Bill's scarf

This scarf was going to be for Operation Red Scarf, but, again this year, I never got around to sending my packages (the gift card requirement seems to be insurmountable to my inertia). Not only that, but I didn't think it was right for Red Scarf. Then it hit me, my assistant manager is retiring and it's perfect for him. He's really tall and can carry off this kind of thing.

I gave it to him this afternoon. He seemed to really like it.

Today's my last day in the office until the 5th. I think I've got all the loose ends tied up. I cannot believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I'm so happy all of my Christmas knitting isn't due until next week.

I do have Christmas sewing to do though. My red dress needs the sleeves put in and the hem done. Then I need to repair my choir robe (don't ask). Next year, we really need to see about fundraising for some new ones.

I think B wants to make cookies for Santa tomorrow. That will be fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I'll try to post from home, but who knows!

not just another boring sock post

I've stuck the boring sock picture at the bottom. I got these lovely flowers from one of my editors. He sends them every year.

I'm taking tomorrow off. They're forecasting 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow, with heaviest fall in the afternoon. I figure if the weather people are even close to right, daycare might close early. I can never get there in the time allotted, so I figure I've got left over days, I'll just stay home. I expect to get some sewing and knitting done.

Mitts for giving

Susan's mittens are done. The color's more red and bright IRL, but it's overcast today.

I hope she likes them. I just got a huge gift box from her. In it are a Scrabble page a day calendar, a lindt chocolate snowman, ornaments, a yankee candle gift basket (which is cable-knit on the outside) and a gift card. Mittens are just not enough.

I wish I had known it was a gift for me. I would have waited to open it; we're going out to lunch today. I thought it was more goodies for the team (she works for one of our vendors and they always send us cookies and chocolate and stuff).

one done another started

I finished Susan's mittens last night, hand felted them and overdyed them. Pics tomorrow once they are dry.

Started Dad's second pair of birthday socks (I cannot give just one pair in place of a sweater). I really, really love this color.

Two more gifts to start and finish by 12/31 when we pack up for VT (yes, I know I still have some finishing to do on two others...).

knittin' mittens

Mittens for my friend. I'm so not in love with this color. I'll be overdying them.

I'd be finished but the first mitten got past the thumb gore Friday night before I realized they'd be too big.

I'm hoping these take less than 1 skein of Cascade 220. I'd like to return the other (and I'm concerned about yarn in-house for my remaining gifts).

I am so definitely making myself a pair of this in red and black.

holiday plans

I've nearly finished Dad's second sock. All that's left is grafting the toe and knitting the heel. Last night's commute was pretty long. The rain always slows down the busses. I should have the heel done before TV time tonight. Then, I hope to start the mitts for my colleague.

Then, I've got another pair of birthday socks (worsted weight and felted this time) and two b-i-l gifts to knit. Fortunately, I've got an extra week (we're celebrating Christmas in VT on New Year's). Good thing, too. I need to do a lot of finishing work on one of my sisters' gifts. I'd also like to sew up some gift bags. Oh, and I need to make the gift tags I've got plannd.

And B wants to make gingerbread cookies for Santa (thank goodness I took Christmas eve off).

I'd like to get some sewing for me done, too. I want to make this for Christmas Eve (B view with A's sleeves). In the red matte jersey below it. I cut out the fabric on Tuesday. I need to set aside some time for sewing it up.

something to blog about

A Christmas gift I can blog about. I ripped out the seam binding on Miss Jaime's little bag last night (very sharp embroidery scissors are a godsend) and re-sewed. Hubby thought it was cute. We're doing our shopping Saturday (Billy has ADVENTure at church and will go to the in-laws afterwards), so I'll pick up the toiletries and giftcard for it this weekend.

Then there are dad's socks. I am past the heel on sock two (well, I will have to go back and knit the heel). I figure about 40% done? I'd like to have these done tomorrow because I need to whip out some fingerless mitts for the woman who got this last year. We're having lunch on Wednesday. I have to knit her something because she wore the scarf yesterday.

a toe and a tree

If I hadn't screwed up the toe decreases, I could have spent yesterday finishing this sock instead of re-knitting the toe. Oh well. I'm sure I'll have this sock done and sock 2 started tonight.

