FO! The scarf is done.

Ok, I took a goof-off morning today. Slept 'til 9 (yay!), had some breakfast and then read newsgroups and blogs whilst knitting away on my striped scarf. And even though there's still about half a ball of cream and 3/4 of a ball of navy left, I'm calling this puppy done. It's 4 1/2' long, plenty for a wrap-around and tuck-in. Yarn is Mission Falls Superwash Wool, knit in 2x2 rib 40 stitches wide on a 5 mm bamboo circular needle. Each stripe is 2". You may recall the hat I made , which then inspired the scarf. Note to self: 2" stripes mean a lot of ends to weave in. Love the look of this, don't think I'd do it again in a hurry though!

Yes, I've taken the picture on my unmade bed. I was going to make the bed this morning, but a certain Squeeky cat is having her extended morning nap and I hate to disturb her:

Cute kitty, non? And now, sadly, I have to stop goofing off and get some things done. Stew to get started in the crockpot, laundry to put away, dishes to unload and load, and then - finally! - my baking/grocery list to compile. By which time it'll be time to shower and go to work, I think. Although I think Squeeky's got the right idea - I could half-do with another nap, myself!

All wrapped up

I wrapped my Christmas presents tonight - took about 15 minutes. Which, for me, is not nearly enough wrapping time - I like wrapping presents, I love giving presents. But this year, money is tight and I'm being good. Dammit. Nevertheless, all the presents are wrapped except those which have yet to be bought... ouch. See, my sister in Frederiction has two kids. My neice was easy - girly sparkly crafty stuff. My nephew, video games. Or rather, a gift card towards the purchase of video games. The problem being, the store where I need to get the gift card is in the Mall From Hell, in which I will not venture during the month of December. And my sister, herself? Also a gift card, but not yet purchased. So I will call her, explain the situation (because mailing now is TOO LATE and courier costs more than the gifts), and send prezzies after New Year. Which is a cheat, but it's been a rough month.

Knitting!

My striped scarf is now over 40" long. I'm loving it but have fumblethumbs tonight so only knit about an inch and a half. Would like to finish this by the end of the weekend, but so many house-chores to do - like find my dining room table. Actually, the whole dining room is rather buried. It's a "non-urgent area" so we've been dumping stuff in there all week. Now I want to decorate for Christmas, and I want to put my village on the dining room table, and the table is covered in plants and hiding behind a MASSIVE painting of a steam engine. Peter's brother painted it, it's gorgeous, and it needs to get on the dining room wall ASAP. However, I first need to move the china cabinet that is currently on that wall because it's too tall to hang the painting over. Which means moving the plant stand. Which means moving the OTHER plant stand. Etc. You get the drift. Tomorrow, I will find and make beautiful the dining room. Then I will go back to work at Michaels, which, honestly, I've missed the past week or so. I need my retail gang, they make me feel smart and useful. But first, the dining room.

And you know what? I have this weird urge to knit mittens for kids. I saw a post on Freecycle tonight that someone wanted warm mitts/etc. for a toddler. But I've never knit mitts, and really don't want to start any new projects now... and yet I feel guilty that there's some poor kid with cold little fingers. *sigh* Not fair, having a hair-trigger guilt response. Maybe I could whip off a quick pair over the weekend? Time to look for quick kids' mitt patterns, I guess.

Scarves and more scarves again...

In my new resolve to finish the existing WIPs before starting anything new, I finished off a Fun Fur scarf that had been sitting awhile. It's the "rainbow" print, three balls x 20 stitches on 6.5mm needles. You don't need a picture, trust me. :) Anyway, i was knitting this at our friends' place (hockey/birthday party) last night and it was decided that the recipient would be our other friend Jiff. To understand Jiff, and why a 20(30?)something 6footsomething very male, male would want a rainbow fun fur scarf - well, you can't understand it. It's just Jiff. It will suit him perfectly.

But for a slight insight, here was his Halloween costume this year:
It's just Jiff.


(Note: I donated some of the brown yarn to make Sweetums' head. Only for a dear friend would I part with yarn and allow it to be CUT UP and no longer knittable.) 2nd Note: Photo stolen from YumiKid's Flicker page. Girlfriend takes the coolest photos!

Now I'm back on my navy/cream striped scarf, which is coming along nicely. I took some time today to weave in the ends so far and it's much less daunting and more finish-able, if you know what I mean. Still a full ball of each colour to go - oddly, the cream doesn't seem to have the same yardage as the navy (this is Mission Falls superwash). I think they go by weight, not yardage, and the cream is "poofier" so there may be less in a ball. Or maybe I'm just knitting it slightly different gauge. Hard to tell, but I've a feeling I will have navy left over. No, I will not be making fringe! Fringe is evil.

