End of Year Meme

I saw this over on boogaj's Blog and thought it'd be cool to see! You list the first line of the first entry for each month. :) So here goes!

January Well the holidays are over, the tree is down and the presents all unwrapped.

February Yep, This is a quick/easy item but is so adorable.

March *Move along if you want your Rockin Sock Club Shipment to be a surprise* :)

April I took a day to bask in the glory of my Inside Out Socks.

May The Chevron grows...while the Walking on the Wild Tide went from a formative Grasshopper...to a time out in the 'Naughty Bag', back in a ball.

June Yep, alive and blogging again.

July Well we are getting ready for the haul to Texas.

August Yes, another FO I can't show you yet.

September Yep I'm slacker and slapping!

October Main Entry: hu·bris
Pronunciation: 'hyü-br&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek hybris
: exaggerated pride or self-confidence

November I think most people have heard the saying 'Like calls to like'.

December Before I was a knitter, I was a crafter.

This is an easy fun meme that gives you a glance back too see what was going on all year. :) If you decide to do it, leave me a comment so I can look too!

Do you St. Nick?

I grew up on the West Coast..or at least near it, (Las Vegas, Nv.) and I'd never heard of St. Nick's until I married my DH who was raised in Wisconsin. Then again I have no German ancestry.

The Germans are alive and well here in Milwaukee. They have one of the best, and the oldest, immersion elementary schools (began in 1977) in German. Many educators from around our country have come to see how MGIS works and modeled their schools after it. How do I know? My oldest went to MGIS (Milwaukee German Immersion School) for 2 years. And it's seriously immersion. Teachers speak nothing but German from Kindergarten (also a German word by the way..I'm started to feel like the dad in My Greek Wedding...) on, in the class room. The kids just pick it right up and run with it. It's amazing. We moved and my oldest moved schools.

ANYWAY

St. Nick's. On the evening of December 5th, St. Nick comes and puts candy and small toys in the children's stockings.
It's very popular here in Milwaukee.
My husband and I met in Denver and moved in together. Our first Christmas together he put things in my stocking and I didn't even realize it. Too funny! About a week later, I asked him if he put stuff in my stocking early..and he explained St. Nick's to me.

Last night he and I were awoken by our youngest (3) screaming, "St. Nick came! St. Nick came!" at THREE FIFTEEN AM. Urgh. We let our daughters look in their stockings and made them go back to bed. This year they had Slinkys, Silly Putty, lip gloss, Pop Rocks, and a cream filled Santa.

So? Any of you celebrate St. Nick's? Or have you at least heard of it??

Christmas Cross Crafting..

Before I was a knitter, I was a crafter. I've been a crafter my whole life and I think a huge part of it was kick started by Christmas. My mom has always decorated the house like mad for Christmas, before it was the norm and Christmas was shoved down our throats as it is today.

In early December, my mom would put a card table up in my room and I'd get out all my crafty stuff; glue, scissors, markers, construction paper and GLITTER. Oh ya, I think Christmas was totally glitter to me. I'd make handmade ornaments, cards, gifts etc. This started in 2nd or 3rd grade and I've had a love affair with glitter ever since. Oh and crafts too.


The tree is up and I was looking at some of the ornaments I've made over the years. It's fun to have the memories of creating them! The most recent CraftyPod made me think of these things.

My Family Advent Calendar

In Sister Diane's' blog she mentions her Advent Calendar, which reminded me of the one I have. I created it as a replica of the one I grew up with. It's made with felt and gold Ric Rac. The Ric Rac is the important part! It has to be shiny.
My mother would pin up 2 candy canes for all 25 days (for my brother and me) and we'd get to take one down every night in December and put up an ornament. It's such a highlight of my childhood that I wanted to recreate one for my girls. My mom got hers about 35 years ago at a craftfair. We were living in Spain at the time (my dad was a AF Pilot) and the fair was held by the military wives. All the ornaments were from around Europe and unique. My mom gave me a handful of the surviving ones for my calendar. I also made a calendar for my brother and his family with some of the old ones as well as some new. I'm so glad I made them, my kids love it.