I did start Billy's teacher's gift last night. Zipper install was lovely. The rest is awful. I'm going to rip out the seams and try again. I do not know how people manage to sew on really skinny binding tape.

We got the house decorated (well, at least the inside; we haven't had outside decorations since our giant inflatable snowman got a hole; oh, I did put up a wreath on the front door). Took the whole day Saturday. We started moving toys around after breakfast and I put up the last of the lights while Billy napped. Then we went out to dinner. I've told Billy, and I will keep telling him, that one day while we're on Christmas vacation, we're going through his toys and getting rid of some. My living room looks like a toy store exploded.

We do have about six feet of magazines to recycle. I'll take a pic when I've got them all tied up for the curb tomorrow.

sock it to me Friday

Dad's first birthday sock. These are sport weight. The piece on top is my swatch. I knitted it at lunch yesterday, soaked it in the bathroom sink and it dried on my old-fashioned radiator in less than an hour. I've got over 5" knitted up. The leg portion will be 7". Lucky for me, Dad's a short guy and he and I have about the same size feet!

If I manage to finish, Dad will also be getting a pair of worsted weight, felted sock things. He said a while back that he wanted socks like the mittens I made him a couple of years ago. Green, felted mittens. I'm trying.

In other news, all I want to do is sew. I found a bunch of fabric flower tutorials this morning.

gift for Billy's teacher

We've been a bit haphazard over the years with gifts for Billy's teachers. Mainly we'd give a card with cash; I know tres creative. This year, with my handmade holidays thing I've got going on for my sibs, I've been thinking about making something for his teacher this year. I was thinking of knitting some fingerless mitts, but, although I have 2 gifts with the knitting finished, I have 2 more Christmas gifts (brothers-in-law, although one's not married) and my dads birthday gifts to finish. I'm feeling a bit under the gun with the knitting, especially since I made a work friend a knitted gift last year and I feel like I should do something for her this year.*

I had a thought for Miss Jaimie today. A zippered bag a la this one. I'm going to mod it a bit. I'll make it deeper with rounded corners and a contrast binding tape inside. I'll fill it with a small hand cream, some purell and maybe tissues. I'll ask Hubby if he thinks we should add a gift card for DD or something (no starbucks in our town).

This is the fabric I'm going to use (you'll see it in another gift). I've got a yard and, since it's a home dec not quilting fabric, it's 54" wide. Plenty for lots of gifts.



*One sister's gift took 3 days to knit, with a migraine on Monday slowing me down. There's tons of finishing to do, but the knitting was cast on Monday morning and cast off last night.

finished jacket

The twerp wouldn't put it on until Friday. He liked it, just didn't want to wear it. He thought it made a great tunnel for his train. Now, that we're home, he can't wear it. Oh well, Spring and next Fall, hopefully.

This is his smart ass look.

Asking me how much knitting I got done. One project is complete. And I keep thinking of more people to knit for...

I finished in time

I finished Billy's jacket last night. I sewed Friday night, Sunday night and last night. Before you ask, no, I don't have pictures. I'll try to get a picture of him in it while we're in SC.

Hubby thought it was very cute. He's sure B will want to wear it all the time, even when we come back to NJ and it's too cold.

I'll have more feedback on the process when I post the picture next week.

I have to pack tonight. I'm taking four knitting projects with me: Christmas gift in progress; second Christmas gift not yet started; birthday gift for my dad; and new socks for me.

I'm sure I'm overpacking the knitting. I never get as much done when I go away as I plan on. But, even with just a few hours, the first Christmas present will be done!

not a waste!

I called the service company back at about 11 and they said my appointment was deleted! She understood my problem and fixed it so that someone would come today. She told me that either the router or the tech would call me back. I pressed fabric, I cut fabric, I read blogs a little, I had lunch, I looked through my Interweave Knits Winter issue that came today. Finally at 1:15, the tech called. He was here at 1:30. I'd like to get the $200 I'm paying to fix my dryer back from the contractor that caused this problem. I'm sure being improperly vented for 4 years caused the coils to malfunction.

I got all the pieces cut out for B's jacket. The flat piping is pinned in place. I don't know that I'm going to get much actual stitching done this afternoon. Once Ezra leaves (that is his name, I am not making it up), I'm heading down to Joann's for a zipper and some batting to line the jacket.

