Random Yarns

Crazy Days

Things have been pretty busy around here. I haven't been doing a lot of knitting lately. The Tina Shawl is to the border now. I've been trying to get on it, but I find the pattern very difficult to remember. I might have to consider changing to a different border. I can't keep checking the chart over and over on each row. One 17 stitch row took me 4 minutes to finish.

We've begun house hunting. Ugh. I hate, hate, hate this. I have visions of buying some kind of hideous money pit, or eating Top Ramen for dinner each night and sitting in a dark cold house because we can't afford to heat the place. My husband and I aren't on the same page yet. I found a house that love. He can barely tolerate it. And the same thing goes for his favorite choice. I don't like this process at all.  We were hoping to stay in Dover, NH, the town we're in right now, but its a bit too expensive for our budget. Looks like we'll have to go one town further north. I guess that's OK. Its just harder, because I don't know that area at all.

I've been working a lot of nights up at Starbucks lately. Its good, because I could use the money, but bad, because it means that the moment my husband walks in the door, out I go, not returning until after 10PM, reeking of coffee. Very good for the relationship, don't you think? I've picked up 3 extra shifts, working 6 days this week. There's been a strange bug going around affecting the college students I work with. Its called finals week.

The rain around here is driving me crazy. Yesterday was nice, so I took a photo of the blue sky to remind myself that it can't rain forever. Its raining again today. Will it ever stop!! Locked in a too-small apartment with two slightly psychotic, over-active boys has been more than a little difficult. They're either running around chasing each other, then errupting into a horrible fits of coughing (remnants of the cold-that-never-ends), flinging legos around the room, or jumping on the furniture.

I'm Not Dead...

... just really busy. I can't belive how long its been since I've read anyone's blog, or posted to mine. I miss you all! Look for a post on Tuesday. There's not been a lot of knitting going on, but there's a few things to report.

Painfully Slow Progress

Work continues slowly on the Tina Shawl. This is "true" knit lace, meaning there is yarn-overs and  knit-two-together's on each row. This makes for much slower going. My  husband says I scowl when I'm working, since I'm concentrating so hard. For your viewing pleasure, I present a picture of the unblocked lace. If that interests you, I can arrange to send you a photo of paint drying for your personal use.

At first, I felt like I was making good progress. Then I looked at the complete pattern photo. Not going as well as I thought. The red arrow is where I am.

I love New England's psychotic weather. This is what I woke up to on Thursday morning

And what it looked like by the end of the day

Saturday had a little bit of excitement for us. At about 10 am Jon noticed that there was water leaking in from the window around the frame. You can see the dark line where the water came in.

So we called apartment maintenance. They came right over, and discovered that the empty apartment above us had a huge water leak, with at least an inch of standing water all over the floor. The apartment next to us, which is empty, had water running down from around the fire sprinklers, out of the electrical outlets, and pouring off the chandelier. It was a disaster. The water began coming under the wall, soaking our carpet, puddling on the kitchen floor, and generally making a serious mess. I'm so glad we aren't financially responsible for it! They sucked up the water, and gave us a fan to run for the next few days. It still smells kinda musty, like wet newspaper. Its the soaked wallboards. I sincerely hope that they don't end up with mold out of this. Thankfully, we won't be living here forever. We're in the process of beginning the a search for a house to buy.

I began my first day of work at Starbucks on Saturday. They were slammed, and after a short bit of instruction, they put me to work making Frappuccino's. I did that for an hour, then went on to their computer based learning module about cleaning. Ugh. I now know more about cleaning the Condiment Bar, mopping floors, sweeping sidewalks, taking out the garbage, and 6 other places than I ever wanted to.  I have a tendency to dream about whatever it is I'm learning, be it spinning, a new computer program, or a blended coffee drink. I made Frappuccino's all night long in my sleep.

Things are getting ugly

The lace has entered the ugly phase. Where it looks like a used Kleenex, and the photos are unimpressive. You'll just have to suffer through with me.

The center panel is knit back and forth on size 6 needles. I have only bamboo needles, and the yarn dragged too much. I had to trot off to my LYS and pick up a set of Addi Turbos. Damn, those are expensive needles at $15. I like the cable on them well enough, but I'm not overly fond of the points. Truthfully, I'm partial to my Susan Bates, at $5 each.