I don't put candy canes up because my kids won't eat them, instead they get a dollar store gift each night. (Lip gloss, stickers, pencil...etc..) I've wrapped them each and put them in a sack. They close their eyes and pull one out. It's cool to give them holiday items they can actually use during the season! I hate giving them cute hair bows and things on Christmas, because then the season's kinda over!

I've started watching Needles Arts Studio on PBS. I like it since it has a variety of crafts. I've got a total itch to cross-stitch again. It's really fun, just not an easy craft for when you have little little ones but now my 'baby' is almost 4 so I think I'm going to have to dig out my floss again!

We are in the process of finishing our attic for our daughters to move into. The carpet will be installed on the 13th and we'll get them up their by the 18th. I swear it's a palace. Their room is over 800 sq ft....anyway when they move, /I/ get their old room! Well sort of..it's a guest room/craft room and I can't wait! I see a bit more sewing in my future as well as digging out various old projects of all kinds.

Attic conversion in progress

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I am feeling better and am no longer hacking up unpleasant things (ewwww). I haven't gotten into the swing of the holidays yet. I think that has to do with finishing the attic..it's just taken so much out of all of us! My husband and father-in-law have done all the work. They been working on it since we moved in last June, as in 2006. fun fun. Anyway, I'm thinking about taking a year off from the Christmas Cards...do you think I'll be struck down or something?

The knitting does continue. I've added two dishcloths to the pile. They are nice and easy..well except the cotton! I can do them for awhile, but then have to take a break from the yarn.



I've turned the heel on the first of mom's jaywalkers. I'm making them a tad short to ensure I don't run out of yarn this time.


Hope everyone's cranking along on their holiday knitting, if they are doing some!

Licking My Wounds...

I love to knit.
Really.
It just doesn't always love me..
Abby's sweater...damn...it was moving along well, so I thought!!
That's a picture of it when I connected sleeves to body, I knit about 5 inches into the yoke, had her try it on....and freaking ouch. The damn sleeves are too tight..it's all been yanked back, yarns reballed and two sleeves and the body jammed into a basket until after Christmas. I just can't face it and knitting is supposed to be fun. :)

So I worked on my Mom's jaywalkers on cold meds. Stupid is as stupid does. Yep had to tink back over 6 rows. It's in a baggie on top of the sweater in the basket. :)

I'm licking my wounds with some 'easy' knitting which I can't seem to get my mind around. It's ridiculous, I keep having to look at the pattern. Heh.

Hopefully this crappy sinus stuff will go away and I'll be back on the (knitting) ball again

Missed TurkeyDay..

It's very odd to be sick on Thanksgiving. I managed to get the kids and husband up and dressed and EVEN did that same. We went to his Aunt's house and I thought I was going to die. So after 2 hours of chitchat I did that fade to black thing. I haven't decided if it's allergies or a cold. It started on a day we got a nasty front and it's still up in my sinuses (TMI I'm sure).

I got up today, after being up with my projectile vomiting 3 year old. (TMI again, and she doesn't have allergies...) So it's been a rough holiday weekend here in mi casa. I feel all akilter, kinda like you can't have two if you don't have one first...ie you can't have Christmas if you don't have Thanksgiving first!

Family doesn't seem to agree with me on that, so with dripping nose and achy head we put the Fall decorations away and put the tree up (no ornaments as of yet) along with a spattering of other things. The hubby and eldest put up our yard decorations. I just looked at him and said 'I don't care, just get it done'. Hehe. He could tell I felt like crap. I don't think I'm going to decorate to my normal all..maybe it will just build to a slow peak over the month!

I did some Black Friday shopping despite being sick. I really wanted a new iron since I ruined the last one when I made A's witch costume. It had glitter in the fabric and stuck to the iron bottom, plus I've always wanted a Rowenta. I sucked up and tottered off to JoAnn's and boo his they didn't have one. I'm not too bummed because if they had had one I would have had to join the queue from hell!

