Sick Kitty

Just a quick note.  I haven’t been blogging much in the last few days.  It’s been hectic around here.  I’ve got my first appointment with the fertility people on Wednesday and I’m nervous as hell about that.  I’m terrified about what I’m going to hear and what it’s going to mean for us in terms of having another baby, which I want desperately.

We’re also dealing with the (seemingly) imminent demise of one of our precious kitties.  Miss Melly, who turned 10 in July, had a rather large lump removed from her mammary gland back in late September/early October.  The vet said he was fairly confident that it was malignant and we let it go from there.  We decided that we weren’t going to subject her to chemo. etc. and I think there was a part of me that just really wanted to believe that he was wrong.  I thought maybe we had beaten the odds when she didn’t start losing weight or acting differently (not that we’d really know since she’s our scardey-cat who hides all the time).  She’s still eating, drinking, using her box etc. but she’s been coughing a bit since yesterday (which is one of the things the vet said would happen if the cancer spread to her lungs) and her breathing has been a little laboured (again, she’s a hugely fat cat and I hadn’t thought much about the breathing b/c of the weight that she’s carrying.  Her personality has changed a bit…she isn’t quite as timid as she’s been in the past.  The other day she just lay there and let Jake pet her, something that has only very rarely happened ever; she usually jumps and runs to hide at the sound of his voice.  The vet gave her about 6 months if it was cancerous (which I think we’re pretty sure about at this point) and she’s made it about 4 so far.  I’m praying for those other two months, but not sure we’re going to get them.  She’s spending a lot of time in bed with me cuddled up and I’m treasuring those moments.  She’s my older cat’s baby and I’ve been with her since she was born.  She was the runt of her litter and now she’s one of the fattest cats I’ve ever seen.  I can still remember so well holding her minutes after she was born, watching her ears and eyes open and those first tentative steps.  We haven’t spent a lot of time together as she’s, like I said, quite timid and if anyone else is around she hides.  Whenever anyone is in the bathroom, though, if she can get in, she will.  It’s like she knows if you’re sitting on the toilet, she’s safe asking for petting b/c you won’t be able to jump up and grab her and she’s got the upper hand in a running situation.  I love this cat with all my heart and I’m going to miss her so very, very much!!

Please, please, please, if you have female kittens, get them spayed BEFORE their first heat cycle.  The most recent statistic I read was that 91% of cats who are spayed before then will not develop breast cancer.  That drops to 86% if they are spayed before their 2nd birthday and after that there is no benefit from a breast cancer stand point.  I really wish we had been more diligent with Melly and not waited until she was 4 to get her fixed.  There’s nothing I can do to change it, but I can tell you all to please, please and again, please take my advice here.  I’m going to dig up some pictures of her and post them as soon as I can.  I wish I had more than a few, but she’s never really been the type to sit still and let you snap away. 

Boring Day but a lot was accomplished.

I have a kitchen again!!!  YAY!  It’s not totally done, it still needs a new floor and cupboards/drawers etc. but the basics are in and working.  I have a single bowl sink with a removable faucet to help clean dishes.  The refrigerator is in the kitchen and running well.  The dishwaher, while looking kind of ugly without the counter top that one normally sees over it, is running well without leaking.  TJ and my FIL tell me that tomorrow night I should have my washer and dryer as well as sink basin down the basement fully functional.

My knitting has kind of taken a beating these last few days.  I did finish the Twist wrist warmer that was suppsed to complete the pair for my mother who now tells me she doesn’t know where the original is and can I please make yet another one.   G00d thing Malabrigo has a decent sized skein and this pattern doesn’t seem to use a ton of it. There’s enough left.

I ordered a bunch of Knit Picks Shine Sport last night to make the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason/Dixon knitting.  I’m using the colors Blush, Silver Sage, Green Apple, and Willow.  All very lightish shades that I think the pink will stand out against, but not too much.  I didn’t want to do anything too traditionally girly.  I also ordered the yarn for the Anouk pattern from Knitty in the same brand and same colors that are reccomended.  It seemed like a rather non-traditional kind of gift and it will serve more than one purpose.  If it’s too big to be a dress for the new baby, the older girl who is three could probably wear it as a top for awhile first.  I love clothes like that, especially baby clothes, that can serve multi-purposes.  YAY!!

