postlet

Just a quickie to say we got there and back okay. We had a great time and tomorrow I embark on the "Adjusting Billy to a New Daycare Adventure." After that it's the "Our Boy Turns Two" fiesta. I should have FOs to report when I get back to the office next week. Granted, I might drown on Monday. One of my employees up and quit with no notice on Friday.

SIPs

My knitting is coming in SIPs the next few days. All I'm taking to Florida are my two pairs of socks in progress. Nattie's Kroy Kandy Kisses and Hubby's boot socks. The boot socks are moving pretty quickly. I'm knitting them down on US5s for 6 stitches an inch. We want them to be nice and dense. I hope three balls of Elann Highland is enough (not that it would be a hardship to get more).

I did knit up the intarsia paw print patch for Billy's cougar. I'll block that next week and sew it on in time for his birthday. As long as I get that cork I was agonizing over yesterday, I'll have his Ronan done in time, too.

It's Thursday, that means LOST re-cap time. I'm not sure I like the turn they're taking with Charlie, and the Christian themes are getting a bit much (although, I am a Christian myself, I tend to like my entertainment on the secular or subtle-side). The plotline really hyped up the psychological mysteries, though. I'm excited for next week. Seems they'll really move the plot along some more. And what's up with Locke? Why didn't he destroy the statues? A power-play there I think. And will Kate and Sawyer just do it already? (although, that would probably kill the chemistry) Hurley and Libby were really cute. I liked those scenes.

it figures

Of course Billy sleeps until after 7 on the work day morning that I hit off instead of snooze, why would he get us up when we're running late? Nope, I woke up 5 minutes before I should have been out of the house all on my own.

I'm getting a little anxious about the Cork I ordered last week from Angel Yarns in the UK. I managed to get most of the second sleeve of Ronan knit up on the train ride Monday. (I napped coming home yesterday; I just could not sleep in that hotel bed.) I've got about 15 more rows to knit and then I can start seaming. I hope the yarn comes before we got to FL later this week. Not that I'll be working on it tonight (some cash flow issues need to be addressed with some better book keeping) or tomorrow (packing for trip). And it's not coming with to FL (hubby's long awaited boot socks are on the needles and will be traveling with, I know worsted weight wool in FL, but it's not going to be that hot down there).

I've got a PITA report to do this afternoon and I'm avoiding it. Too bad it's do for a meeting tomorrow morning so I can't put it off much longer (not to mention a backlog of invoices to approve). Ta for now. Maybe I can write a better post tomorrow.

randomness

I cast on for sleeve one of Billy's Ronan Saturday and got it finished yesterday; I had finished the right front Friday night. I'm on my final ball of cork (until my order comes from the UK) and may just get the sleeve finished. It's going to be close.

Billy wore his cable sweater to church yesterday. I received many nice compliments.

I'm taking a wee business trip and the hotel for tonight has wireless in the room. I may have to blog, or at least read blogs tonight.

I've got 4+ hours on trains and in a car today and tomorrow. What are the odds that I don't knit a stitch?

Will I be able to stay awake on the train? Will the guys (I'm travelling with three men) talk the whole way?

I wonder time we have to get going tomorrow and can I sleep past 7?

I just won this on eBay. 20 balls true blue ASC for just about $70. Love me a bargain, just don't tell hubby. Yep, more matchy-matchy for my blue-eyed boys! I'm thinking something sweat-shirty for both of them. Beach sweaters!

The only thing fiber-related I love better than knitting, is buying yarn!

Well, off to go do stuff so I can pay for the yarn.

USA sweater team

I forgot to mention that Jen of JenLa has made buttons for the various Knitting Olympics team. I've swiped the Sweater Team.

a knit that's too quick?

