Alleinesein

Boxing Day has proved gloriously lazy, and yes I needed that bit of lazy to even out the last few blurry days. I lounged in my new PJ’s and did the dishes.

I got new cutlery for christmas (it doesn’t bend or rust Huzzah!) from mom. Hence the dishes, I had to wash my new cups and cutlery (I got a set of wicked halloween cups as well).

I did some spinning to let myself winddown, I seperated the 4oz and predrafted it all (because I’m a control freak when it comes to spinning), and spun some. I intend to go back to it momentarily. I’m bribing myself to clean and such by offering a spinning reward.

I started block five of ten on the baby blanket, it’s turning out well so far I think. I love this style it always looks so warm and timeless to me. Garter stitch just feels traditional to me.

This is my new bat, I have just figered out where to hang him/her so that will probably be going down after I finish this provided I have a hook somewhere. Note the cafe du monde coffee tin, a perfect needle holder.

With around a week until it’s back to school for the masters I think I’ll be working a lot on the house to try and get everything somewhat organized before school takes my life again.

And in parting:

A scorpion in resin, and you can also see my sugar skull necklace and skull earrings. Do I not have the best family?

what’s this? (nightmare before christmas style)

Apparently insanity pays off. Last night I finished the last of four last minute hats made for my neices and nephew for christmas. That’s right four hats in two days, look at me and my bad self. I also finished doing whatever embellishments I wanted to.

Note: All hats modeled by a the lovely jack Skellington who didn’t mind being paraded about in three girl hats and one boy hat. This hat is the one for Rhodes, it’s from the Knit One, Embellish Two book by Cosymakes.

I see this hat as being Immy’s hat. And with a stroke of luck I found I had the cutest candy buttons, one in purple and one in blue, so I alternated them when sewing them on and it’s totally rock and roll. This hat being the “all things grow” hat from the same book.

Both of these hats were knit out of handspun I made last year (was it last year) in the uniquely yours suprize batt challenge. Which I totally loved.

Here’s where things get complicated. I think this hat will be for Zibbie (it’s the Pixie hat from the same book “Knit one, Embellish Two” I really can not spread the love for this book and it’s glorious hats enough). It’s done out of hand spun ramboulette.

This is the last of the four, I think it will be Josephine’s as it is the largest. It’s the “All things grow” pattern with minor embellishment and braided ties to keep the hat actually on her. As you can see it is the biggest hat as Jack barely manages to keep it on.

That cullumnates my christmas knitting for the year 2009. Some pictures of stuff that can’t be posted yet (Hi Mom) will be up later on, but for all intents and purposes, my christmas knitting is finished. Now I get to cook…. And who the hell am I kidding I have a blanket to finish.

You know what is not smart? To decide on the 20th of december that you can pull off a few more knitted things. I am clearly insane, but seriously I think I can get them done. I’m 50% done right now so I have confidence.

Other than that I finished Immy’s sweater making all my big/offical christmas knitting done.  But I will save you from a picture of the same pink sweater I’ve knit two times before.

After this I went to work on Dierdre’s babies stuff, Jarette’s jacket/hat combo is ready.

The EZ Baby Suprize Jacket and the Norweigan Baby hat are done and ready to depart as soon as I get to a post office. I like how the baby Jacquard did the stripey thing, it looks cool.

Other than that I have worked on the Andre Scarf (which is past the half way done point yay).  And the baby blanket for Dierdre.

The Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason-Dixon, done with Softee baby. I’m on the third block already.

And last night while out for drinks for Alisha’s birthday I started a set of portable socks, in the Yarn Harlot’s basic sock recipe.

I guess this is pretty good for not being at home much lately, and all the baking I’ve done. Plus the house is pretty much ready, some dishes and floor but that’s not much.

BABY!

I wasn’t erring while I was incommunicado. I was just really busy working the last strech of my night shifts, and getting all the classes and registration for masters together.