I’m planning a knit night here in the next month.  Going to look at a calendar now…brb…Maybe Feb. 3rd or 4th or else the 10th or 11th.  I’ll leave that up to the girls to decide.  Shelly said that she would attend and I couldn’t be more excited about that.  Maybe I can even convince Andrea to come down for a few days to be a part of things…we’ll see.  I’m not really sure what to serve, bring etc. to this thing.  I was thinking some pumpernicle and spinach dip b/c it’s always cool to eat the food container.  Definitely a selection of wines and some beers; a few mixies etc. along with juice, iced tea, coffee, tea, and soda.  That should keep everyone happy.  I’ll bake some bread and put out butter and I’ll leave the rest to chance.  I hope we have our love seat by then.  Otherwise we’ll be using the coffee table as well as the couches and recliners.  I just want everyone to be happy and to have a good time here.  I miss hanging out and knitting with the gang but feel like I’m a bit out of step with everyone.  ARGH!!!

I’ve picked the pattern for my CamelSpin yarn.  I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s a VERY simple triangular shawl with eyelettes and that’s about it.  I wanted something that wasn’t too fussy nor too lacy and I want to feel the softeness all around me every time I wrap myself in it – which will be often.  Later, when I can afford to buy more, I’ll make myself a HUGE Clapotis style wrap for laying on the couch with…without the drops, of course.

That’s about it.  Nothing new to report except I might have to maim my child if he doesn’t stop asking to come and sleep next to me.  It’s been a real bitch getting him to sleep in his own bed these last few weeks.  We’ve moved his mattress right next to our blow up bed (we still have to get our bed unpacked and put back together) and that’s not good enough anymore.  Now it’s all about wanting to be right up against me while he sleeps.  UGH!!!  I adore him and I want to be with him all the time, of course, but how will I ever have another baby with him in the bed with us anytime we enter this room.  Babysitters are the key, I think.  Someone to watch him so we have time to work on baby #2…LOL

Home again, Home again…

So we’re back at our house now, the blue house if officially a thing of the past.  I ended up sleeping there last night as well; we figured out that there was a day or so more than we thought and I wasn’t going to watch TJ work himself to death going back and forth after midnight with the snow blowing and him being awake since 4 am.  So he came back here, Jake went to his Unkie and Katiebugs house and I stayed at the blue house so that if we were wrong, they wouldn’t be able to lock us out.  Needless to say, things went smoothly, no one came to change locks etc. and we’re all moved out.  It took some doing and a lot more time than we thought, but we also have a TON more stuff than I thought.  We have over 80 boxes in this house of different sizes.  There is almost nowhere to walk in the living room, we have to kind of manuever around things, pretty funny.  We have a plan to open and get through at least 2 boxes a day.  It will still take awhile that way, but we won’t feel overwhelmed and there is no rule saying we can’t open MORE boxes in a day.

On the knitting front:  Not much.  I’ve finished the thumb gusset on the Twist Wrist warmers.  Not much knitting last night, I watched the rest of season 2 of Dr. Who in bed and, I have to admit, reveled in the alone-ness and quietness of it all.  Even with the stress of having to move, it was nice to be all alone for one final night.  So I’m planning to finish that up in the next day or so.  Total side note:  I’m really LOVING this project on the DPN’s.  I think I’ll have to rethink my Magic Loop only policy for small things over a size U.S. 4 (I have all harmony or options interchangable needles right now, so anything under a size US 4 is not a possibility for me, unless I dig into the addis, so I guess I really could do M.L. with any size needle.  There is no point to this thought, but I’m not going to delete it…LOL).  I really do prefer the 5 needle method that I’m using with the Monkey socks over the 4 needle method that I’m using for the wirst warmers.  I know I could have easily added the extra needle and worked out the number of stitches for each, but I really wanted to be kind of mindless while I did this, so I didn’t bother.  The Malabrigo color is so pretty…I can’t remember the exact name of it, but Amore is in the name and it’s shades of red, mostly deep.  I think it might be possible to get two pairs of mitts out of the one skein, but it may be deceptive.  The ball still seems pretty big, but I think I’m going to have to rewind it through my fishing line measuring thing to find out how many yards I have left.  I’ll bet it’s a lot less than I think.

