BS42

..is done and I've posted all about it on the new blog, Katydid. I can't keep up with two blogs, and (shh) I wanted to switch from Blogger. Sorry Blogger....

Please check out the new one and tell me what you think! I can respond to comments much more easily on my new blog.

Ciao!

...why she's named Pumpkin

..'cause Halloween's her birthday!

We got an early Halloween scare on Monday:



Cue the blood-curdling screams. Yep - for those who are counting, it's the second strep diagnosis this month. There was enough time lapsed since the last round of antibiotics to ascertain that this is a new infection. We have done Round Two of needing restraints to get a throat culture, the wrassling and gagging involved with the first few days of taking antibiotics, and waiting anxiously to see if that fever breaks in time for the festivities. Thanks to the miracles of modern medicine....



The (blurry) butterfly emerged in the nick of time!



Happy Halloween to All...especially my Laserman and Pumpkin

checking in on the project queue....

Thujas - done, and started on a second pair for a super-secret Christmas present.

Tilted Duster - Done! and I LOVE IT! No pictures yet, but will try to take some this week as the weather is great here and I should be able to get some good light.

Pumpkin's Wallaby - Again - no pictures, but there will be. There's just not much to see. She wanted a wacky assortment of colors, and I think I've figured out a way to knit this up so it's cute and it's satisfies her urge to wear lime green, hot pink and deep purple all in one garment.

...all this, and I am reading Team of Rivals over the next two months (scratch that - it's now down to a month and a half) for the mommy book group. Think it's in audio? I love multi-tasking!

Since I have no knitting photography today, I will leave you with this from our summer trip down south. We spent a lovely day amongst the redwoods.



Back to the regularly scheduled knitting....and reading.

Assessing the situation

WIP 10/5
Originally uploaded by knitterkate.

This week, I have been holding down the fort with a sick child. After three days of mild fever, Pumpkin broke out in a rash, prompting the pediatrician to "visually diagnose" strep. I was relieved because, by that time, P was not opening her mouth for anyone and I had my doubts about getting a successful rapid strep test. Now that we have our diagnosis and our drugs, life should be improving. I still have to hang out with the girl for at least the next 48 hours because she's contagious. I now feel that SAHM no longer means "STAY-at Home Mom", it means "STUCK at Home Mom". While I refer to myself as a SAHM, it didn't really dawn on me how I little I actually "stay" at home on a daily basis. Maybe I'm just being a little too reflective because I have to peel a 5 year old off of me in order to go to the bathroom. All this time to reflect means I do get time to take a deep breath, count my blessings, reorganize the kitchen cupboards(yay - no more coffee cups falling on my head), and look at the WIP pile.

I have to say I am a bit taken aback by how many there are. I usually have a big project and a portable project, a queue, and then there's the wish list.,..oh I am just not going to get into that today. Then I realized that this happened last year as well.

I have a bit of a fall "shift" when it comes to my projects. I start some kind of sweater project once the weather is cooler. If I am working on lace, it generally gets set aside until the weather gets warmer. I figure that the finished project isn't going to be worn until then anyway and after all, it's time to start planning the holiday projects! Ergo, Pi shawl is bagged up and put on hold.

My other factor contributing to the WIP pile is OUCH. The rug and the duster are doing a number on my hands. On Day One and Day Two of Pumpkin's sick days, I cut up strips for the rug, and made decent progress on the duster skirt. My hands were really hurting, so I took some ibuprofen and re-assessed. I decided the rug can wait until I make some headway on holiday projects. I had planned to do the same with the duster, but yesterday I switched my needles from KP Options to Denise Interchangeables and it was much easier on my hands.

The Thujas (sorry no link - I am posting from Flickr and don't have a link function - it's a Knitty pattern) are the ever-present sock project.

While it may look like I've bit off a bit too much, I think I have rationalized eveything quite nicely. I'll keep plugging away on the duster for the big project. Socks and holiday knitting will be the portable projects. There, that was easy!

Progress on the duster

Not the best pictures, but the fuzziness somewhat obscures the lousy job I did of sewing in the sleeve.



Pumpkin always wants a piece of the blogging action! I am glad I went with 4" of ease. The sleeves are snug, but not so tight I can't wear a long-sleeved shirt under them. The shoulder seams are placed well for my proportions.

I have to blog this....



...because about two seconds after this photo was taken, Pumpkin sat down right in the middle of the field, and began hollering, "I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T PLAY SOCCER!" and rushed off in tears. Her coach took one look at her, one look at us, then called "SUB!". She was great about it all; she came over and gave P some high-fives for trying, then told us to let her know if P wanted to play again that day. We are hoping that she will give it another try. If not, well, there's always swimming. C'est la vie.

Tootsies in Tofutsies

All done! I love soccer practice! There's hope for the Pi Shawl!

A few thoughts on Tofutsies....and then I have to run off to, you guessed it, soccer practice.

The finished fabric is worth the hassle. Hassle, you ask? What hassle? Well, it is very splitty; really, you can't take your eyes off the stuff. Picking up dropped stitches is a major pain, but not impossible. I found this yarn to be pretty stretchy and knitting on the recommended size 2 needles resulted in some very baggy fabric. I knitted these on size 0 and I love how they fit around my feet. It's a bit snug on my calves, but, look at them people! What wouldn't be?


Next time, I will switch to size 1 needles to knit the calves. They are so comfortable. I will be knitting some more Tofutsies in the future, and I have two more balls of it to prove I mean business. It just won't be the next pair of socks. Need a breather.

Distracted

..by this



It's Back to School for Pumpkin and Laserman! It's the only year they will both be at our beloved Neighborhood Elementary School, so I will be savoring the shared departure times in the morning while I can. Next year.... a whole different ball game. Of course, Pumpkin is in an a.m. kindy, so I have about enough time to blow my nose before she's home again.

Also a bit distracted by this:



Betcha didn't know I was a hooker, eh? (Oh- I'll get some interesting google searches off of that last sentence!) I have long wanted to recycle our old t-shirts into a rag rug. Carpe diem and all that. Here's some progress....



I have added a few more inches in diameter since this photo was taken, and incorporated some of DH's old painting jeans into it as well. It's looking swell, and getting very heavy. I only do a round at a time or my hands start to hurt.

I haven't forgotten my Tilted Duster. I work on it for the two minutes that Pumpkin is away at kindergarten, and have managed to finished the back and front sections. I am a third of the way up the sleeves, knitting both at once. When the sleeves are done, I'll sew it all up before starting the skirt and take a picture, because then it might look like something other than a big pile o' red. I did decide to stick with the 44" finished size. This will mean 4 inches of ease, as opposed to the recommended 2". I have broad shoulders and I want a little more room through the armscyes and sleeves than the pictures would indicate. Another reason to sew it all up before starting the skirt. It's a pretty fast knit so far and if the top does turn out to be too big, I can rip and re-knit before taking on the skirt.

Ravelry -Watch

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I'm still ambivalent about Ravelry and its potential time-suckage.

I have plenty of time to think about it, don't I?