And now, sadly, to bed. Tomorrow, despite the fact of being officially on vacation, I have to go to the office in the morning. Argh. But my afternoon should be reasonably free - no, wait, moving stuff. Argh again. Ok, tomorrow NIGHT I'm knittin'. That's it!

Two FO's today

This morning I was sick, sick, sick. All the everything finally caught up to me, I guess, and I just took the day to sit quietly, catch up on computer stuff, watch a movie, do some knitting. Finished off my re-knit Tosca Toque - 64 stitches on 6mm needles, k2p2 rib. The original one was about double the diameter (I had BIG hair last winter), and there was a green stripe at the top - this one didn't get that far. It fits very snugly over my ears and is (I think) going to be windproof - not a lot of stretch to it, so not a lot of places for the cold to get in! Here it is, oddly lit (my camera flash makes everything wash out, so I have to improvise with lamps and things. sometimes good, sometimes not so much).

I also finished the Christmas dishcloth that Peter's mom had started. Look, you really can't tell where she left off and I started. This was in your standard Bernat Handicrafter cotton, no idea how many stitches, but it's got a six-row garter stitch top and bottom and a three-stitch garter stitch border around the stockinette middle. Pretty. I like how it has kind of a semi-plaid/argyle look to it. I'll be using it to display some of the Christmas knickknacks, once we find them - probably next weekend we'll set up for Christmas. Two weeks from today!

And tonight, there's a CSI: Miami marathon on A&E. I have a pile of WIPs in the living room (I shoved them all in a box to move and of course my notions bag was at the BOTTOM of the box, so everything had to come out so I could sew in ends. D'oh!), so I think I'll assess them in order of "how long will it take to finish this?" and start working through them. I'd like to finish all the small stuff so I can get back at Peter's sweater (no progress since the last picture), but maybe I should keep a couple of them for "travel knitting" when I get back to work. I don't know. I DO know that I found a lovely lace scarf pattern online today that might just work up nicely in the Great Big Sea Silk. But it has a chart, and I've never worked a knitting chart before. Certainly will need more brainpower than I have tonight. Right now I need to find something 'safe' (IBS sucks, have I mentioned that?) for dinner. BRAT - bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. I hate BRAT. But I love having FO's. So I guess today's coming out even?

Moving (more) day and my? cats

So it's Saturday, and in a little less than an hour (thank you, Inigo Montoya) we will have several strong backs and pairs of willing hands to help move the rest of our big stuff (and whatever little stuff we can) from house a (old house) to house b (Peter's old-moving-back-in and my new, house). I really detest moving, having done way too much of it in the past. And with everything that's been happening lately, this morning I just want to hang out in my penguin pajamas (yay for Mark's Work Wearhouse!) and vegitate. Not an option. But before we pitch into moving (more) stuff, I want to tell you about my cats.

Actually, "the girls" were Peter's mom's cats; Mush (pronounced 'moosh'), who is older than god but still kicking strong, and Squeeky, who was a rescued kitten about three years ago, if I remember right. But now, well, they kind of come with the house. Now I am not a cat person, never really. Love kittens but when they get big they get that "cattitude" that annoys me. Plus, as a knitter, I worry about what they might do to my yarn. Reasonable, yes?

Well, since we've moved in (a few days, feels like a year, gods I'm tired), Squeeky has decided that I need to rest more. Whenever I sit down, she's on my lap, and insisting on being petted for at least 10 minutes. So I have to take a break, because it would be mean to displace kitty, yes? Yes. And yesterday when I started trying to pick out my carefully sewn-up crown of my Tosca hat (which needs to be frogged and reknit - I have smaller hair than I did last winter), she nuzzled up to me and put a paw on my wrist. NOT THE YARN! She is a good kitty. Mush just shows up for food and then hides out in the bathroom vanity cabinet (she likes the heat from the hot-water supply line, I guess). But Squeeky is making me feel a whole lot more "at home". And it means a lot. So now I am a knitter with cats. But Peter's still responsible for the litter box!

Current OTN: started a Feather & Fan scarf with the Great Big Sea silk, but the colours that looked like autumn leaves in the skein look more like sourball candy in the ball and when knit up. Not sure about that, it may need to go in the bins to 'season' awhile. So the christmas dishcloth, and the to-be-frogged-and-reknit Tosca hat. Peter's sweater is waiting in the wings for some semblance of order to be restored (no way am I screwing that up in this chaos!).