I should go to the gym and take a shower, but forget that. Crafting calls!

Question for any sewists, do you cut out your patterns or do you trace them onto the fabric. My sister notes that she justs traces them. I'm thinking I'm an idiot for cutting all these years!

a wasted day?

It's 10:30 and I don't know if or when a tech will be here to look at my dryer (we cancelled the plumber because we realized that the toilet wasn't leaking). Guy calls at 9:30 or so to let me know that he's coming and asks about my dishwasher. I say the dryer's the problem. He says they've got it down as a dishwasher and he doesn't have the truck stock for a dryer. We chat briefly about the problem (I think he was going to come look at it until he realized that we're probably going to need parts replaced, like the heating element). So, he says he'll call the routers. I call Hubby. I do not blame him; he doesn't make mistakes like that. Guy calls me back. They're seeing what they can do and I should get a call, but it's already 10 o'clock and I may want to call them. So far, no call. I, of course, deleted the message from them last night confirming the appointment. There was no mention of what appliance as far as I remember, but there was a phone number. I'll see if I can get a hold of them. I think I remember the number.

In other news, I definitely need a different zipper (the one I have is 18", pattern calls for 16"). I do have the pattern pieces cut out. I actually spent a lot of time transferring the 5/6 size to white paper because I just couldn't bear cutting away sizes 7-12.

I'm going to try to call the repair number and then I'm cutting out the fabric.

Is it just me or do you often feel like there's no way you're going to have enough fabric when you're cutting out the pattern pieces?

One gripe about the pattern I'm using, no cutting layout. I have to fiddle around myself to figure the best placement.

tomorrow

My list of what I want to do tomorrow has grown.

1. sew jacket for Billy
2. dye some purple sock yarn (if I still have blanks and if I don't have something approximating what I want already dyed)
3. work on Christmas ornaments

I washed the fabric for #1 last night. I might get ambitious and cut out the pattern tonight. I only have 11 or so hours tomorrow to sew (depending on if I want to eat, bathe, or do anything other than sew).

I really, really hope I have a sock blank on hand. I really, really want to do a deep purple with transitions like my shamrock socks.

Plus, I want to go to Joann's like I mentioned yesterday.

super-secret update

Remind me to not do this super-secret knitting thing again. I know only one recipient reads this blog, and she seems to think she wants to know RIGHT NOW what her gift is, but I want them all to be a secret. It's a real PITA, though, to not share my progress. I think I'm about 30% through the biggest one. I need to get everything set-up to take the whole shebang with us to SC next week. I'm looking forward to the time away from work, but not so much the 10+ hours in the car each way. The family I married into talks way more than the one I grew up in. I think my mom, dad, sisters (at least one of them) and I could happily go 10 hours without saying more than 10 words. Not my beloved in-laws. Someone's got to be talking pretty much the whole time.

(I just started thinking about what some of the conversations are going to be like in SC. Hubby's grandmother is a big FOX news watcher. Change the subject, please.)

I'm definitely going to wash fabric tonight so I can start sewing up that jacket for Billy. I might need a different zipper, so I'm toying with the idea of picking up some batting and making it heavier. I should poke through my stash to see if there's anything else to wash, maybe to make something for me.

thursday is for sewing?

I have to take Thursday off from work. Our dryer is still not working properly. I did try to convince Hubby we could hang dry our clothes inside forever, but he'll have none of that. Our upstairs toilet seems to be leaking around the base again (I don't understand since it's not wobbling like it was before we had it fixed the last time).

I'm thinking I could spend the day at home sewing. (Or knitting.)

You may not know this, but I have a sizeable fabric stash. Over the last two years, I have stashed (bought and not cut into) 180 yards of fabric from fabric.com alone. It's nearly a month of Billy's tuition. Ohfa. In my defense, this is the bulk of my fabric stash. I have some things that I've picked up elsewhere, but not nearly in the volume that I've stashed from Fabric.com.

Why am I telling you this?

Because I think I should spend Thursday sewing this out of this and this for Billy. He won't be able to wear it around home much this fall, but it might be good in SC next week.

monkey tote

Nanette graciously agreed to model (I stuffed it full of yarn for Christmas projects to give it that full look).

