Hazel's Bolero

Yay! I got it finished!!!!!! And it's way cute. The pictures really don't do it justice, but I'll post a few anyway.

I got my cloche done also, but don't have any pics as I keep forgetting to take some when I'm wearing it, and it doesn't turn out in pics when it's not on my head, so those will get posted later.

I also finished my pleated purse yesterday. It was in the same yarn (the Bernat Satin Solid) as the Cloche, a mossy green color. I had bought 2 skeins of the stuff thinking I would need most of it for the hat, but I only needed like 3/4 of one of them. So now I'm chipping away at it with matching accessories. :)

Next I'm going to tackle Hazel's Uggs and Adam's Juggling toys and then finish all the Christmas presents that didn't get finished. I think they should go pretty quickly now that I don't HAVE to finish them in a certain time frame. What is killing me is that I have all this really pretty new fancy yarn to play with and I'm making myself finish what I've started before I start something new. Think I can do it?

Stash plans

So I'm working hard on finished UFOs as they're beginning to take up more space than my stash is. I'm through the cuff of the last sleeve on Hazel's Bolero and have 1 inch left of the cloche before I have to decrease. (I was going to post pics but my camera died and we don't have any batteries in the house.)

So the goal is to get those finished. Then tackle my wips off Ravelry. I'm thinking I'll finish the fast projects like H's Uggs and Adam's Juggling toys, which shouldn't take any time. then I'll finish the scarves and wraps and mom's last gauntlet and Matt's sock (again). And finish typing up the pattern for Matt's frat feet.

Then I'm trying to make plans for my stash. I just recieved 2 shipments of yarn (my first orders off the internet) and looked at my stash and realized that it was OK to have stashed yarn of this magnitude when you're staying put. But I'm running out of storage space and with the tiny amount of space we have anyway, I need to be responsible. So I'm going through my stash and designating patterns for said yarn. I'm pretty proud as a lot of the yarn seems to have been assigned a pattern. I've still got a lot to go, and I don't know how I'll ever get the time to knit some of this up, but if I stay focused and get the job done, maybe I won't have a lot of precious yarn to put into a box and pray that they don't loose enroute to America. Some of the yarn I just can't come up with anything that I love enough to knit my precious expensive yarn into.

Like my Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace in River Run. It was my splurge at the Iknit day last September. There's 2400 yds of that bad boy, but I love love love it and want whatever I knit up to be special. I considered an afghan, but they get spilled on and spit up on and it's 100% MERINO. Nope, not gonna do it. And I can't find a sweater or something wearable that I like enough. So that one will sit in the stash....it will find it's purpose some day.

Then I have one skein of 100% Silk Laceweight from Fyberspates that I bought at the same show. 440 yds. Delicious. It feels sexy in your hands and I have no idea what would be sexy enough to knit it up as. Brett's taking me to the ballet in February, so I wonder if I shouldn't knit up a pretty shawl. But the colors don't match the dress I'm planning to wear, so i'd have to wear something else.

And I got some lovely (and not so lovely) yarn in the mail yesterday and today. I got 6 skeins of Pop Corn by Rosarios 4 (3 in Chocolate and 3 in Sky Blue) on clearance from Purlescence for 1.95 GBP each! and one hank of Artyarns Ultramerino 4ply in Indigo/yellow which was on sale, too! Then from Woollyworkshop I got 3 balls of Adriafil Spillo and 5 balls of Adriafil Opale. I've been eyeing the Opale for a couple of months now, and finally decided to buy some with my Christmas money as it was on sale for fairly cheap. The colors on line were gorgeous, and although I know the pictures alter the actual coloring a bit, I was not prepared for what I actually recieved in the mail. Instead of a beautiful blue, yellow, green combo, I got basically yellow and black. Which would be great if I could knit it into something Purdue-esque, but the yellow is more neon than basic or gold, so I'm stuck. I'm just hoping it knits up surprisingly pretty, because I have 5 BALLS of it. On the flip side, I was unsure of the Spillo, but I thought it would be cute as a hat for H or something, but when I got it, wow. It's gorgeous. Just beautiful. And at 1.66 a ball, I feel like I should order more so I can get a garment out of it and not just a scarf or a hat. It's self striping, but the stripes are subtle and muted together. I love it, cannot wait to make something out of it....

What to do.....

What not to do with your knitting needles...

So, tonight I was knitting away at my new hat, and set it aside for a bit. Hazel was determined to play with the yarn and needles, so I sat it on the back of the couch behind me, where she couldn't get to them.

