . . made me feel all warm and fuzzy and loved.
And it WAS a better day today, on all counts. It also doesn’t hurt that I found a soft, squishy package in the mail today when I got home! Yep, it’s yarn — the last 3 skeins of Kureyon I need for the sweater I’m going to make! Yippee!
That’s what I had today, a Bad Day. It really wasn’t any one big thing that went wrong (okay, there was one big thing), but there were lots of little and medium-sized things that went awry.
Here’s just a sampling, not the complete list: I had to do someone else’s job as well as my own today at work (I myself had a full, busy day on my own), I had a crappy lunch, we had a major catastrophe at work that seems to have been due to the actions of one of MY team members, I came home to find that one of my cats did something they shouldn’t have on the living room rug, my phone bill came and they overcharged me by almost double on my DSL, and the Hub and I didn’t get to go to the grocery store because of a flash flood — instead it took us half an hour to go 1/4 mile, and we were lucky to be able to get back home.
And that’s just a sampling. Sorry if I brought anybody down.
I seem to be doomed. I hope it passes soon!! Still no batteries for the camera, because they were on the grocery list.
I’m almost afraid to pick up knitting needles tonight.
Wow, I must be in super-productive-knitter mode! That, or I just happened to be at a good point for finishing several things at once . . .
Green Tea Three is Fini (say that ten times fast!)!!!
Here’s a crappy picture — I couldn’t get a good photo before my camera batteries died. The perspective is completely wrong . . . imagine it “taller” and less wide, please.
I tried it on, and it fits really well, yay!! I’m not sure I’m totally in love with the sleeve edging (single cast-on and only two rows of rib), because they flare out a bit, but I can live with it . . . it’s not like I have any extra yarn to go back and fix it, anyway! I think I will block the whole thing before I wear it in public, too.
I also have a finished Bottoms Up Bucket Hat:
The photo, as usual, doesn’t really do it complete justice . . . I love that the thick/thin texture of the yarn gave it an almost terry-cloth-like texture. Not sure if you can see in the pic, but the variegated colors formed spiral stripes up the side of the hat! And even though the brim almost killed me, I probably will make another one very soon.
What else? Oh yeah, I felted a Booga Bag and a Sophie purse in my washing machine last night . . . they are blocking right now and as soon as I get more batteries for the camera I will take photos. I’ll wait and post details with the pictures.
Oh, and I cast on for a sock last night! Yay!
My other big news is that I have a brand new nephew!! My half-sister-in-law emailed the Hub out of the blue (they had been out of touch for a while) with the news. I’m waiting for her mailing address so that I can send a baby hat or two. Guess I better start on that, too!
I just saw Fahrenheit 9/11, and I think every American of voting age should see this film. I was aware of a good portion of what is presented, but still sat in shocked silence, my jaw on the floor, stunned. It’s not often that I am at a loss for words, but even now, half an hour later, I don’t even know what to say.
This is what is making me want scream!
I’m further along than in this photo — I actually only have one row left with two strands before I drop one of them . . . multiple bucket-knitters have told me it will get much better at that point. And now that I’ve done some decreases, it’s easier to deal with. See the nice (?!) ruffling effect above? That’s because I have so many stitches jammed onto my 16″ circular needle — I think I would have been wise to start on a longer needle and then slip the stitches to the shorter one later . . . but really I’m not sure it would make that much of a difference. I think a lot of the difficulty is due to the yarn itself. I’m using Brushstrokes cotton, a nice thick/thin handspunny 100% cotton that doesn’t have a whole lot of “give”. But, there’s a reason behind my insanity! Ya see, I live in Texas, where it is over 100 degrees F for way too many days during the summer months. And in some cases summer here can last from March through November! So, the thought of wearing wool on my head in the middle of July makes me just want to hurl. Thus the cotton. And my ouchie hands.
But, enough complaining . . . I think that once I get past the painful part, it’s going to turn out really nice!
I’m knitting the brim of a bottoms-up bucket hat in Brushstrokes Cotton, and it is making me want to cut my hands off! Will I make it one more round with two strands before I can switch to just one, or will I gnaw off my own fingers to spare myself the pain??!! Stay tuned, film at eleven! (actually not, but there will be pictures tomorrow. Hopefully pictures of my hat-in-progress, not of chewed-off-digits).