I spent 90 minutes picking  up the stitches around the center panel. 120 stitches on each side.  I'm still in love though. I can't wait to finish, to block the mess, and have the lace reveal itself to me. Maybe that's why I'm finding myself so enamored with lace knitting now. That magical transformation that happens. You pull this wrinkled mess off the needles, and soak it. Now it looks worse than ever. You spend and hour on your hands and knees, fussing with pins, pulling, stretching, pinning, measuring. And you stand back to look. Loh and behold, an unbelievable transformation. Far better than Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality

I start work at Starbuck's tonight. I have to wear a uniform of sorts; black or khaki pants, and a black or white collared shirt, they provide the green apron to go on top. Well, I don't own any clothes that fit the dress code, at least nothing I'm willing to have coffee splattered all over. So I went on a hunt. I went to WalMart, K-Mart, Macy's, JC Penny's, Kohls, and Old Navy. But I couldn't find anything less than $20 (I'm feeling cheap). Then I remembered Goodwill. SCORE! Check it out:

Brand spanking new, still had the tags on it. For $4.99. Got a shirt and a second pair of pants also.  Think I'm going back again later.

Here's a good Ryan-ism for you... The kids and I were eating blue  Marshmallow Peeps. You remember these things, don't you

Ryan bit off half its head, so that it only had one eye.

He holds it up to me and says "Its a pirate! Arrr!" I fell off the sofa laughing.

Ever used a Sweater Stone? I got on yesterday in the mail, and tried it out. A bit messy, but works better than anything else I've ever tried. You can get one on special from the manufacturer right now for only $5. Check it out. And they ship fast too. I mailed my check less than 2 weeks ago.

Baby, its good to have you home

It was such a long week, with you away in Boston. The nights were lonely. I had no one. And now you're back. And I'm so happy to see you!

And hubby, I missed you too. (Mwah!)

Lots of pics to share.

The visit from the in-laws went well. I like them, though the dynamic changes significantly when you throw their son into the mix. But that's another issue.  Check them out, playing soccer in the back yard with Alex, while Ryan picks dead weeds.

The weather was so beautiful, Sadie was bummed to be inside.

I did some spinning. This is a luscious piece of Blue Faced Leicester. Yummy, yummy. I got 3 delicious pounds of it for Christmas from Copper Moose.

I was shooting for a lace weight, but instead ended up with 245 yards of fingering weight. However, I am very, very pleased with this yarn. It is soft, and fluffy, and even and lovely. I'm dying to spin up some more. I don't have a pattern in mind yet. Maybe a lacy scarf or shawl for myself. I'm trying to figure out dyeing. But I'm scared. I'd hate to ruin all that loveliness.


My pattern for the Tina shawl showed up, and I got right to work. I can't believe how fine the yarn is. Its more than 7,000 yards per pound, which puts it on track with Shetland Cobweb. Here it is for comparison, the top is the Artisan Merino. The middle is the yarn I used for the Flower Basket shawl., and the bottom is Lion Brand Wool Ease.

I got right to work. I'm in love. Isn't she beautiful?

This is the center panel. Next comes picking up 480 stitches around, and knitting on the border. I can't wait.

The Happy Slob

By nature, I'm a slob. I can overlook piles of newspapers, overflowing garbage cans, dust bunnies under the bed the size of elephants. I just don't mind having my stuff heaped around me, like a nest. In fact, there is some kind of weird comfort in that for me. A confirmation that this space, as humble as it may be, does indeed belong to me, and the things in it are mine.

I'm even comfortable with letting a certain few individuals see me in my natural state. Umm, actually I can think of only one. And his place is worse than mine, so that's why I don't mind too much. I don't even like my parents seeing my place messy. I ask them to call me before dropping in so that I can have a few minutes to stuff dirty dishes into the oven to hide them. And my husband hates a messy place too. So I work to control the chaos somewhat. Keep it so that I can escape the house in event of fire without tripping over some personal detritus.

My husband is away on business this week, down in Boston for training. Normally, I'd spend this time lounging around, working on knitting projects, allowing the mess to pile up naturally, and then go on a cleaning binge at the last moment, to pull the place up to passable in the last few moments before he walks through the door.

