Kid Socks

So I placed an order at The Loopy Ewe this past week for a new knitting bag and it's absolutely lovely (I'll post some pics later when I get the camera out). I also wanted place an order for some yarn for the kids' socks, but they didn't have what I wanted so I waited (my lys doesn't have any mal either and only the more muted colors of 220). While letting the kids look through yarn tonight they totally picked Cascade 220 (which is what I made our other house socks out of so at least I know my gauge) so I placed another order. I should have let them look before I ordered the bag so I could have included it on my free shipping order, but I was an idiot and totally forgot that kids never pick what you think they will or want them to. We'll just call it an idiot tax this time since it isn't coming out of my yarn budget.

In the end M picked Pesto and A picked Magenta. I think I'll only need one each but I ordered two because I liked the colors together. I'm either color blind or crazy. Not sure which but we'll find out!.

Fevers, video games, and not a whole lot of knitting

Last week I got an earache that was compounded by all the pressure in my sinuses turning my normally black eye all sorts of weird colors (For about 3 or 4 years I've had a perpetual black eye, no one's ever figured out why). I managed to do a little bit of knitting on my clap but have been a little too out of it for hey teach. By thursday night M was acting odd and had a slightly raised temp but was fine Friday morning. By 5 am on Saturday morning he was 103.5 and miserable. Other than a little cough he's fine now but it drained the two days I was feeling better. Yesterday morning I had a sore throat but felt better by late afternoon.....and this morning the boy was all good to go to school but I feel crappy again. Seems my illness is trying to travel down my chest. I have a Dr's appt in the morning so hopefully all will be well soon assuming this isn't one of those things you just have to wait out. In the meantime, I still don't feel like knitting, but have taken solace in Left 4 Dead. In my marriage there isn't anything more romantic than duel weilding guns killing zombies with the one you love. So may clap may be a little stuck at the 5th dropped stitch, but the threat of zombie attack is minimal.

A scarf, a sweater, and final mittens

Even though I clearly declared the mittens finished and moved the Ravelry project to "finished", I still had to take a picture with the mittens together as proof that I can finish a pair of anything. I know I have accomplished the feat before but it's so rare and often so difficult that I need constant proof that it isn't as hard as I think it is. Here's my proof.



Here is a close up of the cable, I don't think I had taken one of these yet.



I have also made progress on my Hey, Teach! I was a bit afraid with the armhole decreases while still trying to do the lace chart, but so far my way is looking good as well as not messing me up any. I can't wait to bind the back off.



And a more broad view:


And I decided to cast on for another clapotis. I don't really have enough of anything to make a full sized one, but I do have 2 hanks of lorna's laces in edgewater that didn't work out for what I wanted them for. I figure I'll use the rule of fifths and just make it as big as I can.

First half of my cabled mittens

First half of my cabled mittens
Originally uploaded by Emmjae

First mitten done! I didn't even get lazy when it was time to do the thumb...usually that's where I suddenly become disinterested but I pushed through. I cast on for the second one last night and when I get my neglected laundry under control I'll hopefully get some work done on it.

As for size, it seems just right even though I didn't do three repeats of a row before around gusset set up time. I wasn't sure which row to repeat so I left it out. I also think I ended up well on the end, the pattern called for rows of the chart that didn't exist so I just started the chart over. Other than not ending up with the right amount of stitches (I somehow had one less) it all went well and I think it is a lovely mitten and I can't wait to wear them as a pair. I found myself laying in bed last night wondering if I should make a scarf and hat to go with if they're still making this color..... I'll have to shop around and see if I can find it when I have the $$. If not maybe a raveler is trying to destash my color.

Cabled Mittens

Day Three? Cable Mittens
Originally uploaded by Emmjae

Oh how I love my cabled mitten(s) and can't wait until they're a wearable pair. It's unbelievably cold right now and I'd wear them around the house if they were done. I'd even take a break from knitting just so I could wear them! Hopefully mitt one will be done tomorrow!

