just a post

to see if this forces Bloglines to update my feed. Nothing is showing from yesterday’s blog. Anyway, no time to play on the computer anyway. Much cleaning needs to be done to prepare for the attack of 3 preteen boys. Wish me luck!

Oh and I did finish one of the Donna sleeves. Still not done with the sleeves from hell (aka baby sleeves from raglan sweater by Debbie Bliss). Of course the problem is with doing them both at the same time, although I am doing decreases now, so I’ll soon be casting off.

And the good thing about getting the boyo involved in other activities (such as karate last night) is more knitting time while sitting through a karate class. Yay! And there was another mother there crocheting. How cool is that?

Allrighty, I’m off now.

just a post

to see if this forces Bloglines to update my feed. Nothing is showing from yesterday’s blog. Anyway, no time to play on the computer anyway. Much cleaning needs to be done to prepare for the attack of 3 preteen boys. Wish me luck!

Oh and I did finish one of the Donna sleeves. Still not done with the sleeves from hell (aka baby sleeves from raglan sweater by Debbie Bliss). Of course the problem is with doing them both at the same time, although I am doing decreases now, so I’ll soon be casting off.

And the good thing about getting the boyo involved in other activities (such as karate last night) is more knitting time while sitting through a karate class. Yay! And there was another mother there crocheting. How cool is that?

Allrighty, I’m off now.

just a post

to see if this forces Bloglines to update my feed. Nothing is showing from yesterday’s blog. Anyway, no time to play on the computer anyway. Much cleaning needs to be done to prepare for the attack of 3 preteen boys. Wish me luck!

Oh and I did finish one of the Donna sleeves. Still not done with the sleeves from hell (aka baby sleeves from raglan sweater by Debbie Bliss). Of course the problem is with doing them both at the same time, although I am doing decreases now, so I’ll soon be casting off.

And the good thing about getting the boyo involved in other activities (such as karate last night) is more knitting time while sitting through a karate class. Yay! And there was another mother there crocheting. How cool is that?

Allrighty, I’m off now.

Knitting ensues

So the last post was just a diversion from the fact that not too much knitting has been going on. I did knit a little at the Boulder Knit-Out on my shrunken cardigan, but otherwise after that, no knitting. Last week was just so busy, that even when I came home, I did knit a little on the sock or on the cardigan, but I wasn’t too enthused with anything. And now that I cast on for yet another project, I’m starting to feel burdened with all the projects. My project max is usually 4 and right now I’m at 6, really 7. Although the 7th one hasn’t been restarted, but I am anxiously awaiting getting re-started on the cardigan.

Yesterday as I left the house and the temperature dropped to a crisp 50 degrees, it definitely felt like fall was in the air. I really wanted some cardigans at that point and knew that I want to finish the cardigans I have on the needles. Although that fall day of yesterday was really a fluke. Today it’s in the 70s, it does make me think that I need to wrap up a few other things so I can really focus on my cardis. So first up, are the Donna sleeves. Remember her? Well, the first edition of the sleeves weren’t quite right and were actually longer than I wanted and they didn’t fit when I was trying to seam the sleeves in. So since my friend Susan helped me redo them, I decided it wouldn’t take that long to knit them up, since they should be much shorter this version and I ripped them out and started reknitting. I’m doing decreases on the first sleeve now.
Donna sleeves 

I should be able to get this one done today and get started on the second one. Once I get the sleeves done, then I will finish up the sleeves for the baby sweater and knock out two things there. Then I can work on the lacy scarf for a little bit and start swatching on the other cardigan, so I can get gauge with the other yarn for the two-tone (variegated and solid color) cardigan, as well as keep working on the other cardigan and the socks.

