It occurred to me today that it's been 164 days since I last hugged my husband.
75% done with sock swap socks.
25% done with yarn-tester socks.
30% done with Connor's blanket (still might finish it by his birthday).
Salivating like mad over my Colinette, dare not touch it until all projects with deadlines are complete.
I have the coolest husband EVER. (Read the comments)
By the way, pookie, I have it set so that all comments posted get emailed to me, so I find your hidden nuggets of joy pretty quickly ;) But I LOVE LOVE LOVE it when you do that!!!! You're the best husband anyone could ever have.
The first of the two Colinette Absolutely Fabulous kits I ordered arrived today: Rhapsody in Blue. I decided there was too much purple and removed the skein of Skye in Pale Plum and replaced it with a skein of Prism from the blues palette pack I'd received earlier. The colourway is unmarked, but it's very similar to Summer Berries.
What's really fun is that I've been collecting random skeins of Colinette that I found at low prices on eBay to make a throw of my own colour design. I've decided which skeins to use for my creation and am very pleased with how it's looking. I'm calling it "Wildflowers" and here is the color scheme:
A: Giotto, Marble Colourway - shimmery rayon and cotton tape
B: Mezzotint, Renaissance Colourway - chunky weight wool with slight slub
C: Isis, Cezanne - shimmery and soft viscose
D: Fandango, Burnt Ochre - chunky, fluffy cotton
E: Chenille, Dusk
F: Wigwam, Monet - cotton tape
G: Boucle, Heather - no sample on site
H: Chenille, Dusk
Pretty, pretty!
So I hopped on the scale this morning and realized I've lost 20 pounds since Spence left. WOOHOO! I have another 15-20 pounds or so to go until I'm back at my happy weight, but I'm still pleased. My trouble comes from being on the pill for 4 months, gaining 40 pounds, going off the pill, and then deciding to get pregnant before losing that 40 pounds. But still, I'm shedding the weight so much faster after Matt than I did after Connor and it's nice to be looking thin again. Even though I have a ways to go, I don't *look* like I have a ways to go, and it's nice.
And I'm doing it through a combination of exercise and the diet that comes from being exhausted, yet busy, hence the title for the entry.
Ok, that was funny.
I got a letter from my bank asking me to call them about recent activity on our card. I did so, assuming it was about my recent purchase in the UK, which it was. The operator verified the store and amount with me and noticed it was a yarn purchase. "I'm a yarn freak myself," she said.
So we get to talking and she admits that she crochets, but doesn't knit. I tell her that my mom taught me how to do both when I was a kid, but I only liked the crochet because the knitting frustrated me. I'd just picked up the knitting again a year ago (a YEAR already?!?!) while pregnant and now was a total convert. As it turns out, the woman had had the *exact* same experience, except hadn't tried knitting again. She said, "Ok, now I have to try it."
Then I went on to tell her that I'd bought yarn from the UK because it was the cheapest source for Colinette, roughly half what it costs in the States, even with shipping. She got all excited and wrote it down, asking me how I'd found it. "I'm a cheapskate with a cable modem, " I said.
Hehehehehehehe.
41 days!
Ok, so NOW I'm 50% done with the sock swap socks. I did the first sock in the pair and just wasn't happy with it. The gauge needed to get the correct size for the pattern was just knitting up too loosely to do the pattern justice. So no matter how lovely, soft, and springy Norwegian Sport is, I started over with a different yarn (which yarn is a secret until my sock buddy has her socks).
It's a heavy DK yarn and it's turned out a completely different sock. Definitely winter socks, but I like them much better than the sport weight. I'll make some socks for me out of the sport weight with a more suitable pattern (and a tighter gauge).
Just one more sock to go!
