April FO's Bring May Sweaters?

It certainly looks that way!  For the first time this year I met my knitting deadline and finished my April projects!

Pattern: Baby Dots by Kay Meadors

Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby in "white", "prettiest pink", "pink" and "rose rumba"
Needle: US 6
Notes: So easy to knit, but also suffers from "OMG-I-am-so-bored-with-this" syndrome.  I carried up the three yarns along the inside of the borders so that I didn't have to weave in the ends after every row.  It was a VERY good idea... all of those ends would have made me cray-zee!  Also, I had to rely on MiL's stash to have enough white yarn.  Since our dye-lot's didn't match I alternated every other row to blend the two.

I was VERY worried that this wasn't going to block properly, being acrylic and all.  But, I think the knit gods decided to smile down on me or something, because after some time with the blocking board- the whole thing doesn't seem as rolly polly and lies reasonably flat.  Maybe this does have a Stampede destiny afterall?

Finishing a blanket is in itself VERY satisfying... finishing a blanket AND a pair of socks is downright heroic!

Pattern: Spring Fling by Pam Gordnier (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Madelintosh Tosh Sock in Logwood
Needles: US 0
Notes: Great pattern if you read the whole thing through (ahem... me)!  I'd highly recommend going down at least a needle size... I went down TWO and they fit "just right" on my calves.  This was my first time doing an "eye of the partridge heel" and I really liked it.  Caution though, it eats up more yarn than a standard heel, so you need to be sure you'll have enough.

These are just a delightful "springy" sock and the yarn is absolutely dreamy to knit with.  Madelintosh lends itself beautifully to socks and these are no exception.

With both projects off my needles I hinted at a little cheat... until the very end of April.  I'm just smitten with these mittens!  (Emma's Mittens)

And so- with the socks and the blanket finished on time, it's time I pull out the sweater and work on it.  I'll be heading over to MiL's on Wed with Parker so that grandma can play with Parker and mommy can have some uninterrupted "figure out where exactly I am" on this project so that I can forge ahead on finishing it up.  Because let's face it, with a dude like that this....

... it's easy to get distracted.

Smitten Knittin'

Well... boo boo fixed and progress made!  Guess what's off the needles and ready to block?

This project is gorgeous.  G O R G E O U S, I love the little pink dots in the white knitting and it's perfect for a perfect little girl someday.  But here is where I get real nervous.  This project is acrylic.  Acrylic is not a natural fiber- I'm not sure it's going to block.  Even if I can get it lie a little bit flatter, I'll breathe a sigh of relief- but otherwise- YIKES.  I might crochet up the edges on the inside of the blanket to try and give the sides a little more "girth" in the hopes of keeping them from curling, but I won't lie- I'm greatly concerned about this pretty pretty project and well... it may not have a greater purpose this summer if I can't get things to lie flatter.  (This makes me so sad because I really love this project and it's so lovely and I think it would show well... just it laid flat.)

Keeping me from entirely freaking out is the Maui Fling sock- which is seeing progress too and this is just such a pretty pair of socks.

For the first time this year I'm actually AHEAD of the finishing project.  And so, I've allowed myself a mini reward.  If Baby Dots is blocked or blocking, and Maui's are done, I can spend the rest of April casting on a small "quickie" project and knitting it until May.  May 1- the sweater comes out of hiding (and well, it might be used for a greater purpose if Baby Dots can't "shape up") and I work to finishing that.

So Spring is "springing" along beautifully for me... things are finishing up and my brain is beginning to daydream all of the exciting projects I can work on once the UFO pile dwindles down to nothing.  Spring is making me so excited for SUMMER knitting!

Eggs-cellent

Things were looking pretty dire earlier this week.  While on the phone chatting with my husband, I was admiring the work I'd accomplished on Baby Dots when something wasn't right.

 

Do you see it?

How about now?

The problem with being a perfectionist knitter is that this error, while small, WOULD NOT BE OKAY with me.  I would look at the overall project and only ever see where I screwed it up.  I love this blanket, an error was just unacceptable as far as I was concerned.  And so I frogged back... days of work, nap times, utterly wasted.  It breaks my heart to rip out work, it's just so demoralizing!

The best thing to do when you have to frog work is immediately try and regain some ground... get your self back on the horse so to speak.  And so I got back to work and over various nap times I was able to get past where I had made the mistake.

Today when I was looking at the blanket I got to wondering just how much progress I had made since my last post.

 

OH HELLO 29 inches!  5 inches of progress from last time.  YEAH.  I will try not to think about how much further I would have been without screwing up, (or I just obsessed about it for 20 minutes... whatever) and keep the course steady.

