Noteworthy...

Ok, so the Steelers won their 6th Super Bowl. Life is good in the 'burgh. While I am a big fan of the team and the town, it is doubtful that I will ever willingly refer to our city as "Sixburgh." I mean...really? Must we? 

I continue to go to the gym and enjoy kickboxing and martial arts. This week featured exquisite pain in the form of bruises on my chest, arse and arms, as well as the practice of techniques that required a level of physical intimacy with my two young, male classmates that was previously reserved for my husband. Fun times! LOL

Went to the doctor this week to follow up on my too-high cholesterol results from six months ago. The doctor was appropriately enthusiastic about my recent weight loss. I'm anxious to see how the exercise and weight loss of late has affected the cholesterol numbers. They damn well better be going in the right direction is all I can say!

And in the she-looks-so-grown-up category, the girlie's first pair of glasses came in. We picked them up today. She likes them and is very excited about how well she can once again see!

Lastly, the knitting continues (though I have no new pictures to back up that assertion, sorry). I'm up to the toe on my first Blackberry Jam sock (lots of waiting room knitting this week on my designated portable project). Am about one-third done with the Rivolo scarf in my handspun. I'm on the second ball now, which is decidedly more green than the first...no idea how this is going to look when it's done, but I'm enjoying knitting it. Very fun and easy to memorize pattern. And I'm about two-thirds finished with the afghan block I'm working on for my swap. It's taking much longer than anticipated, but hopefully I'll get it done this weekend. 

And now it is February...

Ok, so it was February when I posted my last post too, but the Steelers' Super Bowl win took precedence over commentary on the changing page on the calendar. Now that the initial six-pack hoopla has died down (at least here in my world...here in the 'burgh? Not so much. But at least I think the stupid college kids in Oakland have quit flipping cars and setting things on fire.) 

So, after my dedicated thirty-one days of finishing work in January, allow me to recap my success. At the height of my WIP count (as chronicled in my Dec. 16 blog post), I had 17 active projects on the needles. As of midnight, February 1, I was down to eight. I'm pretty happy with that! I cut the WIPs in half with knitting, plus one project relegated to the frog pond.

Now the question is...can I keep the WIP list from getting outrageous again? Heh. Time will tell. So far I've only added one new project to it, my Rivolo scarf that is for The Loopy Ewe Spring Fling KAL. The theme of this month's KAL is Knitspot/Anne Hanson patterns (as Anne will be one of the teachers at the Fling this year...cannot wait to meet her! I love her designs, and her blog is always enjoyable to read, too.) 

I decided to use some handspun for this project, and the brown/green BFL from Briar Rose seemed the perfect choice, especially as it is the only handspun of my own I have enough of for the project. And so...

Bias much? Oy. You'd think I just took the picture lopsided, but no. Thanks to my hyper-ly overspun yarn, this puppy is biasing like...something that really biases a lot. (Ahem.) The fel of the yarn actually reminds me a lot of the Ellyn Cooper Fine Merino I'm using for my Ribbon Lace scarf (although without the major spinning inconsistencies), as that is also a very highly spun yarn with a lot of bounce. I had the hardest time finding a project that yarn would work for. The Ribbon Lace scarf is biasing a little as well, but not nearly as bad as this. However, hope springs eternal as the plan is to give it a good soak and block the crap out of it when its done. Either way, it's my first project being made entirely out of my own handspun, and of that I am proud! I do love the colors...it looks so mossy. The texture is making the pattern a little hard to discern at the moment, but again...a good blocking should help that out in the end. 

I decided to rip the (whole two rows) of that other two-row scarf I was tempted to make. My main motivation for making it was that someone I see occasionally commented enthusiastically on my two-row scarf, and so I felt instantly compelled to make one for her. The thing is? I hardly know this person. I see her now and again, and while I'm all about being generous with the knit goods, I have no way of even knowing if I'll see her again while it is scarf-wearing weather. So. No scarf. I didn't have good colors for it for this person anyway. 

So, in addition to Rivolo, I've been working on my next afghan swap square, which is due out by 2/14 (no pictures of that yet as it is a surprise), and during the Super Bowl, since I needed mindless knitting so I could concentrate on the game, I worked on my Swiftly Turning Afghan, which has been languishing in the corner for quite a while.

I do love this afghan, just a simply garter stitch, back-and-forth thing, but it is that same simple garter stitch (on big needles) that gets old fast, so I don't end up working on it a lot. Plus, since it is so long and it takes so much time to get through one row, it feels like I knit and knit but it never grows! I did probably add three or four inches to it during the game, but there's still a long way to go. Still, I look forward to the day when it is done and I can curl up in it because I love the colors and it is so soft and warm! (And for the record, I'm using some of my own handspun as one of the yarns in this, too!)