On the spinning front:  I haven’t done any.  LOL  The Girl Insane yarn is done, though (link to a picture in Ravelry to follow).  It’s been hanging in the bathroom since Sat. night, so it’s obviously dry.  Tomorrow I’ll measure the wpi and photograph skeins.  I’m excited to have my first spinning project of the year done!!  I have the feeling that it’s going to be a heavy sport or light worsted yearn.  I was hoping for something a bit finer, but it seems that I can only acheive seriously fine singles, or plied yarn for that matter, with my spindles.  Speaking of which, I really need to get a plying spindle sometime soon.  My next project is to navajo ply the singles for spirogyra and hope that I get the 13wpi I’m looking for.  The singles are about 28-30 wpi and I think I read that you should plan for twice or a little more wpi for the final wpi you’re looking for in a Navajo ply.  I hope I’m right.  Once that’s done, I still have the other half to pre-draft (as called for in the pattern instructions for the spinning portion), spin and ply before I start the mitts.  It will be my first planned fiber to finish project.  I have the camel/merino mitts that I’ve started knitting, but I didn’t have a plan for the fiber when I spun it.  Come to think of it, I need to take care of that as well…finishing the second mitt.  LOL

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the very last day we can be at the blue house…Tomorrow is so soon and there are still three rooms to pack up…argh!!  This tooth-ache has really been rather inconvenient.  I’m here alone for the last night, which is kind of fitting, I guess.  Jake is at Unky’s house playing and TJ went back to the new house b/c he has to work in the morning and it’s so much closer from there.

It seems like a lot to do, but the sorting is minimal, everything just needs to be boxed up here and I’ll go through all of it when we’re back at the new house.  I’m surprised at the number of boxes that have already come out of this house and the knowledge that there will be tons more after our bedroom w/bathroom and closet, Jake’s bedroom and the craft room are emptied.  It will definitely take at least 3 van trips (one of them will just be the bed, though, b/c it takes up the entirety of the back of the van.  While TJ moves the bed, I’ll work on packing the rest of the bedroom and the bathroom/closet.  Then I can work on Jake’s room and the craft room (which is mostly done) while TJ is dropping off that load.  It will all get done if I just get off my butt and do it.  I was going to do some packing tonight, but I was watching Dr. Who on Netflix Instant Watch feature (Netflix is the death of me when I find a show I really like on there.  I do love there watch instantly option, though) and I lost track of time.  I’m not going strictly in order, I keep jumping back from the Martha year to the Rose years (I much prefer David Tennent in the role).  I’ve already watched all of the Donna year that is this season.  Okay, I’m babbling about the show again.  This is how I always am when I discover a new show that I like.  When I finally discovered that I like House (about 6 months ago) I spent all my tv time downloading and watching episodes of the show.  I have all 96 episodes available through Amazon.com right now.  Pity on not big on re-watching shows unless I’ve forgotten all the key elements.  Not so with House yet.  Anyway…

I’m making real progress with the A Little Twist wrist warmers.  I’m through the wrist and have started the increasing for the thumb gusset.  If I could just stay away from “computer breaks” and watch TV on the computer (which I actually prefer to watching TV even with DVR lately) and knit, I could have finished the project by now and be back on the socks.

I’ve finally decided on my first garment knit.  I’m putting it out here so I don’t change my mind again.  It’s pretty, it doesn’t look super hard, but it does look like a lot of  hard work went into it, IMO.  The Bohus-Inspired Pullover from the book Knit So Fine.  When I first saw the pattern in the book I thought it was kind of cute, but it didn’t really strike my fancy.  I took a really good look at it tonight and how the color graduating like that is achieved, simple yet effective, and decided that it would be a great first sweater.  I read through the whole pattern and it convinced me.  I’m going to have to figure out what yarn I want to use and order some in the appropriate colors.  I have a few other things on my to knit list first, though.  For example,  I think the winter wear for Jake and TJ should be first on the list of “to knit”.  In fact, once the Malabrigo arrives, those projects will trump even the Monkey Socks b/c of need and time restraints.  You can always where STR made socks, but winter only lasts for a short while and I don’t want to see all that gorgeous, soft Malabrigo locked up for the winter before it even has a chance to shine.  I still have to pick patterns for the hats and scarves for the boys.  I’m not sure if I want to do something matching or give them each completely different hats and coats.  I know that I’m going to make the hats fairly simple…no big texture or color work involved there.  When it comes to the scarves, though, I was thinking that they needed something other than a plain garter stitch or stockinette stitch scarf.  I asked TJ if it would be okay if I found a cable pattern for his scarf and he was surprisingly not just accepting, but kind of seemed to really like the idea.  I’ll find something equally nice, and warm for little Jakie’s head as well.  Since Jake’s projects will be smaller, I think I’m going to also make him some little gloves to keep his hands warm and dry for a little while.

