Quickie Complete

Well, I finished that cute little hat up yesterday. All said, it probably took me less than two hours. Now I have been requested to make one for Aidan and then Teagan by Tara. Plus, I'd really like to make one for my baby. Good thing it was quick.

On to my sad news... I was preparing to take a picture of the hat this afternoon when I think I broke my camera. This is devastating news for me. I LOVE that camera. A LOT!! I think I was near tears. The lens won't come out, it is making all kinds of weird motor noises and comes out about an eighth of an inch and then doesn't want to go back in. It won't go into "play" mode either. I am very worried, I don't know what the likely hood of getting it fixed is. Or will I have to buy a new one. I told Kyle it is because I was drooling over the big fancy schmancy cameras that people had at my work X-mas party last night. One was the canon EOS fancy thing and the other was this huge nikon. They were both so big and attractive. Anyways, I can't afford that kind of an upgrade. I can't really afford to replace the one I already have. We'll see what can be done.

So because of this, there will be no picture. I won't even post an old one, instead I'll just mourn the loss (hopefully not permanent) of my pretty camera.

Quickie

I know I should be working on the Tilted Duster. Or the slippers. Or at least the Cabled Riding Jacket. But no, I cast on for a new quickie project today.

I am making the Umbilical Cord Hat from the first Stitch 'n Bitch. It is for a friend who is having her baby on the 27th (planned c-section). So I want to knock it out real quick before baby arrives. It is coming along really cute, I am making it out of Main Line from Knitpicks.com in Cocoa and Butter Pecan, mmmmm sounds like a cookie.



So I put in this cute little stripe business near the bottom edge of the hat. It was the only color accent I was going to add. But the more I think about it, I think it might be cute to have the same pattern sequence on the I-cord top of the hat. However, that part will be tied off in a little knot. So I'm not sure if it would be so cute. Opinions?

On another subject, I think I need to knit this. My nose if FREEZING!! I just turned on the heater, but I prefer not to run if it I don't have to. But my nose gets so cold I can't stand it. The dog curls up in her bed and buries her nose. Here is a funny picture of the cat covering her nose.



However the picture is a lie. Trout is not covering her nose because it is cold, instead she is covering it because it smells really bad. When we refinished the floor in the bedroom, Trout could not stand the smell so she tucked her nose under her tail. Funny stuff, she spent the whole day like this. It was March, so it may have been chilly, so maybe she was doing this for two reasons.

Final

Two finals done and one left to take tonight at 8pm.

Only 20 (maybe 1 or 2 less) rows left on the skirt of the Tilted Duster.

Nesting has begun, I have been trying to clean things out and get rid of them. I went through my yarn stash and am getting rid of tons of stuff (mostly junk). I think some friends and I are going to start a knitting group so I am going to offer it to them first and what is left, I will see if anyone online is interested in obtaining. I really want to focus on getting yarn for something specific and then making that something instead of wasting my money of one or two skeins of something that while nice or even fantastic, I have no real use for!



I can't wait to throw out the semesters worth of junk also... but for that I like to wait for my grades to be posted. I don't want to have to fight over a score on a paper I no longer have a copy of. Then my time will free up considerably and I can really begin preparing for this little baby's arrival. He is busy all the time, swishing and flipping around my belly what feels like non-stop. Kyle has felt some very large kicks (or whatever) but still no one else. Mostly because the easiest time is when we are laying in bed together not really moving around. I had the oddest sensation the other day when the little man moved or pushed in a way that I felt on BOTH sides of my stomach. He must be getting so big in there!! My stomach is definitely getting larger, but is still looking mostly fat. Oh well, I may never be a super big stomach kind of gal. I think my proportions will lend themselves more to the wide flat pregnant stomach.

Alright, I'm off to study for this final. Then give a big sigh of relief for the end of yet another semester (my second to last - WOO-HOO).

Boku Entrelac Scarf

So I realized here I mentioned the scarf I made for Tara. That it was her substitute birthday present and was almost complete. I am sad to say, it sat forever with the final open seam that needed to be finished by hand and then it needed to be ironed. She could have used it for the last two, maybe three months. I mailed it yesterday with Christmas presents. Why am I so terrible.



Anyways - here is a picture of it. I really like the way it turned out! Hopefully she will as well. I guess I don't have any pictures of it with the fleece backing, but I put a green fleece back on it. Both to help with softness and to cover up the unattractive backside of entrelac.

