Knitting Zeal

the heat of the summer

Summer has hit with a blast.  It is really hot out during the day and the nights aren't much better.  It's supposed to be that way in July, though, right?  I recall many past summers with hot days of temps in the mid to high 90s.  Suddenly, though, this is a novelty for the weather forecasters and the news people and people in Philadelphia in general.  Seriously--it's hot and humid in July.  Deal with it!  My office was in a panic today--the IT guy was freaking out and considering shutting down the agency servers because the server room was hot.  That room has it's own air conditioning system that runs year round.  My office is one floor down.  The temperature in my office...64 degrees F.  I wore a winter sweater all day---allllll day!  It was like an ice box in there.  Needless to say, mr. IT guy was able to keep the server running and not shut down the communication system agency wide!  Drama--he lives for it.

In knitting, I finished baby boy's first sweater--the kimono style sweater knit from Tess' yarn.  I do have to figure out how to fasten it.  The pattern calls for ribbon ties, which I bought, but I think it is too girly looking with ribbon.  I am currently knitting some i-cord in place of the ribbon.  If that doesn't look right, I have a button in mind and will just add a button loop.  Now I am going to work on the next sweater and his baby blanket. 

My creative bug is back in full force.  Maybe it is nesting, who knows.  My friend Sherry and I went fabric shopping last Saturday.  She is a fantastic seamstress and quilter and has decided to make unnamed baby boy a quilt.  She let me pick out the fabric--I can't wait to see what she makes.  While we were shopping I found some fabric that closely resembles Vera Bradley's Java Blue pattern (which is my baby bag fabric.)  I bought some fabric, of course, and made this small pillow for the glider to give me lower back support.  I have enough left to make one more, but I was too tired to finish the second pillow. I seamed the stripes on the ends of a small panel of fabric, and then used the striped fabric as the backing. 

The flowers in the garden are in full bloom and probably loving this weather.  The hydrangea bush out front has exploded in bloom with rich blue flowers.  It is definitely my favorite in the garden.      My sister gave me a gerbera daisy for my birthday.  It just bloomed again. 

Tonight I had a pre-natal massage--it was a combination of a relaxation massage with reiki energy work.  The baby and I enjoyed it tremendously.  He was moving all over during certain points.  She balanced both of our energies and I feel great.  My aches all over are gone for now.  She used a special table that allowed me to lay belly-down--a position I haven't been able to sleep in for many months--it was so relaxing.  I am scheduled to go back again in a few weeks.  Hopefully with regular massages, I won't develop worse pain in my hips and legs.  I never thought I would pay for a massage, but it really was worth it!

Unnamed baby boy was weighing in at 2lbs 1oz at his last ultra sound on Friday.  He wiggled the entire time.  Chris came with me this time and got to see all of the baby's various parts, including some interesting shots of his brain.  Science is amazing!  We got to see his little diaphram, which I assume is the cause for his hiccups.  Very amusing!

Time for bed.  Happy Monday night!

MSWF

Last Saturday I got on the bus tour from Rosie's with some of my favorite knitter friends and we headed to Maryland for the Sheep and Wool Festival.  The weather was nice in general--a bit chilly, but that is better than hot.  We hit the Tess' booth first.  I controlled myself and only bought yarn for baby--which took great restraint.  I bought some pink/gray baby/sock yarn in case I have a girl; some bright blue baby/sock yarn in case I have a boy; some multicolored baby/sock yarn for a fun colored sweater; and some cozy soft superwash merino in a bright multi color/rainbow for a blanket or toddler sweater (if it's a girl--there is a lot of pink in it.)  I also bought the baby kimono pattern for the baby/sock yarn.  On Friday I am having my next ultra sound and I am hoping to find out what color yarn I need!

