The calendar doesn't lie

It is really almost Christmas? How did that happen? One minute it is still warm, though I did notice leavings changing color and falling, and the next, we have snow falling and bitter cold. I mean, I did a little Christmas shopping, but that was early, and there was plenty of time. The next thing I know, we have our first family celebration on Sunday. And, you know, did I mention the snow and the cold? We didn't get more than a dusting of the white stuff, but the thermometer this morning reads 7.6 degrees, and that is darn cold.

8 more weeks to the unending pregnancy. A lawyer I work with (well, against, really) commented that I have been "looking maternal" for a long time now. What a nice way to say that I was showing at two months. Right now, I feel the same that I did a week or two before my oldest was born. Unwieldy, uncomfortable, unenergetic, and I still have 8 weeks to go! So there hasn't been much knitting lately. A row here and there, but nothing picture worthy. Resting time is complete resting time. I don't even feel like moving my fingers at such times. I can read, at least. So my mind is not exactly turning to mush just yet.

Meanwhile, I have to come up with one more exchange gift and something to cook before Sunday. Does anyone know how to slow down the calendar? If anyone would figure that out, it would be a knitter with Christmas looming.

Today, it is all about the day counting.

Small creations

I am pleased to announce that my first Twisted Tweed Sock is finished, and (as the antidote to the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome) the second one cast on. I took it with me to California, though was not able to knit nearly as much as I had hoped. There was no plane knitting. We flew across 2/3's of the country, but no knitting for Mommy. In spite of the fact that it was pask his bedtime, eventually by hours, my little guy was wide eyed and cranky for the entire flight. My sweetie was enjoying the open bar (we had enough frequent flyer miles to get first class, which I thought was a very good thing with a toddler on the outside and a wee one on the inside) and wasn't much help to me.


I was able to knit on some of the sightseeing days, when our host was doing the driving. A couple days, I was driving, to which my sweetie initially objected, until he saw the intricate network of freeways in the LA basin. Not for rookies.


As a celebration, I cast on a new sock. Just something to break loose some boredom with my current projects. (My usual model is still sleeping in his crib, so his new Halloween teddy was pleased to substitute.) Some of my new sock yarn in a lovely semi-solid shades of red colorway (with the occasional dash of navy for interest), in a deceptively simple textured pattern. My new favorite style for hand knit socks. (Why was I so enamored of the self-patterning yarns? I maintain that I just had not yet discovered the rich sublety of semi-solids,) I can't wait to get these babies on my feet. I have several maternity tops that would match them, though I doubt they will be finished in time for that. I have other pre-pregnancy tops that match too.


Speaking of pregnancy, I am feeling better these days. Safely entered the third trimester, I feel like I have been huge forever this go round. Some days I can't get comfortable no matter what, and the intermittant insomnia creates some tired days, but last weekend was a couple of good days. I celebrated by turning these,







into this. . . . Yummy Vegetable Beef Soup. Lots of protein and veggies, and all things good for a growing belly, especially in the winter.








I can hear my little guy stirring, so I think it may to be time to start my day. It is Veterans's Day, so the courthouse is closed, but I am going into the office to catch up on paperwork. Best wishes to all Veterans, those serving now, those who served in the past, and those who have gone before us. In that last category, a special moment of silence for my grandfather, Jerome Prescott Knight, U.S. Army, retired, and my father, Allan Prescott Knight, U.S. Air Force. Between the two of them, the fought in three wars and lived to raise families and instill in us a sense of moralily and patriotism. God bless America!

When I wasn't looking. . .

. . . I somehow made knitting progress. I measured/tried on recently some current projects, and to my shock and awe, I realized that I have made serious progress.



Pomotomus socks: only an inch or so til the toe decreases (of sock 2).



Twisted Tweed: only an inch or two til the toe decreases (of sock 1).



Sweetie's hoodie: only three inches to the neck shaping.



How did this happen? I mean, I know that I HAD been working on these three projects. A row here, a few stitches there. I find that I can't knit with the little guy is around and awake, because he has a little too much interest in what Mommy is doing, so all of my knitting the past couple months has been sporadic and on the sly. So you can imagine my surprise and delight. I may even have some finished projects to show off soon.



And about time. At the last sock club meeting, someone observed that I was knitting Pomotomus, and asked if I had started another pair. Um, no, this is the same pair. . . that I have been working on for three years. This person doesn't have children, btw.



I may have some serious knitting time coming. My sweetie and the little guy are flying to Calif. Some frequent flyer miles were about to expire (thanks mom!), so we are taking a little trip to see sights, and visit friends and family. My sweetie expressed surprise that I was planning to bring knitting on the plane. "When are you going to be able to knit, with watching the little man?" he says. Ok, the second leg of the flight is after the little guy's bedtime, and there is always a CHANCE that he will sleep a little. Plus, there are car rides when I may not be driving. I am not going away for a week and leaving the knitting at home, and that is that. Men, they just don't understand security knitting. What if he little guy is worn out and sleeps the whole flight? A mom can dream, can't she?



Today, it is all about the cautious anticipation.

Briefcase knitting

I was reminded today of something that should be obvious, but for reasons that I can't explain, was not for me: DPN's do not make good briefcase knitting. Briefcase knitting gets shoved between bottles of water, files, and pens. It gets snagged on keys. It languishes in the briefcase untouched for days, even weeks, at a time, while items next to it are inserted and removed on a daily basis. So what in blazes was in my mind when I put a little pink baby hat on DPN's in my briefcase?