Instead, I've spent the day doing my least favorite activity: Cleaning. I mopped and waxed the kitchen floor, disinfected the master bathroom, picked up, dusted, and thoroughly vacuumed the master bedroom, even going to far as to clean the fingerprints off the TV screen, and vacuum the cheerios up from under the dresser (not sure how they got there).

Next I tackle the kid's room. And the second bathroom. And dust the living room. And finish cleaning the kitchen.

Why this frenzy of domestic activity? In-laws are coming. They've not seen the kids in a while, and are arriving on Wednesday to visit for a few days.  And while here, since my family of four has only a two bedroom home, I'm putting them up in my bedroom, and I'll sleep with the kids.

Gotta run. Mr. Clean is calling my name.

Problem Solved

I figured out how to mirror the corner detail from one side of the Eris pull-over to the other. A close look at the panel showed that the central design is reversible.

So that made me wonder, could I just continue working across the bottom of the hem, and then repeat the chart for the other side, making a few adjustments to make it fit? Turns out that, yes, I can.  So instead of working each corner from the top down and grafting stitches together at the hem, I started at one corner, and with only a few changes, continued all the way up to the other corner. This way the there's no difference in texture when I switch from Slip-slip-kit to attach the border to Purl-two-together-through-the-back-loop. Here's the result. The center of the hem is curling pretty badly. Hopefully after blocking it will lay flat, and not creep up in the center like it is now. (crummy picture. Sorry 'bout that). I'm actually pretty proud of myself.

Now I'm in the process of figuring out the math to shorten the sleeves to fit my tiny 4'11" mother's arms.

The American Cancer Society has a promotion called Daffodil Days. My hubby's office had a fundraiser, where for a donation, you got a bunch of daffodils and a teddy bear. He bought them for me in celebration of the end of my treatment. Look how lovely!

The bear has the most unbelievably soft fur, and is cute as can be.

And look at the details on his feet

And speaking of cancer, I got a call from the hospital today. Good news! The scan I suffered through last week shows no spread of my cancer. I think I might be officially cured, but I'm not sure. I know have to be checked every year for at least the next five years.

I'm beginning to feel the urge to spin again. I have boxes of roving received for Christmas put away right now, and my thoughts wander frequently to them. Cheryl and June have been doing a lot of spinning, and the sheep in me is dying to follow along (Sheep. Get it? Herding instinct and wool. Yeah, weak joke). I'm forcing myself to finish off the Eris sweater first. If my pattern for the Tina Shawl ever shows up I'll start on that soon too. Oh, there needs to be more hours in the day!

Over the Rainbow

Finally finished the rainbow socks. These are such happy socks, that I feel good wearing them.

Yarn: Opal Mexico  Color Number 5001

Source: EBay

Needles: US1

Gauge: 10 sts per inch
Well, my feet feel good at least. The rest of me is feeling pretty crappy. I have a miserable cold, and (forgive me if this is Too Much Information) cramps from hell. Ah hell. Just finally get over the whole  hypo-thyroid misery to be struck down with some horrible bug. And since misery loves company, I've also infected little Ryan. He woke me up by coughing and sneezing in my face, then saying "I sick". No kidding.

I'm beginning to feel like I'm climbing out of Hypo-hell. I'm obviously not the only person going through this. The number of people who surf onto my blog with thyroid related searches is pretty impressive.

So now its back to working on Eris. Eris has an asymmetrical bottom. There is a Shirt-tail like detail that appears on one hip. But my mother doesn't like that, and asked me to mirror the detail on the opposite hip. I worked it as suggested in the Mods section, but I wasn't satisfied with its appearance. The Slip-Slip-Knit doesn't look the same as the Purl Through the Back. The grafting isn't great either. You're grafting top-to-top in a ribbed pattern. When you graft what is essentially two cast-off edges (with out doing the cast-off) together, you're always going to be a half-stitch off. This isn't a problem if you're doing stockinette. But in this case its a rib pattern. And the grafting shows. So I've been working on a way to continue the pattern all the way around. I'll work on that some more tonight, and tell you what I come up with.