We caught the sheep dog herding exibition--the border collies were adorable.  We saw lots of angora bunnies--I resisted buying one.  We tried spinning drop spindles and saw lots of beautiful wooden and designer ones.  We saw some sheep shearing and sheep competitions.  There were lots of great vendors, but I resisted buying anything else.  The socks that rock display at the one vendor was absolutely comical.  The yarn was flying off the wall--the line to pay was a mile long--and knitters were buying the yarn like it was the best deal in the world.  It was the actual web price, so I don't get the fervor.  The colors were beautful, but I wasn't about to spend an hour in line. 

Crochet?

So this week a skein of homespun yarn was given to me, along with a crochet hook.  It was from a co-worker who wanted to learn to knit once, bought a crochet hook instead of knitting needles and promptly gave up, blaming patience.  So what to do with one skein of dark red yarn?  Learn to crochet a scarf.  It is not even because I haven't figured out how to keep count of the stitches, nor was I using a pattern.  If I can even the scarf out, I will donate it to the red scarf project.  I really love the color--a deep red with a strand of blue in it.  In the photos it looks purple, but that is because of the bad lighting. 

I still prefer knitting over crochet, despite how quickly it goes. 

Lolly is hosting the next round of Socktoberfest.  This is a fun fall project related to knitting socks.  Since I have enough yarn to knit socks for everyone in Pennsylvania, I have to participate.  I have a sock project that I just began but am going to save for October.  I have enough to keep me going in September.  I am also going to Florida for a bit in October, and socks are the perfect travel project. 

My latest television fix is Nip/Tuck.  Friends have told me about the show but I had only seen it once.  I caught the first two episodes of the new season and was hooked.  Turns out there are lots of fans of the show at work.  A definite distraction from the stress!  I found the previous seasons of the show on DVD on sale at Best Buy and have started a mini marathon this afternoon, a cold and rainy day.  Good to knit by, despite the gory surgery scenes. 

Happy weekend!

Snarky stitching

After having spied this collection of surly cross stitch kits, cards and related items I was excited to see that Julie Jackson published a book of her Subversive Cross Stitch patterns.  Certainly not your grandmom's book of patterns!  Amazon mailed the book at exactly the perfect time for me, after the hell at work when I was feeling particularly snarky.  My first design is a word one of my coworkers frequently uses, making me laugh every time.  The little bees are a nice touch.   This has been a nice break from knitting. 

Tonight Chris and I are going to a football game:  Eagles vs. The Steelers.  There is a 40% chance of rain and umbrellas are banned from the stadium.  I am hoping that if it does rain, it is just a shower.  I am bringing my knitting because I really hate football and will need something to keep me busy.  The game is a preseason one, but apparently the "big time" players will be in at least half the game.  That means nothing to me, but to football fans, it's a big thing.  We've never been to Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles new home since last year, I think, so it will be fun to see the new stadium.

I am officially on vacation today through Labor Day.  I have done a dance of joy.  This break comes at the end of a very stressful summer and week from hell (ok, two days in the office of hell, since Monday and Tuesday were in Lancaster and lots of fun.)  Thankfully my knitting girls kept me sane Wednesday night--I've never laughed so hard. Knitting group has become a type of support group/group therapy. 

The jaywalker sock is still incomplete.  Ugh.  I think it will go to the game with me. 

TGIF

Another week of my life has blurred on by and I hardly remember much, except that it has been unseasonably hot and humid.  It feels like July and August, not May into June.  Last night we had some ferocious rain storms complete with wind, lighting, and thunder.  Luckily no flooding around here, unless you count the potholes!

I ordered a sewing/craft table last Sunday--it was my birthday gift from Chris.  It is on order and may not be here for up to 6 weeks.  I will finally have a place to store my sewing machine and other fabric related items and a good place to sew.  I am looking forward to learning to quilt, but will wait to start until the table is in place.  Chris has to also build this gift, since it is from Sauder.  He has become good at building these things and may even soon lift the ban on Ikea furniture.  (He hates that they have no written directions.)