Have you ever had a project that seemed to just go too fast? That's how I'm feeling about Billy's Ronan. I finished the back up yesterday at my Stitch lunch and cast on for the left front about 4 times. I finally got it started and progressed really well on the extended bus ride home (no bad weather, no explanation for the traffic) and finished up watching CSI. Then I cast on for the right front. I'm about to the armhole on that piece. At this rate, I'll have the back done tonight and will have started on a sleeve. Since I'm getting other balls of yarn and I'm not sure the dye lots will mathc, I think I may have to cast on hubby's boot socks so I'll have knitting for my trip on Monday. No point in getting too far into the sleeves if the colors wind up being way off. So far, I've only used about 2 balls of yarn.

Contrary to what I said the other day, I won't be mailing the red scarf today. I'm going out to lunch with a colleague. I think Billy and I will be taking a field trip to the post office tomorrow (normally, I'd send hubby as errands are his thing on the weekend, but he's got a 3 hour church retreat tomorrow morning). Here's the scarf, with Ronan in the background.

I'm updating the side bar today. I'll move the scarf to an FO (third of the year) and add Ronan to on the needles, and I need to add the link and button for Momma to a Boy ring.

two AAs please

No pics today. I forgot to replace the batteries in my camera. Something about picking up the dregs of eaten crayons off my carpet this morning distracted me. I don't know why the dog thinks crayons are so yummy, but she'll eat them any chance she can get. Good thing they're non-toxic.

I have the red scarf here with a little tag I made from a blank index card. I'd mail it out today, but I forgot a piece of ribbon or yarn to attach the tag to the scarf and I've got a stitching lunch so I won't make it to the PO. Tomorrow, then. And I'll have a final FO pic. I must say it is a wonderful scarf since it's been washed. It's soft and super drapey and just the right size. I wish I had more of the yarn to make one for myself!

I cast on for the back of Billy's Ronan on the ride home last night. I'm at the shoulder shaping and will have that piece done today. Then it's on to the fronts. I know I should slow down in case the yarn I ordered is a very different dye lot, but I don't think it will look too bad if the sleeves and collar are a slightly different shade. I should have enough of this dye lot to finish the fronts. It's so super-cuddly. I want to make a body pillow from cork and just snuggle down with it. Why did Rowan have to discontinue this yarn?

JanXknits pointed out a new ring, Momma to a boy. I think she might be the owner. Of course, I had to join up. A ring for knitters with sons? That's all me.

Okay, here's my LOST talk, skip it if you TIVO'd last night. I missed Mr. Eko. Locke and Kate are annoying. Jack's changing, did you notice? I sure hope his conversation with Ana Lucia was about self-defense and not aggression. As for the "Others" and their little living room speech, what the hell were people supposed to do when they found themselves stranded after surviving a plane crash? And, his explanation didn't really jibe with why they started attacking the Tailies so soon after the crash. I'm not going to expound too much on the whys and wherefores. I'm just along for the ride.

Spring?

I heard through the grapevine (from Lolly who saw it at Karen's) that IK had posted their Spring 06 preview. I'm really liking the socks, the drop-stitch hoodie, the prairie tunic, and pullover flair. Of course, I'll probably change my mind when I see full-size pics and schematics and what not. It's nice to daydream of Spring.

Although, my sister's really bugging me about her wedding stockings, so I know what I'll be working on after my Olympic Knitting. Seems she wants to go shoe shopping and I can't reason with her (I explained she's not having a fitting until August so she doesn't need shoes in January and that they will only have Spring designs which will be inappropriate for her Fall wedding, but as usual, she's not listening to the big sister).

naptime fun

Thanks for all the compliments on the sweaters, Jenifer, Kim, and Lolly. Hubby's requested that if I do Christmas sweaters again (and I think I might), they be Christmas colors. I'm really pleased he likes it so much; I never thought I'd get him to wear a sweater.

