Thank you, Secret Pal!
Today has been a great day for me. I got my braces off, they gave me a Barnes & Noble giftcard for being so patient and waiting so long today, and I got home to find a package from my Secret Pal!!
This was so much fun … the lotion is a sweet, green smell, and everyone around me will appreciate the “relax” thing. :) She also sent me a copy of Charlotte’s Web, one of my absolute favorite children’s books. I don’t know that I’ve ever had my own copy, and now I do. AND … PRETTY stitch markers! They’re so pretty and colorful, and I like them all together like that. I’m tempted to keep them on the ring and use it as a key ring, but I won’t. :)
Thank you, Secret Pal!!!!
Couch o’ Knitting
The couch in my Houston apartment has the advantage of rarely seeing a cat around. Since it’s also where I park my rear after work every day, it’s turned into the designated knitting location for my time down here. I can’t tell you how many movies and tv series I’ve watched while sitting there and knitting away.
Since I do most of my knitting here, most of my yarn and needles have migrated here as well. The good thing about the traveling between cities and staying in a hotel was that I focused on one project and kept it with me until it got too big to travel. Now, though … well, look at that couch! I’ve gone from a mostly-finisher to a chronic starter!
You’ve got the blue, green, and purple Therapy Clapotis at the top left; I knit that one almost every night because the pattern is such a soothing repetition. That beautiful black wrap? It’s the long-awaited Cozy, finally getting close to completion. I started on the last ball of yarn this weekend and made the decision to bring the extra-large suitcase this week so I could transport it down here. (Yes, I packed based on my knitting. Lord.)
Top right corner is Samantha, and you can see that I’ve started unraveling the neck shaping so I can rework it … and then I got scared/frustrated/etc. and left it on the back of the couch. (That’s also Clive’s spot to sleep when he’s down here, so I’m glad he’s in Dallas. I would have to actually do something with Samantha if he were here.) I’m also not excited about Samantha because Kailyn is the size of many eight month old babies and she’s only three and a half months old. She’s VERY tall. Well, she started life at almost 9.5 pounds, so what did I expect?
So then we have, on the couch seat, Phillip’s sock, a new baby sweater for yet another baby, and a pile of KnitPicks self-striping sock yarn for — you guessed it — even more baby sweaters. Oh, and some Geranium sock yarn because I love it. There’s also a Rowan magazine hiding under that pile with the pattern for Audrey. The yarn for that is slowly making its way up here, too.
I just need to focus, I know, but I keep wanting to start new and fun things. Btw, I’m still waiting for the sock love to strike. My next ones might have to have a pattern to make me care about them.
More Clapotis therapy
See, look! So much knitting that my hands hurt. Actually, I’m two more repeats past this and have dropped twice more.
The sad thing is that this has now reached the size that it’s not at all portable for planes. Okay, I’m exaggerating. It was never portable because of the yarn not being wound into pull balls or anything convenient. I bought it in hank form and am too lazy to hand wind it.
It’s very pretty and it will be nice and warm. Because I’ll get a lot out of that in Houston, you know.
Oh! I got a very late Christmas present today. It’s late because I just ordered it a couple of weeks ago and it’s Christmas because I used the gift certificate that Karen gave me. I now have a set of rosewood size 7 circs, and they are SO pretty. I haven’t actually knit with them yet, but I feel all fancy-schmancy Super Knitter now. :)
Now I just need a project (other than the socks for my brother) to take on the plane. I think I’ll take — wait for it — a baby sweater! I’m always needing to do one of those.
So I’m knitting the sock for my brother, and I’m at the gusset part, and I’m about to go into the regular foot part. I’m so proud of my knitting progress, I decide to try on the sock while it’s still on the needles. And you know what? It fits ME. Is this right? Do we use the same patterns for men’s socks?
Still here!
Just wanted to pop in with a quick note — I’m still here and still knitting! I’ve been relishing the past week or so of coming home, putting in a DVD from The West Wing season 1 (and now 2), and knitting away at my therapy Clapotis. I still have Sock 2.0, and Adelle talked me through what I need to do next. Tisra has been a wonderful help with Samantha, and I’m also very glad to have someone else doing this at the same time! But … tonight I picked up Samantha to unravel the shoulder seams and ended up unraveling the neck shaping, too. I probably need to do that but I just can’t focus on it right now. So it’s back to the West Wing and my Clapotis. I don’t even know who this one is for (too much wool for me — I’m taking allergy pills to get through knitting it) but I’m definitely enjoying it.
On another baby note, a friend of mine is having triplets this fall, so that means three more baby sweaters will be coming! I’m thinking that the self-striping yarn from Knitpicks would make wonderful baby sweaters. I just need to find out if the babies (identical twins plus one) are girls, boys, or a mix. Yay!