Another project I completed:



This is the Odessa hat. I made it out of some really soft pretty bamboo yarn. However, it is too lightweight for the hat it was intended to replace (that Kokanee ate). So I need to make myself a warmer hat.

It's getting cold and schools nearly done.

I know cold is a relative term. For my sister, in Alaska, cold is zero degrees. But here in California, I am feeling the cold and the lows are in the low 30's and the highs are in the mid 50's. So I know I don't really have much to complain about as Tara often likes to remind me. But it is cold here and I have to take many preparations to take the dog out to the bathroom. Jacket, Kyle's warm slipper fleece lined boots, hat, all the goods.



I know, who takes their dog out to the bathroom when they have a yard?? We do, because our dog has broken through the neighbors fence twice. She is not allowed outside by herself until we get the fence reinforced. It is kind of no fun for her, because she would like to stay outside and play for awhile, but it is too cold for me at 7am.



So all my classes are done!! Woo-Hoo!!!! Only three finals to take next week and then I am off with classes until next fall. This will be the first break I have had from school since I moved back from Alaska in 2004. I'm a little sad that I am so close to done and have to postpone, but grow more excited about the upcoming baby every day. So it is all worth it!!



This past weekend, Kyle and I took a day trip to the Kings River. His cousin owns some land right on the river. I wanted to take some pictures of him fishing. It was a really nice day and the dog LOVED it. She loves to run. She found a dead fish and tried to eat it nearly right away. So she was pretty stinky and now Kyle's car smells really bad. It is probably in the upholstery of the seat. Kokanee was exhausted the entire rest of the day, she barely moved. Later in the day, my brother came by and wanted the dogs to play. Kokanee wanted nothing to do with Edie, growling at her when she tried to initiate some play. I just brought the poor tired dog back inside to her bed. The only way picture of me get taken is by me with the self timer. So while Kyle was gold panning, I was busy using my gorilla tripod to take pictures of myself.



Not much knitting going on, but now that school is wrapping up, I can get busy. I really need to finish those slippers for Kyle. Time will present itself soon! Maybe today even. That would be nice.

A new look

I'm going for a new blog look. I've wanted to for awhile but did not want to have to redo all my additions and what not.

So... a new blog in progress for a new life in progress.

I can't really work on it now, must get off to work.

Christmas and a Belly

Yea - Today was the day I've been waiting for in my pregnancy. Someone finally asked me if I was pregnant. I don't want to look fat, I want to look pregnant. And seeing as the weight gain has been slow and pretty much all in my belly, I think most people either had no idea or if they had an inkling, they were reluctant to ask. Anyways, the owner of the local deli that Kyle and I frequent (enough that they know what we get) asked me if I was pregnant. Woo-Hoo. So to celebrate I took a picture of myself in my new shirt.


I am very pleased with the previous seasons trend... all those big A-line and flowy shirts. Because now all that stuff is on clearance and I am swooping in and buying bunches of non-maternity stuff that will fit a great big ol' preggers belly. This shirt is one of them. I also bought a cute brown and grey striped sweater. Both for $8 apiece, you can't beat that!!



Then tonight, Kyle got busy with the X-Mas decorations. We decided to prevent the dog from being tempted, the trees would go on the piano. Kyle put the lights on and took them off about 10 times before he got them right. Not because he is anal and they did not look right, but because he had two strands and was trying to make them stretch across all three trees. Then I put ornaments on. It was fun and enjoyable!!

Knitting going on.

I have been working on the sweater quite a bit. I slowed down some, as the semester is winding down, so I need to keep my focus there for the next few weeks. But I have also become very busy on a secret (only to Kyle) slipper project for him for Christmas. He has taken to wearing my slippers all the time and begun complaining about how I promised him a pair about two years ago. I bought the yarn and made the promise at the same time as the cabled riding jacket purchase.



Speaking of, the cabled riding jacket is ridiculously close to completion. I started working on it again in hopes of hurrying the yarn along for the Tilted Duster. It did not work as well as I had hoped, but the yarn did come eventually. So for the Cabled Riding Jacket, I have one full sleeve and probably about a quarter of the second sleeve complete. All I need is to finish the second sleeve and collar. Wow... so close, but the project has taken the back seat. I just don't think I'd really be able to wear it during the pregnancy so I want to finish the Tilted Duster. Once done, I will probably be consumed with baby knits. But I WILL FINISH the cabled cardie before next winter. It will be wearable in 2008!!!!!