I had some fun on my day off on Monday, while Billy was napping and hubby was off job-training (he thinks he wants to become a professional poker player), I decided to have some fun with kool-aid. Now, I love Cork, that chunky, discontinued merino blend from Rowan, but do not love the color Sour. It will not work for me, no-way, no-how. So I thought I'd see if I could over-dye it into a more palatable shade. I bought way more kool-aid than I needed (having forgotten that the Knitty article says 1 packet per ounce). I bought Cherry, Cherry Berry Burst, Sour Apple, Grape, and Ice Blue Raspberry lemonade. I made 5 mini-skeins from one ball of Cork (with about half a ball left) and had at it. Here is the cork after washing and before dyeing with my little bowls of kool-aid. As you can see, that is just not a Netter color (Hubby agrees it would make me look sallow). I had lots of fun and my counter top vaguely resembles a Monet. Fortunately, ink and dye don't stick to my skin very well, so I don't look like I have a skin disease. Ahem, I forgot to put on gloves. Here are the miniskeins hanging out before drying. I wound them into a ball last night and started swatching this morning. When that's done I'll decide which color to use on the nine remaining skeins. Currently, I'm leaning toward cherry (gives the clearer orange). Hubby liked the two reds and the grape (which was odd because he doesn't like brown which is what it looks like to me). I was most surprised by the blue. Right out of the bowl it looks like a bright turquoise, but is a grassy green now that it's dry. The Apple (which looked white in real life not the green above) made the sour look more like bug, taking out a lot of the yellow.

In other cork news, I've put together the project bag for Billy's birthday sweater. I have 3+ balls of delight (nice bright orange) and I'm making Ronan from the Cork Collection. I was debating how to stripe it last night (with the nice green, Bug, or blue), when hubby asked if I could just get more orange. Last night I said I didn't think so, but after some online searching I found a place in the UK that's not charging too much for it. I ordered 4 more balls. I'll have to see how closely the dye lots match, but I'm going to cast on anyway. Hubby and I were concerned last night that the smallest size might be way to big for B (ages 5-6), but I measured one of his t-shirts (a 3T) and it's 13" across while the sweater schematic, such as it is, has the width at 14.5". I think it will be good to grow into and he'll be able to wear it over layers this Spring and into next fall and winter. But, so far on my kool-aid swatch, I'm not getting guage with the US11s called for in the pattern. I think I may swatch with the orange cork with 10.5s and see how it goes (perhaps the washing and dyeing have affected the kool-aid cork).

The red scarf is drying. I was right, it gained almost 10 inches after washing. It's now about 54". It's not dry, yet. I hope to mail it out tomorrow. I'm going to use a tag like the ones Theresa used here for it. I'll post a pic tomorrow am.

I finished up most of the cougar last night. I realized the folly in trying to duplicate stitch the paw print on after it's stuffed. I'm thinking I'll knit up an intarsia patch and he'll have a little pocket. Pics tomorrow, as well.

Have a great Wednesday (so looking forward to LOST tonight) and stay dry!

I follow through on that promise

I promised FO reports and pictures of the boys' cables. Here they are together.

The pattern is from Patons' Our Guys. It's ribbed cables. I knit it with Lana Grossa Lambswool doubled. I started Hubby's on November 3 and wove in the last end on January 9.

My only mods were adding the stripes to Billy's sleeves and I changed the neckline. They had some weird garter-hem thing going on and I knew I didn't have the yarn for that. I just picked up 3 for 4 for hubby's and pretty much 1 for 1 on Billy's (that toddler noggin you know). I enjoyed the patterns and would knit them again, but in a yarn at the recommended gauge!

Both boys wore them out Saturday to our Robbie Burns dinner. Hubby liked his so much he wore it to church on Sunday as well. Here are a few more shots of Billy modeling his Saturday night.

A wistful, arty pose of his own design. (Note that he's got plenty of room to grow into this thing, the sleeves are rolled up).

Posing with the fridge. He's saying juice (he can go in and grab his cup if there's one available).

Action shot heading out of the frame...

I should be able to FO the red scarf tomorrow. I finished knitting and wove in the ends last night during the Golden Globes. I will wash and block tonight.

I also signed up for another knitalong. The Yarn Harlot's hosting an OlympicsAlong. I've signed up to do Hubby's Ribby Raglan during the Olympics. I know it's not as challenging as the Fair Isles some people are doing, but it will be citius knitting for me if I get it done!

knitting for others

I do a lot of knitting for others. Two-thirds of last year's FOs were for other people and everything on the needles right now is for others. But, I've never knit or crocheted something for a stranger before. It's an entirely different feeling knowing that what's in my hands is going to someone I've never met before.

