mamacate

There might be mittens

First of all, people, best birthday EVAH.  It started with a sweet and lovely snowfall and attendant kid euphoria, then was followed by the kindest act of comment pimping possible, and was capped off by my coworkers throwing me a rocking surprise party.  I confess I was completely unable to deal with being surprised, and was eventually given a talking-to by one of my colleagues, who told me to shut up and do as I'm told, which still didn't stop me from completely ruining the surprise.  But there were margaritas and a homemade cake with butterfingers in the frosting (I know!) and some of my favorite people and tapas so I was a happy camper.  What a great birthday.  Thanks and thanks and thanks again.

Black Friday may mean shopping for many, but for me it's the start of holiday knitting.  The situation of two schools and a crew of teachers and aides means further complications.  And of course my first project, a pair of fetching mitts made with handspun, will need to be frogged.  I knit one and it's just a little too "swamp thing" for a gift.  I'm pretty sure this teacher will get the value of a handspun, handknit gift, but you know, it just doesn't work.  Frog pond.

More successful so far is a pair of pirate mittens for Mr. Henry.  He seems to like the finished one (though pronounced it "yarny" in a way that was not altogether positive, though I think he was responding to scratchiness).  Me, I like 'em.

And back to it...

I forgot my blogiversary but getting older is harder to miss

So I don't think I mentioned that I'd been doing this blogging thing for three years in June.  So now it's three years plus.  Thing is I'm not doing it that much anymore, so I'm not sure how impressed I can be with myself at this point.  It's hard to have something to say for that long.  Aren't you sick of me?

Anyway, don't answer that, because tomorrow (Tuesday) is my birthday.  I'm a rather boring age, 38, but that's okay, because it means I have a little while until I need to start thinking about being 40.

There have been comments from certain quarters about the need to observe the wild sweater in its natural habitat.  My rack, that is.  Well, that's part of the problem.  See it took me a few wearings to really come to terms with the fact that the neckline is too wide and too low, and the raglan is too long and I will probably need to do something involving scissors and weeping and possibly also alcohol.  There hasn't been time to come to terms with it. 

Love steeking, love it, but the downside is that if you fucked something up, you're screwed because you've got yourself one-row strips of yarn there to work with.  Ain't no frogging.  I have evil thoughts that involve cutting and seaming around the shoulder tops but I'm not terribly optimistic.  --Deb has been down a similar road and it hasn't been easy.  I will probably put the sweater in time out for a while and wear it, because it's just barely wearable, but not quite nice--not as nice as I believe it should be--before I bend it to my will.  I'll let you know when I get there, I promise.  Heck, maybe I'll cut it in public again.  Anyway, learn from my mistake.  If you knit the larger sizes, make the neckline WAY smaller than the pattern suggests.  If I rip and re-knit, I'm going to remove a whole pattern repeat.  Did I mention I made the neckline over an inch higher than the pattern called for?  Yah.  Row gauge was fine while knitting, though I haven't had the heart to measure it post-blocking.

Oh right, did I mention a picture of my rack?  Here you go:

I might entertain exhortations to leave it as is, but you'll have to see me wearing it and tugging at it before you can be sure.  Anyway, pretty colors, huh?

In other news, Ellie got a new scarf.  Laura talked me into buying this insane roving from Heather at the Fiber Revival, and when I got home with the skein, which I spun at the Revival, Miss Ellie declared that it would be hers.  She preferred a Faroese shawl, but a quick calculation had me convincing her that a scarf would be a better choice.  A brief negotiation on the topic of fringe had the deal complete.  Two short evenings of knitting, a little fringing, and we've got a happy girl.

Of course, she's also decided that the scarf makes her a rock star.  I tried to point out that she was already a rock star, but it can be hard to talk to rock stars sometimes, especially when they're rocking out.  See?

Just so that my son does not suffer the combined indignities of not being the current recipient of knitwear (don't worry, it won't be long) and of not being featured on the blog in all his cuteness, I give you a picture of a couple of best friends.

Can ya stand it?

In wheel news, I have divested myself of a very well-loved wheel, because someone else loved it better.  The Norm Hall needed to go back and live with Sara, which is okay because it's too similar in function to my other wheel.  I've already used some of the proceeds to pick up a used Schacht, which so far rocks my world.  I'll probably hang on to the Lendrum for travel (maybe...maybe not), but the Schacht could easily become my primary wheel.  I just like spinning on double drive.

I think I'll go do just that.  I need to come up with some solstice gifts for teachers, plus I have a deprived child who has no currently fitting knitwear.

Actually

I'm not dead, but thanks for asking. No, I'm still here, at least in theory. In reality, my presence is mediated by a) continued special ed insanity that breaks my heart because it has been hurting my kid, but happily I think we're almost at a point where we can feel confident that they're through messing around with him. Then there's b) the job, which gets crazier every time I turn around, but at least it's still entertaining, that is when I'm not having a nervous breakdown. Help is on the way there too in the form of additional staffing. Finally there is c) my regular life, which is really chaotic enough as is.
So you might well imagine that I have much to report including a sweater,some new projects, a new-to-me car, and the departure of a wheel. But right now I'm stealing a few moments on the Treo at McD's playspace (desperate times, school vacation day, partner away on business...you do the math). I do promise to try to post, but can't promise when.

Black hole

Two sleeps to Rhinebeck. This would make me happier if the constant knitting was actually resulting in progress toward a finished sweater.