Now, originally, I was going to title this post "Things not to do with your knitting needles" but for reasons you will soon discover, I've had a hard time thinking of much but this....

Brett was sitting on the floor, looking through our collection of DVDs trying to decide what to watch, and Hazel (being Hazel) was "helping" him, which, as it turns out, isn't helping. I was sitting on the couch, an arm's reach from Brett and even closer to Hazel. Laughing, I leaned over and scooped Hazel up around her belly and under her arms, and (still laughing) fell (do you see where this is going?) back onto the couch.

Right back onto the knitting.

Which might not have been so bad if they had been on the seat part of the couch, or even on the arm. Nope. They were on the back.

The needles when right into my scalp.

Thankfully, it was just the tiniest of wounds. But I still had to pull the needle, the one the was HANGING FROM MY HEAD, out of my scalp. And there was bleeding. And crying. And the nauseous need to pass out. So we called the on-call Dr to see what we should do. My scalp was only bleeding a little, and Brett couldn't make anything out, but we were nervous about blowing it off, especially as I had to PULL NEEDLES FROM MY HEAD. The nurse that called back said she felt better about calling an ambulance to come take me to the hospital than having me get in the car and let Brett drive me to Urgent Care. So we sat, and waited. And the longer we sat here, the more my head hurt, which made me think about it more, which made me more sick to my stomach and light headed.

The EMTs showed up...nicest guys btw...took a look at it and said they thought I should be okay. That the wound was really tiny, and seemed to have stopped bleeding, and since they didn't see the needle and how far it went into my scalp, they could advise 2 things. 1, I could go to the ER and get a tetanus shot. But the ER in Antrim would be PACKED on a Saturday night and I would most likely spend most of the evening in the waiting room as more severe cases would go before me (as rightfully they should) or 2, I could clean out the little wound and wait until my dr is in on Monday, give him a call and see about getting the shot then.

We chose #2.

Anyway, let this be a lesson to all you knitters. We were very lucky that the needles stabbed me and not Hazel. I'm usually very careful with my needles. Well, usually, anyway. If you thought you were one of those knitters who thinks you're too smart to hurt yourself by sitting on or getting stabbed by your needles, be ware....you're next.

Should it be this hard?

Yay for finished projects, T! I, on the other hand, got none of my knitting done. Oh, well, they will get done eventually. I'll just spend a fortune mailing them home :)

So I finally finished sleeve #1 on H's bolero. #2 is hibernating while I finish the rest. I know it's out of order, but the sleeves are the last thing to get attached, and I know if I had to do the 2nd sleeve right away, the bolero wouldn't ever get done. So I did the back border next....cake. But as soon as I tackled the front border, which has 182 sts picked up around the very curvy edge onto a circular #4 needle, I wanted to gouge my eyes out. But I muscled through it, and I'm even 1/2 through the 4th row of 2x2 ribbing. There are 13 rows. Not a big deal, right? Except that, in theory, the more rows I knit, the easier the border should become. Not true. It's not getting harder, it's just not easing up. Apparently knitting a 2x2 ribbed border in the shape of an Omega sign requires shoulder and elbow knitting strength that I've yet to develope. Not to mention I'm a righty and my right shoulder is missing 1/2 an inch of bone from surgery almost 3 years ago, I woke up this morning very very very aware of my neck and shoulder and elbow and wrist on my right are.

I'm just glad I'm only making the 2-3 year size. Actually, that may be the problem...do you think it would be easier if it was a bigger size? Maybe I'll know one day!

Good luck on your caplet for tomorrow! How's it coming?
Hugs
Car

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to let you know that I got all of my holiday knitting done! Yeah! Granted, Layla's hat got done 2 days after Christmas, but she didn't care, she was just happy to get it. My neighbor loved her cowl and I am so glad.

Right now I am being selfish and knitting for myself. I am knitting the "Grand Plan Top Down Capelet" from Wrap Style by Interweave Press. I am knitting a cabled turtleneck one in a GORGEOUS deep purple yarn. I am using the Lion Brand Vanna's Choice. I was a little skeptical as it is really inexpensive acrylic, but so far I really like it. It is super soft and smushy. So far so good. I will try and get some pictures tomorrow. I am still working on my dad's scarf, but it is such a monotonous knit...dad knows he probably won't get it until next winter and I hope that he is OK with that. :)

I was so glad I to see you while you were home. It was so nice to visit with you guys. I am sorry that we couldn't stay longer. I can't believe that we didn't get any pictures though. Oh well, next time I guess!

Love you,
Theresa