On the way home last night, I remembered I had 3+ balls of red Gedifra Living in the stash. Tomato-red superwash, perfect Valentine's yarn for a college student (someday I'll tell you about the time my roommate flooded our bathroom trying to handwash her wool sweaters). I decided to go with seed stitch (thanks for the suggestions Lolly and Kim). I cast on 33 with my US8 Addis and I was off. Not bad for 3 hours, huh? I figure I'll have plenty of time to work on Billy's cork sweater with the traveling I'm doing later this month (train to Baltimore in a week and then we're flying to West Palm Beach). I must figure out how I'm going to get the scarf to a drop-off (gee, maybe I should use the Einstein Bagel store locator). I forgot to mention that the original notice I saw for the project came from Norma and I picked up the button from Maglia! My only concern (besides how quickly I will get bored with the seed stitch) is how to handle the tag. Would a paper tag be okay or should I figure out a ribbon or cloth tag?

So, that's what I worked on last night. I finished one Cougar leg and started the second, but the ASC on dpns was killng my fingers so I took a nap.

My big goals for this weekend are to finish up the cougar and felt two sweaters for the totealong. (Yes, the original plan was to use fabric from my stash, but I might still use some to line.)

Knitting for charity

I hadn't made this a resolution, but it sure is one way to reduce the stash and knit more. I'm thinking of knitting a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. I'll see what I have in my stash. Besides ribs, what would be a gender-neutral stitch pattern?

it's going to be a looooong day

I was awoken by a screaming toddler at 3:30 this morning. Seems the fact that Billy had not pooped yesterday caught up with him. Poor baby didn't even like getting his bum wiped. The irony is that Babycenter.com just sent me an e-mail about dealing with toddler constipation and I thought, I don't need that. He went back to sleep in less than a half hour. Mommy wasn't so lucky. And Mommy's alarm went off at 5:05. Mommy is tired. He decided he was up and clingy for the day at 6:05. My grand plans for a crockpot dinner were scrapped because I could barely eat my cereal with him on my lap (note to self, kid likes raisin bran); there was no way I was accomplishing putting a meal together. I'm kind of glad I don't have to deal with him all day like M-i-L does. Of course, I bet by 12:30 I'll be missing the chance to take a nap.

I remembered a great thing this morning on the bus ride in, though. I get a three-day weekend. Poor, M-i-L actually has to go into the office on Monday (one way she's keeping her health benefits throughout her mini-leave).

Here's the cougar head/body all stuffed and ready for limb attachment. Hubby thinks it looks like a Weeble* as is, but it falls over. I finished the ears and both arms last night. I have started one leg, so those will be done today. I don't know if I'll get everything attached right away. I'm kind of jonesing to start in on Billy's cork sweater. I pulled together all the skeins I'm going to use. Now, to find the needles. That task would be much easier if I'd put them back when I was done with them instead of just leaving them around in various defunct project bags!

I thought I had something else I wanted to talk about, but now I can't remember what it was. Oh well.

*I loved my weebles as a kid. I had a weeble tree house with an elevator. I used to dream about living in it. Sometimes the dreams would become nightmares as we'd be chased around by alligators, but I still loved that tree house.

200Sox

Um, yeah, the camera was in the PS bag like I thought it might be. I have pics to share later in the post.

Since I've got one pair on the needles, two pair imminent, and one pair of lace-up fishnets to knit, I decided to join another knitalong. 200Sox over at purlingps. Here's the button . This is an easy knitalong to fulfill. It's actually not even a knitalong. It's an intentalong. As long as you intend to knit socks in 2006, you're in. And if you sign up by the 22nd, you'll be included in a drawing.

Billy's sweater is done. The neckline is now a lot bigger and will fit over his toddler-size noggin. Yay me! I need to check with M-i-L if she washed Hubby's yesterday while doing the laundry (why yes the woman is spoiling me rotten and I DO appreciate it). I'd really like to drop Billy's in the wash to soften it up a bit. Hubby's is so soft and relaxed. I promise pics next week.