Now the Tilted Duster, what fun, for awhile. I was really enjoying it, the pieces were odd and interesting to knit because they were unique. Then I got to the 18" of 2X2 ribbing. Not that there isn't an element of interest here as well. There are gussets (I guess that is what you would call them, I don't know what the pattern calls them) at the sides of the "skirt". The pattern refers to the bottom portion of the sweater as the skirt, I also don't know if this is a term I should know, but I don't... at least not in reference to sweaters. However, I am not all that well versed in clothing vocabulary! So I took some fall pictures of the Tilted Duster today, I am half way through the skirt portion and hope to finish the sweater by the end of this year!! A little tiny part of me wants to stop working on the skirt portion and work on the collar. Then it would have a more finished look. Without the collar, the sweater looks a little odd. To me, at least.



We are having hectic times around our house. Kokanee (the dog) likes to get into trouble. We crate her when we aren't home and at night to minimize her trouble making. We are not always successful, she has broken through our fence to play at the neighbors twice. She has escaped her (old) crate once, and while out she ate through our comforter and cover and spread a trash can across the living room. There had not been any problems for awhile, then she pulled our current comforter into the slits in her crate and ate the corner. This one happens to be our feather quilt. Opps, I came home to feathers EVERYWHERE. I still have not fixed it, but rolled the corner up into itself and clamped about 10 clothes pins on it to contain the insides. Then Kokanee found that she likes the clothes pins and goes by and plucks one off to eat when the mood strikes her. I am so fearful of bringing a baby home to her, but had a book recommended by our trainer (we go to class every Sat. for 8 weeks... 2 left until graduation). We'll see how she does... but I'm nervous!



Alright, I really need to go, there is this fascinating chapter I need to read on non-taxable property transactions for class tonight. Doesn't that sound interesting!

I can't decide.

I posted a new post, then deleted it, then Tara began posting on her blog, then I felt compelled to post on my blog. What's a girl to do. Blog or not blog.

My life is busy, because of lots of changes. Like my sister getting pregnant and having a baby in between blogging, I am now pregnant as well. 20 (almost 21) weeks along. It has flown by. It was not planned, but has been nothing short of exciting. We found out yesterday that we are having a little boy. We have not decided on a name but have ruled out Bennett, which was a pretty strong contender until I realized our sons initials would be B.O. Not a nice thing to do to a child if you can help it.

I am knitting the Tilted Duster from Interweave Knits as a pregnancy sweater. It will also work as a non-pregnancy sweater as well, but it has the great open stomach thing going on. Here is a shot of the start of it, but I am much further along. I will have to post new pictures of the sweater and its progress.

Doggie Cousins and Whatnot.

The dogs (Kokanee and Edie) are getting along great!! They play around most days which keeps them busy and tires them out. Nice for us (my brother and Kyle and I).


I took some pictures of our seven foot tall sunflower, that still has not bloomed!! How tall will it get??



Also, I should not be allowed to stay home alone. I was working on sewing a bag and had put a couple of slices of bread into the toaster oven. I have this bad habit that Kyle is always yelling at me about... I set the timer for a long time. Like 30 minutes. So I set the timer for 30 minutes, went to start sewing. I said to myself I would only sew one seam and then go check on the toast. Eight seams later, I remembered the toast. Of course I wasn't so worried because I finished the seam I was working on. So I ran to the kitchen to find flaming bread. I did not even know it could catch fire in such a way. So being the crazy person I am, the first thing I did was grab the camera to take a picture. So here is my breakfast. MMMmmmmm!!


Finally, Here is a cute bag I made. It is a diaper bag for a little boy. My friends boyfriend carried around this purple bag (one of the first I made) for her son. It was kind of embarrassing. At least I was embarrassed for him. So I was inspired by this fantastic tool print fabric. I made up a pattern and through this together with some left over corduroy from my fall airport bag. Anyways, it turned out great. I feel like it is my best sewing achievement so far.

New Family Member

Kyle and I have added a new member to our family. We brought home a new baby girl on Wed. the 4th. She is sweet and happy to be with us, even though it has been a little bumpy so far. Her name is Kokanee... we are going with a theme. Kokanee is a type of salmon and as all of you know, the cats name is Trout, so we are sticking with the fishy names!! Kokanee is about a year and a half and she is a Blue Heeler/Australian Shepard mix. She came from a shelter in Orange Cove, we found her online. Kyle fell in love immediately and they rolled around on the ground at our "interview".