I also decided to make myself a halter top with this pile of navy blue cotton yarn I had lying around. It's the very quick Cleo pattern from Knitty. Just three days of work (while doing other projects as well) and I'm about 70% done. I'm doing the full-back version, of course, having had 2 children and not being in the 50% of the female population graced with elastic skin. I can thank my mom for the lack of elasticity genes, but I can also thank her for the knitting talent, so I think I'll just keep my mouth shut :)
And not a word about me knitting a halter top less than two months before I move away from Hawaii and into upstate New York.
P.S. Twenty-two weeks down, just 6 more to go. And I should be getting another phone call any time now :)
what foolish creatures
mortals be to hold it when
they need to pee. oops.
So I get this phone call. It's this guy telling me how *great* I am at purchasing and paying for magazines, particularly with my VISA card. "Crap," I think. "It's a telemarketer." Only he was a really, really bad telemarketer. It was the most obvious reading from a piece of paper that I have ever heard. Even the lines that they're supposed to make sound like offhand comments were so stilted and forced as to actually make me feel embarrassed for him.
So then he says that I've been entered into a contest with cash prizes and "Someone. has. to. win. it. so. it. might. as. well. be. you. right?" I am silent. I let the pause draw out to the point of being awkward. He says nothing. The Script says for him to wait for me to say "yes", and as long as I say nothing, he knows not what to do. He is bound by The Script.
So, I say, "What's the point of this phone call?"
Egads! That's not what The Script said I would say! Could the all-powerful, all-knowing Script be...wrong? Such things cannot be! If one cannot have faith in The Script, what is left? I could hear his brain struggling to process the fact that I had defied The Sacred Script. He audibly stammered for so long, I actually began to felt sorry for *a telemarketer*. He finally spoke with quiet shame:
"I was going to promote some magazines." I told him I wasn't interested, he said, "Ok then," and we hung up.
It was so sad! I actually wanted to call him back and give him some pointers, try to buck up his confidence, something! I mean, what's left for you in this world if you sink to the level of telemarketing and suck at that, too?
That has nothing to do with anything. I just watched "Shanghai Noon" last night and now that oh-so-catchy tune is stuck in my head. Writing songs that stick in a person's head is true immortality, yo.
But anyway.
So my Suki Tote has become the Sucky Tote. I am very displeased with what happened when I felted it. Or tried to felt it. It just got fuzzy, barely shrunk at all, and you can still see the stitch definition. Of course, it's a bag, so still useable. I'm just having a hard time bringing myself to make the straps for something so disappointing.
Lesson One: Bartlett's wool not good for felting.
Lesson Two: It would be really smart to swatch and felt BEFORE using up 4 skeins of wool next time. I just kind of assumed that any 100% wool yarn would felt up nicely. But you know what they say about "ass-u-me"...
If anyone has feedback on felting Bartlett wool, or wools that ARE good for extensive felting fun, please leave a comment!
I finished Makayla's blanket and have mailed it off to the appropriate in-laws. Huzzah! I took pictures and will put them up when my computer is working again. No, it's not fixed yet. I just haven't felt like it. Wish I had a better excuse, but I don't. But hey, when your husband is on deployment and you have an 8.5-month-old infant who is highly mobile in an apartment that can't be babyproofed, you don't get much free time. And you might not want to spend that free time wrestling with wires and drivers and network cards that disappear when you need them and reappear when you don't.
Especially when you could be knitting.
So. On the needles:
Connor's Blanket
Plymouth Encore in Delft Blue with Colinette in various blue colorways
Basic feather and fan pattern
18% done.
Sock Swap Partner
yarn and pattern a secret for now :)
50% done
Socks for Mel
Regia Plus Cotton Mystery Color - label says #55, but it looks like Jacquard 5173 (white/grey/blue/turquoise)...not knitting up into what I'd call a jacquard pattern, but it's pretty.
my own pattern
2% done (if that)
Socks for Devon
Regia 4-ply Ringel in Clown colorway
basic sock pattern
20% done
(I'm thinking about starting these over and doing a more interesting pattern....hence, the stalled progress)
54 more days :)