Decorations are nice

but I'm always glad to have them put away for another year and to get my house back to normal. Once Christmas is over, I'm almost frantic to have everything put up. I mean, it's over, so store it away already. (I feel the same way when it's Thanksgiving, but in reverse, I can't wait to get the house all decked out.)

Now I'm ready for 2008. Bring on the New Year!

A Gift, and Knits

This is the absolute coolest knitting gift I've ever received. Given to me by the lady I knit the Swan Lake Stole (MS3) for, she did what any non-knitter would do: walked into the Loops yarn store in Tulsa, told the friendly Loops Troops there about her knitting fool of a friend, and asked what could she get me as a Christmas gift? They had the best possible answer: buy something a knitter would always want but might not buy for themselves. Are you ready? Here it is, and I LOVE it:

Looks kinda like a burrito, doesn't it?

What is it, you ask? Well, if you knit, you know what it is, if you don't you might ask, what is it?

Don't you just love the pattern? My friend and I call it Sedona, because it reminds her of the colors of the sunsets, the hills, the vegetation... (actually it's called Hip to be Square - Mocha)

The burrito unfolds.....

And this is the wonderous inside! A place for all my needles, circs, straights, and dpns, and notions and gauges, and Everything! You can see my new KnitPicks Harmony Options in the bottom row, and the pair of size 10 straights she gifted me in the top row, middle. I was giddy about it, and still am. It's from Offhand Designs, the Deluxe Clutch.

Knitting has taken place, and now that obviously the batteries are working in the camera, I can share.

My first pair of socks using self-striping yarn. This is just about the niftiest thing, the way the yarn makes its own stripes. Almost magical. It's from Cascade Sassy Stripes, size 1 dpns, the basic sock pattern from Silver. I'm pretty chuffed with how the second sock is spot on in lining up the stripes.

And lastly, the progress on Skin of the Sea. I can see the homestretch. Short rows come next, plus the edgings, and of course finishing, washing, and blocking. This is grand!

A Christmas Eve tradition

Long ago my grandparents gave my brother a book of children's Bible stories. It's been well loved and used, the spine is a bit cracked, and the pages are brittle and yellowish. Somehow I ended up with the book many years ago. When my son was born, I began a tradition on Christmas Eve of reading to him the four-five page story of the Birth of Baby Jesus: The First Christmas. Then along came my daughter and we added her to the mix. This is the last thing we would do before turning out the lights so they could wait for Santa Claus.

Tonight, for the 20th year, I will sit on my son's bed, with my daughter next to me, and I'll read them the story again. I love doing this. They don't seem to mind, adult and young adult as they are. And when the time comes, down the road, and they have children of their own, I hope they continue this tradition, or even let me have the honor.

Merry Christmas to you all! May you have the peace, love, and promise of the Season, found in the small package of a Baby.

Well drat.

There are no pics of my socks-in-progress, as I can only find one of the rechargeable batteries to go into the camera, and it needs to slurp on the power of two. I have no idea where the other three batteries that belong in the charger have wandered off to. No juicy, no pictures.

Cards away!

The Christmas cards are mailed. What with the ice storm and all, I'm about a week and a half behind, so I apologize now for the tardiness of the cards. Especially to those folks overseas in Germany and England -- yours will be late. *sad face* However, I hope you enjoy my annual Christmas letter. Maybe it's my mind's attempt to help me forget about the no power episode, but I completely forgot to include that in my letter, doh! Oh well.

Just for grins and giggles, I'm going to try and get all my cards done in November next year. That way maybe I'll be ahead of the game and karma will even out these two years. ;)

Got some knitting done

during my son's out patient surgery on Monday. In fact, I got a heel turned, the gusset finished, and am in the home stretch of foot knitting. Sitting in the waiting room is a great place for knitting. He is doing well.

I'm using Cascade's Sassy Stripes, first time for self-striping yarn. It's really cool. I'll get a picture posted tonight.

HUZZAH!!

As of 12:31 p.m. today, we have ----- POWER!!!! And the crowds went wild, there was great rejoicing throughout the land, and if I see a PSO man right now, I might just kiss him!

Thank you for heat!

Day 5

I froze my brain again this morning while washing my hair in the ice cold shower water. And no, the rest of my body did not join my brain: I just stuck my head under the shower and left the rest of me out of it. LOL

Maybe power today. I sure hope so.