I love this pattern and the results are lovely, but I'll be honest- I'm ready for something new.  The pattern is easy (although apparently not idiot proof....) and I'm ready for something new and bit more challenging.  I won't think about the next challenge though.... time to just focus on the task at hand and get that done first.

Happy Easter hope you're seeing some "eggs-cellent" progress on your needles too.

Spring Knitting

The weather is mildly warmer, (having said this I apologize as I'm sure I've just jinxed us for a major snow dump) and there are buds (!!!) on the bushes.  Spring is in the AIR!  And, how timely, spring seems to also be on my needles.

With Nebula good and finished, I allowed myself a week indulgence to play with the Maui Spring Fling socks.  And lo and behold... I actually finished one of them!  I even had a chance to cast on the second sock and knit through to the first pattern repeat.  Once these are blocked you'll really be able to see the lace pattern but they are just so... SPRINGY and lovely.  The yarn is also helping this feeling because a) I LOVE the colorway and b) those people over at Madelintosh make themselves some really delightful sock yarns!

I didn't forget my early promise to myself to finish up a bunch of outstanding items, lest you worry, because I also brought Pink Baby Dots out of hibernation.

 

When last we left this project I had knit approximately 22" on it, and in just this weekend have managed to add another 2 inches already!  The pattern on this is painfully simple, but simple seems to be what I do best right now, so it's been a pleasure to get back into this project.  Not to mention the colors, (more springy-ness!) which just makes this project gorgeous.  I know... I know... it's acrylic and as a "serious knitter" I should shun all acrylics, but I just can't, because this is SO. PRETTY.  I love the little pink dots with the white yarn, it's just so delicate and feminine!

 

The only downside to the Dots is that, as you can see, it's not a "take away" project.  This will sit in this spot on my couch until the last stitch is knit and cast off.  I had two different dyelots of white, which meant I have to alternate rows in order to blend the whites, and hence add even more yarn to an already big pile sitting on the couch.  (I couldn't bring myself to cut the yarns after each color, I would have been weaving yarns in FOREVER so instead I have been carefully stringing them up the side.)  The upside to this lack of portability is that means Maui Fling will see progress when I get to knit outside my house.

So yes spring is in the air, AND on my needles and I continue to chug away for progress.  The April goal is simple- FINISH BOTH of these projects so that I can tackle the remaining list.  I'd still like to make summer about SOCKS- but that means getting some of these big projects out of the unfinished box!

Let's all hope this little monkey (who honest to God gets cuter and cuter everyday) keeps letting mommy pick up her needles!



 *Trying something new with the picture sizing as it seems to me that my pics look ill sized and disproportionate recently.

In Like a Lion...

... OUT like a lamb!

When last we left this little blog I was in the very depths of despair. I couldn't seem to knit anything right and I was extremely frustrated. Since that post- some things have changed.

1) Baby naps and goes to bed earlier now! OMG yay! My little big guy is napping in the afternoons and going to bed earlier and mommy now has an hour or two to knit everyday, I can't even tell you how happy I am about this development. (Bonus he's a MUCH happier camper now too.)

2) I went to knit night on Tuesday and with the support of my knitting "moms" I ripped Nebula back to the heel. When I began knitting it again I discovered my error. I skipped a whole increase section! No wonder I was missing so many stitches! And so... without further ado- I give you NEBULA!

Pattern: Nebula by Cookie A.

Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin in "Aquarius"

Needle: 2.75 mm (I always have to knit at least a size bigger for Cookie socks as I tend to get very tight gauge)

Thoughts: OMG this was a challenge. The number of starts and finishes on the second sock was the most demoralizing experience of my life. This is NOT the pattern writer's fault... it's entirely the knitter... who should have paid closer attention. (If I had a dollar for every time I've had to admit that I would be very, VERY wealthy.)

I personally think by the way these turned out that they worth every ounce of pain and suffering I put into them. They are gorgeous. They may have a destiny this summer... we'll see.

Just OH... I can't stop admiring them from all angles!

3) I decided to give myself a little break from the "knitting agenda" I have been following and the rest of March is for working on my little Maui Fling sock... so far she's coming along beautifully.

So fear not faithful readers things are slowly, but surely getting back on track for knitting successes and FINISHES. Coming up in April, I pull the blanket out of it's hiding place and begin working it's way to a finish as well.

Broken

I'm at a loss- I don't know what to do. I think my knitting mojo is broken. Like super, mega, totally broken... It's not that I don't WANT to knit... oh god I want to knit so badly, it's that when I DO knit... I fail. Epically.

