Case of the Dumbs

Does anyone remember the test teachers in elementary school used to give you and instruct you to read the whole test first BEFORE answering?  And then, envitably, out of the 25 questions, question 23 would say "only answer questions 2 and 6 of this test.

I was always- ALWAYS the kid who had to go back and erase all the questions I wasn't supposed to answer.  Call it over-eagerness or whatever you like, I dive right in, consequences be damned.

Well- consequences be damned... I should have read the pattern the whole way through.

WARNING TO MY SISTER: if you read this blog... LOOK AWAY or big Christmas day spoilers will happen.

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A while ago my sister texted me a pic of the infamous Shark blanket that took the internet (and Facebook) by storm.

It IS cute.  And it's funny and it's the right kind of whimsical my sister loves.  (My sister loves her some whimsy.)  The problem?  It's crochet.  And no WAY Jose am I attempting to crochet a whole blanket for Christmas.  Nope. Nope. Nope.

But then, a lovely, relatively new knitter, that I know personally (from waaaay back) was innovative and smart enough to figure out the pattern for knitting.  (I so admire how she just dives right in and figures things out!  )It showed up on my Ravelry Favorites page and I was like "DAMN- no excuses now!"  And so, I qued it up and kept my eyes open for the right yarn.

I love this project because it's knit with super big and bulky yarn and just last week Michaels had just the yarn I wanted, on sale no less, that would make the project perfect.  The original is knit in chenille but I just can't go there with chenille.... it's not fun to knit with.  But, I found a similarly weighted yarn in a simple twist.  Sure, it's acrylic, but this is sort of an acrylic friendly blanket.

Armed with yarn, free from the tyranny of the hats I needed to knit, I cast this puppy on.  I didn't read ahead.  I found the wording a little different, but I am a fairly experienced knitter and I could figure it out!

Except that I couldn't.

I couldn't get the gauge right.  I was following the pattern but I wasn't getting the right length and I was adding all kinds of rows and WHY WAS IT NOT WORKING?

I happen to be Facebook friends with the knitter who wrote the pattern and I asked her a few questions (that in hindsight she was probably like "WHY ARE YOU SO DUMB!?) about the pattern and she very quickly and nicely answered me and I was like 'AHA' it makes sense.

And then I went ahead and just kept making dumb mistakes.  I knit an entire ball of yarn this way, wrongly into the pattern.  And still- it didn't look right.

Finally.  FINALLY - I was frustrated and I was like "DAMMIT WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!?" and then I went ahead and read the whole pattern from start to finish.

Yeah.  It made all kinds of good sense when I read through it.

DUMB.  I am dumb.

I ripped it out last night.  I cast it back on and I will restart this tonight.

Lest you worry that it's all 1 step forward 80 rows back over here... I also finished the first sock and knit the cuff for #2 from the sock I keep telling myself that I'll finish before Christmas.  (I have LOFTY LOFTY goals this year apparently....)

I have a week before "CRAZY INSANE CHRISTMAS" schedule takes over my life.  This week NEEDS to be productive.  I'm even thinking about staying up late every night just to get a good jump on both of these things.  I can do this.  I just need to concentrate.  (And maybe be a little less dumb from here on out...)

To finish this on a "paw-sitive" point- I give you kittens in various states of adorable....

 

Knitting S.L.O.W.L.Y

Snail's pace continues around here as I balance my time between kittens:

child's 4th (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) birthday party:

(Child is four, and no longer cooperates for photos... although he did insist on shaving before his shower the other day...)

and just in general businesses.  (No photos because do you really need to see my 83 zillion errands I made around this week?  No.  Probably not.)

I did manage to finish and deliver the final bootie set (for the year, because WHOO boy more needs to be made for 2016)- and get that off the list.

Pattern: Hat (see last blog post for details) Booties: Cable Cuff Bootie Set by Caroline Brooke
Yarn: Mission Falls 136 Merino Superwash (discontinued)
Needles: US 5
Notes: These booties are so so clever and so well designed and look so great when they are done that it's totally worth the pain in the butt 8 million ends you also need to weave in.

Instead of tackling some of the other items on my list like a good little knitter- I cast on a totally random project.

You see, a friend of mine, (Candace from the infamous blanket incident), asked me to help her knit a stocking for her little girl for Christmas.  Realizing it was much easier to show her than to actually talk her through the steps, I cast on a stocking to knit along with her.  I'm nearing the heel now and will hold off until she's ready for next steps.  Hopefully she still needs a little while so I can refocus on knitting some of the stuff I had planned to knit originally.

On the upside- one of my 80 zillion errands included a trip to Michaels... where I bought yarn for the secret bulky mystery project so at least I've started thinking about it...

  

Wonder what it will be....???

PS- this is how I wrote this blog post tonight... *happy sigh*

Kitten Catastrophe Crew

You guys... I did the dumbest thing a person who is trying to complete things can do.... I adopted kittens.

I'm telling you now- you don't do ANYTHING when you have kittens.  You follow them room from room and admire and laugh at how adorable they are and that is it.

 

For the last week we've had these little fuzzballs (names are close to being finalized... will announce when it's "confirmed permanent") in our space and they are so funny and entertaining to watch that none of us has accomplished much of anything.  We've eaten take out more nights than I care to admit.  Husband and I are going to bed at late hours because it's too much fun to play/cuddle with kittens instead.

 

Kittens are only this tiny/adorable for a very short while- so I guess we're just capitalizing on the time we have.  They have really won us over and we're getting to know their little personalities.

Orangey (his temporary name) is our cuddler.  When he's sleepy, he'll happily curl up on you and snuggle in.  But don't let the adorable face/behavior fool you, he can also be very naughty and he instigates fights with his brother regularly.  The minute this guy came home he was like "I love you people".

Blackie (his temporary name) is our handsome boy- who's all black, except for a tiny white patch under his chine, and fluffy.  He's a little more independant and isn't so much about lap cuddling as he is about cuddling close by.  He's been a little slower to decide to like it here, but those purrs at night aren't fooling anyone now.  He's happy.

We are smitten- and distracted... but in a good way.

That's not to say that some life hasn't occurred here- Halloween involved much craftiness- check out our costumes this year!

It's Lightening McQueen and his pit crew!  (Mom and dad were supposed to be Sally and Mater but Lightening took so much time to make we had to settle for Pit Crew members...)  My mom did a tonne of work to get the shirts looking great and Lightening McQueen was a labour of love.

Thank god some other mom on Pinterest did most of the initial figuring out and I just had to adapt what I had to work with.

We also carved a Jack O Lantern and may or may not have been influenced by our recent trip down south.

Lest you worry that it's all kittens and Halloween costumes around here I did manage to squeeze in some knitting (while the kittens were snoozing) and finished the hat from the bootie set.  Hoping to get the boots done and out of the way too.