I've also made mucho progress on Billy's cougar. Here it is after stuffing the body and before putting on the face. I didnt' stuff him too firmly. I like my stuffies on the mushy side and I worry about the stuffing showing through the ASC. I then proceeded to embroidering the face. Now, since we have a toddler and I have no googly eyes, I decided to embroider the eyes as well as the mouth. Hubby's not so sure about the face, but I think it's cute. Although, maybe more bunny-ish than cat or cougar. What do you think? I used ASC in sizzling for the nose and mouth. I should have the head/body finished tonight and will cast on for the ears ASAP. Cougar kindly agreed to hold Nattie's sock. As you can see, I'm a few inches into the leg.

Very soon, I'll be casting on for Billy's birthday sweater. I'm making Ronan from the Cork Collection, scroll down. I don't have enough orange to make a solid sweater, so I'm going to stripe it with sour (green) and maybe some plunge. We'll see how random I'm feeling, and how the striping looks with the reverse stockinette sleeves!

dude, where's my camera?

This morning, while preparing to get Billy up (I try to take photos every day to send to VT), I couldn't find my camera in my work bag. That's okay, I thought. I just left it on my desk at work. I get into the office this morning, and it's not on my desk. I just hope it's on my messy dining room table (which I didn't check this morning) or in my bag from PS. Otherwise, Netter is in some deep doo doo.

I sure hope no one took it from my office. That would be a real bummer. After leaving my wallet on the floor of my office over one weekend in December '04, I figured we could trust the cleaning staff.

I finished seaming Billy's sweater last night while the Devils thumped the Flyers 3-0. Hockey is great for knitting and seaming, especially when you have one of the best play-by-play guys in the business. I even got all the ends woven in before bedtime. Tonight, I'm ripping out and re-knitting his collar. Then the Boys' Christmas Cables will be finished. Only 3 weeks post-Christmas. But, they'll at least have them for our Robbie Burns dinner on Saturday.

Horrible night's sleep last night. I'm glad I decided to not stay up for all of Medium. At 2 am, our bedroom door opened and I started to flip out because Hubby was next to me. But, then I heard him say "Hello Molly." Seems he forgot to put the gate up when he left her in the tv room and she decided she was lonely. Sleeping with Molly on the couch is great for a nap, not so great for overnight. No snoozes for me this morning. As soon as the alarm went off, she decided it was time to get up. I was in the office at 7:45 this morning. Amazingly only 1 hour after I had left my house.

I was hoping I could share progress pics of Billy's cougar and Nattie's sock. But they'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm stuffing the bottom of the cougar tonight, so it will look more interesting tomorrow anyway.

just to make it worth my while

So, I had to buy something besides a $3 bag of polyfill to make the trek down to PS Yarns worth my while. So, I got some size 8 dpns for Hubby's boot socks. And I got some Lion Brand Micro Spun just cause. They nicely discount the bags of yarn at PS, and this was the only one I saw that I know I would do something with. I may go back down there, but it'll be on a day when I don't have to rush back to the office, and when I know I want something from Lion, Patons, or Bernat (about all they carry for yarns). I didn't get the zipper for Billy's birthday sweater because I mis-read the pattern and was looking for a 30" zipper. Yep, the kid's only 34", but apparently I can't tell the difference between cm and inches. They didn't seem to have the color I wanted anyway. I think I'll look through the projects I have in mind coming up needing zippers (F-i-L's sweater, my ribby cardi) and order some online.