I came home, looked on JoAnn's website, ordered for the doorbuster price and no S/H! Whoot. There I feel good.

How were your Turkeydays? Well I hope. I'm really looking forward to this Christmas because our 900 ft addition (attic conversion) will FINALLY be done and my Mom is coming to spend 10 days with us. I'm sort of excited, but won't be until it's alllllll done. I think all the trim is in now and we are just at the paint, carpet, and finish electrical (put the sockets in, the wires are there).
I'm going to have a stroke or a whole bottle of champagne the day that thing is done.!!

Hope all is well with you guys. I did major unknitting this holiday. Abby's yoke sweater was about 1 from being done on the neck and I had her try it on. It just doesn't fit. The sleeves/armpit area are too tight. The only way to make those bigger, it so rip back to the three tubes. Whee. Whee...not. I also screwed up on my mom's Jaywalkers and had to rip out about an 1 of those. I shouldn't try to knit when I'm sick!!

Why am I not surprised??

Grrr.
Hubris, which has been mentioned far more than I'd like in this blog, rears it's head again.
Things were good.
Now they are bad and I'm ignoring it. Literally. It's in a wad 0n the floor next to my chair.

The Yoke sweater was going well. The arms and body were connected, colorwork was planned and begun and knit knit knit. I'm about 2 inches shy of finishing, but I could feel it in my gut the darn things wasn't going to fit right. I put all the stitches onto a cotton strand and had my daughter try it on. The arms in the shoulder area are tight. The area before the colorwork and right after you join body and arms. UGH.

What does that mean? All the colorwork needs to go bye bye and I need to unjoin the body/arms to expand the top of both.

It's doable and I want a sweater my daughter will wear, so I'll get around to it, but DAMN it irks the hell out of me!! :D

So mom's jaywalker for Christmas is chugging along quickly..which is good...right???

Smokin Needles

Ok, so I'm not really smoking needles, but rather my needles are smokin because they are being used so much. I felt that was worthy of clarifying!

I'm finally knitting my first Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater. I've been a long time fan of hers, but just haven't made anything. I've started a Seamless Yoke from the Knitting without Tears book. It uses the EZ percentage system which is painless. The sweater is going to be for my oldest who is 7 so it's is knitting up ridiculously fast. The yarn is the workhorse Cascade 220 on 7's.


I had a couple of skeins of Cascade in my stash and Abby liked them. She helped pick out which would be the main color and added a few to the accent colors. I love knitting this color. It's Quatro in an apple green. I never would have chosen this for the main color, I would have gone with the more sedate periwinkle we have. But this is awesome! And now she's invested in the sweater and excited about it's progress.

I'm not planning on doing the whole 'knit like a maniac' thing for Christmas. If I have time and inclination I might do a few washcloths or dishrags, but I'm not going to stress over it. The only item on the Official Christmas List is another pair of socks for my Mom. I bought the yarn specifically for her at Stitches East. It's Socks That Rock Silkie in Midsummer Night. It's lovely reminding me of denim. I cast on for a pair of Jaywalkers. The pattern goes really well with the Silkie.


I can really tell it's the cooler months of the year. This past summer I feel like I didn't get much done, but now it's the knitting time of the year. :)

Brrrr November

Grey gray whatever..that's what it is outside! It may put a damper on outdoor activities and cause a bunch of chapped lips because the heat is running inside, but damn it seems to put the fire under my knitting!!

Here is the FO of Fetchings. These were what the rest of the Blogsphere has been raving about, fun, easy and rewarding to knit.



Specs:
Pattern:
Fetching from Knitty.com
Yarn: Sublime Ultra Fine Merino DK
Needles: size 7s
Started: November 2007
Finished: November 11, 2007

I was terrified I wasn't going to have enough yarn. This is ALL I had left. Seriously!!


I didn't properly write up the Waffle socks, so here goes!


Specs:
Pattern:
Waffle Pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: size 1s
Started: April 1, 2007!!!
Finished: November 7, 2007

I need to take a close up of the arches. My DH's has very high arches so I did a band of slip stitches on the sole of the arch. It helps keep them nice and snug on his foot and give him a feeling of support. He likes them, so all is good! Just need to add a the reinforcing elastic to keep the cuff from sagging.