 

Overheard in the grocery store last night:

Two teenaged girls
Girl 1: I left my I-Pod on his desk on purpose tonight.
Girl 2: Girl, why did you do something so stupid? Now you have no tunes.
1:   I'm gonna call him tomorrow, ask if I can come get it. Then I get to see him again.
2:   Oh Girlfriend, that's smart! I wouldn't have though of that.

I smiled at this exchange. Each generation thinks that they invented leaving something behind on purpose to see him again. I did it. My mother told me that she used to do it. My grandma said she did it with my grandpa. Once I purposely "lost" an earring in a place where the guy I was seeing would be certain to find it. When I mentioned later that I lost an earring, he looked slightly guilty, but never volunteered that he found it. Maybe he wanted a souvenir. I still wear the mate, and remember him.

Sniffle, snort, whine

This post is whiney. You've been warned.
I've caught a cold. Its both in my chest and my head. I feel stuffed up, congested, and miserable. I also feel fat and sluggish. I stepped on the scale, and the final damage from the 6 weeks of hypo-thyroid is 10 pounds gained. I thought it was 7. I'm in my 'fat' jeans, and they're snug. Its making me cranky. And  I'm snacking while I'm typing complaints about being fat. How's that for stupid?

I'm waiting impatiently for my Tina Shawl pattern to show up from The Knitter.com I've had mixed results from ordering from her. But I'm not ready to cast on Tina right now, so its fine that the pattern's not here yet. I ordered from her because her shipping rate is the best - free.

I've been continuing on the rainbow socks.
Damn, they're taking forever. This time I managed to match the heels as well. Usually I don't bother. I just use the other end of the center-pull ball, knit in the heel, break the yarn, and then go back main yarn, which keeps the colors in sequence. But this time, when I split the skein, using my trusty Weight Watcher's scale to make sure they were even, the balls ended at exactly the same place. What are the odds?

Friday I drove back to Manchester, NH to Elliot hospital for the last test of my treatment, a full body scan. I had pictures, but they're on my mother's camera and she forgot to email them. Darn it, I was trying to be a good blogger! Anyway, that was a real nuisance. I had to be admitted to the hospital again, which took me about 20 minutes. The scan its self was no fun. It involved lying very, very still on a very narrow bed, while a large and noisy piece of machinery moved very slowly from the top of my head, missing my nose by about 3 inches, all the way to my knees. That took 22 minutes. Then they scanned my head and neck again. 12 minutes of lying still as a rock, with my head on a pillow that felt like it was filled with 10 lbs of wet sand. My neck hurt, and I was feeling very claustrophobic and began to get panicy at the last few minutes. I was trying deep breathing, meditation, singing to myself. I really think I was beginning to get a panic attack, which was an awful feeling. I almost kissed the doctor when he came and got me up.

The Starbucks that I will be working at has opened. They had a 'soft' opening on Thursday for friends and family, and opened to the public on Saturday. I will be starting work on April 1st. I'm looking forward to it, but realize that I have to be very careful about the food. While working, you're allowed drinks, and (I think) some food. But since even the Tall (small) size of my two favorite drinks, the Chai Latte and Caramel Macchiato, made with skim milk are about 200 calories each, it will be really easy to get out of control with it. It'll probably be like when I was working at the fabric store, and I ended up buying about 15 years worth of material in the first 60 days I was working there!

 

"C" Is for

a Church in neighboring Durham has a program for mom's and their kids called Mothers of Preschoolers, or "MOPS".

Childcare is provided, and the kids have a really great time playing with each other, making a

Craft, and having a snack. Mom's do their own thing in the other room, have a bit of

Conversation and visiting, a bit of snacking, a speaker and  we all work on a

Craft together (for this series, everyone brings their own. Soon they will provide one for us to learn together). The

Cost is totally reasonable, only a $3 donation requested per meeting. I am so glad I found this group! I was getting a little lonely here. After MOPS, my parents and I took the kids out to a local restaurant for  breakfast and a

Cup of Coffee. Afterwards, they took the kids back to their house. Mom and the boys

Cooked together, baking

Chocolote Chip Cookies. Meanwhile, back at home, I

Cast On the second Rainbow Sock, and I knit intently. I'm trying to get it done by the end of the week, so that I can

Continue working on Eris, and eventually

Complete the now very late

Christmas present for my Mom.