A Little and A Lot

I got around to taking a couple pictures today. I should have been taking more pictures lately. Maybe a few to capture those special moments, like Jem's 9th birthday. (Which was last Friday.) Or when Pepper fell asleep next to Scout in her crib. Or maybe when Shawn was sprawled out across the bed when I got up for a drink of water at 4 in the morning. (He adamantly denies that he does not cross the halfway line when we are sleeping in the middle of the night. What a liar!)

But in all honesty, the camera has been the last thing I've been thinking about grabbing and using. Instead I've been trekking away at some of my FO's. The ones that I just have to get done. Or the socks that I owe my Hogwarts Pal in about 2 1/2 weeks. Or the package I had to send my Secret Pal because I couldn't make it to the Post Office in time. Or how about paying the bills and credit card accounts because I've been lagging when it comes to signing the checks. Yes, my friends, I am in deep! (But don't worry, I paid the rent and the bills. I am working on those socks. I sent my package out after waiting in line for 30 minutes yesterday. I'm finally back on top of things!)

I've even been reading. So much in fact that last night, while reading, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, I stayed up til 2 a.m. just to finish the last 100 pages. I was half way there and then decided that I needed to finish it and find out what happens. It was worth staying up for. Next on the list, besides the few Yoga books I wanted to check out, (I want to be a little prepared before I take the class), is a 932 page autobiography on King Henry the 8th. (I blame such an undertaking on "The Tudors", on Showtime, and Philippa Gregory and her books on him and the Boleyn family.

But onto the knitting.

I finished the Rowan Flood Sweater a couple weeks ago. Here's the, (crappy), picture of me, (wearing it in 109 degree weather):

Last night I finished the Rusted Root Sweater by Zephyr Style. And then something bad happened. A hole. In the back. Near the top. I think Pepper has been messing with my knitting. She certainly likes yarn. And my Namaste bag. Little devil!

And a close up of the leaves lace panel.

Rusted Root by Zephyr Style

Needles: US 6's for the body, (circulars); 3's and 4's for the ribbing

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton in Gray

Mods: Instead of using 4's for the ribbing on the bottom, I did 3's for a little bit of a tighter rib. The ribbing on the neck and sleeves were done with 4's.

I'd definitely knit this again. In fact I was looking at some Cotton Ease at Michael's today and I'm thinking that the Navy Blue would look quite nice.

Now onto bigger and better things...I've decided to start the Wicked Sweater. In the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK that I had ordered for the tank in the Spring IK. (Since my gauge was off, I decided that this would be perfect for Wicked.) Can't wait to start!

I'm still working on the Charlotte's Web, but I've given up hope that I will finish it by the time my neighbors leave. So I'll be sending this baby off. I'm also working on the sleeves for the Debbie Bliss Diamonds Sweater for Scout. I'm 12 rows short of finishing the first one. I'm a knitting machine!

It's Been a Long While

By now, I'd usually have posted something about knitting. But, we have been quite busy. Not busy doing things that we want to do, rather things we need to do.

But I'll talk about the things that I want to do, before the things I've needed to do. First up are my Hogwarts Socks for my pal. This is what I'm getting myself into, just on the first sock:

This is what it should look like on the right side:

No, through the magic of computer technology, the ends have not been weaved in. Nonetheless, they will get done. (Eventually.) Especially since I have one more sock to go.

Two weeks ago I started the Rusted Root sweater. This is where I am now:

I tried it on last night, after putting the sleeves on scrap yarn and doing some heavy duty stitch holding. (29" circular needles do not fit over a 42" bust!) The 40-43 (size Large) fits wonderfully, if not just a tad too big. I'm sure once it's completely knit and blocked it will fit perfectly. I really am enjoying knitting from the top down and already am looking at knitting Zephyr Style's Wicked. I'm debating on what yarn to use and if I want to make the front pockets. They are cute, but quite inconvenient to knit. We shall see.

So, in other news. Last Thursday I had three doctors appointments to go to in the Valley. On the way home, at around 12 p.m., in around 95 degree, (if not hotter), weather, the car overheated on the freeway, about 3 miles away from our house. Not only did it overheat, the engine completely blew out. We are in the process of looking at used cars, but what a pain in the butt. We knew that it would happen soon. But it would have been nice to not get stuck on the freeway, (where there were no on ramps, off ramps or call boxes nearby, and I don't have a cell phone so go figure), with Scout after she just had 4 shots! Luckily, karma being my friend, a woman saw my car overheating and offered us a ride home so I could get the baby home and get the car towed. The piece of crap is sitting in the garage! Argh!

We named the kitten Pepper and she is a pip! She and Dalton are finally getting along, though Dalton puts her in her place. She loves to sleep in between the two body pillows that are on the bed, so we have to be careful when we lay down because she's still so small. But she's a lot of fun and loves yarn, just like me. Though I don't eat it. I smell it, I admit. But I don't smell it.

Jem is officially on summer break and officially driving me crazy. I suppose it doesn't help that we don't have a car that we can just get in and take off in. But he's really driving me nuts. I bought him a Paint by Numbers kit, thinking it would keep him busy with all the details. Oh no. He decided to just paint. Not by numbers. *sigh* Summer school starts next Monday, but they are not offering bus transportation from the house anymore. Normally he takes the bus that picks up right outside. But for summer school, they want us to take the kids to their homeschool and then they will bus the kids to the Academic Academy. (Which is pretty much the same distance as the other school.) Anyway, if we don't have a car by then I won't be able to take him. (It's too far to walk with the baby.)