In between a lot of other stuff with tracking down job leads, etc., here’s the other reason I’ve had little knitting time, which has been some home repair. The carpets in our 2nd bedroom (M2, the preteen’s room) are just atrocious and we’re not sure what happened there. It’s so dirty, although the carpet is pretty new that we don’t think it will be cleaned well, so we’re putting in hardwood floors. In addition to putting in hardwood floors (M’s job), I decided to move my desk downstairs, which meant taking everything out of the drawers and moving both bookcases downstairs. My weekend was filled with cleaning and sorting and still consists of these things, blech. The flooring is also going into the kitchen. M says he will he have to shut off the water, and we may have to eat out! Yay! The kitchen stuff will happen on Saturday though. But M is doing a great job of doing it himself. Just a sneak preview . . .
hardwood flooring 

And whilst trying to get in a little knitting time for myself, much cleaning and laundry will commence today. Tomorrow a total of 3 preteen boys will be invading my space for a number of hours (although, not a sleepover), but will need to be entertained by movies, snacks, game-playing etc. Whoo-wee! This stepmommy thing is really something else. Naw, it’s not that bad, I’m just griping b/c I have to clean and the thought of 3 preteen boys is slightly nerve-wracking.

That’s about it for me and the knitting update today. Maybe more tomorrow, you just never know.

Knitting ensues

So the last post was just a diversion from the fact that not too much knitting has been going on. I did knit a little at the Boulder Knit-Out on my shrunken cardigan, but otherwise after that, no knitting. Last week was just so busy, that even when I came home, I did knit a little on the sock or on the cardigan, but I wasn’t too enthused with anything. And now that I cast on for yet another project, I’m starting to feel burdened with all the projects. My project max is usually 4 and right now I’m at 6, really 7. Although the 7th one hasn’t been restarted, but I am anxiously awaiting getting re-started on the cardigan.

Yesterday as I left the house and the temperature dropped to a crisp 50 degrees, it definitely felt like fall was in the air. I really wanted some cardigans at that point and knew that I want to finish the cardigans I have on the needles. Although that fall day of yesterday was really a fluke. Today it’s in the 70s, it does make me think that I need to wrap up a few other things so I can really focus on my cardis. So first up, are the Donna sleeves. Remember her? Well, the first edition of the sleeves weren’t quite right and were actually longer than I wanted and they didn’t fit when I was trying to seam the sleeves in. So since my friend Susan helped me redo them, I decided it wouldn’t take that long to knit them up, since they should be much shorter this version and I ripped them out and started reknitting. I’m doing decreases on the first sleeve now.
Donna sleeves 

I should be able to get this one done today and get started on the second one. Once I get the sleeves done, then I will finish up the sleeves for the baby sweater and knock out two things there. Then I can work on the lacy scarf for a little bit and start swatching on the other cardigan, so I can get gauge with the other yarn for the two-tone (variegated and solid color) cardigan, as well as keep working on the other cardigan and the socks.

In between a lot of other stuff with tracking down job leads, etc., here’s the other reason I’ve had little knitting time, which has been some home repair. The carpets in our 2nd bedroom (M2, the preteen’s room) are just atrocious and we’re not sure what happened there. It’s so dirty, although the carpet is pretty new that we don’t think it will be cleaned well, so we’re putting in hardwood floors. In addition to putting in hardwood floors (M’s job), I decided to move my desk downstairs, which meant taking everything out of the drawers and moving both bookcases downstairs. My weekend was filled with cleaning and sorting and still consists of these things, blech. The flooring is also going into the kitchen. M says he will he have to shut off the water, and we may have to eat out! Yay! The kitchen stuff will happen on Saturday though. But M is doing a great job of doing it himself. Just a sneak preview . . .
hardwood flooring 

And whilst trying to get in a little knitting time for myself, much cleaning and laundry will commence today. Tomorrow a total of 3 preteen boys will be invading my space for a number of hours (although, not a sleepover), but will need to be entertained by movies, snacks, game-playing etc. Whoo-wee! This stepmommy thing is really something else. Naw, it’s not that bad, I’m just griping b/c I have to clean and the thought of 3 preteen boys is slightly nerve-wracking.