Brrrrr! Day 4 and counting

We're in NE Oklahoma, smack dab in the middle of the ice storm that has paralyzed our area. It's been four days since the power went out, and it's been mighty cold at home. All the food in the fridge/freezer, both of them, will have to be thrown out. They keep moving the tentative date when power will be restored, right now it's Tuesday, Dec. 18, at 11:59 p.m.

EDIT: Daughter and I did have some highlights during this. On Monday night, we impaled hotdogs on shish-k-bob skewers and cooked them in the fireplace. That was fun! Then we also bought bags of potato chips and boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes, in order not to starve. LOL. We sat on the couches in our three layers of clothes, double socks, coats, ski hats, and blankets, and talked and read books. Went to bed at obscenely early times, since it was warmer under the covers than not.

Hubby had been on site for work in Atlanta, Georgia, and bless him! Instead of flying home like planned, he rented a van, picked up an 8000 watt generator (which for some reason in balmy 75 degree Atlanta was not in short supply), three heaters, and filled an order for supplies for his co-workers. He left yesterday morning at 2:30 in the A.M., drove straight through to Tulsa and by 5:00 p.m., the generator and heaters were set up and the chill taken off the air in the house. He is my Knight in Shining Armor, and he drove in to save the day for the daughter and me.

We still don't have any hot water or house power, but for right now, heaters are good. Heaters are very good. Hubby might be hooking the generator into the house power, he knows how to. This would give us lights and hot water. But we'll take this one step at a time.

It seems that our subdivision, and the one across the street are surrounded by neighborhoods that all have power. It's like we're an ink spot on the map with other people's lights all around. I hate being cold like this, and I'm starting to get depressed.

Progress

Skin of the Sea is coming along nicely; it starts under the right arm and knits sideways across the back to the left underarm. Right now, I'm at the point where I will knit around the front on the left. The provisional stitches on the right side will be picked up and finished around to the front. Then, somewhere in all this, I'll be doing short rows. Should be tons of fun. No really. I mean it - this is such a fun project so far.

What's a project without some boo-boos, though? Yes, there's a glaring error. But it only became glaring after I had already finished almost the entire back, and therefore it did not get frogged back to the beginning where the error occurred. It's one of those things I've decided I can live with, and will just move along now, citizen.

Wacky Christmas hat

My work is having a Wacky Christmas hat contest, and it took me forever to figure out what I wanted to create and enter. Finally, the Muse of Quirkiness smacked me up side the head and viola!

It's a combination of assorted sizes of aluminum baking pans hotglued together, Hershey Almond Kisses and Miniatures hotglued on the outside, a festive curley que bow, with candy canes hanging around the brim. Since I work for Information Technology (IT), and no IT person is proof against Chocolate, I just know that my hat will do well in the competition. And even if it doesn't, we can all take solace at the end of the voting by ripping the chocolates off the hat and consuming them. Yum!

Merry Christmas!

Yarn and Tunes

Skin of the Sea wip1,
originally uploaded by DragonsChest.

The Indian Cross Stitch knits up quickly, really. And once I got the hang of slipping the long stitches over each other, it's not horribly difficult.

On other matters, my hubby just bought a new toy: a Rowe AMI CD100F Venus Caliente jukebox. He's been merrily cleaning, scrubbing and polishing, and is now engrossed in deciding which CDs to keep (it came preloaded with 100) and which ones to discard. We have quite a selection of our own, so many of them will be added. He bought software to print the playlists and photo paper to print the CD covers and lists on. Hubby is a happy boy indeed.

A'swatching we will go

Now that my daughter's Skull Illusion Scarf is finished, the swatching for Ilga Lega's Skin of the Sea vest began. I choose a different colorway from the example, which was a beautiful play of blues, and went with an equally gorgeous yarn in Amethyst Woolie Silk by Fleece Artist. This time, I really wanted to do it up right, and start with the swatch. Normally, I hate to swatch, hate it. I do understand the reasoning behind swatching for gauge, and it's completely valid, but I hate to waste the yarn and the time. Ah well, I swatched, and I'm pleased. Tomorrow when it's dry the measuring will take place, and I'll see how far off gauge I am.

Trust the Swatch. Believe the Swatch. The Swatch is good.

Yarn... see it, love it

Finally, a post that has actual yarn in it!!! I know you were all beginning to think that a horrible yarn incident had occurred in the house, but all is well.

First, my daughter's Skull Illusion Scarf. Since these were taken, I've knitted about another 12-13 inches of plain black/red garter stitch.