Onward and upward! I've been wanting to tackle an EZ seamless yoke for awhile now. I also wanted to knit a sweater for my oldest daughter, so I went stash diving and came up with some fun colors in Cascade 220. After my success with my Perfect Sweater I know this will knit up just right. Luckily the daughter loved the colors and helped me lay them out. I went and bought 2 more skeins of the main color, the lime quatro.


I cast on last night and already have 2 inches on the body. Gotta love knitting a kid sweater!!

Hmm I think that's all for now! Gotta go knit on that so I can get to the colorwork. :)

More Volunteers

Yay! My color cards for the Knit Picks Wool of the Andes came. I ordered both the solids and the heathers. It's like insta-crack. All those colors, all the possiblities for projects..and so cheap, wait, I mean economical!

I finally *drumroll* finished the DH's socks! Yay yay!


He wore them to work the other day and they sagged a bit, so I need to go buy some reinforcement elastic. That will hopefully take care of that.

I've finished one of my Fetchings, in the amazing Sublime yarn. I want a bed made out of this, so I can roll around in it. It is so sproingy! And perfect for cables since there really isn't any halo. (By the way I do have normal fingers, not stubby weird ones! My nails are just a mess so I bent my fingers under.)


I need to finish off the other one and cast on for A's seamless yoke sweater as well as my Mom's second pair of socks. I think I'll be doing Jaywalkers again. It is such a great pattern. (Note on the photo. I DO have full fingers, not stubby weird ones ..I just bent my fingers under because my nails are a mess!)

As for the Volunteers that hopped a ride with my Knit Pick colorcards, here they are!
It's two skeins of their Essential in Fawn. I was surprised at the feel of this yarn, I really like it. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but it'll be a textured or cabled pair of socks since it's a solid yarn.

I'm so happy to have the stupid freaking socks done. Whew. I'm a bit between a project knitter and a process knitter. I love to knit. I can't stand to be sitting in my chair without something for my hands to do, but damn it's so nice to finish a project!!

Yarn calls to yarn...

I think most people have heard the saying 'Like calls to like'. Well I'm convinced that yarn has that same type of ability.
I was being so good, trying to destash and whittle down on the UFOs. I honestly didn't want more yarn. Nope, yarn is lovely to visit, but it starts to feel like a burden, just sitting there wanting to be held, caressed and knit. I'm not a fast knitter and I'm not one to have a million things on the needles at once. So my yarn is pretty much in a long line to be used. Now granted two of the following aquisitions are from the Rockin Sock Club so I don't think they count. One, they are sock yarn, and well everyone knows it jut doesn't count against stash. And two, they were paid for last December as a gift for me. But regardless, they are calling to new friends, which just seem to creep into the stash without me being aware.



This was my sole purchase from the Wisconsin Wool and Fiber Festival this past August. I've wanted to try out briar rose for some time. Their colors are breathtaking. This is their superwash sportweight in the grandma's blessing colorway. It's perfect for this time of year. I hope to make it into one of Cat Bordi's new sock pathways.

Next is the Flower Power colorway from the August Rockin Sock Club.


This one makes me sad. I hate it. As in despise beyond all belief. If I look at every color individually I don't mind it. But together..the blue grates on me. So this will be earmarked for selling next year...or maybe for a chevron scarf for a gift.

This was a volunteeer kind of...

I want to make the Equinox Pullover from the Fall 2006 Interweave in one of the Knit Picks yarns so I ordered a Color Card. I can't pay more for shipping than the stupid item costs! Luckily this Alpaca cloud said he'd come home with me. It's earmarked for a lacy scarf one of these days.