That’s about it for me and the knitting update today. Maybe more tomorrow, you just never know.

Knitting ensues

So the last post was just a diversion from the fact that not too much knitting has been going on. I did knit a little at the Boulder Knit-Out on my shrunken cardigan, but otherwise after that, no knitting. Last week was just so busy, that even when I came home, I did knit a little on the sock or on the cardigan, but I wasn’t too enthused with anything. And now that I cast on for yet another project, I’m starting to feel burdened with all the projects. My project max is usually 4 and right now I’m at 6, really 7. Although the 7th one hasn’t been restarted, but I am anxiously awaiting getting re-started on the cardigan.

Yesterday as I left the house and the temperature dropped to a crisp 50 degrees, it definitely felt like fall was in the air. I really wanted some cardigans at that point and knew that I want to finish the cardigans I have on the needles. Although that fall day of yesterday was really a fluke. Today it’s in the 70s, it does make me think that I need to wrap up a few other things so I can really focus on my cardis. So first up, are the Donna sleeves. Remember her? Well, the first edition of the sleeves weren’t quite right and were actually longer than I wanted and they didn’t fit when I was trying to seam the sleeves in. So since my friend Susan helped me redo them, I decided it wouldn’t take that long to knit them up, since they should be much shorter this version and I ripped them out and started reknitting. I’m doing decreases on the first sleeve now.
Donna sleeves 

I should be able to get this one done today and get started on the second one. Once I get the sleeves done, then I will finish up the sleeves for the baby sweater and knock out two things there. Then I can work on the lacy scarf for a little bit and start swatching on the other cardigan, so I can get gauge with the other yarn for the two-tone (variegated and solid color) cardigan, as well as keep working on the other cardigan and the socks.

In between a lot of other stuff with tracking down job leads, etc., here’s the other reason I’ve had little knitting time, which has been some home repair. The carpets in our 2nd bedroom (M2, the preteen’s room) are just atrocious and we’re not sure what happened there. It’s so dirty, although the carpet is pretty new that we don’t think it will be cleaned well, so we’re putting in hardwood floors. In addition to putting in hardwood floors (M’s job), I decided to move my desk downstairs, which meant taking everything out of the drawers and moving both bookcases downstairs. My weekend was filled with cleaning and sorting and still consists of these things, blech. The flooring is also going into the kitchen. M says he will he have to shut off the water, and we may have to eat out! Yay! The kitchen stuff will happen on Saturday though. But M is doing a great job of doing it himself. Just a sneak preview . . .
hardwood flooring 

And whilst trying to get in a little knitting time for myself, much cleaning and laundry will commence today. Tomorrow a total of 3 preteen boys will be invading my space for a number of hours (although, not a sleepover), but will need to be entertained by movies, snacks, game-playing etc. Whoo-wee! This stepmommy thing is really something else. Naw, it’s not that bad, I’m just griping b/c I have to clean and the thought of 3 preteen boys is slightly nerve-wracking.

That’s about it for me and the knitting update today. Maybe more tomorrow, you just never know.

Boulder Knit-Out recap

Hi all, things have still been pretty busy. I completely forgot I had to work at EB this weekend (well, Sunday and Monday mornings, v. early), so I’m still sleep-deprived, but wanted to post some updates.

Saturday, Cynthia and I headed out to the annual Boulder Knit Out, hosted by the Boulder Hand Knitting Guild, of which our dear Jenifer is the newly elected President. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I’d never been before. I saw some ladies I’d met before and met lots of new people. I had a great time and met some new knitters. I met Carla, who described me as bubbly! Which is quite funny, but she introduced herself as a blog reader (what, who reads this rag, anyway?!) , so that was quite funny and we became fast friends! Cynthia says I talked to everyone and that did seem to be the case, but I had a blast. I’ve also set up a photo set on my flickr page, so feel free to hop over here to see all the pictures.