Reverse needle snobbery

This seems like a fairly simple statement, and I guess it is. I’ve had a kind of reverse needle snob thing happen to me tonight. When I first started teaching myself to knit, I bought the most inexpensive aluminum needles that Michael’s had to offer. When I realized that I was going to like knitting and want to continue at it, I went back and bought needles in every size in the assorted color metal (aluminum, I believe) kind. This was before I knew anything at all about the world of knitting; I was such a “babe in the woods” that I had spent the whole 15 years of my crocheting career thus far using the acrylic yarns that I could buy from Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, Meijer’s, Wal-Mart etc. I thought, when I discovered TLC Brand Amore (the boucle yarn in gorgeous colors that they have), that I had discovered the pinnacle of yarn. It was fuzzy, but not like those eyelash yarns that I saw there that scared me so much, and it was so soft and the skeins were 6 oz. (didn’t yet think in terms of yards). I had hit the fiber jackpot here. Okay, that was a bit of a tangent, and I still do really like that yarn for a quickly knitted or more likely crocheted (I still much prefer to get out the hooks than then needles when it’s a blanket that I’m going to be working on) blanket where you just work mindlessly back and forth until it’s as long as you want it. Back to my point, though…

Right after I managed to put together a few decent rows of knits and purls; my first scarf was barely off the needles, I decided that what I really wanted to do with my knitting was to knit socks. That seemed like the pinnacle of knitting to me. Who doesn’t want hand knitted socks? So I did sock knitting research and my next purchase were double pointed needles in the same multi-colored metal as the straights. I wasn’t even going to touch those crazy circular needles at this point. That happened when I bought the Denise set on Ebay (A descent into the madness that is an obsession with having the best working interchangeable set out there…I’m still waiting for the Addi set…again I digress). So now I have these needles and yet I somehow never try the sock knitting. The DPN’s, I find, are quite long and pointy and seem really frightening somehow. Nope, I think to myself, I don’t want to mess with those. Then I got the Denise set and I swore that I wasn’t going to mess with those DPN’s. I could learn 2 circs. or Magic Loop and I wouldn’t have to worry at all. Next I discovered the wonder that is bamboo needles instead of the metal ones. Hallelujah!! So much easier to work with – things stopped always sliding off. So I bought a huge mixed lot of bamboo needles on Ebay not long after I tried my first one. In the lot were a few pairs of bamboo DPNs. I put them aside until a project came up that I, for some reason, didn’t have the circs. to use; maybe it was something knitted on needles smaller than a U.S. size 4. I don’t know why I can’t remember what the project was. It’s driving me nuts…I’m sure I’ll wake up in the middle of the night (it is the middle of the night) and remember it…I’ll write it down. Anyway, I dug out the DPNs, screwed up my courage, did a bunch of reading of websites and went to Knitting Help a half a dozen times to watch it done, and then I finally cast on for that mystery project. Long story short, after some initial wrangling, swearing, throwing balls of yarn etc., I discovered that I really liked knitting on DPNs. For awhile I found small little things I could make using the DPNs, I knit a lot of hats and put the stitches on DPNs before they really needed to be b/c I’m a dork like that. J

