fall veil and knitting, too.

it’s misty and gray and quite decidedly, fall.  on the way home yesterday mae was looking out the window with the cool, damp breeze blowing her hair back and she told me that the trees were all colors and the leaves were on the ground.  i tell you, it came just as fast as that.

i’ve had the seasonal itch to change things, clean things, move things… and the first major task was the garage which is hubbie’s realm.  he started smoking again, you know, and fell fast back into his rhythm.  he talks on the phone while he smokes and i’m not sure if the duration of the burning dictates the duration of the conversation or if it’s the other way around.  that’s really the ONLY thing i know for sure he’s doing out there, but i find a lot of his clothes piled on chairs or tables, covered in dirt, dust, and spider webs, cigarette ashes, and damp.  it’s totally bazaar.  he’s really um… organizationally disabled and doesn’t have the sight when it comes to untidy or unclean.  it’s an ongoing battle here as i’m sure it is in many a marriage to one varying degree or another.  yesterday however, i noticed just what it was that was making the space feel so extraordinarily cramped. he had boxes strewn all around the back of the garage for no discernable reason.  i set to put things right and the rest of the dank, cold garage followed.

if you’ve been reading this for any length of time, you may have caught on to the rapid succession of cleaning events that take place around here.  it always starts with one room or part of the house and before you know it i’m climbing the walls.  i’ve been blaming the gray veil that has been hanging here, bringing in autumn for the antsy cleaning surges  that are perfectly balanced with heavy laziness.  my mind may be racing around with an unending to-do list but my body is broken.  just slow and broken.  i even sort of spin my wheels trying to nail down a knitting project.  

i DID finish my dad’s socks, though and wouldn’t you know, they’re somehow totally not matching!?  it’s one of those perfectly ridiculous situations where i knit them with so much downtime in-between that i have no clue if or how i edited the first sock.  i thought i knit it exactly to the instructions. then, i knit the second and i saw immediately that the brown toes were not matching.  what’s really weird is that the socks are the exact same length.  i casted on the exact same number of stitches and worked the heels exactly the same, but the first sock is maybe four stitches more narrow and the toe is exactly three rows shorter in the brown.  it’s a damn mystery!  so, i’ve been staring at them on the work table trying to figure out my course of action.  if hubs was here i’d have him put them on and walk all about and give me an honest assessment of fit and feel and i’d decided if those three rows of brown are worth the effort to pull out and re-knit.  but, hubs isn’t here so….

i also decided i needed a new hat for this year since mine always seem to be… appropriated by my beloved alizah.

it was a fun make-it-up-as-i-go cabled hat that i’ve been calling “v is for valley” but you know what?  i ran out of yarn.  isn’t that awesome?  HA!  i’m just ever so thankful its a bare yarn.  no dye lot mess to deal with when i get another hank.

i also went on a rip spree the other day.  i listen to some knitting pod casts and read a few nice knitting blogs and it always makes me smile a sly little smile when i hear (or read) others talk about how much they dread to rip or even rip back.  i find it sort of exhilarating.  it’s like i’m doing something so taboo and so daring and so reckless that only a mad woman would dare, but there i am in a fuzzy dream ripping wildly so that days or weeks of steady and careful work is a pile of wiggly worms in a matter of minutes.  i ripped about 15 projects from those not even half finished slippers i started last fall to some finished projects knit only this past spring.  i’ve said before that one of the reasons i love to knit is because (almost) anything can be ripped out giving you back that same yarn you started with - which is unique to knitting or crochet.  if i cut fabric and sew a skirt i will be able to rip out the seams and make something else, but i will never be able to piece it back into that yard of fabric again.  i feel like i have a lot of yarn now, like, a lot.  it’s really cool.

in keeping with the theme of change - have i mentioned hubs has left for his new job?  it’s quite possible he’ll be gone a total of three weeks or more.  the girls and i are slowly getting into the groove of daddy not being home.  this is the biggest change thus far.  mae still cries for him at night and all seven of us pile into my bed to (sort of) sleep - and i mean, both kids, both dogs, both cats, and me.  we’re banding together, missing him side by side, and squeezing in around the phone when he calls on video chat.

