Crazy Time

There's been a bit of knitting.

Lots of rearranging, cleaning, sorting, worrying, stressing, sleepless nights, anxiety, surface of the sun hot flashes...etc etc etc

There has not been enough knitting and way too much of the other stuff.

But...I managed to color my hair so at least when I look in the mirror every day, I don't see a woman who looks as old as she feels.

Seems there is drama everywhere lately, plus a visit from Honey, Spencer finishing out the quarter, and the annual apartment inspection (today actually).

I felt a brief moment of "down-timeness" this morning on the way into work.  I was cruising on the leg of one of the Chili Socks and everything just felt all nice and chilled out.

That lasted about 5 minutes.

Tonight I am hoping for more chill time.  All I need to do is wash my comforter, sit back, relax, knit and see what's on TV.

That's the plan anyway.

Chili Socks in Progress

The Roasted Chilies socks for Antonella are on the needles.  Yay!  I had plenty of time to cast on and work the toes last night while I waited for Spencer to text me and let me know he'd made it back to school and was safely in his dorm. 

Note to all parents with younger children: No, you never stop worrying about your kids - no matter how old they get.

I also had plenty of time to work half way up the foot of one as I waited for a train this morning.  You know you'll have extra knitting time when the platform is crowded and people are arguing about who is cutting in front of whom.  I headed straight for a bench and knit on a Chili Sock while I waited for the platform to clear.

There will be no photos to see here.  I'll post all the details to Ravelry in a few days along with some progress photos so my knitter friends on Ravelry can check them out if they are curious.

Just because she knows that she is getting socks and has seen the yarn (I always get color approval from her before starting her projects), it doesn't mean that I'm going to show her what they actually look like while I'm making them.

She'll see them at Christmas.

And now to complete my lunch hour today by spending some time in the bathroom trying to get bacon and cheese grease off my newly washed fleece jacket and my t-shirt.

I got quite the deal when I paid $6.50 for that grilled cheese sandwich - with bacon! - and a cup of soup.  I got the very yummy comfort food soup and sandwich, a nice big double grease stain, an upset stomach and bloating.  Ooh and a hot flash, because here that comes now too.  BONUS!!

Sigh.  I need to start wearing a bib - and I need to stop eating stuff that I shouldn't be eating.

Some days though you just need the crispy grilled cheese sandwich comfort (with bacon!) that a salad just CAN NOT provide.

Finished Sock, On Deck redo, On the Needles Now, a Happy, Productive Visit

Knitter's Husband Marine Life Socks finished the other day.  They are approximately a size 13.  That's a whole lotta sock.  Told Spencer while he was here for Thanksgiving that his feet are NOT allowed to grow any more.  It's bad enough he's at a size 12.

A WHOLE LOTTA sock...

Spencer's SF Giant's socks not happening anymore.  The yarn is splitty, the colors are NOT working out in the jumble and I do NOT like knitting them as the yarn has too much nylon and it does NOT flow over the needles.  Spencer has agreed about the colors and has picked a different yarn out of the stash.  Cherry Tree Hill's "Middle Earth".  Photos later.  Still keeping an eye out for the right yarn as I do want to make him some Giants socks.  Definitely needs to be self-striping 100% Merino - which is way out of my price range at the moment.  This is how far I went before I had to say "NO MORE" - not black/orange/white but brown/coral/white.

Going on the needles today as I watch Da Bears trounce the Vikings - socks for my partner in crime Antonella.  After slacking off for three days, they are FINALLY going on the needles - Claudia Hand Painted Yarns "Roasted Chilies".  I have five more pairs to make after these.  FIVE.  Yeah, I should really get going.

 

Once Spence FINALLY got to my house, we had a simple Thanksgiving dinner of lasagna and a salad.  But first we had dessert.  We LOVE pumpkin pie in The Chaos so that had to be eaten first!