Time moved on and I got better at different techniques, but I never did knit those socks. I tried on the DPNs once, but it was an unmitigated disaster. The pattern was Jaywalkers by Grumperina and I don’t remember exactly what happened, but it was bad. I moved on and used mostly Magic Loop if I had to do anything with a small circumference. I don’t think I ever really got over my fear of DPNs. I loved using them to end projects or even work in the middle, but I stayed away from small things that needed to start with a small number of stitches, or I used the long circular for them. I ordered the Knit Picks Harmony sock knitting DPN kit and I’m working on the Monkey socks, which has lessened my fear of both small DPNs and sock knitting, which is good. So I’m working on the second A Little Twist wrist warmer for my mother and I don’t have a cable with my Options sets that is long enough to Magic Loop that hasn’t had the cable come unattached from the little silver housing. No Magic Loop this time. So I dug out the old box I had put all my DPNs in during an organization kick; I wasn’t going to be using them, after all, so why not put them up? I grabbed the bamboo needles in the right size and got out the yarn. The biggest annoyance I had with the DPNs came rushing back to me: The yarn always “stuck” to the needles and I had to take the time to push everything along constantly. I worked through the first pattern repeat this way, knitting looser and looser until my gauge in just those 6 or 7 rows was crazy. I frogged the pathetic mess and went back to the box to look for a smoother set of needles but the only other thing I had in size 8 were those old, long, scary metal DPNs from ages ago. I don’ t think I’d even used them other than to practice learning circular knitting when I was still learning to knit. It was not a good experience, IIRC, and I wasn’t anxious to use them. The thought of going on with the bamboo needles, though, was too annoying, and I would never do something as normal as say, maybe I should work on the socks if this project is becoming such a nightmare. Work on the socks now and the wrist warmers when we get home where the rest of my knitting needles and notions are (we’re at the old house this week getting things packed up and cleaned before the foreclosure finishes going through and we’re locked out. It would suck to not have the rest of my clothes, books and most importantly yarn and fiber.) So I grabbed the needles and the yarn and cast on while watching TV. Guess what?! I LOVE THESE DPNs!!! The Malabrigo moves like butter over these needles and they are just long enough that the looser stitches from the beginning don’t constantly slide off. I do have to admit that I tried a little “cheat” for joining in a circle here: I knit the first three rows of the pattern flat and then joined in the round in the fourth row. We’ll see how that comes out before deciding if I’m going to do it again. It didn’t really alleviate the stress of joining, just b/c there’s already a little knitting there doesn’t stop it from trying to pull apart, leaving a ladder, at the joining point etc. Again, we’ll see how it comes out.

I’ve gone on WAY too long to just have told one little story re: DPN’s. I’m very chatty tonight, it seems. I think it’s the combination of pain meds. and penicillin for this tooth that needs to be pulled. Ah well, thanks for listening to me ramble. The move is coming along nicely. Not with much help from me, though, I’m afraid. I’ve been in mind altering, brain numbing pain on and off with this tooth ache. It’s the worst pain I’ve ever endured, childbirth excluded b/c that’s a class all to itself. We were planning to be done yesterday morning, but this has slowed things way down. I’m hoping to be able to accomplish a lot more tomorrow. I plan to work on the Twists (as I call them for short) for a little longer and watch and episode of Doctor Who before going to bed and will get back to the Monkey socks when I get home. The Twists will become my travelling pattern and stay with me at all times. I hope to have it cranked out before going back to CA in late March. If it’s not, I have a serious slow knitting problem. I just have to remember that I can’t start new projects until old ones are finished. The only knitting I’ve done in the last few days is related to the Twists. I swatched and then played with needles for two days and now I’m finally getting into really knitting them. So I’m off to warm up a Sloppy Joe from dinner for a snack and then get back to the good Doctor and Miss Martha Jones.

2009 knitting/spinning goals

24 projects in 2009. Any size project, any weight of yarn, ect… (finishing WIPs and UFOs can count!! )

12 of the projects must be made from stash (you can make more from stash if you want) AND

3 of the projects have a new technique that you haven’t tried before.

At least one of each of the following will be knit this year:

1. Fair Isle project
2. Intarsia project(even a very small area of intarsia)
3. Two sweaters (one cardigan and one pullover)
4. 4 pairs of socks (regular on dpns, toe up, Two at a time on magic loop or 2 circs)
5. COMPLETED Shawl

For spinning, my goal is to use at least 2 oz. of stashed fiber for every oz. of new fiber that comes into the house.