Next is the Smidge I made for one of the ladies at work. It's a seed stitch with buttons I made from purple polymer clay. They've been sewn on since then.

And here's a little teaser of the Smidge that is destined for my soul sister.

You can't see the illusion knitting in this picture, so it's safe to post. I don't want her knowing what the illusion is until she gets her pressie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you be blessed with family, friends, love, good health, and plenty in your life. I have been incredibly blessed with all these things, and am very thankful for them.

The "c" word

Got a phone call from the vet today -- Spooky's tests came back, and the cyst removed from her ear turned out to be a mast cell tumor, or cancer. The vet said that in cats, such cancers behave differently than they do in dogs. It's worse for dogs. Spooky's tumor did extend to one margin of the ear, though he took a large scoop of the tissue out. This means that the tumor does have a chance of coming back at a later date. When I take her in to have the stitches looked at tomorrow, I'll ask about radiation and the like. She's an old cat, though, and it might not be the best course of treatment for her. She's about 15 or so years old. She has a great appetite, and I don't think she's troubled by the cancer, she's more annoyed by the cone thingy around her neck, so I think she'll recover quite nicely. But I'm still afraid.

I hate this. We've lost three dogs to cancer. They all had nice long lives, but when they got sick, they went downhill fast and died. I don't want Spooky to have this. This cat is my furbaby, my best animal friend. I love her very much.

More Christmas completed!

I have two more Smidges finished, and the pics are languishing in my camera. Actually, one of them is really my design, might be the first project that I put together on my own. It's just a little thing, but I'm pretty pleased with it.

That being said, I can't show you it right now, for two reasons. One, as said, the pics are still in the camera. Two, the recipient has this blog address, and I'd hate to spoil her Christmas surprise by her seeing it here first. So you'll have to wait on this one until after we meet for lunch and she gets her pressie. But to expound a bit, it has an element of her faith knitted in, but not jump right out and smack you in the face with it; I used illusion knitting.

I'm a little stinker, ain't I? LOL

I've begun my son's GF's Smidge, and it's going to be gorgeous!

Milking this? Oh yes.

Spooky is not above milking her infirm state to the limits and beyond. Last night I took her collar off to clean up the ear, put the ointment on, and decided to let her have a few moments without it. I was worried that maybe it was causing irreparable mental harm. Peh-shaw.

With the collar, she walks like a drunk and makes her displeasure quite vocal. Without the collar, she tippy toes around like a proper cat, slinking in between furniture, while looking down her nose at me. When I replaced the collar, back she went to banging into the couch and walls. While I know wearing it isn't fun for her, I think she's trying to guilt me into taking if off early, for good. "See how pathetic I am? Don't you feel BADLY for making me wear this? Meow?"

Uh, no. Your human slave knows what's good for you, whether you like it or not. Ain't gonna happen, cat.

Deb does it again!

Deb, from Fearless Fibers, is an amazing person, she truly is. Her etsy store is chockablock full of gorgeous yarns and still she adds more to it. New to her inventory is 100% Alpaca in Laceweight, and at very generous yardages. This one is my favorite so far: Harmony. What a play of blues and hints of gray! Stunning.

Here's a little eye candy, it's an item on my wish list that Deb's hubby crafts:

So I'm weak

Present me with a yummy yarn, and a coupon for 10% off, and I go weak at the knees. My daughter says she wants plain black for her stole, no sparkles or glitter or other colors mixed in, so I decided to get the Misti Alpaca Laceweight yarn, 100% baby alpaca, and it's flat black. Couple this with the coupon code GoNoles from Sonny and Shear (linky button to right --> ) and you have a winning combo.

Yarn yumminess in the mail -- heaven.

Choices

I've been thinking about the yarn to use for my daughter's double-winged stole. She wants black, and doesn't care if there are beads or not, so there will be -- beads are fun! Black beads on black yarn. Yum.

So far I've found Alpaca Fino in Black Pearl, Zephyr in Ebony, Misti Alpaca Lace in Black (descriptive, yes, but just "black"?), and Fearless Fiber Cashmere in Endless Night. Still looking though. I want something that will hold up to her usage, but still be of heirloom quality. A quality yarn. A luxury yarn.

I can't buy this yarn until after Christmas anyway, I just like to be prepared to strike and buy when there's money in the account! LOL

A bit closer to finishing Christmas...