Speaking of the baby:

Scout had her 6 month check up last week. Can you believe it? Almost 6 months! She now weighs 17 lbs. 2 oz. And is almost 26". She's laughing all the time, which if you check my Flickr accout, (on the right), you will see some great smiley pictures.

We've been swimming as much as possible, and even Shawn joined us. (He has the thing about public pools, I don't blame him.) Scout is a big fishy. She loves the water and her canopy boat. I can't wait to take her to the beach.

Right now her thing is sucking on her monkey toes:

I'm almost completely done with my UFO's, which is nice. Now I can start on some new stuff, like Wicked or Rhiannon by Cookie. Oh, and another Charlotte's Web for my neighbors 9 year old daughter. Who, by the way, I taught to knit. She's a crocheter and she's doing very well for learning how to knit, left handed too. (I am right handed, but she had a better go at it when she did it left handed.)

So that's what we've been doing. Oh and my swap. Go join my swap! It's gonna be uber fun. LOL. Uber!

Rusted Root

Way back in September I bought the Rusted Root pattern by Zephyr Style. In October I bought a few skeins of Rowan Wool Cotton in a pigeon grey color. (Wool Cotton is my fave and the fact that I saved a few bucks on it made the deal all the sweeter!) Nonetheless, no matter how easy the pattern could be or how nice the yarn was I still hadn't knit it. I did make a swatch. To my dismay, I wasn't knitting to gauge and I'd have to go up to size 7's, (instead of 6's).

But Friday night came around and I went to the Stitch and Bitch at Simply Knitting, with a new swatch, (that was knit to gauge), and the goal of at least starting the pattern. However, I didn't start the sweater at the SnB. I did have a chance to show off my newly finished Charlotte's Web, (which by the way, I blocked last night and it makes a big difference in size), and I worked on Scout's Debbie Bliss Diamond Cardigan. (More on that in a moment.)

I left around 8 or 9 and when I got home I cast on for the Rusted Root sweater. This was my first attempts at knitting a sweater in the round, and I must say that I'm quite pleased. I especially like the sleeve increases. Very nice and linear.


The lace pattern is very easy as well. (Can't beat that.) It's a 15 stitch, 10 row repeat. (Even numbered rows you just knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches.) I like the repetitiveness of knitting in the round and a little bit of excitement when you get to the lace panel. It's kind of hard to see at the moment, (I blame lighting and positioning), but the lace panel makes the stitches turn into leaves.

So I'm happy. (And the reason I started the sweater was because I'm awaiting the last skein of yarn to arrive from England so that I can finish the Rowan Flood sweaters neck.) And I don't believe that socks count as a project. (I can justify almost anything.)

So Friday night I didn't really get too much done. In part because I was talking a lot to the other ladies and in part because, (ssshhh, don't tell anyone), I wasn't feeling the vibe from some of the women. I was talking to my neighbor about this the other day and how I felt "out of place" when I used to go to the scrapbook crops. Sometimes there are some people who look down on you and make you feel like you aren't good enough. Unfortunately that was how I was feeling Friday night. On the flip side, one of the girls there that I talk to told me she'd meet me on Thursday so she can help me with my crocheting for the Ripple blanket that I intend on starting. And I could sure use the help. (I don't do the increases/decreases so well.) Anywhoo, I did finish the front to the Debbie Bliss Diamond Sweater. And I did a three needles bind off for the shoulder seams. All that's left to do are the sleeves and a little bit of seam sewing.

I really like this pattern. This is the third time I've made it. The 6 row pattern is really easy to memorize and it knits fast. (Gotta love baby knits.)

In other news, I took our new kitten to get her vaccines and she's doing very well. We've named her too. Pepper. She looks like a Pepper. She's gotten very comfortable living here. She likes to hide behind the couches, inside the TV stand, (where the CD's are), and in my knitting bag:

Yes, in my knitting bag. I caught her taking a cat nap there this afternoon when I cleaned everything out. And she likes yarn. A little too much I think.

Dalton hasn't really warmed up to her. But we did catch her trying to play with his tail and he trying batting at her, (without the growls and hissing). There will come a day when he loves her so much and we'll catch them curled up together. Until then...

Scout is doing quite well too. We had a nice, (too short), weekend. Most of it spent at the pool. I took Jem and Scout swimming. Scout really likes you to hold her in the water, rather than just sitting in the little boat. But she was especially happy when Daddy got in the pool too. Not much else happened over the weekend, except for a little Secret Pal shopping. Can't tell you what though. (Don't you just hate a tease?) I'm not sure if I will do the next round of SP though. I had a lot of fun with whoever is spoiling me. But the person I'm spoiling doesn't really respond to my emails. (And it's so hard to buy for someone who says to get them, "whatever".) For some reason I don't get very active partners. But that's ok. My SP has made this round a lot of fun. (I still have some chocolate leftover, can you believe it?)

Other than that, I am now participating in the Knitting Lingerie Style KAL. I think my first project from the book will be the Bedjacket. Very pretty. My Hogwarts Socks are coming along. I need to cast on for the second one and get the package off to it's owner. I still have a month, so I'm good. Lots of projects in the que, just need to find the time and the right yarn!