This lovely hat (Norweigan Baby hat) is for Dierdre’s baby, as is:

The baby Suprise Jacket (EZ’s pattern of course) done in the same yarn (Baby Jacquard’s, Colorway: Boo Berries). The little man was a bit early I wasn’t half as knitterly prepared as I generally like to be. But once the buttons are on and the hat has it’s ties their going off into the blue younder to the youngster they’re meant for.

In the mean time I started a baby blanket for the same little dude, I’m using the Moderne  Baby blanket from Mason Dixon.

I’ve also casted on for Julia’s pattern:

I’m using some Dream in color Smooshy in Chinatown Apple, and some basic black, I do believe it’s Bernat Sox. I just had started when I got word that the baby boy was born (December 12th) and had to backburner any non-baby knitting.

 In other knitting related news I put up the hardware for a second set of shelves (the brackets are too small for the shelves though – curse you brackets).  I can actually see some of my spare room floor now, and my couch has legs!.

Three cheers for small progress.

Frankenstien and revived projects.

My little corner of happiness. Sheep, Andre, and of course Jack galore. The larger brown ram is named Stanley after A streetcar named desire. Three cheers for Marlon Brando.

After watching
http://www.glampyre.com
and seeing some of the stuff from Glam Knits on Stephanie Japel I was renewed in vigor for compleation of the Textured Tweed Coat.  I worked on it on the last night I worked (I didn’t want to take Immy’s coat with me because I’d rather not). It’s coming along smashingly since it was revived.

This is my new messenger bag, FRANKENSTIEN! I know it’s not very knitting related but I am all about this bag. It has a drink pouch (one of my newer mandatory requirements for backpacks and messenger bags). And really can you go wrong with frankenstien in electric green? No.

Now I have to decide which yarns to use on the pattern Julia sent my way, cause we all know cream colored yarn is doomed around me…

shawls, shelves, christmas knitting taking a whipping

 

The main glee of my five days off was getting up the shelves, there is room for more, and there will be more with time. For now the shelves are houseing some collectables and buttons. It feels good to have the whole display getting up, the nightmare before christmas stuff is on another shelf with Andre chillin out.

I was also spinning to take the edge off while I was on my days off. I finished the first bobbin, I’ll probably start the second bobbin when I have my next set of five off, I’m spinning it rather thin because I wanted to try and get 20sts to 4 inches so we’ll see how we do. This is from the Jacob fleece I got raw and then processed and dyed.

I finished blocking the sweaters for Zibbie and Josephine. They are buttoned and ready to be packaged. I really love the pattern, and although I thought I’d get ass backwards sick of knitting the same thing but I think I might make one for myself when I am done.

I am calling this the “Moving woman” even though the pattern says its “the travelling woman” because I started this shawl out of desperation in the last half of october when everything was in boxes and the only yarn I had around was this lovely grey alpaca.

The yarn itself was a trial, it was once something compleatly different, but it didn’t like being that so it got frogged to oblivion. The yarn really picked the pattern more than I did. It knit up quick and then somewhere in the second repeat of Lace Chart A I packed it all away to be taken out when I was done moving. Well when the move was over I had the shawl but not the yarn to finish (it was in a box packed) and when I found the yarn the pattern went missing.

Last night with yarn and pattern in hand at work I was going to finish. Well the shawl had other plans, I couldn’t find my place in the pattern to save my life, so I decided to rip back all of the lace (two repeats man was I choked), and if the yarn still wanted to be the shawl it was going to have to rip back nice because there were no lifelines (still aren’t but I digress). The yarn ripped back so nicely and I was able to get started the lace repeats almost straight aways. So now the shawl is back to where I was before, I have Chart B to finish and then its done, and it will always remind me of this time in my life and the stresses and joys of moving and having ones life so up in the air you feel like your living in a bouncy castle.

Now I should go get ready, Alisha and I are going to get some sushi before I have to work. Yay for sushi!