So far, the Swan Lake Stole is done, and it's a Christmas pressie. Tonight Smidge No. 1 is done, and it's already intended for a co-worker. I altered the "pattern" a bit and made the crossover into a rather nifty inverted V. I have in mind to knit two more Smidges (for my son's girlfriend and another co-worker), and one really altered Smidge (for my soul sister). Need to get off the computer and get to knittin'. Sorry the pic I took of me wearing the Smidge is blurry. Ah well.



Cat update: Spooky is still acting really weird. The collar is affecting her behavior in an adverse way, but I do understand the reason behind her wearing it. She seems so off balance and lost. *sad*

Kitty ticked off

My poor kitty is very unhappy with me. For many years now, she's had a cyst-like bump on the outside edge of her left ear. More than one vet said to leave it alone if it didn't change, but over the last few months, it started to get a bit bigger, bleed, and feel squishy.

I made arrangements for her to have it removed and biopsied. This was on Saturday. The surgery went well, and Spooky came home groggy and with pain meds. She looked like someone took a melon baller to her ear and scooped out the cyst and surrounding tissue. The vet said the area looked infected.

An entire day went by, then all of Sunday, until Sunday night, when all hades broke loose. Right after I had put haircolor in my hair, and was padding around the house in my bathrobe, Spooky comes wandering into the kitchen with blood dripping off her head like she's a star in a slasher movie. I try to staunch the blood, but to no avail. I phone the on-call vet, who tells me to bring her in to the clinic. I tell him I have a head full of chemicals and that I have to rinse first. I'd be there in 15 minutes.

My daughter helps me pop the kitty into her carrier, I finish becoming a redhead, and off the cat and I go. When I get her out of the carrier, the vet says that it's much worse than he had imagined, and wants to put her back into surgery right then. This time she gets stitches, instead of just the surgical glue from before, and is the proud wearer of an Elizabethan collar.

And that brings me to why my cat is unhappy and ticked off with me. She HATES the collar. She attempts to walk backward out of it, yawls and complains, walks into doors, walls and furniture, and eventually ends up sitting and staring off into space or butted up against a wall, sulking. This will be our existence for the next 10 days, until the stitches are removed. My poor baby. (WARNING: clicking on the picture will show the ear and it's not pretty.)

Ta Da!

Here it is, the Swan Lake Stole, beautifully modelled by my daughter, Katie.






She even said that she would like one, in black, if I would put the wing on both sides. Wow!! (Good thing that Melanie thought of that ahead of time when she designed this stole, and included a double-winged option, called The Wings of a Dream, in the finished pattern. Thank you, Melanie!!) I will definately be doing this for my girl, who, by the way, just turned 17 yesterday. Happy Birthday, Katie!


A few more pics showing the lacework, and my oopsies:





I'm off to shop for black laceweight yarn for my Katie. And by the by, I now have the pattern for Twinings; I can see myself working on it soon.

Mystery Stole 3 - Swan Lake

The pre-soaked pre-blocked stole, all scrunchy and bunchy:

Here it is, taking a swim in a lovely lukewarm bath:

After that I squashed it carefully between towels. Then it was pinned out on the bed.

I keep going into the bedroom to look at it laying there, petting it, telling it how pleased I am with it. This is my most detailed and challenging work to date. Yep, there are mistakes in there, some I was able to fix and others that I couldn't. I jumped into the frog pond once or twice and ripped back rows, only to make new mistakes as I forged onward. But that was okay. It was a learning and growing experience, I tell ya! But on the whole, this is a piece of lacework I will be proud to gift at Christmas.

Details:

61 inches x 21 1/2 inches (appr)

Pink Lemon Knits pattern, Swan Lake (Mystery Stole 3)

Fearless Fibers Laceweight 100% Merino Wool, Spring Breeze, 2 ply

2 skeins used, 820 yards

US 4 circular needles, KnitPick Options

8/0 beads, opalescent white

Metal crochet hook, 13/14 US, 0.90 mm

Huzzah! It's finished!

In the wee hours of this morning, about 1:17 a.m. to be exact, I finished casting off the Mystery Stole 3 ~ Swan Lake ~ and stumbled happily off to bed. Now comes the magic: the soaking and the blocking. This should be great!

My son is away at college, so I'm going to block this marvel on his bed. What's a little damp bed to someone who's not sleeping in it, hmmmm?