These goals may change a bit over the course of the year, but I’m going to try to stick to them as fully as I can. I’m hoping putting this all out there will give me a sense of accountability for working towards these goals.

This idea came from mmlocke on Ravelry in the Stash Down 2009 group that I’m a part of. Her post is entitled “All Realists Check in Here.” I think she has the right idea, setting up stash busting/project goals that are more reasonable. When I first decided to participate in some sort of stash down/stash diet/ knit from your stash idea I decided that I was going to make it my goal to go through at least half of my stash of fiber and 1/3 of my yarn stash this year and that I would only make projects out of yarn from my stash. My rationale for this was that I had a TON of yarn in my stash and even though I don’t have sweater amounts in much (if any) of it, there are so many smaller projects that I could be tackling. After all, there’s the whole of Ravelry out there to keep me in project without having to spend any more money on yarn that will probably only end up on stash when I either over-buy or never get to the project in the first place. I was going to be a good and economic knitter and finally use all this yarn and/or fiber that I loved so much I just had to have it. Hell, I’ve got projects with yarn and/or fiber enough on hand for the whole year just in “Mystery…shawls, stoles, etc.” to last for a whole year, more than that most likely. With all the best intentions, I also promised myself that I was going to be project monogamous and only knit one thing at a time. I was going to be the most restrained little knitter in all of knitterdom. Boy was Tj going to be thrilled with me and my no money spending this year.

So that was the end of 2008. Here we are only 5 days into 2009, year of good knitting behavior and I’ve gone back on most of this. I started the Monkey socks a few days before the holiday and was plugging along on them. I was going through the yarn and fiber bins trying to figure out what was next. I have the first half of the fiber spun for Spirogyra

The first set of singles for that are ready to go on the wheel to be Navajo plyed; I really hope that my calculations (or comparing the yarn I spun to the one that is supposed to come right) were right for the wpi for the singles in order to end up in the 13ish wpi area for the finished yarn. I’m also terrified about yardage. It seemed like it went on forever, that I was spinning and then balling endless yards of yarn. I know it’s more than the 200 yards I need for the gloves, but is it enough to still be a little over 200 when it’s plied? ARGH. The point is that I have plenty of projects to work on. So what did I do? I ordered a shit load (okay only 7 skeins) of Malabrigo. (Edited to add: There was a problem with the credit card i.e. I entered the number wrong, so while I was correcting it, I added a few extra skeins to the order…now there are 18 skeins of Malabrigo coming to my house). In my defense, though, they were really pretty and they’re for making winter gear for my family. No excuse, though. As for only working on the Monkey socks…I got a bug up my ass last night (btw, this post started last night 1-5 and is being continued now on 1-6.) and I decided to swatch for the second A Little Twist wrist-warmer; I made the beginning of a pair for my mother when I was in CA last Feb. and hadn’t bothered to finish #2 b/c somehow she managed to lose the one that I had given her so the whole thing was on hold b/c I only had one skein of the Malabrigo that I was using and didn’t know if I could get three mitts out of it. Long story short, when we were visiting Mom over Thanksgiving, I found the missing glove and now I need to make it a mate. So rather than plug along on the Monkeys like I should have, I’m getting ready to start mitt #2.

I’m feeling completely useless today. We’re at the old house (In Kalamazoo) and today is moving day. The “real” moving day where we have the great big truck etc. and I’ve been sitting in the old bedroom in the bed for the last two days. I have a KILLER toothache. I’m not talking about a small pain that has to be looked at, I’m talking about the kind of pain that makes you scream out loud b/c there is nothing else to do and you feel like you are going to lose your mind if you don’t do something. I think a tooth needs some pulling…J I’ve gotten up and done the best I can to help sort and move things, but any motion that requires too much walking seems to intensify the pain. I’ve taken at least one of every pain killer in my arsenal, and those of you who’ve known me through the back pain debacle of ‘04-’07 know what a big arsenal that really is. The pain is finally starting to recede now, blogging (which keeps me from focusing on the pain) seems to be helping, so I thank you if you’re still here for the rambling… I just went downstairs to get Jake a drink and all the furniture (along with TJ) is gone. He’s taken the truck to the house to unload appliances and furniture (and just when I was getting used to our only means of cooking being the microwave and the electric fry pan. We also have two crock pots. Still a stove and a dishwasher, positively decadent!!