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

THE STEELERS WON THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!!

WOOHOO!!!!!!

We are very, very, very, very, very, very (is that six yet??)

HAPPY!!!!!!

Photographic challenges...

Two things it is nigh impossible to take a picture of...

...yourself spinning, because really? Drafting is a two-handed affair...and...

...yourself wearing a sock. (Ignore the horrible late-night lighting and the huge mess on the table! Thanks!)

After the rough start to my day, I did manage to get rid of my family settle down and find my happy place, which today happened to be in the living room with my spinning wheel. Right in front of the living room window really is the perfect spot to spin during the first half of the day. The sunlight (when there IS sunlight, and at this time of year that isn't a given, but today there WAS sunlight, so, bonus!) streams right in the window and makes me happy and peaceful.

I feel like a cat, you know? Cats love to curl up in a spot of sun. That's one of my favorite things about cats. They'll seek those spots out. Anyway. I love to just sit in the sunlight and spin, watching the flyer go around and practically sparkle as it does...sparkle like a sugar-coated vampire (if you've seen the Twilight movie, you'll understand the reference). 

(Yes, I realize I've just posted three pictures that are not all that dissimilar. My day might have improved, but I'm still sleep-deprived. And yet...it is just past midnight and I'm still awake. That should seem wrong to me, but it doesn't.)

As for the sock...I finished it tonight, right around 11:30. So, while I was still overly optimistic in hoping to finish the complete pair of Socktoberfest Socks by the end of January, I at least finished the first one. I'm pretty happy with it, even though I have one error in the cable, which no one will be able to see when it is under a pant leg, but I know it is there. (There is one in the other sock, too...I'm nothing if not consistent.) 

I'm not sure I'll get the second one done tomorrow, which was my plan when it was clear I wouldn't be getting it done today. Cable charts and the Super Bowl really will not go together well, especially since my STEELERS will be playing! Woohoo! Might need to find something mindless to work on during the game. Perhaps that two-row scarf? Hm.

And just an aside...despite my sleep-deprivation and subsequent crabbiness, I did get my butt out the door and went to the gym this afternoon. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my gym? I always feel so good when I come home! I needed that today. And while my weight loss came to a crashing halt for the better part of the week (and even had the nerve to back up and add a few pounds back on...grrrrr...), I remain optimistic and motivated. So, yeay! :)

Saturday, people! It's Saturday!

It is Saturday.

I couldn't sleep.

Our mattress totally sucks. 

The husband was on my side of the bed.

In an act of self-preservation, I got out of bed before 7 a.m.

(Did I mention it is Saturday?)

Then my family got up.

My family is noisy in the morning.

(They...talk. And want the TV on. Gah!)

I hate noise in the morning.

In an act of self defense, I made homemade pancakes for breakfast.

(The sooner they eat, the sooner they might leave and I can go back to bed.)

Everyone is now gone.

I am now fully awake.

(Crabby, but fully awake.)

It is not yet 9 a.m.

This so does not bode well for the rest of the day.

:::sigh:::

It's another language...

...those crochet terms. Ach! Every time I encounter them, I am flummoxed. If a knit pattern calls for some element of crochet beyond the basic chain stitch, I either try to fake it or simply find a way to ignore it. Neither is a good option, because really? A bit of crochet in the finishing of a garment can really make all the difference!

Thus it was with my Scarf on a Whim. The official pattern name is Ribbed Scarf with a Crochet Edging. So, yeah, you'd think I'd have been prepared for the crochet part, right? Uh huh. I finished knitting the scarf last night and attempted the crochet edge. It was so wrong. I was using the wrong size hook for one thing, and I was too tired to go downstairs and dig around for the correct one. So I ripped out the errant edging and called it a night. My final thought was, "Maybe it really doesn't need the crocheted edge! It looks nice with just the eyelets!"

This morning dawned with a hint of sun in the sky and I looked at the scarf again. Yes, it looked ok without the edging, but I was sure it would look much better with it. So I dug around for the right hook, sat down and tried again. This time, however, I was baffled by the terms...double crochet, triple crochet...eh? Seriously? My crochet is limited to chain stitches and granny squares, the latter I can do only because I have the process memorized but have no idea what the stitches are called.