Honeybee Stole vs. Twinings Stole

I'm in a pickle. When I saw Anne Hanson's (KnitSpot) Honeybee Stole a while back, I fell in love with it. Armed with that heady feeling, I bought the pattern and my most expensive yarn to date: 100% Claudia Silk in Honey - apropos, as it was for the Honeybee Stole after all. I knew it would have to go into my queue and I was okay with that. Fate can be cruel.

Since then, Anne came out with the Twinings Stole. My heart flip flopped. It's like she designed it for me. It's not that I don't like the Honeybee anymore, but I'm really not enamored by it. I lust after Twinings. But feelings of guilt keep whispering in my ear that I mustn't abandon the Honeybee, how fickle can I be???

I haven't ordered Twinings yet, I want to, but I haven't. I feel like a cad for dropping one stole as soon as the next pretty one flashes some edging and yarn overs at me. I think Twinings would be GORGEOUS in the silk honey yarn, and that pattern just taunts me.

Should I put Honeybee on the back burner and throw myself into Twinings with the mad abandon I feel? Or should I remain faithful to my original plans?

Santa? May I please have this?

I was tootling around Ravelry, as I am wont to do, and I saw one of the ads they have on there for a new company called Knitzi. Intrigued, I clicked-through.

Wow. I want one. I mean, I am in the throws of product desire. Sleek, elegant, useful. Beautiful. This is going on my Christmas Wish List (Santa, are you listening? LOL) and I hope they get the carved Knitzi stocked up in time.

Back in the Groove!

I dug out the Mystery Stole from its safe keeping place tonight, and knitted away on it. It was like getting back on a bike, it all just flowed back to me. Yay! 22 more rows and it's off to blocking!!!

I am happy.

Much smoother now

Happy to report that the linen stitch has become second nature now - no more struggling with the slip/knit progression. I'm almost done with the first Smidge. I've started hunting around for a very simple cardigan or v-neck sweater pattern so I can use the linen stitch to complete it. I am that enamored with it. I've also found a stitch generator program where I can plug in the swatch info from my linen stitch and compare it to what the pattern calls for, then the program will tell me how I need to alter the pattern.

Way cool.

Turning 45 today!

Wow, I'm halfway to 90 years old. Guess this is middle age - LOL! I think being 45 is way cool. I've got lots of smile and laugh lines, and I've earned every one of them!! Best of all, I've been blessed with family, friends, and love.

Please help celebrate the day of my birth by smiling, laughing, and enjoying life -- I can't think of a better gift to give or receive. Happy Birthday Me!

Linen stitch and Smidge

This may be one of the coolest stitches I've learned to date. To me, it honestly looks like it's been woven. It lays flat, is a dense tight knit, and is pleasing to the eye. I find it a bit difficult to stay in rhythm with the alternated slip/knit, though, and if I get distracted, I have to look back and figure out where I am. (I don't have this trouble with slipped stitches on sock heels -- huh.)

And look how autumn-like this yarn is! Gorgeous. Like leaves piled up in the yard waiting for the kids to jump in them, green against gold next to red melting into chestnut. Ahhhhh.

Now, on to an update about the Mystery Stole 3 - Swan Lake. I had to put it aside when we began the Downstairs Beautification Project. Since we're done with that, you'd think I would have pulled it out again and finished it up. I am very close to being done. Uh no. Not yet. I'm experiencing a lack of umph, a crisis of interest, and that's very disturbing. This is a Christmas gift, and that's next month. Ack! I must finish it, most of me wants to finish it, but a part of me just wants to move on.

I've learned a very valuable lesson -- when it comes to KALs, I need to be sure I can knit on the project along with everyone else. I must be one of the only folks who signed up for this who is still not done yet. *sad face* I don't like being the slow bee. So this is me, giving myself the proverbial kick in the kiester to get myself in gear again.

This little Pidgey went to market...

A simple elegant idea, quite nifty in reality. But certainly not new, and certainly not at this price. Ye gods and little fishes, they charge over $275 for this 4x24-inch piece of knitting. Yes, it's cashmere, yes, it utilizes buttons from a wood not normally used (olivewood), but come on!

To be fair, I have to give them kudos for a slick marketing campaign and the ability to appeal to the "gotta have it now and only if it's obscenely overpriced" crowd. Makes me wish I had thought of it first.

But basically, this is not a new pattern or idea, any more than a scarf or sock or sweater is. And I've been itching to try the linen stitch, so I'll be making a pidge (or midge, smidge, neck cozy, etc) or two as Christmas gifts.