After we rested a bit after our mini-feast, we went through all the boxes he left in his room.  I made a special pile of them and we made quick work of going through it all.  We came across wonderful things that triggered many happy memories of his grandparents, both gone now.  Here we are in two of the many awesome hats from his hat collection.  Mom and Dad always sent him various hats for birthdays and holidays and hats were his souvenirs whenever anyone traveled.  Here, he wears the Davey Crockett 'Coon hat his Papa Bernie gave him, and I'm in a fancy Greek hat that Grandma Mary brought back from her Mediterranean Cruise.  He took the furry hat back to UCLA.

It was a Happy Holiday Visit, and we got some sorting and organizing done too!  What more could a Mom ask for...

Except maybe her Honey coming on December 14th for a Happy Holiday Visit and Honey helping sort and organize too!  I'll have them both in for Christmas/New Year's so look forward to whipping The Chaos into a bit better shape while they are here.  Looking forward to having access to strong, tall men.  I'll have to cook and feed them, but small price to pay for all the much needed help they will provide.

SQUEEE.

Well now...

I just stripe pattern enhanced myself into tinking the second Marine Life sock.  I do love the colors on these socks - six different shades of blue.  Six different variations of Caribbean blue.  In a certain light, there are about three of the shades that look alike.

You can probably see where this is going.

When I use self-striping yarn - which is a lot because I just LOVE me some stripey socks - I try to start at the same color so that the socks more or less match up.

After I caked up the yarn, I pulled out the centers until I got to a point in the yarn changes where I had the same shade of blue.  Off I went on the sock #1 toe.

A few days later, I put sock #1 aside, out of sight in the main project bag, picked up cake #2 and started on the toe of sock #2.

Last night I decided to compare sock #1 and sock #2 to see how well I had matched up the stripes again, because I'm very good at starting up the socks at the same color and I was ready to admire my latest stripe success.

EPIC SOCK STRIPE FAIL.

A few minutes of tinking later and I'm back here tonight starting sock #2, this time at the correct shade of Caribbean blue.

I STILL do not have my second set of sock needles so I consider this a blessing in disguise.  Now I have something to do on the train again.

Time to re-knit sock #2.  This should last me for a few days while I wait impatiently for my new needles.

Sock #2 begins

Yesterday morning about halfway down my train commute, I finished the foot of the first Marine Life sock.  All 8" of it.

Last night I started the toe of the second so I could have it off the dpn's and onto the mini-circular for the commute this morning. **

Good thing too.  I definitely needed something to distract me.

Today is the San Francisco Giants ticker tape parade down Market Street.  They expect 1 million people to show up.

They told them to take the train.

The people listened.

The bus to the train was full - and so was the train.

Too bad my mp3 player ran out of juice, I could have benefitted from some music on the way in today.

** I'm trying something new this time with the socks.  Going to do the heels at the same time so that they both match.  I still have issues with heels, so if I screw up again, at least I'll do the same on both socks and no one will know but me (I have no issues with leaving mistakes).  BTW, I usually don't realize I screwed up until I've cast off the first sock.  Then I can't remember what I did to mess up when I do the second sock.

The Commuting Beast within...

...is calmed.  I am knitting on the train again.  I started the Marine Life socks last night.  Yay!

My commute has been hell lately and I have missed the calming effects of the needles.

By the time I get home, I'm stressed out, sore from being bounced and pushed and from trying to stand while trying not to dislocate my shoulders.

I know at least in the morning I can get in some knitting.  I can knit standing up, and I have on many occasions, but the train is so crowded on the way home, I'm lucky to find enough space for me and my tote bag.

At least now I can knit when I miss the bus home while I wait for the next one to pull into the station.  That's been a daily occurrence lately.  Which is annoying as hell, let me tell you.  I'm tired of seeing the back end of buses pulling away as I come down the steps from the train.

I should have these size 12 socks done in no time.

Soaking Inside and Out

Simple Things is now pinned out and blocking.

First it went for a soak in unscented SOAK:

And then the rain started outside.  So I was serenaded with rain dripping on the metal covering of the trash chute as I pinned it down:

Another good use for Spencer's room and old bed?  Undisturbed blocking space.  One of these days that poor bed is going to dressed up.  Soon, really soon, I promise.