But now, time to put on pants and get on with the day.

Weird stuff on email

No knitting content today - well, ok, I finished a LB Homespun shawl for my neighbour, but that's not exciting. It's a really yuck (to me) shade of green. Now it's done, but I have two balls left over (no jokes, please!). They may go along to my secret-giftee along with the kool-aid scarf.

Now, weirdness. I've recently set up a new email account on a web-based service that I shall not name here (spam-suckers, die!). And so far, spam-free. But the site has advertising. And today, out of the corner of my eye, I saw an ad for "Breastfeeding Bands" - some kind of bracelet thingy that you can wear to help remember which side you nursed on last, for how long, etc. Which is scary, because I right now know at least five VERY pregnant ladies. But I am SO not one of them! And really, of all the weird stuff on the internet, that's gotta be top 10 for me. So, had to share with y'all.

And while I'm ranting, (ok, I'm going to start ranting...) why the holy Hades is it that one CANNOT buy a copy of ANY Erma Bombeck book in ANY of the Chapters or affiliated stores in the Ottawa area? Ok, granted, the lady (god rest her) has been dead for some time. Yeah, so's Shakespeare, and you've got his friggin' books. And granted, most of her books were written in the glorious gawdawful 70s when the phrase "stay at home mom" was a redundancy. But godDAMNit! They're timeless, funny, wonderful books and I REALLY wanted to get a copy of "Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession" for one of my very pregnant co-worker ladies. Not happening. Pissed me off.

And there I will stop, because frankly kiddies, it's been a pretty rough month and December's not looking much better. There will be upheaval and annoyance and more stress and less sleep than November had (which was too damn much and not near enough, respectively). All I can say is thank heavens for my knitting, otherwise I'd be smoking and drinking again - which would probably kill me inside a month. Now, the fact that I'll be knitting from stash for the foreseeable future is a consolation (actually, a challenge! There, how's that for positive spin?), because to be honest, my stash is LOVELY. Every time I open a bin, I get happy surprises because I've forgotten what treasures I have in there. It's like unpacking Christmas ornaments... no, wait, let's not get into that. Christmas is, to be blunt, F'd up this year. (ok, not so blunt, but I try to stay PG on here!). Yeah, my dream Christmas is right out the plasti-filmed window. Screw it. I've got my knitting.

And now, a sigh of relief...

Just got an email from the gift swap organizer. I've been reassigned to a swap-ee who is somewhat north-er than the nice Texas lady, so the original Kool-Aid-One-Row-Harlot Scarf will work. YAY! Now I have to finish it. Fortunately it is portable and I even have three "at home" evenings this week, so I could quite possibly have it in the mail within the week. And I get to keep the Great Big Sea Silk. Double Yay!

Oh crap, time to go to work. Again. But you know what? A month from now is Boxing Day.

scary, non?

Who said I wasn't knitting for Christmas? - EDIT, scroll to end

Somehow I completely spaced on having signed up for the KnitTalk gift exchange. Until I got the email from Margo-Lynn today. Oh. Crap. Now, I love the gift exchange, last year went exceedingly well. This year, I've got a lady from Texas. Which means that the Kool-Aid home-dyed pink One-Row Harlot Scarf is way too hot. Not to mention, half-finished. Hrm. That would be the upper scarf in the pictures. The lower scarf is actually a skein waiting to become a scarf, in Handmaiden Great Big Sea Silk. Which, honestly, is far more appropriate for Texan temperatures. And the colours are gorgeous. And it's likely to knit up quickly (heavy-worsted-ish weight), but I need a quick easy pattern. Dare I go for another One-Row Harlot Scarf in the yummy yarn? I've got the pattern down, I could probably whip it up in a week or two (assuming no new crises arise). Or, do I just send the lovely lady the yarn and let her make something fabulous herself? I'm torn.

Opinions please? I'll take "votes" until Sunday night, then I have to make a decision. For right now, I have to go move my laundry around and check on the nice chicken I'm making for dinner. How do I know it's a nice chicken? I don't. But I have a bottle of wine handy just in case it's not.

EDIT - Hubby says I'm not to give away the Handmaiden yarn. *sigh* He's a good hubby. So now I'm stash-diving. I do have some lovely variegated alpaca - at a loose gauge it would make a nice drapey scarf, not too warm. Stay tuned!