I’ve rambled on more than long enough now. I’m doing much better at blogging more regularly, though. Go me!!

Girl Insane

I finished spinning the Girl Insane roving last night.  I got it from flawfulfibers.  It’s an 80/20 blend of Merino and Tussah Silk; about 4 oz.  I think it’s going to be a heavy dk to light worsted, but we’ll see after it finishes drying.  It’s in the bathroom right now hanging over the shower rod.  I really like the way the colors blended together.  I split the roving into the light shades and the dark shades and spun singles on the middle whorl of my Sonata.  then I took the singles and rolled them into a two stranded ball for plying.  I plyed on the largest whorl for a lightly plyed yarn and I got what I was hoping for.  I just hope, now, that there is enough ply twist to hold the thing together.

After plying I skeined the yarn and soaked with some shampoo in the bathtub (our sink was full and I don’t have a bowl here that’s big enough yet) and then wrapped the skeins in a towel and had Jake jump  on it to get water out.  Then I whacked the skeins on the bathroom counter to get them to hang evenly, which they did – amazing for me.  Now I’m just waiting to find out what the wpi is.  I’m thinking with 214 yards maybe I’ll knit a hat or a skinny scarf for myself out of the yarn.  I don’t see Jake or TJ wanting  a hat/scarf made with shades of pink and purple.

Monkey Update…

Just a quick update on the Monkeys before I go and watch the new episode of Doctor Who (I’m a total geek now, I guess, I’m obsessed with the good doctor and his travels, especially with David Tennent playing him – YUMMY!!).  I’m actually finding myself more and more addicted to BBC America.  How can I not be?  Gordon Ramsey, David Tennent, it’s a yum-fest of hot men with amazing accents.   Why didn’t I fall in love with a British man when I had the chance?  Oh, yeah, because he was my best friend and I would never have wanted to lose that.  He wasn’t a bad kisser though, back in the day.  If you’re reading this, you know who you are.  There’s also those adorable cleaning women, Kim and Aggey…how does anyone clean in that little blue pencil skirt?  I’ll never know, but they inspire me to want to keep my house much cleaner.

Anyway, back to the Monkeys.  I’ve finished the first pattern repeat this afternoon and I can see why people are addicted to it.  It’s easy and it’s really pretty.  The yarn is coming out even more prettily (is that even a word?) than I thought.  I think these are socks that I will actually finish – amazing isn’t it?  So I’m off to play on Ravelry forums for a little bit, then I’ll pop on “The Doctor” and work on those Monkeys for an hour or so and then maybe some Gordon Ramsey and off to bed.  Tomorrow is a big day of cleaning here at Casa Dwire and then back to the old house for packing and such.

If only these cluster headaches of mine would go away…life would be much easier and a lot more would be accomplished I think.

I guess I didn’t get that 101 list done, but I’m going to work on it tomorrow…or the next day…maybe I should put making the list on the list…LOL

A Barrel….er Pair…of Monkeys

Happy 2009 everyone.  I hope New Year’s Eve and the beginning of this year have been great for everyone.  Both have been pretty good for me so far.

We went down to Farmington Hills to visit with TJ’s dad and mom (separately, of course) for New Years since we didn’t spend Christmas with them this year.  It was the first year in our new house and we wanted to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (Pictures to follow soon, I promise) in it.  So we left Tuesday evening and drove down to Dad’s.  We spent an uneventful but very enjoyable night there; Jake opened Christmas gifts from his Papa and Grandma Fran and so did TJ and I.  As always they were generous to a fault.  Jake is now the proud owner of the game Operation which he’s been coveting from TV commercials for months now.  It’s much more high tech then the version that was out when I was a child.  Instead of just making that horrible buzzing sound for the parts, there are individual sounds for each different part.  Wicked.  He was very happy.  My favorite gift was the incredibly warm pair of pink suede moccasins that I swear have hardly left my feet since I got them.  I love having warm feet!  I’m not sure what TJ’s favorite gift was, probably the lined, puffy lumberjack type jacket – he likes being warm too.  Why do we live in Michigan again?  Not to mention right on the edge of a lake effect snow band?  Hmmm…  After presents we got the Wii (by far our favorite gift of the holiday season) out so Jake could show Papa how good he is at boxing (stay out of the kid’s way, I tell you, he just kind of punches and kicks wildly, but does very well) and tennis.  He ended up playing baseball, too, and now that’s his obsession.  I see Little League in my future this summer and possibly tennis lessons as well since that’s his other favorite thing.  After finding out how much we love the Wii, my mother very generously offered to buy me a Wii Fit as an extension of my gift (an already ridiculously generous Sony Alpha 300 DSLR camera).  I can’t help but wonder if this is her not so subtle way of reminding me that I need to lose weight.  Either way, I’m thrilled to be getting it and I can’t wait to start getting in better shape (one my resolutions for this year).