stashing, but not a skein to be found

I did some stashing this weekend, but not a skein was to be found. (I will confess to ordering 3 skeins of cork along with a copy of Knitscene from the knitting garden last week, but since the cork was sold out and is not coming to my house it doesn't count. Intent to stash is not the same as stashing.) A local craft shop is going out of business (this is the place where I buy beads and other notions, but no knitting stuff) and I wandered over there with Billy Saturday to see if they had any polyfill for his cougar. Nope, sold out. They were getting down to the dregs, but with it all 75% off, I had to see what I could find. What I found was this for less than $8. I saw the orange fleece and showed it to B. He hugged it, so Mommy bought it. It's 1 1/3 yard. I'm thinking jammies or play clothes (although hubby says an outfit will make him look like a prison inmate). M-i-L suggested making him a pumpkin for Halloween next year. A blanket would get much love, but he's got tons of blanket (including an orange fleece one). The beads are some red maple leaves, some clay cane flowers, some amethyst agates, and plastic hearts with letters. I got 60 large coilless safety pins. The crayons are awesome. They're fabric crayons. You don't color onto fabric with them. You color onto white paper and make an iron-on transfer! Who wants a t-shirt made with a Billy scribble? The only problem is the transfer is in reverse of what you draw, so it will take work to do words and things.

At lunch time, I'm wandering down to PS Yarns to get the polyfill and a zipper for Billy's Cork birthday sweater that I haven't started yet. It's going to be a hike from the office, but I can use the exercise. There's a shop near home I'll have to check out someday for notions and fabric and things. It's called "Sew and Show." I know they do sewing lessons and sell fabrics and machines, but have no idea what kind of notions patterns or other things they sell.

In exciting news, I finished up Hubby's cable sweater. I seamed the last seam and wove in all the ends Saturday night. I think I wore out the finish jones, though, because I did not pick up Billy's at all over the weekend. I'll have to start on that tonight. Och, that one's got lots of ends. The boys are wearing them to dinner Saturday and I will be taking pics, so I'll do a complete FO report next Monday.

In re-doing news, I started my sister's second Kroy sock again this weekend. I was looking at the oak rib pattern again (from Nancy Bush's awesome book whose title escapes me and I'm too lazy to look it up) and realized that I'd mis-read. I read *k1 p2 k2 p2 as k1 *p2 k2 p2. Duh. So I pulled it out and restarted and am about to start the leg. And yes, I had misread the ribbing for the leg, too. No wonder the first one (too small and about to be ripped) looked nothing like the pic in the book!

Sleeviness

I spent last night's TV time seaming on the boys' cables. Both sweaters now have sleeves attached. Tonight, I'll start the underarm and side seams. Then it's time to weave in lots and lots and lots of end. Apparently, using the yarn doubled leads to doubled ends. I didn't think of that at the time. I've decided that I really like B's with the stripey sleeves. I think it looks oh so preppy. Kind of makes hubby's look boring with just blue sleeves, but I was not about to re-knit his. The stripes mean more ends on Billy's but I'm sure I'll live. We're going for our Robbie Burns dinner on the 14th, I have a set deadline. I think I'll make it.

I've been working a bit more on Billy's birthday cougar. It's definitely looking like something. I'm not quite sure what, yet, but it's something. It's strange how the blue ASC seams so much softer than the gold. Odd how dyes affect fabrics.

I've also been swatching a bit with my TLC Cotton Plus. So far, it is definitely a really nice yarn. I may have to put in on the list of favorites. Since it's so affordable, and machine washable, it will get lots of use for kiddies and babies.

I have a stitching lunch today. Our needlepointer learned how to knit before the holidays, so we're now three knitters, since our crocheter left the company. I'll have to see if we can get some of the other knitters to join us more regularly.

It feels just like starting over

Oh wait, it is starting over. Bag the just like bit.

So, as I was happily knitting along on Billy's cougar on the bus ride home last night, I started wondering about the steps ahead. Like where Jess has you stuffing the body part way through. Hrrm, I thought. She has you wait to stuff the head until after you stuff the body, how can that be? Doofus over here had cast on with her main color thinking that she was knitting from the head down. No. She should have cast on with her contrast color and realized she was knitting from the bum up. If she'd actually looked at the directions, where it said with CC1 cast on..... She may have saved a day's knitting. As it is, Billy's cougar now looks like this:

Ah well, B's birthday isn't for a few weeks.