The rough part has been the horrible tick infestation that came with her. The shelter said she should not have any on her but I have pulled off at least 100. Yes that is correct, not a typo, ONE HUNDRED TICKS. I only hope I get them all and we don't get any mama ticks leaving us with future presents. To say the least I am a little grumpy about this and very disgusted (sorry if it is disgusting for anyone else) but we are diligently checking her everyday to find every last one of them. The main problem is they are very small to start and so they are very hard to see until they start feeding and grow. It has been looking promising as dead ticks are falling off of her due to the drops we used and I will keep searching for any remaining. We are lucky and they don't seem to be getting on any of the other animals so far.

But more good stuff... sorry for all the tick talk (ha-ha). She is very sweet natured and loves people. She is a little destructive and seems to like to play with everything except for the toys we bought for her. We are planning to get her into training as soon as possible to help us and her know what will work best. Kokanee loves Eddie (my brother's dog) and they play great together. I put Kokanee in the yard this morning and then Brandon put Eddie out about fifteen minutes later and they played happily for at least an hour. You can't beat that, two dogs who can entertain themselves when necessary. Kokanee and Trout also seem to do great together. Kokanee still seems a little scared of the cat, but in no way chases her. Trout is comfortable enough to walk around right in front of Kokanee without any fear, that is great!! We want our girls to be happy together.

Cabled Riding Jacket or Sweater Vest

That's right, the Cabled Riding Jacket from Loop d Loop has come out of hiding again. As have I. But right now, it is a spectacular sweater vest that has me worried for fit!! I pulled the beast out today and spent at least 45 minutes untangling the yarn that has been being shoved in one of my many knitting baskets. Once the sweater was untangled, I had to undo some of the weird things I had done the last time I worked on this project... in Alaska last November. I had to remember what it was that I had done. I was contemplating using kitchener stitch for the shoulder seams and had one shoulder on a stitch holder and one bound off (part of which had come un-bound and required some help).

So once those issues were tackled, I began weaving in the ends. I had already wove in quite a few of them a while back, but there were at least ten to fifteen.

That done, I proceeded to sew on the buttons.

Finally, I stitched up the shoulder seams. Then I tried this bad boy on. It is a little small, a little tight. And WHAT is going on with those arm holes??? That just doesn't seem right to me, but I will see how it shapes up once the sleeves go on. I don't think I have anything left in me to work on this project today, I have some movies I want to watch while the Hubby is still out of town that he would prefer to miss.

It has been a great lazy day for me, I am happy to keep it that way. I need to get some house projects done, but they will have to wait for another day because I don't feel like doing anything real, only fun things that appeal to me.

I have been doing a little other knitting. The previous gift for my sister did not turn out as planned, so I made her an entrelac scarf with Boku... will post pic later. I want to line the back of it with fleece and then it will be her, now very late, birthday present. It was going to be her Christmas gift and I was proud of my early work until the previous b-day gift was bumped and this filled in.

Headbands and More

There has been much going on around here. As usual. Kyle and I went to Sacramento for the weekend. We went to the zoo, a yarn store, a tea store, and Ikea. Always Ikea when we head to Sacramento to visit Kyle's mom.

Ikea is kind of funny and I don't really think you can go there too many times because you have seen it all before. I think we are going to limit our trips to once per year after the "new" stuff comes out. But it was eventful, there was a table we fell in love with. No boxes, so we asked. All that was left was the floor model. We examined it for at least 30-45minutes. Then went to have a bar code printed. It was originally $130 (I think), marked down to $80. We were hopeful for additional discount due to floor model status, but received none from the manager who helped. Then when the man printed the bar code it was... $39.90!! YEA. We were very excited and caused quite a commotion when manager came back by and saw price tag. She yelled at man for giving us a deal and I was worried she was going to take the price back up to $80. Then she told man that the difference was coming out of his departments budget and stormed away. Then Kyle and I searched the store for I'd say at least an hour for some chairs to go with the table. They had these reclining type, but we really wanted the stationary type. We thought they would be more stable. There was one and the store showed four in stock. The hour passed as we scoured the store and gave up and bought two of the reclining chairs. All of this to get home and find that the table won't fit in our car (we were in Kyle's mom's car) to bring it home with us. Good thing, she is coming down this weekend and will bring it with her. We have the legs and leaves, she has the table top.

