busy bee

Things seem to be back to normal around here. All the evacuated are back home and still HAVE homes (for which I am thankful) and we've stopped staring intently at the television and gone back to having the history channel as background noise. In the interim we went to the punkin patch, where DD and Unga Dees appear to have had too much coffee...

And I have just about finished mom's weekend cardigan. This is the body. One sleeve is about done, I just have the other sleeve and some finishing to do. I'm not totally sold on this yet - we'll see how it blocks out and how the toggle clasps work... I may pull it apart and make some mods if I have time. Honestly, it's such a quick knit that it's hardly a big deal at all!

I'll hopefully soon cast on for the sister's cardigan, and I need to bobble for the bobble bag. Other than that, I'm in pretty decent shape. Last year this time I hadn't even started. Maybe this year my hands won't fall off. :D

world is on fire

If you've been reading this blog, you'll know we just got back from my brother in law's wedding in San Diego... Scripps Vista, to be precise. Everyone's out, including some other family I have just north of there. So we're safe, but I *REALLY* hope none of you are in southern California right now...

The all-purpose cardigan

My wardrobe is simple. I have a lot of very clean lines and single color items. So I tend to rely on accent items to spice things up - shoes, scarves, sweaters... Now that the weather has started getting colder, I'm relying a lot on tshirts and cardigans... ergo this lovely item is going to be a staple.

Behold the black CPH - superwashed, blocked, and currently being worn.
Pattern: Central Park Hoodie - KnitScene Fall 2006
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: Size 5 and 7
Colorway: Black

This knit up pretty tight - in fact, I was a little worried about the fit. But blocking made this soft, supple, and just the right size.

LOVE.

More shots - can you tell how much I'm in love with this sweater?

Utter madness

In light of the recent weather (it's 43 degrees and drizzling) I figured it was time to pack away the summer garments and bring out the nice knit sweaters. Plus I was cold.

Before I packed her away in cedar and lavender, I photographed the summertime tunic to give you all a peek. So here she is:

Can you see the difference in lots? I thought I'd picked out all the same lot number. Turns out they were one digit off. I didn't notice until AFTER I was done. Oh well. You can't really tell when I'm wearing it. And it's comfy and cool and ergo it's going into storage until weather permits.

I'm about halfway done with the weekend cardigan. I'm knitting the two front pieces and the back all as one... a zillion stitches per row but it's less seaming when I'm done (woohoo) . About a third of the way through my most recent row, however, I realized that I'm probably going to want to do some waist shaping. There's none in the pattern, but I think my mother will appreciate a more streamlined form. I don't think I'll mod much besides that, but we'll see. So far I'm quite pleased with the color and the knit. Hopefully she will be too!

stitch-o-rama

I spent my Friday night at my Nana's, organizing her knitting needles into the needle roll I made for her. That woman has a LOT of knitting needles. She also has a vast collection of the funniest old knitting books. Good heavens we used to knit ugly stuff! As I got chances I did rows on my second CPH sleeve - I got to the bind off row before I realized I'd royally screwed something up and had to frog back to the beginning of the decrease section. Boo. But the darling black CPH is on her way! I promise!

Stash enhancement has occurred over the last few weeks, which is soon to become stash dehancement (is that a word?) because I'm starting to knit gifts for my family. This lovely lady...

will soon be the weekend cardigan for my mother.

A nice deep cedar green (which I haven't ordered yet) will become a CPH for my sister, since she keeps wanting to borrow mine! >:|

And for Nana? Well, she is getting something special. She'll receive a nice bright bobble bag. Her love of bobbles is a standing joke in the family - once she knit my father a brilliant kelly green sweater with bobbles all over the front... it was hideous... in fact, I think I inherited that thing... Yep. In the laundry hamper. Anything Nana knits you is to be worn with pride, right? Right. Anyway, Nana is getting the bobble bag.

Speaking of the kelly green bobble sweater...

It's a little (okay, maybe a lot) more neon than this, I think the red balances out the green, but... yeah.

7 things...

Per a friend to knit with, I am considering myself tagged to rattle off seven truths. :D
Here are the rules:
1 Link the person who has tagged you 2. Tell 7 true things about yourself 3. Tag 7 new people
4. Leave a message with the person you have tagged so they know about it.

Here we go!
1. mildly ocd - runs in my family. i either knit obsessively or bake obsessively or play music obsessively. my sister's obsessive about germs... she cannot wear dirty socks, and once she spitshined our wood floor because she'd watched some show on dustmites!

2. cooktarded - i can bake like nobody's business, but bloody hell if i can cook. in fact, the first 6 months we were married, my husband wouldn't let me use the nice new calphalon pans, citing some incident i don't remember about setting the stove on fire trying to make rice.

3. musically inclined - i could sing before i could talk, and my parents finally put me into piano lessons at 3 1/2 after finding me writing harmonies to tv commercial songs. it's my only real talent.

4. compulsive list maker - i love lists. i love writing them out. i like making things neat and organized, and seeing them written out helps me focus.

5. furnace - i sleep extremely hot. enough that my husband jerks away if i touch him and the dogs won't stay near me for any length of time unless the windows are open and it's the dead of winter. my mother makes jokes about roasting marshmallows over me while i sleep.

6. schmoopy movies - i like crappy drama movies. not the made-for-tv-lifetime type movies, but movies like "the day after tomorrow" and "the prince and me". they're awful, i know, but it's great background noise and it's totally mindless drivel for when I don't want to use my brain.

7. early riser - no matter how late i was up the night before, i am almost always up by 8am. normally i'm up by 6:30 or so. i love it - i love the quiet and the smell of dew on the grass - or the frost in autumn - or the coffee if my hubby gets up before me. if it's nice out, we'll sit out on the porch and drink coffee and be still together. it's my favorite time of day.


Since I don't know if there are 7 people who actually read this blog, consider yourself tagged if you read this. :D