My crystal ball says I'll be blocking at the marriott, but only if picking up the neckline ribbing in the car goes well...

No promises...

(posted from the treo)

I think Typepad expired my cookie

It's been a while.  Sorry about that.  Typepad even forgot me.

I learned something new: if you have a kid in special ed, September is not your favorite month.  It was a mofo.  It's not over yet, despite it being October, but I'm hopeful.  Today was a good day, and we're in one day at a time mode.  Not going to blog details, just saying I'm not just quiet because I'm busy.  Sigh.

Panic, stress, and hysteria do sometimes result in knitting, and if I can avoid tempting the knitting goddess here (maybe she can consult with the IEP goddess and they can come to an agreement that my life has sucked enough already recently), I might have something special to wear to Rhinebeck.  Shh.

Which is to say that yes I'm going to Rhinebeck.  (Dammit.)

Back to it.  It might come down to the wire.

Autum Rosiness

Hey, I took a picture.  See?

That's about 1.9 sleeves.  I've got a few more rows of the second sleeve, then I can cast on for the body.  Now this sounds like more of an accomplishment than it actually is, since they're 3/4 sleeves, and it's a raglan-style construction, so you knit to the underarms of both sleeves, knit the body, and then knit them all together in the round. 

It's one of those patterns that has just the right kind of pacing to keep someone like me going.  There are no overwhelming black hole sections (at least I don't see any)--there's always a benchmark near to mark your progress.  I can't stop knitting it which is a nice change given all my UFOs.  In fact, I think I'll go back to doing exactly that.

To distract you, I'll show you the amazing costume finds from TJ Maxx today.

You Go Girl!

Little do they know that this is actually basically happening in blogland already.

Go figure.

And now for some updates.

Knitting update:  I've got a sleeve and a half of Autumn Rose.  I love the thing more every day, and no longer worry that it won't look good on my non-waifish body because Anne looks positively smokin' in hers.  There's lots of detail on my ravelry project page that I will reproduce here when I have some photos to share.  I'm in that project-love phase where none of my other projects matter.  MS3 might get UFO'd.  I love it, but don't want to knit the wing, and knitting the same part over and grafting doesn't make me all excited anymore.  Dunno.  We'll see.  The shetland triangle is the only one that has a chance with me right now.  Well, there are always socks.

Vacation update: What do you call a vacation with cold weather, a blown transmission halfway there, republican in-laws, and a bed in a damp basement?  Yeah, me either.  On the upside, we did have one and a half nice hot days at the lake (the other half of that day we had to drive 4 hours, oops), a fun day at Story Land, and some good knitting/reading time.  I'll try not to whine too loudly.  Being back isn't as brutal as I feared, so that's a relief.  Next vacation: December.  With in-laws.  Then another in February...also with in-laws.  (I do love them, but hmmm...)

Erm, my lunch hour is almost over and I haven't gotten any food, so this is me signing off...I do have this idea for tessellated fish and some kauni and a kid sweater.  I just have to figure out what I did with my charting software.

Revived

A kidless sunny weekend day in a breezy musical courtyard full of wool and friends.
Revival indeed.

New Obsession

I saw this a while back and had to have it.

It was a long wait, but it's out now.  My box arrived today.

I've already cast on for a sleeve swatch.  It's love.

Speaking of love, I got my Ravelry invite yesterday (I know, I know, I just kept telling myself I didn't have time for it...until I decided that didn't matter any more than it did for any of the other things I don't have time for).  I've set up a nice little camp over there already, and I'm not nearly done. 

When I photograph the entire stash and put it on Ravelry, that's when you can send the white coat people (which you'll probably do when you see the stash anyway).  For now I'm totally grooving on browsing projects, checking in on friends, and cataloging my favorites.

Life, as usual, is hectic.  I have, however, reserved a seat in the Marcy-mobile for some sort of fibery happening this weekend.  It will be a perfect kick-off to a long-awaited weeklong vacation in what has turned out to be a very busy summer.

Can't wait.  Hope to see you there.  For now, here is a kid pic--it has been a while.  If Robin looks familiar, that's because he is.  Sara was here for a week and the superheroes made the upstairs safe for humanity.  Thank goodness.

The Plague's Not as Fun As You'd Think

I really should stop tempting fate.

I read some blog post a while ago about someone who was laid up sick and who got a lot of knitting done, and I thought to myself, self, wouldn't it be nice to be laid up sick and get a lot of knitting done?

Well, I got the former all right, but not that much knitting came out of it.  That's because when I get sick, it's not usually the mild sniffly drive-by kind of sick (okay, I don't actually slow down for those, this may be why), but it's usually the asleep for 20-hours-straight kind of sick, and this was one of those.  I woke up for an hour or two, then tried to knit and went right back to sleep.  Fat chance.

A few rows were knitted on the MS3.  Not so much as you'd notice, but more than were in this picture.  I'm a fair bit into clue 3, let's say.  Way behind most of the rest of y'all but what would you expect?

Yes, and now my computer can't even post a photo.  Some stupid explorer window that won't close.  I'll put it up there next time I'm in a quiet space on the home computer with no kids climbing on me.  So, that should be in the next six months, I'm quite sure.

Never mind, I'm going to bed.  Just a shout-out to let you know that I'm (almost) alive.  Thanks for the wonderful dialogue on the Serious Stuff post.  Don't worry, I won't be doing too much of that.

PS: I've also been knitting socks.  Shocker!