I wound up sewing on Wednesday. Tuesday, I washed the fabric. I was concerned that the red might rub off on my clothes or jacket. Of course, I wound up with this.

Does this normally happen? The fabric lost a little sheen, but I'm pretty happy with the tote. Well, except for the crap straps I bought. One of the rings keeps pulling open and the strap slips off. PITA.

Funny story. I used the tote Thursday to come to work. On the way in, I stopped at a bank in Port Authority to get some cash. Then at lunch, I showed the bag to my knitting group. One of the girls asked if I take the bus. I said yes. Then she asked if I was at the bank this morning. She'd noticed the monkey tote walking by!

It's not 1953 anymore people

Why do people still insist upon calling female students coeds? I know for a fact when my alma mater started matriculating men, they didn't start calling them coeds. By all rights they could, since the admittance of men made the school coeducational. But, men are the default, so they get to be students. And even though it's not 1953 anymore, women are still the add ons.

I had a similar conversation my freshman year of college working in the college's publications office. My male supervisor was writing a news piece about a female student at a neighboring coed school and referred to her as a coed. I pointed out that he was using language that othered her. It made her something other than a student. It connotes that only men could be students and women are only coeds, something less.

I know I really shouldn't expect much from a piece that's all about woman as fashion hound or a tongue in cheek shoe blog, but come on. If you've got the column inches to spell out she's a college freshman in the first graph, you can say the students have done their homework later on.
It's not like anyone's going to assume the writer of the original piece is talking about men.

sewing tonight

I am itching to do some sewing. I haven't touched my machine in about 3 months. Wait, not true. I moved it back on the table last week to set up my swift.

I bought this fabulous fabric a couple of weeks ago and I must, must sew up a tote bag tonight! I'm tired of the freebie I've been using. The only problem is, I wish I had a different purse, too.

Monkeys on the outside, stripes on the inside with purchased black straps. I may do pockets, I may not. Depends on how big I want to go.



It will mean ditching the tunic I started in August, but haven't yet completed. Oh well.

pumpkins galore

I finished the second jack o'lantern necklace last night. Sorry for the bad work-bathroom shot of me. Now, to box them up and put them away until next year.

I forgot my knitting

I'm making a second, smaller pumpkin necklace (less i-cord between the pumpkins) and I forgot it. I haven't started any of the Christmas knitting. I plan on starting one project tonight. After I do some sewing and download a new audiobook. (I'm looking for reasons to not watch the election coverage with my Republican Hubby who is convinced he's going to be out of a job because of Obama's health care plan, which he has not read.)

I haven't voted yet. We just didn't get out of the house early enough to do it this morning. I'm going to grab an earlier train, pick up B and then go. Hubby can either meet us at the polling place or the diner. Unfortunately, I won't be knitting in line.

I'm crazy

I normally don't knit for Christmas. Since Dad's birthday is 4 days after Christmas, I'm usually up to my armpits in a sweater for him. However, since he seems to only want felted socks, I've decided to knit a few gifties this year. I'll try to post them on ravelry (I'm netterknitter) so any readers on ravelry can see them but my sister can't! I just ordered some yarn on Elann. I'll need to get out for some beads soon....

pumpkin patch

B's been drawing a lot of jack o'lanterns this fall. We have a mini-pumpkin patch on our kitchen wall and he's brought tons of pumpkin pictures into school for various teachers. I've started on my own little pumpkin patch. It's a necklace for me to wear on Halloween. The idea came to me last week when I was knitting with a friend at lunch. She was starting a necklace from DomiKNITrix Whip Your Knitting Into Shape. I thought, that would be neat in a larger gauge and as pumpkins for Halloween. So, I went home and ripped out my Hallowig. I would be nearly done, except I keep ripping out the second pumpkin and making the distance between the two shorter. I may do it again.

I also hemmed and hawed about what to use to stuff the pumpkins. Currently, I'm using cotton balls. I had thought about using polyfill and dyeing it orange so white wouldn't pull through when I duplicate stitched the faces, but now I'm stitching the faces before I stuff and close up the balls. It was a very simple pattern to re-engineer (I may have peeked at the actual instructions).