and with that, i’m going to make myself a pot of tea and relax for a while before tackling the mound of dishes in the kitchen.  no matter how many i did yesterday, there are always new ones waiting for me today. :) xo

wip.fo wednesday

dad socks.  i had posted pics before when i had started them with the knitpicks but have since decided on northhampton sport by valley yarns.  it’s really close to the knitpicks color and feel but ever so slightly lighter in weight.  or at least it feels that way to me.  for the heel i used the knitpicks palette doubled with the mystery nylon brown and it’s perfection.  just a smidgen thicker than the main wool with good squishy durability.  i’m nearing the end of sock one and so far so good.  i still really love the pattern, too!  so shocking for me!  ha!  these are the size medium by the way.  i can already envision him inspecting them for fit and feel.  fingers crossed.  hee hee

these may not last, so enjoy them now.  HA!  these were going to be a surprise gift but i was thinking the yarn was more masculine when i had the hank in hand.  now as i knit i see too much raspberry.  hmmmm.  i think these socks are going in time out until i can get a grasp on what i’m doing.  the yarn is scrumptious.  malabrigo sock, of course in stonechat.

now for the funny folly.  i know you’re all wondering what the hell is going on with this post because they’re all socks… right?  totally weird.  but not only did i think knitting a boat load of socks would be fun, i also thought i should knit two at a time!  that was NOT a great idea as mae would say.  the pattern looked pretty awesome, and i had just the right amount of malabrigo sock left in my stash from some recent shawls so….  i didn’t think far enough ahead to realize if i made any errors what so ever i’d be screwed because just getting into the groove of knitting two at a time is hard enough and everything was getting all tangled no matter how hard i tried to imitate the lady on youtube and i really should have just started with something super simple because as soon as i messed up it was going to be all over…..! and i feel like i just made my way back to where i started which was - if i made any errors.  right?  well, i already did.  i don’t know what i did but the count is off or something.

i’m a spaz.  these are getting ripped out and i’ll knit them one at a time on the circulars instead… like a normal person.  

this is not a sock.  this did not make me smack myself.  this was not knit on size 2.75 mm needles.  this is a nice, easy, practical hat that i knit for my hubs for our anniversary.  a little ribbed panel in some worsted weight cascade yarn… done in a day.  phew!

with that i bid you farewell.  i have a date at a yarn store with a pregnant lady and i don’t want to be late.

happy knitting sweet friends! xo

it's seedy

i have all this glorious wool and i couldn’t keep my hands off.  i started this little seedy hat - and working on the pattern to post on ravelry.  i still don’t have the ribbed kerchief pattern finished… i guess all in due time.

the best part about working on this sweet little hat today was when the hubs looked over and said, “that’s cool.  what stitch is that?  seed stitch?”  what an amazing hubs he is!  it’s almost like he’s listening while i blab on and on about this project or that.  :D

in other knitty news, i made a purple carrot.  carrots can be purple, right?

the carrot came from itty-bitty nursery by susan b anderson.  it was a quick enough knit, so i may have a whole slew of non-orange carrots laying around soon.  the only thing i changed (since i can’t follow a pattern to save my life) was the greens.  i added the twisty bits at the ends.

i’m being far to lazy to edit my pics tonight so please forgive the yellow-ish-ness…  now that daylight savings has gone into effect it’s dark before i even leave the shop in the evening.  the owner’s wife commented tonight that it felt cozy.  it just makes me feel sloth-ish.  oh how i miss the days of cooking dinner with the sun still high in the sky.  the light makes you go outside and talk and play and work!

i will say though, the morning sun that filters through our front windows in the fall and winter is so white and clean it seems to wash out the looming late afternoon sunsets.  

off to bed now.  zzzzzzz

Update on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 11:26AM by pinkbrutus

Dear Lauren, 

You never cease to amaze me! Thanks for the link <3

Purple Haze Carrots

good morning, saturday!

good morning!  it’s one of the (two???) saturdays a year i know i’m not going into work and i stayed in bed til 10.  there.  i said it.  mae doesn’t mind wasting away the morning with mama!  we both had birthdays recently… do we look older?

NAH!  not really.  alizah came in to crash our mid morning snuggle session, but she wasn’t too keen on getting in on the photo fun

oh well!  i finally made my way downstairs to get back to work.  mae and the hubs went birthday present shopping for her little friend colton’s 4th birthday party today and picked up some starbucks on the way back mmmmmmm yum which let mama get back on the needles - at least for a little while without interruptions.  i DID get two stockings completed yesterday - YAY

and only got this far on the 4th (and final) stocking

meh.  i need to dye a bit more red to button it up.  THAT will have to wait until tomorrow night.

of course, i can’t just tidy up the house, wrap birthday gifts, and pack for our crazy trip to chicago tonight, i had to start another project.

our dear friend trevor is expecting a little girl so i thought i’d knit them an elf-ish hat from the brown and blue yarn i dyed and spun this week.  so far so good!

i don’t think they’re the pink and purple types… i hope they LOVE it!

i can’t believe it’s almost time for me to go back to work.  BOO!  at least i’ve gotten nearly everything checked off my list for the week.  i’ll bring the opera bonnet with me to chicago and get some needle time in while the hubs is at the wheel.

back to packing….