The only thing keeping me in this project right now is that bucket hats are the only style that even remotely looks not-stupid on me, and I would love to have a cute cotton hat that I knit myself. Yep, vanity. A great motivator. Well, that, and the fact that I am just plain stubborn and refuse to let a little discomfort interfere with my thoroughly relaxing, enjoyable hobby obsession
Okay, I promise, no more boring pictures of my grandparents! I’m blocking the whole experience of last week from my memory for the time being.
Instead, I give you this . . .
The petals of my flower washcloth!
As you can see from the closeup, the petals are much more roundy and much less trapezoidal than in my first attempts. This seems to be due to the fact that the first time around, I wasn’t actually following the pattern, but instead was making up my own rules. Sometimes this approach does not work.
All was going well with my petals; after the first one the rest were actually kinda fun, and went really fast. Until. Yes, until. Until I finished the petals and had to transfer the whole gamoosh onto DPNs and knit the middle part. At this point, the whole thing ceased to be Flower Washcloth, and became the Dratted Flower Washcloth Thing™. My hands and neck and back are all cramped up right now, and I’m not sure if it’s because the yarn is kind of a bitch to work with, or because I was so tense about it*. Probably a little of both.
Anyway, I finished the Dratted Thing, and here it is just before its bath/block:
Pretty, yes? I think so. But, will I make another one? Hmmmm.
I have another skein of Cotton Chenille, in pale yellow, already wound into a ball just for this purpose, but I think I’m going to wait for a while before I do another one of these things. I don’t think my patience (or lack thereof) can take it.
*the tension idea, I’m not so sure about. Generally, DPNs do not make me tense . . . I really don’t mind using them.
P.S. I think I am finally almost caught up with my blog-reading from while I was gone last week!! Yay! Now that I’m no longer speed-reading, maybe I will have time to leave comments for all you lovely knit bloggers . . .
Wow, I was only gone a week, but it feels like I was gone FOREVER!! That’s what a week cooped up in an overly-warm house going through boxes of junk with your grandmother will do to you.
I was a mere 15-20 minutes away from the beach, and didn’t get to go once. Nope, my mom and I were stuck going through boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff that my packrat grandmother has been moving from house to house to house for the last, oh, 40 years or so. Trying to talk her into getting rid of some of it.
And my grandfather . . . well, let’s just say that he is fairly helpless, and that most of that seems to be an act to get everyone around him to wait on him. And he asks questions constantly about everything. Very tiring.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I went. It’s the first time I’ve seen them in way too many years. BUT, I am just a bit resentful that I took a week off of work and didn’t even go to the beach.
Here’s my Bomba and Granther in front of their house:
Aren’t they cute? Well, don’t let appearances fool you . . .
Okay, so the week wasn’t entirely annoying — despite my bitchiness about it. My mom and I really bonded over the week, and she and I stayed up giggling like 14-year-olds late into the night almost every night (we “got to” share a double bed). AND, I managed to find a lot of old family photos, which I took snaps of with my digital so that I can put them on disk and send to the entire family.
Here’s one of my favorite pics of my grandparents in New Orleans soon after they were married:
I’m not sure what year it is, exactly, but it was while my grandfather was stationed in Louisiana, and was before 1945.
In knitting news, I finished the knitting part of my first Sophie bag, and will be felting it (along with my Noro Booga Bag) this week, so pictures to come. I also got 3 petals done on my flower washcloth — I figured out what I was doing wrong to make the petals come out trapezoidal, and fixed it, so my petals are now much more roundy and much less pointy.
OK, I’m off to work on the last petal so that I can take some pictures soon!
Back from Florida . . . got some knitting done (but not as much as I’d hoped). Unfortunately had no internet access at all — drove me nuts! Photos to come, but now I have to go get some sleep — I just got home from the airport.
See y’all tomorrow — I’ll be spending my day catching up on all the blogs I’ve missed reading (oh, and figuring out what has happened at work since I left)!
I’m off to (hopefully) sunny Florida . . . I hope I packed enough knitting stuff (heh, I packed about 6 different projects . . . I think that’ll do it).
Not sure if I’ll be online while I’m gone — if so, I’ll see you from the beach!
Cheers!