I did start seaming the boys' sweaters last night. I've got one sleeve attached to Billy's. Yep, I got a little distracted by Miss Molly. At this rate, I'll have them done by Robbie Burns day, but it might be a close thing! Must do more seaming!

the babbling stream of consciousness

I finished the Billy sleeves last night. No pics because the second looks the same as the first. My goal for tv-viewing this week is to finish up these bad boys. I didn't have the energy last night, so instead, I cast on for Billy's Kate. I don't think the name will stay Kate. Right now I think of it as his cougar. I'm doing it in our town colors and the cougar is the town mascot. Just have to think of a good name for a cougar. (Of course, right now we have names for all bears and doggies, but to Billy they are just what they are unless they are Elmo.) Here's the start. I'm using ASC in Orkney and Regal on size US9 dpns (crystal palace bamboo). I'm not sure that I like the airy-ness I'm getting. I think I may go down to US8s. Of course, ASC does seem to tighten up when washed. Hrrm. I'll have to see how things go. I can always jog over to Purl tomorrow to pick up some 8s. I do need to find somewhere to get some polyfill. The closest "craft" store to my house is going out of business, but I'll see if they're still open. I don't think many LYS carry polyfill. Perhaps I'll go to that fabric shop in Chinatown to see if they have anything, P and S, I think it's called. In other news, eating less worked yesterday. I ate the lunch I brought and snacked on the fruit I brought. I had broiled fish for dinner and no dessert. I'm starving right now. Having M-i-L home with Billy went well yesterday. He wasn't happy to see her leave, but he's two and changes tick him off like they do most two-year-olds. Hubby asked if I thought he missed day care. And I said not yet. He might miss some of his buddies in a vague way, but I hope he's too young to have become really attached. I'm sure he'll make new friends when he gets to the new center. Heck, he makes new friends whenever we go out to eat. That's about it for what's in my head, well, besides work stuff and you don't want to hear that.

ugly avatar meme

JenLa has tagged anyone who reads today's post to do an ugly avatar over at Yahoo!

Here's mine.

'06 begins with pix

This is what my house looked like most of the weekend. I taught my sisters to knit. Posing with them is the first Billy sleeve, which was completed on Saturday. We spent much time stitching, and eating, and drinking. I'm so glad to have them joining me in fiber-world. I've been trying to get them to pick up needles for years. Anyway, AntFur on the left has really been sucked in. She's got over 15" done on a garter stitch scarf for her fiance and plans on getting a long circular to knit a garter stitch blanket. I think we'll start purling when they come down next month to see INXS. The other sister, AntNat also master crocheting. She's a lefty and teaching her to knit was interesting because she can't do anything with her right hand. So, at first I taught her some bastardized thing (which probably was some type of combined knitting), but she was getting twisted stitches. So we looked at her little booklet again and I got her making nice even stitches. Ironically, both sisters hold the yarn in their right hand. Nat picks and Fur throws like me. Mom can knit, too, but she wasn't so into it.

Here we have Billy sleeve two. Which was a pain to start. I first cast on with the wrong color, then forgot to switch to the larger needles (but didn't rip that) then I forgot to start increasing. But, like I told my sisters, it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to look perfect. Here are the sleeves in the sleeviness. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to match the stripes as I ran out of blue a few rows early on #2. Fortunately, I had a little center-pull ball buried in my bag. I think they are very cute sleeves. I like the stripes and the colors, but I'm still not sure I'll like them with the body of the sweater. Worse comes to worse, I can duplicate stitch some stripes on the the ribbed part of the body, right? I should finish up sleeve two today. Then I get to cast on something new! (Or I can work on my sister's socks, but since B's birthday is less than a month away, I think I'll start his birthday gifts and I'm dying to pick up the Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed for Hubby's sweater.)

I got the last of my stealth stash in the mail today. (How stealthy can I be if Herrschner's is going to send an invoice to my house when the package is getting sent to the office?) I really, really love this color and I think this 12 balls of TLC Cotton Plus (I feel like I'm slumming) may be my first Netter project for 06. It's just yummy! I think I see more of this yarn in my future!