A little winter, a little spring....

I think my holiday knitting took a lot out of me. I haven't bought yarn in months and way more months if you count the fact that my last purchase was for Christmas presents. I think it's bummed me a little bit kind of the same way where everything you want to make for dinner is something you'd have to go buy. While I'm sorting out my feelings, I've started a few new projects to take my mind off things (and using the yarns my mom brought from my aunt's goodwill purchases).

I finished the other Better Bucket Hat that I was making for my mom and ended up giving it to my mother in law. I have another hank of the malabrigo I used and don't mind making the hats at all. Plus, my mom's climate is not as chilly as ours so it should get love much sooner.



My Hey, Teach! really hasn't made much progress but I'm looking at it as a spring knit, so I have some time.



Currently, this is my obsession. I really wanted mittens & they'll kind of match my hat in yarn and color, and by golly it'll probably be the only thing I wear this winter that could kind of look like it's meant to go together. I'm a lot further than this today, but haven't pulled the camera out yet.

One down, so many more to go....

I finished my second Better Bucket Hat and it's soft and gorgeous. As soon as the camera stops being a twit I'll post a picture of that and my Hey, Teach!. It's made with a Rowan tweed that's a little rough on the hands so it's a little slow going. I am through the first bit of the lace chart, so we'll see how it goes. There's a blizzard warning tonight into tomorrow so I'm anticipating a lot of laundry folding and knitting. I'm quite sure I can manage to cast on for the mittens I want in that amount of time. :)

Finished Clap

Finished Clap
Originally uploaded by Emmjae

I am so very happy that my Clapotis is finished! It was fun and easy and completely customizable for the size I wanted with the yarn I was using. I can't wait to make another one with a more delicate, drapey yarn, but for now this will keep me snuggly!

Christmas is over and life is slowly back to normal

Well if normal means that a lot of things seem to be going wrong at once.....

My mom surprised us with a visit on Christmas night. I haven't seen my mom in about 8 months, I think. Our visits average about once a year especially with gas prices as high as they were and us both in tight financial situations. My house was a disaster since we had tore through presents on Christmas morning and then headed to my MILs, back for a shower, and off to my FILs. So we got home and did an emergency super clean up and visited with my mom and her BF for a little while. The next day my mom wanted me to make spaghetti (supposedly I make good spaghetti, but it's not something I like) and after the oven had 'preheated' I found out that my oven was all but cold.

We had to replace our ignitor thingy which wasn't too expensive but was a pain in the rear to shop for. I ended up calling around and Sear's wouldn't give a price unless I gave them my name and all my personal info (which I refused), but a peek on their website got a price without signing over my first born. Their price was almost 20 dollars higher than I paid with a local business (would have been over 20 more with shipping I imagine- local place rocked and they have internet ordering if anyone needs it!). Lowe's was only a wee bit more expensive but shipping was unnecessary if I could get the part locally. So on New Year's Eve we got our part and E changed it out without incident and I once again have a working oven! He got lots of lizards for that one.

My mom brought me a load of thrift store yarn from my aunt which included yummy yarns including some I had never purchased because they're a little too pricey for my usual budget and some I didn't know existed. It's nice to have a surprise of stash enhancement since I haven't had the $ to purchase in awhile. So I started making my mom a better bucket hat (it's almost finshed now)

and will make her a Brighton Bag. I'm planning on making R a scarf, but I'm kind of waiting until he buys the coat he's after. I want to make sure it matches.

But first and foremost I'm working on a clapotis for the Newer Knitters Clapotisphobia KAL. Anyone is free to join us, we just started and it will run through March.

Another present done

I've finished A's set, the knitting aspect anyway. I need to hit up the craft store and get some elastic because the ribbing is too broad for her. I also want to get some ribbon to spiffy it up.

I've started making Mike a cabled hat and made the pattern myself so we'll see how it works out when I'm done. I'd like to be able to put up some patterns, but I'll need to test knit again to make sure what I wrote down works.