This is all that is left.  It will be wound up in a neat little ball and sent along with the shawl to the recipient.  She's a knitter so I figured she would know what to do with it if she needed to make a repair.

Besides, there is no more room in the hanging stash, so it has to go somewhere!

Off to Ravelry to fill in the final specifics for this project, add the last few photos, and then I start a pair of socks for knitter's husband.  For those who don't have access to Ravelry, here's the highlights, size 4 vintage plastic circular needle, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids in Wisteria, one 420yd skein, with a bit left over.  I started it in January, just now finished it after not being able to knit on it for a very long time.

Wish I would have had the socks already with me on the way home today.  Nothing like sitting at the station for an hour after you 'just' missed the bus with NOTHING TO DO but sit and dwell on the fact that you 'just' missed the bus and now you are sitting on a cold metal bench waiting for the next bus to finally drag its ass into the station and oh here comes some rain.

Yeah, I definitely needed some knitting.

...and she still tries...

OK, so how's the secret knitting going?

Ummmmm....

Ummmmm....

It was going along quite well.  Until.

Until the temperature dropped down into the 30's at night and my hands got so stiff and achy that not even knitting could help.  I have tried to knit in fingerless gloves, but that's not working with dpn's.

Neither is sitting on the train bundled up in every outer garment I possess and trying to knit.  I only have 20 minutes on the train, so disrobing in order to knit is not an option. By the time I do that, pull out the latest secret knitting project and get started, it's time to pack up, get dressed and run off.

Besides, everyone else on the train is bundled up in every single outer garment they possess, so there is not much elbow room.  The other day, I actually had to lean out in the aisle and knit.  That did not go well, as I was on a cabling row.

I don't want to talk about it.

And now we are having a City Inspector come out and do their yearly apartment inspection next Monday.

While I appreciate that my little town takes care of its renters, I don't appreciate them waiting until the Holidays when my apartment is a disaster while I downsize, shift things around and have boxes of Xmas decorations everywhere to come and do an inspection.

I'm supposed to be Knitting Secret Things, not cleaning up.

Jeez.

...and the secret knitting begins...

...but not after two whole nights spent tearing The Chaos apart to locate my stash of knitting needles.  I had even went so far as to hit Michael's during lunch yesterday to buy the needles I needed - knowing full well that a minimum of TWO SETS of the damn things were at home.

Somewhere.

Luckily for my wallet and my sanity, Michael's didn't have ANYTHING I needed.

And I found ALL my needles last night.

PHEW!!!!

So now this sweater languishes once again in the bottom of my project bag sitting next to the couch, buried under the new projects ready and waiting to go once the one on my needles is done.

Every night this week that wasn't spent searching desperately for needles was spent going through a shitload of knitting patterns, my boxes of yarn, and my gift list and seeing who gets what and in what yarn, and wondering CAN I POSSIBLY KNIT IT ALL BEFORE XMAS?!?

You know, typical knitter crap.  You KNOW you are or already HAVE gone through all this, don't deny it my knitting friends.

For the non-knitters, welcome to the insanity that is Xmas gift knitting.

Usually it starts earlier for me, in October or so, but I haven't picked up the needles on anything since Mom's birthday Damask shawl in June.  After the shawl, the weather got really HOT and I lost my mojo.  And it has stayed too warm-ish to knit until the last few weeks.

It came SCREAMING back Sunday night-along with high winds and colder temps.  Just in time to (hopefully) knock out a few small gift projects.  Now that I have all my damn needles, I think I'll be OK.

Here's an important tip...organizing all your knitting stuff into one general area only works if you ACTUALLY PUT IT ALL IN THE SAME DAMN SPOT.

So now after I finish off this post, I'm going to go back to watching Bocelli live from Central Park on PBS and pick up the needles and continue on with the first project on my list.

The only thing missing from this whole setup tonight is my faithful knitting companion Kitty.  I do so miss her company on these solo nights at home. :(

Cold.

Measurements being taken today to knit warmth producing accessories for my co-workers, and of course myself.