Ah the October Shipment of Rockin Sock Club. *drool*



How can this not speak to the inner Goth in us all?? It's so dreary and rich and complex. Yum. You'll pry this one from my cold dead hands ;) I can't wait to see the rest of the Raven Series that is going up on the Blue Moon Fiber Arts site on Monday. Not that I need MORE yarn, nope..I'm just going to look. (famous last words)

I desperately want a pair of Fetchings or some sort of fingerless mitt. I read on Crimson Purl's blog about how much her Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran was piling so I didn't want to use it. What's a girl to do? Go to her LYS of course. I only purchased ONE ball, and with a particular item in mind...so it's really not stash enhancement, no it's a future project. See the distinction? Isn't being able to rationalize such a gift?

I found this Sublime and OMG it's amazing. It's so soft and sproingy. I can't wait to see how it knits up. The reviews on Ravelry for this yarn are very positive, so I'm sure it won't be a trainwreck! Here's a link to a site that sells it.

So here's the whole lovely pile of yarn I wasn't going to buy, didn't need and love all the same!


Tucked under all that fiber is my current project. I'm plugging along on the DH's socks. I'm working on the heel flap on the second sock. I'm can't wait to be done with these. They've sat in the workbasket far too long.


I think the mitts will be next in line. I've also ordered a different colorcard from Knit Picks..and yes it's coming with some volunteers as well. *sigh* I'll snap a picture of that when it comes. :)

Yes, More FOs with various UFOs

Insomnia is still running rampant here since I'm attempting to not live with sleep medications. Ugh.
But my knitting continues to thrive. :)


We have some Trick or Treating here on the weekend before Halloween. Why? I've no idea and think it is bizarre. The kids love it because they usually go out twice a year. Anyway!
Here's a picture of my sewing FO. I sewed A's witch costume and she actually helped me. It was a lot of fun, though I think it's ruined my iron! The fabric has glitter in it and it seems to have stuck to it! V's a ballerina with things we pretty much just threw together around the house. :)


My next FO is a knitted one. The Foliage cap from Knitty.com in Malabrigo. Yum. What else is there to say about it? Quick and luscious.

Specs:
Pattern:
Foliage from Knitty.com
Yarn: Worsted Malabrigo in Verdeazul, less than 1 hank
Needles: size 7s and 5s
Started: October 2007
Finished: October 2007





And just to share, the funny arty ones were me Kinnearing myself and the last one is taken by my 3 year old. Yes she IS a better photographer than I am...

I dug through my pile of UFOs and decided to finish up the husband's socks. It was the first time I really ran into Second Sock Syndrome. Horrid thing, that is. This an old photo of the first before I finished it. I've just finished the ribbing on the second.


I only have 3(!) UFOs lying around now. Thank goodness for Finishitis! Just wish it'd hit more often. Here's a rundown of what's left.

Jaywalkers in Wild Tide Silkie from Blue Moon. I ran out of the yarn on the foot and need to order more. I just haven't felt flush enough in the funds department to make this happen. So it sits there on the needles alongside it's completed mate looking very forlorn.

Here's a shot of the second before I ran out of yarn.


Norwegian Gloves in various Dale of Norway Helio. I really like this pattern, but started it in the summer and the wool was just too hot to deal with. I picked it back up a few weeks ago, finished the first hand and was starting the fingers when I realized the FREAKING thing doesn't fit. The hand/palm portion is too short. I honestly don't know what the hell I'm going to do. I figure I can either add some random patterning on the hand to extend it, or repeat the main pattern and make mittens. I hate mittens though, so that's the crux of that.


Finally, the sweater that will never be.
I started making this for someone and realized it wasn't going to really be appreciated and put it away. I have a sleeve and the back done. The sweater won't fit anyone else I know so there really isn't a reason to finish it. I had a thought of making the back into a pillow. Just knit a plain back sew them together and put around a pillow form. I'll have to use the sewing machine and cut it down, which is never fun, but then at least it would be out of the closet and in use. And I'll use the bag of leftover yarn for something else, maybe a sweater vest for me...


So it's been busy here! Hope all is well with you. :)

Two FOs!

Yay for insomnia, kinda sorta...

I have two completed FOs!