I forgot to mention yesterday that Mom loved her E pin. I wish I could have gotten a decent photo of it. But, my camera wouldnt' cooperate. As for her reacting more to the chocolate, my sis took a pic of her opening the gift with the chocolate in it and got a shot of her mouth open in a big O. I know she appreciates the hand knits. She wears them all the time.

Vermont

We had a great time. I hated to leave. I always do. B was asking to go home Friday night. But, he had a great time anyway. Cinxia was finished Friday night after Mom went to bed. She took forever to dry. Finally drying Monday morning. I think she liked it. It didn't get as great a reaction as the bag of mini Kisses my sister gave her. No, I'm not bitter.

from an e-mail I just sent a staff member

"I need a bell that goes off if I try to send an e-mail that has the word attach in it but nothing attached."

Someone let Google know to get on that, mkay?

No, I'm not drunk at work and I know it only works on Google mail.

collar begun

I've got one of five inches done on the collar. I hope to finish the collar before I get home tonight. So, all I'll have to do is seam the under arms and weave in six ends. I've been spit-splicing when I join a new ball. Which is good, because I've used parts of 13 balls (the sleeves used about 1 3/4 balls each). That would have been a lot of ends. I even have a plan in mind in case the sweater doesn't dry overnight, it involves the cargo area of my H3 and the foam fold-up chair we bring with us for B. I may try to get modeled shots with Nannette before I go up, but I'll definitely have modeled shots of Mom when I get back. I sure hope it's long enough.

I might just make it

As the rows get shorter, the goal seems more attainable.

My sister implied that I procrastinated on this and I'd like to point out that I cast on with more than a month to knit. Just because I can't stay awake doesn't mean I'm procrastinating, it means I just don't drink coffee.

cutting it close, as usual

As is my habit, I am once again cutting it close with the deadline knitting. Mom's birthday is Sunday. B and I drive to VT on Friday. Ideally, the sweater should be done, blocked, and dry before B and I pack up the truck and go. Le sigh, I've completed two of four sets of yoke decreases. I've got at least 5" to go, then the short rows for the neckline and the 5" collar. One saving grace is that the rows are shorter now. But, why do I do this to myself?

Actually, I blame the B. The last couple of weeks, he's been insisting that I lie in bed with him until he falls asleep. Not a bad thing, except I often fall asleep, too. Well, it is bad if I want to get something done after he goes to sleep. Last night I had to let him cry it out so I could call my mom and dad (they go to bed about 9 pm and I couldn't stay with him). He's nearly five and it's so hard to let him cry it out (although, we did do a modified Ferber to get him to bed as an infant).

You know what totally rocks?

I have the day off on Monday, but Billy and Hubby don't! (Not that I celebrate Columbus Day, I don't think we should have a holiday for an event that precipitated genocide, and if you want to say it's for Italian heritage why do I have to work on St. Patrick's day, but I won't go into the office in protest either.)

C'mon, you know I love my family, but a whole day to myself? Maybe I'll get some sewing done (finally finish that tunic, start a corduroy skirt, a fall tote bag, another apron). I know I'm going to get some shopping, cooking and/or baking done. Hubby's birthday is the next day and I promised him a special dinner. I know there will be no housework done, because M-i-L and F-i-L will be watching B Friday night (Devils tickets) and Saturday night (local drama club doing Urinetown) so I need to do any cleaning/tidying before Friday night. I think I'll tackle the bathroom tonight, since there's no Project Runway.

Mom's second sleeve is half done. I would be further along, but I watched I am Legend last night instead of the debate and couldn't concentrate on the twisted stockinette. I hope to be joining body and sleeves by the weekend.

nearly as many tries to cast on

Sleeve 1 was completed Saturday. I think I have the cast on done for sleeve 2. I've had it nearly done a few times, but kept screwing it up. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Less than three inches to go until sleeve 1 is done. I really wish I had been knitting in front of the tv all week. This would have been done days ago. Oh well, I have 3 weeks to finish (kiss of death, I know).

It only took a dozen tries

But, I finally got a half-way decent picture of the first sleeve. One big mod, I am not knitting 6" of slipped garter stitch so 1/2 is invisible when it's turned over.

2/3 of increases are done (not hard when there's only 3). I must start knitting at home at night.

Mom's Birthday Cinxia

Started this past weekend, cast-on and row one ripped once.