The garden enjoyed the rain last night, especially since it  has been so hot and I forget to water daily!  I noticed some new growth today.  My neighbors must seriously wonder why I am constantly taking close up photos of the flowers and plants.  I bought this clematis last year from a nursery mail order catalog.  I planted it next to a nice white trellis Chris bought for me and waited.  It grew about 6 inches, bloomed once, and died. I figured it was gone for good, but it surprised me this spring when it reappeared out of the ground.  This year it grew into two long branches, about two feet long each, and I was able to weave it into the trellis to give it some support.  I noticed a bud on the one branch last week.  Today I discovered that it bloomed!  I really hope it continues to grow throughout the summer and blooms some more. 

My herb garden continues to grow strong.  The lemon balm that returns every year is huge and I have to continually cut it back so it stops shadowing the other smaller plants.  The bee balm, which is the one plant that the previous home owner left in the back garden, is growing strong.  I divided it up a year or two ago because it had taken over half the garden and looks dead by the end of July.  It is a more manageable size now.  My basil plants look good, but are still on the small end.  I have a feeling the trees are blocking the sun they need.  I planted some extra herbs in pots on the other side of the patio and they are doing great! The lavender is starting to bloom with deep purple flowers. The chamomile looks good too! 

On the knitting front, I finished the baby sweater I have been working on for a few weeks.  It really turned out nice and looks like a doll sweater to me.  I just have a hat and some booties to do to complete the set.  This is for a baby set that a co-worker commissioned me to knit for her new grandbaby-to-be.  She doesn't know the sex of the baby, so I used some little orange rimmed white buttons I had with matching orange thread.   

At work the group of kids in the program I run are working on a mural.  The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program provides an art education program for our after school program.  A professional muralist is teaching the kids about how to design and paint a mural.  This will be Ana Uribe's 20th mural for the Mural Arts program.  This mural is being installed in Philadelphia's Chinatown section and will be visible from the expressway.  It is an Asian theme, although I forget what the main part of the mural will be.  Our group is in charge of creating the border for the mural.  Our kids were asked to create "stamps" that cold be used to create images around the border of the main painting.  They used pieces of styrofoam--the kind like the trays of meat from the supermarket--and carved images into them.  Then using a roller and special paint, they inked the stamps and printed them on the borders.  They don't actually have to paint on the wall at the mural site.  Instead they use something artists call parachute cloth (which I learned is actually interfacing) and the cloth is adhered to the wall with a special fixative that melts the cloth away and adheres the paint to the surface. 

I was asked to make one of the stamps too, which is the one pictured here.  I used a picture of the tree of life as a guide and created this bird in a tree.  I had a hard time working with the styrofoam, as I could not be as detailed as I wanted.  I encrypted the monogram of my soon to-be-adopted from China niece into the background of the stamp.  The artist wanted stamps with texture in the background--this was my interpretation of it.  Maybe someday when my niece is here and old enough I'll take her to Chinatown to see her monogram.  I think it is turning out to be a great project for the kids.  When they are adults, they will be able to go to Chinatown on their own and see the work they did when they were younger. 

Have a great weekend!

Post #205

Today I received my much anticipated Socksapaloooza socks!  They are from Schecki of Monkey Girl Knits.  She did a beautiful job on my socks!  I love them!  She also included some Lush sparkly bath stuff and a postcard of Chicago.  Thanks sock pal!

I also received my Project Spectrum May Postcard Swap card today.  This month the color is Green and Claudia sent me the coolest interpretation of the theme! (all the way from Germany!)  This photo does not do it justice whatsoever, but I tried.

It is a knitted green grass patch with a beaded alligator resting in the grass.  SO Creative!  Thank you Claudia!  I hope I can create something just as clever for you, which is one of my tasks for this weekend!

In knitting news, I finished a sock this week.  I was test knitting a pattern for someone and I don't think I can post a photo of it.  I need to complete it's match, along with the second Jaywalker sock.  I found a pattern for flip flop socks on Alison's blog.  I love how cute they are and am thinking of trying this pattern.  My office at work is usually freezing, so wearing sandals has been painful.  Maybe these little socks will help a bit!  I had to frog half of a baby sweater when I realized my gauge was waaaay off.  So I re-started that project this week. 