I need a commuter project or two or three. And we're bloody freezing in here.

Just looked out the window. It's raining for the third day straight.

Just checked the temperature gauge in the office/warehouse. 62F outside, 61F inside.

Our heater isn't working. Maintenance has been called.

Just looked at the calendar. Three times.

Yes, it's May 17, 2011.

In the Bay Area.

In California.

I think we're supposed to be having mild and dry and sunny days, right? Right?!?

As slow as I knit, I should be finished by the time Winter rolls around again...if it ever leaves.

I think I'll start with fingerless gloves.

Give it a few days. I'm sure I'll be complaining about the heat and that it's too hot to knit.

Gee...almost a month between posts!

Hey, I'm on a roll...

Sorry no postie. I've been really busy at work. On a computer and sitting all day equals total aversion to sitting down in front of a computer at night.

I've been sitting, but not with the computer.

I've done a few rows of knitting here and there. I've been reading. I've been listening to someone else read (books on CD anyone?). I've been playing Xbox (yes, I do). Mostly tho, I've been collapsing on the couch after dinner and falling asleep.

I've started a Pilates class on Wednesdays at noon. Unfortunately I'll have to stop that after this month. I just can't keep up with it financially. I am going to get 2 good months out of it, so hopefully can continue on my own.

Been on the bike a few times.

I voted. Ms Cow wrote in Cow for Parks and Grasses Boss. Wonder what the vote counters thought of that. :)

Found a great hairdresser. Got great new color, went bold on a new, shorter cut. Lost a great hairdresser. Went back for great new color and to maintain cut. Color worked, cut, not so much.

Growing out hair...and will most likely go back to coloring my own hair again. I can color my own hair in an hour as opposed to 3 hours at the salon. And will still save money over getting it done at a school. As for cuts, I can go to the corner and get a quick trim for $10 with a coupon. Bim bam, I'm outta there! No more wasting an entire Saturday morning or afternoon sitting in a chair smelling chemicals for 4 hours.

It was good while it lasted. The salon folks were very friendly and really listened to what I wanted to do with my hair. I just can't do it any more. Sigh.

I really do like my new cut, but it's a pain. It grows out way too quickly. I can't pull it back and still look nice - it takes about 8 clips to hold it back cos it's so thick. I look like I was having something done at the salon and had to leave in a hurry.

If I leave it down, I get hot. Really hot. Especially when riding my bike. It's like wearing a really really thick woolly hat that dips down over the back of my neck. All the time.

No thanks. I like the option of either putting it up or wearing it down or wearing it half up or whatever.

So I'm going to let it grow back. I miss my biking braids too. :)

Went thru an episode of Kitty not sleeping and MEOWING all night long. Is why I've been so damn tired. No sleep will do that to you. She's sleeping again now, but I'm still not. Sigh. I'm getting better but I swear I still hear her MEOWING even tho she's sound asleep at the end of the bed.

I've been trying to organize and get rid of about half of what I've got in this place before Honey and Cow arrive. Less than 40 days now and the place is not quite where I'd like it to be. I've got lots of things that need to go away and now need to find a way to get them away.

Getting a few items from a very generous friend that need new homes and I really could use here, so need to get back to work. They are arriving tomorrow.

Before I forget again...

Happy Biking Anniversary to me and my pretty pretty bike. Three years last month (Oct 16th) and still going strong. Really wish I could get myself in your saddle a lot more often.

Time to sort, organize and pack up give-aways!

When you start thinking of excuses...

...not to do something you love doing, it's time to stop.

What am I talking about? Knitting.

Not stopping knitting, just stopping knitting 2-socks-at-once toe up.

I know I was excited about it, I know there are others who just L.O.V.E. it. Honestly, I think it's the most wonderful thing since just plain Toe Up and Magic Loop.

(hanging head and sighing) I just can't do it. I can't get into a good enough rythym with it and God knows I've tried. And tried and tried and tried.

I started making excuses not to pull out my knitting on the train. Not too far out there if you consider that my ride is short and it took me the entire 25 min just to do one full round on each sock. About 10 minutes was spent untangling the yarn and cables. How do people DO this?!?