Baby E's Sweater
Specs:
Pattern:
Raglan caridgan with Fully Fashioned Shaping from Debbie Bliss's Baby Knits for Beginners
Yarn: 2 hanks Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton in Pebble and 1 in Nut
Needles: size 7s
Started: September 2007
Finished: October 2007

And finally FINALLY my sweater!




Specs:
Pattern:
Perfect Sweater from Mason-Dixon Blog
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers and to hell if I can remember how many skeins it took...
Needles: size 7s
Started: November 2006!
Finished: October 2007

Whew. This sucker almost took a year! I used the picot edge with the v neck option. I also used darts for the bust. It fits great and will be a wonderful addition to winter wear!

I used some of my McGyver knitting skills when seaming the sleeves..


Those, my knitting friends, are little girl hair clips. They work so well for 'pinning'.

I got my Telemark color card in the mail today, so I'm dreaming up what colors to use for the Equinox Sweater. Also this week the Rockin Sock Club shipment came! Wohooo. I love it and will use the pattern included, but no spoilers here yet.

Insomnia is your friend?

Hmm,
Insomnia can be..it's amazing how much I got done late last night while the rest of the family slept. I cleared the Tivo of 3 hours of stuff (Numb3rs, Law & Order:SVU, Without a Trace), finished listening to a Librivox recording of Middle Temple Murder by J.S. Fletcher, finished the Monkeys for my Mom AND blocked the sleeves of my Perfect Sweater.

How terrifying is that?

Oh and I slept 2 hours.

I can't believe I'm still standing, and hope to be fast asleep in an hour or so. (haha)


Mom's Monkeys came out ok. They were SO close to matching, but my tension on the 2nd heel flap was a tad looser, so I ended up with more dark orange on the toe than the first. Stuff happens. :)

Hopefully I'll have 2 more FOs in a day or so. I need to deliver the baby knit and I should be done with the Perfect Sweater. Yay!

*tap tap* Is this thing still on?

Yes, I have been remiss at blogging. Life seems to come at me in chunks at a time, plus I need to get some rechargeable batteries for my camera. Which would be why no pictures!

Fall has, well, fallen here. It is beautiful and I think we are at the peak of our color. It's so lovely. I've been creating here and there. I made a witch costume for my eldest, finished the mystery baby knitting and am SO close to finishing mom's second Monkey sock. I haven't given the baby gift yet, so there will be photos to come! I have to get the sleeves for the Perfect Sweater blocked. Bad me, they just sit there in my work basket! Honestly I don't think it's cold enough for it quite yet.

Last night I ordered a color card for Telemark from KnitPicks. I'm am finally going to tackle the Equinox Yoke Pullover from Fall 2006 Interweave Knits. I've loved that pattern since the day I first saw it! Thank goodness for all that is Ravelery because there is no way I could ever have afforded to knit it with the yarn called for. It's so awesome to see how others have done it! If you aren't on Ravelry yet, get in line. It's worth the wait and it gets better every day since it's user input driven.



I'll let you know how it goes and hopefully have some photos too!

Shoes!

I've been hunting for shoes for the last 6 months or so. Finally finally it paid off. A local store here, Boston Store, had a big sale and I purchased these 2 pairs for a 100 bucks. :) The brown ones are pr!vo Tips and the black are Aerosoles Cinchworms. I don't plan on wearing the cinchworms with handmade sock, but had to model them anyway! :)

Hubris gets us all...

Main Entry: hu·bris
Pronunciation: 'hyü-br&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek hybris
: exaggerated pride or self-confidence

I know, I'll clean out my stash.
Look at that, there's got to be a sweater's worth of Wool-Ease there.
I know, I'll make my first EZ Yoke Sweater, cuz like..I can do that, I'm a Knitter.


That's the ticket, do the sleeve first until I can buy the right size needle for the body.

Get needle. Cast on 230 stitches. Join in round. Silently mock instructions of 'Don't twist'. After all I've knit so much in the round and have NEVER done that. 2 inches into the body realize it's freaking twisted. Try to frog, yarn gets knotted and toss whole thing in the damn trash (not the needles of course) after also realizing there's no WAY there is enough of this yarn for this sweater and the point was to stash BUST not enhance. Ugh.