Progress as of Tuesday morning.

Close-up of slipped stitch border.

Thursday morning progress shot.

This morning.

The twisted stitch is slowing me down. I have to finish by 10/24 which is when B and I are going to VT again (Mom's birthday is 10/26).

This birthday is a biggie, 55. So, since the sweater doesn't have a closure (although, I'm going to have to do something about the curling edges), I've asked Ruth at Impulse of Delight to create a shawl pin for mom of her initial in a curlicue style.

Baby Überraschung Jacke

I mentioned on Wednesday that I have a colleague from Germany who's having a baby. Since she was in our knitting group for a year while in NY, I decided to knit her a baby surprise jacket. I don't know if it was the olympics or the theme of the previous work shower gifts (destinational onesies), but I decided to do the sweater in the colors of the German flag. I ordered yarn from Elann last week and have been waiting impatiently for it to arrive (not because elann's service is bad, but because I stupidly had the yarn shipped to the office and I've had two packages never arrive). The yarn came today. I cannot wait to cast on. I include the swatch from elann's site because my pic of the yellow is way off. It's sort of in-between these two.

Now, to find some really cool buttons. I'd love it if I could find some German flag buttons. Hmm, maybe a trip to the store for polymer clay and I could make my own (kind of goes against the point of using cotton for washability).

36 and 1

I turned 36 at 4:04 this morning. I'm a bit bummed to be at work and I want to just yell at everybody to leave me alone cuz it's my birthday and I shouldn't even have to be at work, but the rest of the management team is either on week two of a three week vacation, in India on business, or driving their daughter back to college.

It makes me sad that the specialness of birthdays wears off when you're between being really young and having all those great milestones and getting really old when it's a feat to still be around. I was conflicted about birthdays before that anyway. I have two younger sisters and our birthdays fall within one month of each other, mine being smack dab in the middle (two weeks and two days after one and two weeks and one day before the other).

But, I get to have lobster for dinner tonight and I'm ordering dessert, and I don't care if Hubby tells the waitress and they embarass the crap out of me. B will get a kick out of it.

Hubby gave me a lovely gold bracelet to replace one he'd given me years ago that is now a kinked mess. B also gave me a lovely bracelet earlier in the week. I call it my topography bracelet because it's all letters and numbers. (I wore it to work today.)

I finished the first seeing stones sock last night. I cast on for number two this morning. I think I need to make them a bit longer than this. My toes do not like being squished at all.

a heel sprouts

I finished the toe last night and I've started putting the stitches for the heel back on the needle. I had knit them with some scrap yarn so I could easily pick out the right row. (I prefer the afterthought heel because I'm too lazy to learn how to wrap a short-row heel and a flap is impossible when magic looping.)

In other news, I had to rip out 12 rows of raglan shaping on M-i-L's Ariann. The eyelets weren't matching up. I ripped back to three separate pieces and discovered that I'd not cast-off enough on one sleeve and was missing a decrease on the other. I really, really want to finish this sweater. I started so early and so well and now it's dragging.

Another friend from our nearly defunct office knitting group is expecting. She's taking her last trip before the baby next month. (She worked in our NY office for a year, but is German and is back in Germany. Funny how she goes back to live on the same continent as her husband and gets pregnant.) I'm planning a baby surprise jacket. I'm anxiously awaiting a package from Elann so I can get started. I'll post a pic and the rationale behind my color choices once it gets here.

reaching the toe

My re-boot of my seeing stones picots is at the toe shaping. Of course, I got my replacement Harmony needle in the mail yesterday. If I'd put off re-starting, I wouldn't be having floppy socks. Oh well, I'll use the new harmony for my Thimbleberries yarn. I got the superwash. It's very pretty and will be my next pair. I'm going to swatch it to see if it will take a pattern.

We had a good weekend at the shore. B is getting braver and braver in the ocean. Yesterday, he let me sit him down so the waves could crash on his shoulders.

We did have a little meltdown about B's not eating dinner Sunday that lead to no boardwalk rides and an early bedtime. However, we had excellent cooperation yesterday, so we did do rides after lunch before we left. There was little to no carrying on as we drove away, too. A big change from last time when we had miles of tears. I'm sure the lollipop had nothing to do with it.