Wednesday afternoon we went to TJ’s mother’s house to spend the afternoon and eat an early dinner.  We were surprised, pleasantly of course, to find Aunt Nancy at the house when we arrived.  It made for a great afternoon filled with Christmas gifts, Wii bowling and pizza and ribs.  So much fun.  Mom knows Jake so well and got him a Michigan CAT train set which he went crazy for.  After the afternoon at Mom’s we left Jake with Dad and Fran and we went to a party with friends that we haven’t seen in a few years.  It was a great night and it was so much fun to see friends that we haven’t been able to spend time with.  I’m usually not much for parties and I actually thought about not going for a bit, but I didn’t want to disappoint TJ so I went and had a better time than I can remember having in a long time.  I should really do things like that more often.  Depression sometimes makes you forget how much you like your friends…:)

So now we’re back home and the Christmas knitting is done.  It was a relief to finish in time (just barely) but also a bit of a letdown at the end.  For a few months now I’ve been working to get these gifts done in time and once they were done I had nothing on the needles so to speak…I actually have quite a few WIPs in the not finished basket.  I decided that this would be a perfect time to actually knit that pair of socks that I’ve been wanting to make since I taught myself to knit a few years ago.  I grabbed the Socks that Rock in Hot Flash ( a color which I thought was atrocious when I bought it as a gift for Andrea, but when I balled it I discovered that it was absolutely gorgeous) and swatched and grabbed a set of dpns to cast on.  This time I’m going to finish these socks.  I picked the Monkey Socks because it’s a pretty pattern that seems like it’s not too complicated.  I’ve started multiple pairs of socks with a plain 2×2 pattern or a simple 4 st. repeat from Sensational Socks but have always gotten bored and stopped by the end of sock one.  Not so much Second Sock Syndrome as bored out of my mind with the boring pattern syndrome.  This time, though, I’m determined to finish these socks so I’m not allowing myself to cast on anything new until I’m done with these…and I have some really great yarn in my stash and some more on the way.  I may not be able to force myself to work on only the socks until they’re done; I’ve never been able to be quite that monogamous with my knitting, but if I get bored with the socks I will pick up a WIP rather than starting something new.

On the spinning front I’ve got two things currently in the works.  I just finished the first half of the roving for the Spirogyra Mitts which has great spinning instructions in the same issue’s Knitty Spin.  I’ve spun it on my Spinsanity Spindle to 28 wpi and am planning to chain ply it to get 13 wpi (I hope).  If I did all my math correctly, I should have plenty of yardage for this pattern (I’m using 4.2 oz. of merino/tencel in a 50/50 blend).  Tomorrow I’m planning to get the first half on the wheel for plying (I’m still not really clear on chain plying on the spindle).   Once I’m sure I’m getting the right wpi and correct yardage, I’ll get to spinning the 2nd half.  I also just finished the second bobbin of singles from the Girl Insane roving (80/20 Merino/Tussah Silk roving in shades of light to bright pink with accents of purple and a darker black shade).  I split the roving by colors (light and dark) and spun them on separate bobbins.  I’m going to ply them together in a simple two ply and hope to see the colors blend together in a really pretty way.  We shall see.

That’s about all for now…back to the monkeys for a few more rounds before bed.  Next time…my 101 in 1oo1 or at least the first part of it.  I’ve decided I want to try this resolution thing with a little extra time.  I’m excited to do it and see how much of it I actually accomplish.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to come up with 101 things, though…