Etsy - The World’s Greatest Holiday Shopping List

(shamelessly lifted and reposted from Deb at Fearless Fibers' blog)

Most of you are all familiar with the wonderful world of Etsy and their shops, but I wonder how many of you know about a great Etsy feature that you might just use yourself this holiday season?

I’m talking about the “Favorites” feature on Etsy. Although it’s not meant to be specifically a wish list for holiday shopping, you can easily use it to your advantage that way. It’s simple. Just login to your Etsy account (if you don’t have one, registering is simple and requires no detailed personal information beyond your e-mail address and name), and then browse around to find things you love.

When you come upon an item of interest, within the listing description you’ll see a link on the lower right side that says “Add Item to Favorites.” Just click that link and the item will be marked as a “favorite.”

Now here’s the fun part. When your husband or sister or best friend or mother asks what you might like as a gift this holiday season, you can point them to your list. All they have to do is type your Etsy ID name in their browser, followed by ".etsy.com." (For example, one of my favorite sellers on Etsy is Deb from Fearless Fibers, so her URL is: http://fearlessfibers.etsy.com) Even if you don’t have a shop on Etsy, a page still comes up and on that page there is a link that says, “Favorites.” There, your gift-giving loved ones can find your wish list. How cool is that?!

If you have no shame (I know I don’t!), you can even go to your favorites list when it’s complete, copy the URL and e-mail it to that husband or sister or best friend or mother.

One important thing to note: If you decide to create a holiday wish list this way, be sure to check back every few days. If items on your list are sold or removed from the site by the seller, you may want to remove them from your favorites so that your shopping friends and family won't become frustrated if they find that the items you've marked are unavailable.


And, of course, if you are more of the giving sort and not so interested in your own wish list, you can ask your friends and family to make their own wish lists to help you out with your shopping this holiday season.

Just thought you all might like to know about this feature. It’s much easier to drop a URL than a subtle hint ;)

Decisions

Stash - it doth reproduce. This week I received four new colors. The difficult part will be to choose patterns to bring out the best of the handpainteds and stripeys. Well, actually the stripes won't be too bad as I plan on just doing a plain sock with that. But the others, I may actually Swatch. (E gads!) Just to see what they look like knitted up. I'm recalling what Sandi Wiseheart of Knitting Daily, said:

The Swatch is good. The Swatch is wise. Listen to the Swatch.

Queen of Cups, complete

My regal endeavors have come to a close -- I've finished the Queen of Cups socks, by Nathania Apple. This turned out to be a lace pattern that wasn't too easy or too hard, like Goldilocks, it was Just Right. The lovely tealy green of Fearless Fibers 100% Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Prosperity colorway shows the inverted lace cups beautifully.

I need (want!) to get some sock blockers, not only for shaping after the socks are washed, but for getting really decent pictures. It's darn hard to take pictures of socks when they're modelled on your own feet!




Next I want to finish the Mystery Stole and have it ready to block by next week. That will leave me all of November to knit the one other Christmas pressie I have in mind, and also finish up my daughter's Skull Illusion Scarf. I promised it to her before the cold Oklahoma winds come a'sweepin' down the plains. Gotta get with it.

I've got yarn, babe!

I received my yarn from Kris at Sonny and Shear yesterday. Ah, it's beautiful. I think I will love that Zen Garden sock yarn. And don't forget: as well as getting yummy yarn goodness, you can still get it at a discount. Just click the Sonny and Shear button to your right, enter their site, and buy Buy BUY! *smile* Use coupon code KNITMORE and take 20% off all your yarn purchases between now and October 31st.

How cool is that?!

Process vs Product, and Queuing

What knitter hasn't pondered the age old question of Process vs. Product?

Certainly I derive pleasure from the finished product, whether it be a pair of socks, or a sweater.... I want to be able to use the item or gift it to someone who will wear it. I don't think I would take the time to knit something that had no practical purpose, unless it was a wall hanging or something, and then it still is fullfilling a purpose.

The actual process of creating the item -- that is great fun, too. I love how the yarn feels in my hands, and the niftyness of taking sticks and string, dancing them around each other, and viola, having something that doesn't fall apart descend from the needles. I absolutely adore the colors yarn can take --- there is no color that isn't represented in a skein of yarn somewhere. Wouldn't it be so cool to swim through a sea of colorful yarn?!

