10 posts tagged “knit”
The Harry Bear, that is. A co-worker had given me two skeins of Berroco Chinchilla, about 2 or 3 years ago. It's a lovely yarn, but somewhat novelty-ish and I had no idea (other than yet another scarf that I don't need) what to use it for. Then I hit on the Harry Bear and that's all I needed to spur me onto another project and something new. I just love him!
I got hooked on the pattern and started another bear, before I finished the first one! AND, I actually bought more (non-natural fiber, no less) yarn! Youngest grandson doesn’t have a bear, so Grammy had to knit one up right away!
The 2nd bear is much smaller than the first, even though I double stranded the yarn. He’s going to be very soft!
Harry:
And the great news about the additional purchase of yarn is: Somehow, the skein had fallen apart and was a tangled mess. Naturally, I asked about a discount since I'd be spending time unraveling and rolling a ball. I got the yarn for .65!! That's 65 CENTS! I can prove it!
Are these itty bitty hats not the cutest? My daughter's friend is expecting a baby, he'll need to keep his little head warm.
The good news is that I didn't have a heart attack. The bad news is that I do have pneumonia. I should back up a bit and fill in some missing information.
All last week, my shoulders, back and neck were VERY sore. I thought I had a stiff neck, but as the week went on, I also felt sick and had chest pain. Saturday morning, I said to my husband, "wouldn't it be evil if after 10 years of working online from home that knitting gave me carpal tunnel?" Ha ha, yes, that would be more than evil! Also more than evil would be after 18 months of carrying Orion around, I suddenly couldn't lift him anymore.
Sunday night brought sheer misery. Couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't sleep. I (who avoids going to doctors) told hubby that I had to go in the morning. Doctor: "Where is your pain?" Me: "Shoulders, back, neck and chest." Doctor: "You have chest pain?" Me: "Yes, I have pain in my chest, it's hard to breathe."
Long story short: Anyone who is my age that says the words "chest pain" will find themselves admitted to the hospital for a coronary workup. Which is what happened to me. Let me just say for the record that a stress test is no fun and is a very involved experience. It's a good thing the morphine made me sleep through most of it. (Hell, morphine itself is a good thing ;-)) I slept through all but the part where they gave me some medicine I can't remember the name of, that increased my heart rate to the point I couldn't even speak. Anyway, I passed the coronary tests.
The Epiphanies
- While trying to sleep Sunday night (read: 4am, absurd pain, cannot breathe, blah, blah, blah), it suddenly occured to me that the "M1 (make one)" stitch I'd done on my sock the day before was wrong. If I changed it to what I now understood to be the correct way, it would change everything. Not only would that one stitch change the way the whole foot looked, frogging back to that point would give me the opportunity to adjust a couple other things that were bothering me. It's AMAZING what a difference those adjustments have made!
- The Knit must prevail. Did you know that it is possible to knit with one of those clothespin type things on the end of your index finger? You know those things that measure your oxygen saturation rate? It took some practice, but I made it work.
- People who do not knit are almost always impressed with what seems magical to them. In other words, a sock forming off the ends of dpns is pure magic. Even well-educated medical professionals "admired" me!
- Knitting while stoned out of your gourd on morphine is not the best way to stay the course on your pattern.
- On the other hand, knitting while sick is a terrific distraction.
Last week's dishcloth pattern is complete. As soon as I take a picture, I'll frog it and make this one instead:
Lacy 4 Leaf Clover Dishcloth
The Embossed Leaves socks are coming along very nicely. TOFUtsies by South West Trading Company is an amazing yarn. I LOVE the cotton and the "Chitin" (a fiber made from shrimp and crab shells) is an extra bonus. It's a little odd and makes me giggle just a little. I can't wait until they're finished!
Sorry, no pictures this time. The batteries in my camera are out of juice, but then I'm feeling a bit out of juice myself these days.
Peace out and power to The Knit!
Oh, here's a pic! My Belle:
That's the kind of post this is going to be... one sweet thing and one sour thing. The sour first. GRRRRRRRRR! #!*%$&! I am so pissed off at this supposedly easy dishcloth pattern that I could scream! All has gone just nifty-roo until this afternoon. I knit the same freaking three rows three times and still had an error. One would expect the same error three times but noooo, not me. Three different errors! I just ripped it all out. Yeah, I'm the boss, you just wait and see if that washcloth screws with me again. Now the sweet. I finally finished the two baby sweaters! WOOOOO HOOOO!!! After how many years? I'm seriously considering framing the Pixie Cables sweater. Orion models, proving that even
the largest sweater is too small.
Gee, that would be a change of pace! The Lion mag showed up this weekend, and I'm loving this Cable Tunic/sweater. I could buy the kit or just the pattern and pick my own yarn (I'm leaning toward the Blush Heather). Aside from the lack of color choice, what's the difference between buying the yarn & pattern and buying the kit? Wow, I just did the math... minimum savings of $2.75 (kit with 7 balls @ 3.25 ea, plus pattern @ 3.95) to a maximum savings of 12.50 (kit with 10 balls @ 3,25 ea, plus pattern @ 3.95). Sooooo, I could go with their color choice and save at least a couple bucks, or go for the pink and spend more.
How do we feel about kits?
Oh, and a side note, I signed up for ravelry too. Now to wait patiently for my invite. I sort of feel like one of the uncool kids. ;-)
Remember when I said that no one has fun when we go all-out during the holidays? That a simpler celebration would be better? I think God heard me say that, knew I wouldn't stick to it so sent a few road blocks my way. Between being sick twice (once with the cold/flu from hell), Dave being sick, and a sprained ankle (the crutches kind of sprain), I've been forced to do things differently. Gone are the outside lights, mega and multiple shopping trips, twenty lists of things to do and amazingly, the stress. Imagine that!
Forced to sit in my easy chair for more than three weeks, I was able to complete just about every Christmas knitting project I had planned. That's super amazing because of course I never come close to getting all the projects done. I've knitted the following:
- A beautiful wrap for my mother
- Gorgeous felted placemats for a friend of the family
- Socks for two grandsons and one daughter
- Coasters
- Dishcloths
Honestly, the pair for the one daughter are half done. I really want to get one more pair done for the third grandson, but I don't think I'll make that. Not bad!
Dave and I went giftie shopping Friday and Saturday and get this: WE'RE DONE! Two trips and we're done! He kept saying "focus Honey, we know what we want." It worked!
The tree is decorated (did that Thursday night). House is decorated (yesterday afternoon). I even managed to bake cookies with Bess and attend two holiday parties. Un-freaking-believeable!
The bad news: My house is a wreck and needs serious cleaning. Laundry has piled up and the floors are gross but I have time to get it together. I feel so much better now, I'm ready to tackle the chores!
To be Done:
Clean the houseWrap the pressiesBlock and felt knitting projectsPlan the packing for DisneyFinalize Christmas Dinner plans
Speaking of Christmas Dinner plans... pies and yams have been ordered. I hate the yams my mom makes (can we say yucky marshmallows?) so I ordered them from Marie Callendar's. Mmmm good!
I can't believe that all the important stuff is getting done and I'm not freaking out.
Yeah, I stole the post title, but really, it's so true! Here are pics of my first two pairs of socks. The first two pics show why I had to rip the blue pair apart, oh, somewhere in the neighborhood of five times. The first pair was hard, but once I got the hang of it, I breezed right along. So here they are...
My Socks