One of the fun things is to see are all the beautiful knits that others have made and everyone, is of course, wearing some of the handknitted finest! Cyn and Jenifer both fell sway to the dark side, spinning, and tried spinning with a drop spindle,as pictured here:

I met Kristi, of Knitting Fool blog, and we are also on a knitting list together, so it was nice to meet her in person. She was there with spindle in hand, helping those who were interested in learning to spin.

And the lovely Amanda (not a blogger, but we’ve been on a list as well and never met in person). It cracks me up when someone says they read my blog, b/c I think, really! Amanda had the most amazing shawl/scarf on and it was a Fiber Trends patterns, I believe and it was beaded. So pretty. Amanda should really have a blog too! See it:

Many others were there to knit and hang out as Cyn and I did. We also toured the Farmer’s Market and they had some tasty items. I came home with a small bag of Honeycrisp apples, which are delicious. I’m still waiting to hear of Cynthia’s report of the hot, hot garlic she bought.

I forgot to mention that I also received a couple of gifties. One from Nik, which was a copy of

Thanks so much Nik.

And Cynthia gifted me with a copy of Scarf Style, since I’ve been coveting everyone else’s copy for awhile. Thanks a lot Cyn. I can definitely get use out of this book.

I’ll post more later, but that’s all for today.

Boulder Knit-Out recap

Hi all, things have still been pretty busy. I completely forgot I had to work at EB this weekend (well, Sunday and Monday mornings, v. early), so I’m still sleep-deprived, but wanted to post some updates.

Saturday, Cynthia and I headed out to the annual Boulder Knit Out, hosted by the Boulder Hand Knitting Guild, of which our dear Jenifer is the newly elected President. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I’d never been before. I saw some ladies I’d met before and met lots of new people. I had a great time and met some new knitters. I met Carla, who described me as bubbly! Which is quite funny, but she introduced herself as a blog reader (what, who reads this rag, anyway?!) , so that was quite funny and we became fast friends! Cynthia says I talked to everyone and that did seem to be the case, but I had a blast. I’ve also set up a photo set on my flickr page, so feel free to hop over here to see all the pictures.

One of the fun things is to see are all the beautiful knits that others have made and everyone, is of course, wearing some of the handknitted finest! Cyn and Jenifer both fell sway to the dark side, spinning, and tried spinning with a drop spindle,as pictured here:

I met Kristi, of Knitting Fool blog, and we are also on a knitting list together, so it was nice to meet her in person. She was there with spindle in hand, helping those who were interested in learning to spin.

And the lovely Amanda (not a blogger, but we’ve been on a list as well and never met in person). It cracks me up when someone says they read my blog, b/c I think, really! Amanda had the most amazing shawl/scarf on and it was a Fiber Trends patterns, I believe and it was beaded. So pretty. Amanda should really have a blog too! See it:

Many others were there to knit and hang out as Cyn and I did. We also toured the Farmer’s Market and they had some tasty items. I came home with a small bag of Honeycrisp apples, which are delicious. I’m still waiting to hear of Cynthia’s report of the hot, hot garlic she bought.

I forgot to mention that I also received a couple of gifties. One from Nik, which was a copy of

Thanks so much Nik.

And Cynthia gifted me with a copy of Scarf Style, since I’ve been coveting everyone else’s copy for awhile. Thanks a lot Cyn. I can definitely get use out of this book.

I’ll post more later, but that’s all for today.

Boulder Knit-Out recap

Hi all, things have still been pretty busy. I completely forgot I had to work at EB this weekend (well, Sunday and Monday mornings, v. early), so I’m still sleep-deprived, but wanted to post some updates.

Saturday, Cynthia and I headed out to the annual Boulder Knit Out, hosted by the Boulder Hand Knitting Guild, of which our dear Jenifer is the newly elected President. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I’d never been before. I saw some ladies I’d met before and met lots of new people. I had a great time and met some new knitters. I met Carla, who described me as bubbly! Which is quite funny, but she introduced herself as a blog reader (what, who reads this rag, anyway?!) , so that was quite funny and we became fast friends! Cynthia says I talked to everyone and that did seem to be the case, but I had a blast. I’ve also set up a photo set on my flickr page, so feel free to hop over here to see all the pictures.