When last we last left this blog I was suffering a blow on a decrease gone awry. I made myself two promises after trying to soothe my battered knitting ego. 1) I would rip back the sock but not knit it in Maui and 2) I would allow myself something new and fun to knit in Maui. (We were in Maui last week.) And so, one day during a nap time, I had a glass of wine, sat on the lanai, looked at my view...

and ripped back the sock. I achieved zen- or close to it. I frogged those stitches carefully to where I believe the error was, counted the correct number of stitches, knit one row to get me back on track and then I tucked the sock away pleased with myself that I corrected the issue and could start fresh when I got home.

We came home on Sunday, and by Sunday evening, I took advantage of a sleepy/early to bed baby and I decided to revisit the Neubula sock and begin again. I knit the entire cable decrease section over. I counted the stitches again. I was 5 short. FAIL. I don't know where I have gone wrong, but the only answer seems to be rip back to the HEEL and begin again. *sigh Behold Nebula, before I frog it for time #2. (I'm going to need a lot more than a glass of wine!)

So yes- Nebula is killing me- but at least I had my new and exciting project to turn to. Spring Fling in my shiny new Madelintosh was the perfect sock to take with me to Maui. A picot cuff, a pretty lace design, it had everything I wanted in a perfect distraction project. Except there were two problems; 1) by the 3rd pattern repeat I was frustrated that it looked nothing like the pattern in the picture and 2) it was knitting up huge. Instead of stopping myself, admitting there was an issue, I soldiered on.

It wasn't until I came home did I really start to second guess myself. Trust me when I say that this sock, while pretty looks nothing like it's finished picture and would fit loosely on the ankle of an elephant. I mentioned to the MiL that I was going to email the pattern author and let her know that something has gone terribly awry in her pattern publishing and she should fix the pattern. MiL agreed that a) sock was enormous and b) the stitch pattern looked wrong. It wasn't until MiL offered to look at the pattern to find where the author went wrong did the real problem present itself. I had been knitting this stitch pattern as a 4 row repeat. It's actually a 12 row repeat! The remaining EIGHT ROWS were on the next page. DUH. FAIL. So guess what I frogged this afternoon? We also agreed I had to go down a needle size also to get a better fit.

Two projects. Two failures. My knitting ego is suffering. I don't know why I suck at knitting right now- but I need a WIN in the worst way. I don't know what to do next. I can tell you that I'm not going to attempt the sweater... that requires genuine thinking and attention paying and apparently those are two things I am not good at for the moment. I could pull out the baby dots blanket and try and revive that? I just need something that I cannot, no matter how hard I try, screw up. Not even Don Music and his version of "Row Row Your Boat" can save me now.

And so- because there is going to be some time before we see something finished on this blog again- I will show you my favorite picture from Maui, which has nothing to do with knitting but may be a reason I'm not paying the closest of attention these days:

He's a cute distraction, isn't he?

Son of a....

Alternate Blog Title: How Don Music Saved the Night

%^#*(&@(*%(*@**#*%(#*@*&^$!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM SO ANGRY AT MYSELF RIGHT NOW. SO ANGRY.

Determined to finish the sock by the end of day tomorrow I stayed up and I knit like a little fiend. I got all the way down to the start of the toe decreases. I figured I could probably squeeze in the final 18 rows tomorrow and then VIOLA... sock.

No Viola. No sock.

There are an uneven number of bottom of the foot stitches (16 one side, 17 the other). I decided to count right at the end to make sure that I had 33 top of the foot stitches since it's easy to fudge if you're missing a stitch for some reason. I'm not missing A stitch. I am missing EIGHT stitches. I had 25 stitches. 25 stitches!!!!! HOW DID I DO THAT?

I immediately emailed MiL in a torrent of fury at myself. Like really- how could I do this? And more importantly where!? How many rows do I have to go back?! After much thinking and muttering and okay, (sorry Puritans), CURSING, I think I know where I have gone array. Somewhere around the middle of the foot, at the cable decreases. It is going to kill me and pain me in every way imaginable to tink back row by row until I get back to a position where I am right again. Oh god just thinking about it makes me want to curl up in a ball and weep.

Venting at my MiL wasn't enough, I decided to also tweet my anguish. Remember that muppet on Sesame Street who used to bang his head on the piano when he made a mistake? That is what I wanted to do. I was worried that no one would remember the, in my humble opinion, GREATEST MUPPET SKETCH EVER, so I decided to link it up to youtube.