This is a busy weekend for me.  Tomorrow I am hitting the local garden club's herb sale early in the morning to pick up a few more herbs for my kitchen garden.  Then in the afternoon Chris is taking me to see the DaVinci Code and then to a Moroccan restaurant for dinner to have an early birthday dinner.  Sunday we go to my parents house for another birthday dinner and I'll get to play with the kids again.  I took my actual birthday day off  on Monday to stay home and relax.  I feel old.

Chris sent me flowers to work yesterday to start the celebration!

Have a fun weekend!

MSWF, sunny day

How I spent Saturday May 6th:

5:40 am:  my alarm goes off.

5:50 am: my alarm goes off again.  This time I actually sit up.

6:40 am: Leave to pick up Teresa.

7:40 am: Find decent and not too expensive parking at 20th and Samson St. 

7:45 am:  Arrive at Rosie's Yarn Cellar to discover we are one of the last two to get there!  That shocked me.  We registered out names, picked up our boxed breakfasts from Picnic and our lime green backpack bag thingy and got on the bus. 

8:00 am:  The bus leaves Rittenhouse Square!

10:15 am:  We arrive at the MSWF and get off the bus.  The shopping begins!  We spy the alpacas who were cute and super soft.

11:00 am:  We watch the border collies herd their sheep-very cool to watch!  We also saw people turning in HUGE bags full of fleece.  Farmers selling their fleece maybe?  Unprocessed yarn?

12:00 pm:  We finally connect with Julie-Ann and her husband and take a short lunch break before retuning to shopping!  I bought a felted/fulled bag kit.  I loved the pattern and the colors. There were SO many people at the festival.  I think it was more crowded than two years ago when I went.

1:30 pm:  It was time for the knit bloggers meet-up.  There was a huge crowd by the stage--turns out that was the group of knit bloggers!  I was a bit overwhelmed, but I managed to recognize Lolly and Karen and Cara.  Cara and I actually grew up in the same neighborhood and went to school together.  It's a small world!  I got to see her beautiful shawl in person--even nicer than the photos! I wished I had met more people, but it was just so crowded.  It was fun to see how many knit bloggers are out there.  Mayber Teresa will start her own blog now! (hint)

2:00 pm: We stood in line to buy festival tee shirts.  It was a system of chaos to buy those shirts, but we got them!

We walked through one of the barns filled with sheep.  They were very sweet looking.  I am always amazed at the variety of breeds of sheep. 

We also stopped to see some angora bunnies.  A woman was spinning yarn right from the bunny.  There were a few people near me holding baby bunnies that they bought.  It was sad to see the word "sold" written in marker inside the bunny's ear.  I decided Not to buy a bunny, especially since we were banned from bringing livestock back on the bus!

2:30 pm:  We hit Tess' Designer Yarns, my favorite yarn of the day.  We will have to go there first next year! It was crowded and the line to pay was long, but so worth it.  I bought some beautiful cashmere yarn, some superwash merino, and some sock yarn.  I also bought a cool scarf pattern, but Melinda has to mail it to me because she was sold out. 

3:10 pm:  We stopped for a snack/water break and then continued on to see some llamas, Julie-Ann's friend's homespun yarn at the Uncommon Threads display, and then finally headed back to the bus. 

4:00 pm: The bus heads back to Philly.  Tired and content, we knit our way home.

It was a fun day, perfect weather, lots of fiber to see and touch, and many people to meet and see.  I can see why so many people make a weekend of it.  We definitely ran out of time and steam to see it all.  Maybe next year we'll make a weekend trip out of it.  The funny thing was that we never found Sherry from our knitting group.  She came down with her kids and husband, but we never were able to connect!

Stress interferes with creativity!