Then on Sunday we bought Kintoki at a Osaka-Ya. I saw this in Sunset magazine and really wanted to try it because Kyle and I have seen this treat on some ice cream PBS show. Kintoki is shaved ice, ice cream, and sweet red beans. We also had the green tea powder on top, but I would not get that again. It was the sweetest part and was really overkill. Then we went to Coloma for the day. Kyle did some gold panning, I did some knitting, and Debbie (Kyle's mom) did some Sudoku. It was nice weather and a nice park along the American River.


Before we left I cranked out three of these. Here is my first one. The second was a variation that I made up that I am luke warm about. And the third is the same style, different print as the first. I am having some sizing issues. The last one is a little too loose. I think I need less elastic. I find I often have head band tightness issues. I will work at it.

Teagan's Tutu

We'll see if she wears it, but it turned out really cute. The entire outfit is from this Monica pattern from knitty. I really liked the whole thing and had to make it. Lucky for me I had this yarn that I thought would be perfect. I did make a couple of small changes, I knit the whole thing in the round, I criss-crossed my arm straps, and my arm straps are i-cords that I made from one side and then kitchener stitched together at the back.



I think my straps may be too long and Teagan may give a peep show if she wears this. That may need to be adjusted when I get to Alaska and give it to her. Also, my shape seems off, the top seems wider and shorter then it should be. I have a few ends left to weave in and then I will run it through the washer. At that point I may try to stretch and alter that shape. Again, we'll see.

I am done with school for a few months... Yea!! So maybe I will have a little more free time to blog, and knit, and sew, and craft in general. I have some household sewing to do, I need to finish hemming my curtains. I also have lots of house projects to work on... Home ownership really seems to be what everyone keeps telling me... never ending!!



Also, I have designed a pattern and am working on knitting it up right now. The completed item is a (belated) birthday gift for my sister. I am considering submitting the pattern to knitty or magknits. I will probably have to find someone to test knit the pattern, I figure if I head down to my lys, I should find somebody.

I guess that covers it for now. Main project I intend to work on this summer (especially while in Alaska) is the Cabled Riding Jacket. I am really motivated to finish it. This will be it's third trip to Alaska as an in progress item. That is pretty funny. I got pretty far last time I was there (last August) and the entire front is done. I have not sewn the shoulder seams. I kept struggling with that and bound off, tore that out because I decided to kitchener stitch the seams and then bound off again. I could not decide. So sleeves, collar, and some finishing is all I need. Maybe by the end of the summer. Right now it is a fantastic, sleeveless vest. HOT!

Half Balaclava

This is for Kyle for winter-y bike rides. It could not cover the top of his head for helmet safety purposes.

I LOVE karabella aurora 8. LOVE IT!!

Kyle and I built a fence to seperate the "yard" and "garden".

My brother's new dog. The reason for the fence!!

I've been busy, So, So, Busy!!

I know I have not posted for ages, and this will probably be the end. I am way to busy!! There has been some knitting going on, not too much however.

I reknit the pair of fetching gloves. I made a pair for a friend a bit smaller around and liked them much better. So I made them smaller around and longer.

I have worked on the cable knit coat. I need to make the sleeves and collar. But I have not been motivated to get to it.

I just finished a half balaclava for Kyle. I took inspiration from anitfreeze, but Kyle did not want it to go all the way over his head. I guess it is not good to have anything under your helmet, as it affects its stability and protectiveness. Ends need to be woven in and it will be ready to wear. He is pleased. I used my new favorite yarn... Karabella Aurora 8. MMMMmmmmmmm!!

No sewing, the machine has been put away since I said last semester I was not going to do any craft projects until school was over. And that break flew by. I am back in school, have been for a couple of weeks.

The biggest change for us is that we bought a duplex. We are still in escrow, set to close on the 16th. But got a message on Thursday that we may close as much as a week early. That would be fantastic because it would give us an extra weekend to move. Kyle and I are going to try to move everything in one weekend and clean the old apartment the second weekend and then be done. We don't want to have to pay for an extra month's rent. It will be busy and hectic, but I am hopeful. We bought the place with my brother, he will be living in one half and we will be in the other half. With the way the house market has been around here lately, this was the only affordable way for either of us. But hopefully we will see a return, build up some good equity and buy our own houses, five years is our planned time to stay there.

So maybe in a few months when my life evens out and calms down a bit, I can come back. But as usual, work and school are eating up my time.

~~Bye