Stash dive again and pray that everything turns out ok this time. Come up with Malabrigo and find the Foliage pattern from Knitty. Blog about it all and use annoying writing style!

Yes, I'm happy. I love my owner.

It seems to be working out ok. Let me tell you moving from Wool-Ease to Malabrigo...I have NO issues about abandoning the sweater. Malabrigo, damn it's really all that. This has been marinating in my stash since late last winter. I had intended on making Grumperina's Shifting Sands. It's a gorgeous pattern, but just didn't get me, so the yarn was put away until now.

I also had an FO over the last few days.
My 'Ugly Socks'.


Specs:
Pattern: Sock Recipe, Yarn Harlot
Yarn: Leftover Socks That Rock from Blue Moon Sauvie Island Socks
Needles: size 2 DPNs, Clovers
Started: September 14, 2007
Finished: September 28, 2007

I'm hoping the weather will cool down soon. I'm ready for 60's and 50's in the day and it's still hovering in the mid to high 70's. It's nice, but not sweater weather and I want to finish my Perfect Sweater but it's not happening until I can wear it!

Thanks for all the Spider comments. I didn't kill it, but damn if it wasn't gone the next day. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for that sucker!

Dude..

After walking my daughter to school, I came home to this.

*Edited to add - I think it is an araneus.diadematus, an orb garden spider. I'm completely grossed out and can't search the web anymore to get an exact match. As is, I'm going to have some serious nightmares. BUT last time we looked she (females are larger, so I'm calling her she) had at LEAST 10 skeeters in her web.


*edited AGAIN to add this. I still can't believe I got close enough for this one.



He's freaking HUGE. My youngest said, 'Have daddy squish it when he gets home!' I shuddered to myself and then said, 'Honey he's outside and that's where he lives. If he were inside, TOTALLY different story.'
Would I like him to move on?
You bet.
But do you remember this picture?


The damn skeeters are still around and these pictures come from the exact same place...so the spider stays for now.
I just hope he stays in view...I think I'll be more nervous when I can't see him.

Still around!

We had a teaser of fall, but are back in the 80's here in Wisconsin. It gets into the low 60's at night. I always notice the change of light this time of year, the angle and the color are so different than high summer.

Between getting kidlets to school, soccer and fun things like that, I have managed to knit a bit. My biggest accomplishment is... *drumroll*
I have finished knitting the Perfect Sweater!
Whooot!

As seen, the front and back have been blocked. I have also put them together and knit the collar. It fits like a dream. I was so afraid it would be crap after spending all the painful time knitting miles and miles and miles of SS. :P But no! It really is the perfect sweater so far.
I need to block the sleeves out, seam them and then place them into the body. I was doing fine, until our cool snap ended. 80 degrees and wool just don't go together. But I WILL get to wear it this fall. I'm so proud of myself I could pop. It's the most labor intensive project of any kind I've completed. :) I'll be sure to share official FO pictures.

Baby knitting has continued, but alas, can't be pictured here since the mommy's recipient stalks (views) my blog! ;)

I had to give the rainbow monkeys a rest. The colorway is just not me and I honestly don't enjoy knitting it. I'll finish the pair for my mom before Christmas, but I have to have socks to travel with. So the UGLY socks were born.


Granted, Socks That Rock can't really be ugly, but..it makes me smile to call them that. It's leftover sock yarn from my fair isle socks I made last year. I have more of the Covelite than the Rock My World, so I'm just doing random stripes. I weighed each ball before I cast on, so I knew how much of each I had per sock. It's rather entertaining to knit. Plain SS so you don't have to pay much attention, but the random stripes make it interesting. Needless to say they will be a fraternal pair!

While we were having our mini cold snap, we had a frost warning, I was able to break out the handknit socks. I honestly forgot how comfy and WARM they are. Love on your feet! Anyway here are my Sherbet Monkeys in situ!

I'm looking forward to this fall so I can break out more of the handknits. :)