It is sad that I am unable to manage stress as well as I should be able, particularly with all of the clinical training I have had in helping others with it.  I thought I was handling job stress ok until my eye started twitching at work.  It stopped once I got to my knitter's night out meeting.  Then I almost quit my job last week--really--but came just short of it.  Luckily my director knows me well enough to know I would never give up easily, however I think I shocked her when I refused to do my job anymore if it gets any worse.  She agreed to reassess things, but I'm not holding my breath.  I ended up getting sick from both the stress and a bug on Friday and left the middle of a really good workshop with a 100 degree temperature, came home, and slept most of the weekend away.  I was able to get a doctor's appointment today, so I stayed home today too.  I am hoping that all is well by Saturday because I am really looking forward to the MSWF. 

SO with my stress level ridiculously high, I have not felt all that creative.  I vegged (sp?) in front of the tv most of the weekend and watched the food network for most of that time.  I learned all about a variety of things, most of which I cannot recall now that I am not feverish.  (State-dependent learning maybe??)  I  have had little appetite, despite watching all that food prep.  I have been knitting a OSW/shrug for myself with the hopes that I will a.) like how it turns out, and b.) wear it to MSWF. 

I did finish a baby blanket for someone at work.  I  used a pattern that was on a greeting card I had received. I like how it turned out--now I need to knit a coordinating sweater/hat/booties for it to be a set. 

Today is the first of May.  May has always been my favorite month--I love the weather this time of year.  The flowers are blooming and everything looks pretty.  Today is my sister's wedding anniversary (Happy Anniversary Audrey and Eric!) My birthday is in three weeks!  Chris still doesn't believe I am serious when I say that I want a spinning wheel (not a knitting wheel honey) for my present. (It is more likely that he believes me but just does not want to look at one more craft related thing in the house!  He doesn't get it--he is into electronical gadgets, I am into crafty gadgets!)

Spring fibery goodness

Sunday's celebration was exciting.  My niece and nephew ate only candy the entire day, with the exception of an afternoon snack of OJ and pretzels.  Can we say Sugar High?  They were cute and had lots of fun on their egg hunt, playing with silly Uncle Chris, eating Aunt Diane's desserts, and spending time with their grandparents.  They were hardly phazed by the presence of thier new puppy, whom Issy called "the gurl puppy."  They got her the day before and kept her in her crate in our yard when she wasn't romping in the yard.  (She couldn't come inside because we are allergic to animals.  She survived and so did we!)  Some photos of the fun:

I realized after everyone had gone home that I only took photos of the kids and dog and none of the adults! 

After all the chaos of yesterday, I needed to wind down, so I wound my easter egg yarn into a ball and spun a bit.  The spinning continued today too. 

The purple-blue yarn is merino that I bought on the last yarn crawl from Twist.  I love how it feels, even though most of it is overspun.  I don't know how to ply yet, so it is a single strand.  The rainbow yarn is from roving I bought last year when I was learning to needle felt.  I bought this huge bag of rainbow dyed roving and only used a little bit of it.  I still have a chunk of it left.  This wool is scratchy, so it would not make anything comfortable to wear.  I may use it to make a little felted bowl from the book One Skein.

Today was beautiful out.  I spent the afternoon driving around on errands with all the windows down.  The pear tree in our yard is in bloom--hopefully will get some fruit this summer if the bees do their job!

Spinning, spinning

So my fiber pusher, Julie-Ann, brought her "extra" wheel to our knitting night at the bookstore for me to use.  She taught me how to use it and gave me a ton of fluff to take home and play.  I was off from work today, so I spent the morning spinning.  It is so relaxing!  I used about half of the roving she gave me.  I think I am over-twisting a bit, but it doesn't look bad for a first attempt on my own.  The lesson will continue next week.  Maybe I'll get a wheel for my birthday?!!

I finished knitting a quick and easy spring shawl tonight.  The pattern was from a local yarn shop.  I used rayon ribbon from Tess' designer yarns combined with Eros in a matching color.  The Eros doesn't stand out much, but I did use it for the fringe.  I may where this on Sunday for the spring dinner party I am hosting. 

I made some chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate dipped peeps over the weekend for this Sunday.  I am planning to make egg shaped cupcakes for dessert.  I bought a cute egg shaped cupcake pan and have plans to ice them decoratively.