But then, I started making excuses not to knit on the socks at home, in the evening, when I was doing laundry or watching TV when I had plenty of time (so to speak - it's multitasking time, but time none-the-less). I started cleaning and sorting and organizing rather than knit.

You know it's bad when you'd rather clean than knit. Especially if I'd rather clean than knit. I'd rather do ANYTHING than clean.

The 40" size 1 square needle had to go.

Back came the size 1 bamboo dpns. Ahhh.... I'm back to enjoying knitting socks. They may be one at time, but they are getting done. I'm sticking to the toe-up thing tho, that I absolutely L.O.V.E., whether it's one-at-a-time or two-at-a-time.

Oh, and after taking apart the two socks, and after knitting for about 3 inches further on one of them, I discovered that they were probably too small. I looked at my calculations, the instructions for the calculations, the sock, and (sigh) something just didn't seem right. Asked Honey for his measurements again, redid the calculations (redid again) and sure enough...too small!

No worries tho...both socks frogged, yarn cakes remade, new larger socks started. I'm about at the same spot I was when I frogged the one I started with the other method. Knitting one at a time. :)

It's so much easier to knit on the train, and people really avoid sitting next to me again since I have a mini-porcupine in my lap. They seemed to like the bowl of spaghetti better (seriously, with all the cables, yarn, etc - it looked like spaghetti). Guess it didn't look so "dangerous".

Anyway, I knit cos I enjoy knitting. Doesn't matter what I make or how long it takes me to make it. I don't even care if I have to frog several times before I get it right. Just means I can knit even more. :)

At the rate I'm going, Honey's socks with be ready in no time flat - definitely way before he comes to visit. I might even have my pair AND Spence's pair done too - and we can be sock triplets cos I'm making them ALL out of the Knit Picks Time Traveler yarn! hee hee hee

Edited to add:

Just want to give a shout-out to Charles Voth, author of Design Your Own Toe Up Socks. I've knit every single pair of socks (5 pr complete) since I started knitting socks with his method of measurements and calculations and they come out perfect for the wearer every time. Follow the link and the tutorial is for sale in the right had column.

Summer...

Well here we are...Summer.

Mom's b-day, Spencer's b-day, my b-day... plus all sorts of other things going on.

Spencer starts his First. Job. Ever. on June 28th.

Can he really be turning 16?!? Good Grief!

He's very excited, I'm feeling so old...am not looking forward to turning 47 next month.

Freakin 47. Figured I should get all my aging angst out of the way for the next few years so that when I turn 50 I can do so without flipping out. We'll see in 3 years. :)

Almost done with Mom's b-day socks. If you are my friend on Facebook, they are my secret project. Mom's b-day was back on June 4th, and it's about to be about a zillion degrees hot where they live, but yes, I'm knitting her a pair of socks - and they are late. Just shut it.

My Sis reads the blog, but Mom doesn't go near the computer, and Sis already isn't saying anything to Mom about the socks, so it's safe to post here.

Have a few other things I've been making for her and my Sis, so will send those off with the socks. The Socks should be done in the next few days. Hope I remember to take photos of all this stuff before I send it all off - I get excited to finish things and mail them and then realize I didn't take photos! D'oh!

Train spotting...

Left-handed knitter on the train,
Knitting fast and true.
I looked up, you smiled at me,
I smiled right back at you!

Ah, the knowing smile of a fellow knitter that says "We got it right don't we - best thing to do on the train."

I've finished all sorts of books and now I'm all booked out. Time to knock out some small knitty projects while I ride on the train. I've never actually knit over the summer (wool + heat + me = ugh), so we'll see how long I can keep this up. It's not officially summer yet, but the temp yesterday in my neck of the woods was 97F. It's back down to the 80's this week, so there will surely be plenty of knitting.

Oh yeah, Disc 1 and Time Traveler yarn, both delivered on Saturday. Watched the dvd and the yarn is on the shelf and readily available for petting. :)