One of the fun things is to see are all the beautiful knits that others have made and everyone, is of course, wearing some of the handknitted finest! Cyn and Jenifer both fell sway to the dark side, spinning, and tried spinning with a drop spindle,as pictured here:

I met Kristi, of Knitting Fool blog, and we are also on a knitting list together, so it was nice to meet her in person. She was there with spindle in hand, helping those who were interested in learning to spin.

And the lovely Amanda (not a blogger, but we’ve been on a list as well and never met in person). It cracks me up when someone says they read my blog, b/c I think, really! Amanda had the most amazing shawl/scarf on and it was a Fiber Trends patterns, I believe and it was beaded. So pretty. Amanda should really have a blog too! See it:

Many others were there to knit and hang out as Cyn and I did. We also toured the Farmer’s Market and they had some tasty items. I came home with a small bag of Honeycrisp apples, which are delicious. I’m still waiting to hear of Cynthia’s report of the hot, hot garlic she bought.

I forgot to mention that I also received a couple of gifties. One from Nik, which was a copy of

Thanks so much Nik.

And Cynthia gifted me with a copy of Scarf Style, since I’ve been coveting everyone else’s copy for awhile. Thanks a lot Cyn. I can definitely get use out of this book.

I’ll post more later, but that’s all for today.

Believe it or not, I’m still around

This week has been terribly hectic, especially for someone that is unemployed. It’s a bit funny. Nonetheless I did make it to 2 job fairs this week and attempting to follow up on some leads with those, so hence no time to blog. In fact, very little time to knit. Although last weekend I did get started on a new project, making a ton of baby sweaters. I figured it out and I need to make 5-6 baby sweaters and I’m on baby sweater #1. The front and back are done and I am working on the sleeves now. The pattern is a Debbie Bliss pattern which calls for DB Cashmerino Aran, but I didn’t want(and couldn’t) spend that kind of money, so I’m using up some of this Cotton-Ease. Yay, I am using up stash and that’s always a good thing!
Here’s a pic of the front and back:
(sorry for the blurry picture quality, but I was in a rush)

and the sleeves:

and a little further progress on the Marilyn shrunken cardigan:

I also joined another KAL, the Spork KAL, hosted by Brynne at her site. The pattern for Spork can be found here. I’d originally determined that I would use 3 skeins of Noro Kureyon in my stash, but upon further reading of the pattern and realizing that I would need more yarn, I’m going to use the yarn Wendy sent to me in its stead, as there is some Noro Kureyon (2 skeins) in a black, purple colorway and some purple Cascade 220 to use as an accent color. I will probably also have a stripe of purple to break up the variegation and have one stripe in the middle of the bag, and purple side panels as well as the interior panel. I’m excited for this as I’ve wanted a messenger/courier bag and this fits the bill nicely.

I also cast on for a pair of socks for the stepson. When will I have time to get all of these projects done? I was doing so good with only a couple of projects on the needles, but apparently that’s gone to the wayside. Plus, I get bored with just one or two projects anyway. I’m just not looking forward to all of the baby sweater madness I’ve got to knit. Maybe I’ll knit one or two and then see how I feel about making them all. At least maybe I’ll get the motivation from looking at the yarn laying out to finish up the sweaters. They do knit up fast, but knitting both sleeves at the same time gets boring.

My Sock Pal, Nicole received her socks and loved them, so I’m quite happy. I would say take a look at her blog, but it’s all in German, so if you speak German, go for it. If you don’t and you still do want to look at it, feel free. My German is nonexistent, but she’s made some beautiful projects. I enjoy just looking at her work.

I’m out of here for now . . .