I took it out to knit sometime after 1:40 p.m, while waiting for my 1:15 hearing to start, and discovered 2/3's of the stitches footloosed and DPN-free. What WAS I thinking? I rejoined the stitches with their DPN, but by that time, I no longer felt like knitting. Or waiting. I hate it when judges doublebook. My guy took a day off, and ended up sitting in the hallway for over an hour, and re-scheduling.

When I got back to the office, I put a sock (on two circulars) into my briefcase. Let's see those little stitches jump the needle now.

Today, it is all about rebellious stitches.

Two rights can make a wrong

Sometimes the right yarn and the right pattern. . . make the wrong project.

After a couple weeks of good yet undiscernable progress on socks, wraps and sweaters, I decided last night that I wanted to work on something where I could see and show off a few rows of progress. My Celtic Knot lace wrap was perfect. I had only finished row 7. Two more rows, and my project grew by nearly 30%. That's progress.

Except. . . . that I really started looking at it. When you are knitting intricate lace (and new at it, so you have to factor in the many screw-ups that will inevitably occur and have to be re-done) with itty bitty yarn, you want to make sure you are doing it well. You don't want to waste a thousand hours knitting to end up with something that you stick in the back of your closet and never touch again. (I guess that makes me a project knitter instead of a process knitter.)

I looked at the now-completed 9 rows. I looked at my swatch. I pictured them both a hundred times bigger. And I decided that the needles were too big for the yarn. My lacey holes looked gapey. It just didn't look right to my admittedly untrained lace eye.

I considered just re-starting with smaller needles. Except. . . this stole was already smaller than I really wanted (I was hoping that it would magically block substantially larger), and dropping one or two needles sizes would make the stole, well, really more of a scarf. The design is too intricate for something that will be squisehed around your neck and burined underneath a winter coat. Time to abandon project altogether.

Even though the yarn is labeled lace weight and is 2 ply, it seems more like cobweb weight to me. So I got on Ravelry, and started perusing lacey wraps in cobweb weight or lace weight that could be easily enlarged by adding repeats. (I thought about enlarging the Celtic Knot wrap, but that would have required math, and figuring out how many stitches to cast on without knowing the repeat nunber was too much to tackle at 10 p.m. on a Friday night.)

Choice were considered, drooled over, added to the queue (like I need more things on there), and finally the winner emerged: Seascape. My yarn doesn't have the same halo as Kid Silk, but I would say is about as whispy. And we are kindly given the repeat count to easily increase in size. (I hate a wrap that covers only my shoulders, even a delicate, lacey, whispy one. My arms are usually the part that needs a little extra warmth.)

I was really tempted to cast on last night, but now it was nearing 11, and testing smaller needles, figuring out approximate size desired, and plugging that into "multiples of 36 plus 11" sounded way too complicated. Maybe later today.

And yet, today is sock club. I haven't gone in months, and my sweetie must have been feeling guilty, because he volunteered (or at least didn't protest loudly when I suggested it) to watch the little guy so I could spend 2 hours among sock-minded people. Woo hoo!

Today, it is all about the new project burning a hole in your knitting bag.

Rule 3

Rule 3 of Sock Club: If the sock isn't working. . . frog it. My pretty petticoat socks are no more. Yes, I was halfway done with the SECOND sock. But when I tried to put it in, it was just too stiff and/or small for my feet. I liked the look of the chevroned stripes, but it just wasn't comfy on the tooties, and that is more important that looking good, at least where feet are concerned.



So, I gathered my resolve, and ripped the whole thing out. That makes one less work in progress, at least. Now I just have to decide what to do with the yarn, especially since I realized that while it is very pretty, it doesn't match a single thing in my closet, so maybe socks for me isn't the best use. I am picturing some frilly, dainty little girl socks.

I have firmly entered the second trimester, so finally feel like knitting again. Once in a while at least. So Pomotomus is. . . an inch longer than it was with little discernable change. And my sweetie's hoodie is . . . a couple inches longer than it was with little discernable change. And my Twisted Tweed Socks are . . . an inch or two longer than they were with . . . I am starting to notice a pattern here.

I hate being in the middle of projects. At the beginning, you see your progress. When you had an inch last week, and now have two inches, you have doubled your progress. Two inches on a hoodie that is already 22 inches just doesn't sound all that impressive. I could start something new, but I feel like I already have too many "active" projects.

Today, it is all about the non-discernable progress

Forgotten photos

In reviewing the last few months of blog entries, er, I mean last few blog entries. . . . well, same thing. I realized that I had never posted pictures of my recently finished projects. Oh, the shame. The neglect. Let me remedy.

Finished objects #1 and #2: Car seat baby blankies

A very good friend of my mine was pregnant. (Baby born last week, congrats Cyn!) One of the most used gifts that I received lst year was a tiny little blankie for car seat use. Just a little something to drape over when there is a hint of chill in the air, that doesn't dangle down or get tangled with the base. As it turned out, I had enough yarn to make two, so I get to keep one for myself.

Finished Object #3: Branching Out Scarf, "First Lace"

I ran out of yarn, so called it finished. The scarf is a little shorter than I usually prefer, but may stretch a little longer with blocking. No, I have not done that yet.

Finished Project #4 Cabled fingerless mitts.

I really love the design and the colors in the yarn, but I can't wear them. I made a mistake halfway through the cable on the first mitt. Nothing too big. Muggles can't see it, but a fiber person notices it so fast, you would think it was knit in neon pink. I have enough of the ball to knit another pair, which I am considering doing. (I think. Wouldn't that be irony in itself if I went through all the trouble to knit the whole thing over again, and ran out of yarn a few inches shy?) Would it be terrible of me to donate the ruined pair to charity?

Today, it is all about the showing off.