And dammit- watching "Don Music" screw up and bang his head on the piano made me feel better. In moments I was laughing. Please, do yourself a favor today and enjoy Don in all of his brilliance, because without Don I'd still be in a corner weeping.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

ABC Song

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Apparently Sesame Street had to stop airing this sketch because too many children were emmulating Don on the piano and hurting themselves. (This in itself makes me giggle... because I'm a little bit sick that way.)

Is fixing this going to hurt? Yes. A rather lot. But I think I'll download some of Don's greatest hits to watch while I plow through. Thank you Don. Thank you Jim Henson- 30 some odd years later your stuff can still take a really crappy moment and make it better.

Extra Days are for Blog Posts

Well- I was hoping to be on here showing you a completed set of socks but it's just not going to happen that way. I was hoping to complete the Nebula socks for the end of February and I have to say, I came pretty close.

I'm slowing working my way down the foot. SLOWLY but I do hope that soon there will be a finished glamour shot in our future.

I'm on day two of taking a harder line with the baby on napping and so far (KNOCK ON WOOD) that is actually going well. Yesterday I was able to knit 10 rows on the sock uninterrupted! I nearly WEPT from the joy of it!

If I can get the baby on a more regular nap schedule not only will I have a HAPPIER baby (which is so much easier for everyone) but I will also be able to make more steady progress on the items I had hoped to finish since I can actually have some "mommy has her hands to herself" time. I'm trying to decide what I will tackle next... Pink Baby Dot blanket or the Fireside sweater. Let me know what you'd like to see next in the comments!

Parker's Blanket

It's done! It's done! It's DONE! Parker's blanket is done... nearly 3 months to the day AFTER he was born. But still... focus on the positive. IT'S DONE.

Pattern: Baby Bricks by Kay Meadors.

Needle: US 7

Yarn: Berroco Vintage in 51103 (Green), 51104 (Teal), 5103 (Brown), 5113 (Light Blue), 5100 (White)

Notes: I have made this blanket twice before and so I obviously like the pattern. What I appreciate is that it always looks stunning no matter what you do for a color scheme, and it's simple. It's also simply deceptive because people always think it's harder than it looks. (It's not hard!)

And now GLAMOUR SHOTS... because dammit you deserve it for waiting so long!

Look how nicely it matches the nursery bedding!

Look how nice the back looks!

Look how nice it looks with an ACTUAL BABY!!! (I keep staring at him and thinking "How did I end up with such a cute kid?!")

Okay- this blog post is getting too exciting... let's all take a moment to collect ourselves. How about something more somber? A sock in progress?

Hey is that leg nearly finished? Why yes, it IS nearly finished. I'd really like to finish this bad boy for February and move on to the next project that needs to get off the needles. It feels good to wrap some of these items up!

I feel I need to wrap this post up with a bit of an explanation...

The good news: Parker is essentially sleeping through the night. (10 pm - 6 am!)

The bad news: Parker hates to nap. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATES to nap- meaning while I am getting a great 8 hours of sleep, I cannot put him down long enough during the day to knit my single row. (Or for that matter write a blog post, write the thank you cards, order the pictures or the 98 zillion other things that I have not accomplished on my "to do" list.) Progress has slowed to a pace best described as "snail". So your continued patience is most appreciated!

2 Down!

Okay, so it's not the end of January as I originally hoped to finish Parker's blanket but it's close and I'll take the win!

Parker's blanket is currently blocking and should be ready for a few glamour photos later this week. (Bonus... the baby will model it!) Special thanks to MiL, who came over Wednesday afternoon to hold the baby so I could get a little uninterrupted knitting time. Then she brilliantly suggested that if I could finish it (I made it to the border) by Saturday we could block it at her place when I was there for lunch. BRILLIANT. And so, with special thanks to MiL and cousin Kim I now have blanket pinned and drying!

Saturday was also awesome as FiL was looking for a little baby time while we were visiting- so HE held the baby (and expertly put him to sleep might I add) and I got to pick up project #3 in the finishing pile. Remember the Nebula socks?

I'm so excited to get back to working on these- they are just STUNNING, plus I want something small to knit for a change. (Extra bonus- it's Wollmeise!) I'm hoping that I can finish these in February and tackle the very daunting sweater next.

I must admit there's a little part of me that wants to abandon the finishing plan, pull out the sock yarn and have a sock knitting marathon- yesterday's knitting session was just so SATISFYING. But... this is the year to get some things off the unfinished object pile and feel good.

Finishing feels SO GOOD people! Stay tuned for glamour shots coming soon.