So, I like creating the knitted item, the process of it, the learning of new stitches, the Ah-Ha! moment that comes when a technique that had been mysterious and strange suddenly makes sense, and I like the finished item, the product, the squishy goodness that I can hold in my hands and toss on my body. I don't know which one I like better, so we'll say I'm Switzerland in this debate, and I remain neutral.

Now we come to the Infamous Queue. I have a big problem with the Queue. I have so many projects that I want to knit, so many techniques to try. Such as stranded knitting, it's beautiful and intricate. I've stranded before, long ago, and I want to again. I've learned how to knit lace, and I love that, too. So into my queue has gone the Stung Honeybee Stole and a vest from Alice Starmore. I want to knit them all NOW. And I've got sock patterns, tam patterns, nordic sweaters, cardigans galore in my queue and the stash to support them, but the time to knit? Where is it???

When I cast on, I find that I become obsessed with finishing THAT ONE project, now. As a result, I become intimidated by the Queue. I feel swamped. No dent is made in the Queue (maybe if I quit adding projects???) And I feel inadequate when I see how many projects other knitters just seem to toss off their needles. How do they do it? How can I develop the ability to multi-task knit without going insane, or hearing one project cry when I pick up another?

The Illusion Skull Scarf I've been trying to finish for my daughter has started muttering and glaring at me everytime I knit on the Queen of Cups socks. "I was here first", it whispers. "Finish me, knit me, don't IGNORE me!!!!"

Knitting and Decorating

I am knitting on the gusset of my second QoC sock. Joy! I actually got to spend the evening knitting and watching some of my favorite shows: Bones, House, and Boston Legal **.

While watching these shows, I got to sit my tush in our new furniture. We went looking for end tables on Sunday, just end tables. Nothing else, nope nada, not going to be seduced. Uh yeah, right! We ended up with a leather sofa and loveseat, and two gorgeous inlay tables. So in reality, we replaced just about everything. The squeaky newness was delivered today, and my oh my, this is a posh place to live now.

**(Well, no BL tonight. It was pre-empted by a special on the California fires. This is horrible: the devastation, the loss of life and property, the pets and wildlife affected, the enormity of it all... It's terribly sad. I live in Tornado Alley, I live with the threat of devastation every spring and summer, but in the overall scheme of things, my threat goes away with the seasons. This fire "entity", just never goes away, it's always there, menacing, and looming. Nature is a powerful force.)

And the Snagging was Good!

I snagged myself some scrumpdillyiscious yarns from Sonny and Shear's yarn sale: ZYG Merino Nylon Sock in Buttercup, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Gold Hill, and Cascade Sassy Stripes in Stephanie.

I do so adore having knitterly goodness come to me in the mail!!!

We sat in our living room last night, catching up on shows we had "tivo-ed", and I knitted on the QoC sock #2. It was luverly.

I'm looking at carpetbags for knitters. This site has carpetbags and I love the choices of tapestry material they come in. I've also been wondering if I could just knit a carpetbag shape and then felt the phoof out of it. The shape of it seems pretty straight forward, so I just might do that.

My friends from Sonny and Shear are having a sale! Kris has lots of yummy yarn from all over, even the highly sought after Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn. Here's a little blurb from them:

Need sock yarn? Been wanting to try a new handpainted yarn (i.e. Zen Yarn Garden, Seacoast, etc)? Got your eye on some Smooshy Sock? Want to take even more money off of our closeout yarns? Our sale yarns? Thinking of buying yourself a
gift? Here's your chance. Use coupon code KNITMORE and take 20% off all your yarn purchases between now and October 31st.

Hop on over to their site and enjoy the sale while you can. *sock yarn - can you ever have too much sock yarn.... NO!*

Downstairs Beautification Project complete....

.... for all intents and purposes. We had some friends over last night to break in the newness and inhale the fresh paint aroma. Even got to hang up some of my dragonny friends. The house is gorgeous, I love it, and we worked very very hard on it. Thank you, Hubby, for all your vision and ability and effort. It was well worth it.

Hubby now wants to replace or cover over the rough dark cedar staircase. It's a wonderful idea, but we'll have to wait a bit until the money tree out back leafs out again. We want to buy two small end tables, just haven't found the right ones yet.

And another benefit of this Project (because an endeavor of this magnitude deserves to be referred to with a "P") being done is that I can get my knitting back out again. I can finish the Mystery Stole 3, Swan Lake!!! *sighing with happiness*