Finally, after buggering this edging up a couple times, I did what I should have done from the get-go and dug out my crochet stitch dictionary. Aha! Pictures and explanation! What a novel idea! In no time, I had that edging done, and darned if it didn't finish the scarf off beautifully. LOL


It's a little on the short side, as I like my scarf lengths to be, but it is pretty...elegant, even. And I just love the Rowan Felted Tweed! I've wanted to make something from it for so long (in fact, I have a couple sweater lots of it stashed away). It really is a fabulous yarn.

So, another FO! That brings the WIP count down to EIGHT! And there are still a little more than two days left in January! You know what that means, right? It means I have time to try and finish one more project. I'm leaning towards the Socktoberfest socks...I think they'll go quickest, even though they are a cable pattern. The February Lady Sweater is my other possibility, but I've got so much bad karma knit into those freakin' sleeves already that I just don't want to tempt the knittig fates into messing up my finishing run here in the last leg. So...socks. I think that will be my final finishing goal this month. Then it will be February and I can cast on something new! LOL (I'm so sick, I know...but I make no apologies.)

Honestly, in order for me to ever get any good pictures of me modeling my own knitwear, I have GOT to get someone in this family to learn how to use my digital SLR! I tried to give the girlie a crash course today, and this exasperated expression on my face is the result of how that went. :::sigh::: Who knew it was so much to ask to have the entire knitted garment in the picture, as well as my whole head, and to have it in focus? Gah.

And sometimes you just have to persevere...

After my ruthless frogging post yesterday, I was playfully accused of using whatever means necessary to get that WIP count down. LOL Yeah, well...that's not entirely untrue, I guess. It would have worked better had more of those rip-victims actually been on my active WIP list. But hey! Eliminating projects that have no future and hold no joy is just not a bad thing in my mind. In fact, it is an act of mercy to spare the yarn your ill-willed feelings while knitting it into something you don't really like anymore. No fiber deserves that! (Well, maybe some really crappy acrylics do, but...ahem...)

Anyway, today I opted for the opposite of ruthlessness and decided to persevere instead by finally finishing that damn green purse. Honestly, I don't love it. I mean, it's a cute pattern, but I'm not wild about how it turned out. (For the sake of full disclosure, I substituted yarns and I know it would have worked much better in the original yarn that was called for, Berroco Suede.) I could easily have decided to just chuck it into the Goodwill bag as it was and been done with it. But I figured, hey, I have the fabric for the lining, and I could easily sew in a snap as a closure rather than fidget with a zipper. So that's what I did. I added the tassle and called it done.

I still don't love it, and I'll never use it, but I have a 12-year-old girl here who was most happy to accept a new purse out of the blue today, so it's all good. LOL

So, between the frogged No-So-Basic-Black yesterday and the finished purse today, my WIP count is down to :::drum roll, please!::: NINE!!!!! I made it to the single digits, and I've still got three days to go! 

Granted, I think I was being a tad overly optimistic the other day when I indirectly posited that I could complete the purse AND a scarf AND a pair of socks by the end of Saturday. I can tell you now, that just ain't happenin'. No way. Now how. But if I can at least finish EITHER the scarf OR the pair of socks, then I'd be very, very happy with my January Finishing Extravaganza. (As it is now, I am just one "very" happy about it...but then I'm known to be an overachiever.) 

The silly thing is that I know my single-digit status is going to be short-lived. I just know it. I mean, there's that silk/mohair tube scarf waiting in the wings to be added back to the active list. And there is the two-row scarf I started last week and then immediately slapped myself on the hand and didn't even add it to the WIP list (nor have I touched it since...it is in time out for my own sake LOL). And then there is this...

It's Anne Hanson's Rivolo pattern, for which I happen to have the perfect (I think) yarn -- my recently handspun Briar Rose BFL. The Loopy Ewe Spring Fling group (Ravelry) is having a KAL in February, and the theme is Knitspot patterns. I have two of Anne's patterns that I've wanted to try, so this will be perfect! 

The only thing I'm noticing is that of the three hanks of yarn I ended up with, none of them are similarly colored. LOL This has nothing to do with Chris's dyeing and everything to do with my ignorance about how to divide roving for spinning. Instead of dividing it lengthwise (as I now know is what you're supposed to do), I kept whopping off chunks of length, then dividing those lengthwise (follow?), so I have one hank that is very brown, because that part of the roving was largely brown, then another than is brown and green, and the last is mostly green. My solution to this is that rather than trying to alternate skeins every couple rows as is recommended when working with hand-dyed yarn, I think I'm going to knit using the yarn in that order...the brown hank, then the brown/green, then the green...and call it a design feature of the scarf. LOL 

What can I say? Rationalizations R Us! ;)