One Crazy Fiber Lady

Not surprisingly, I have created a KAL for the new object of my obsessions.  Ignoring of course, my less than rousing success at KALs.  I have finished an item or two in the past, so maybe this time holds the charm! 

KnitIVY has been born and is ready for those who would like to join in.  Even if it is my standard (and Michelle’s) approach is to oogle, join, buy the yarn and never finish, at least we’ll have good company!

Here’s a basic button for the sidebar.  Not the best I know, but then again, I don’t pretend to be a graphic artist.  If anyone wants to make others, please do be my guest.  To join in, just send me an email at crazyfiberlady AT gmail DOT com and i’ll happily send a blogger invite.  Again, I have a few things I need to finish off before I start this, but there is only so long that the muse can be put off.

Craft on!

I’ve been a mad knitter on a quest with Clapotis. I’m so in love with this pattern and the yarn. I’ve completed 6 of 13 repeats in the straight section but am now concerned that I won’t have enough yarn. I actually bought more yardage than the thing calls for, but I’m halfway through the yarn and not quite at that point in the pattern. I think I bought the entire supply of this yarn from Modern Yarn. Ugh. I think i’ll stay with the pattern until halfway through the current skein and the start the decreases. Hopefully that won’t make for a mutant shape. Time will tell. There was no getting a decent picture last night as Earl was in one of his more needy moods.

The new knitty is up and for a change I like a couple of the patterns. That kids cabled sweater is a must. The one that really has struck my fancy is Ivy (sorry no links when posting from the Treo), that pretty wrap sweater. I think it would bw perfect for some of that LaVold Silky Wool that I have aging in stash. Any interest in a KAL for it? Ignore please my amazing inability to complete a KAL for the moment please. I do need to knock off a few of the WIPs before starting something new so it should be at least a week before I start this (vbg).

Okay, my wrists are a little sore and I’m not entirely sure why. Could be the keyboard location at work, or too much knitting (shudder) or hefting the twins that is the problem. Or it might be all three. As it is both hands in the same spot, I am leaning towards the 30 pounders as being the root. Oh well, never dull.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful feedback on my post yesterday. You continue to surprise me.

Craft on.

To all those that were lost that dark day five years ago, we shall never forget.

I had more that I wanted to say, but just can’t do it.  Today is the first 9/11 since that horrible day that I’ve actually gone into work.  It was hard riding in on the same train from which we saw the first plane hit.  I was a bit unnerved by the train problems this morning, these people commemorating anniversaries the way they do and the great target that is mass transit, but I made it in without incident.

I’m failing miserably in putting "pen to paper" here so to speak and have been struggling with this post all day at least mentally.  Lighthearted posts relaying the antics of my children and the latest yarny thing are easy, this is so very hard and I’m just not much of a writer. 

I worked in the World Trade for almost a year shortly after I graduated law school.  I was an office manager for the company my father worked for.  The company had the contract to do all the build out for new tenants as they were moving into the buildings.  The Port Authority provided field office space and it was this office that I managed.  I had a window view out of the north side of tower one.  The view, was always grand.  If I leaned to my right, I could see the Hudson River and into NJ.  Many a day, clouds were the only view.  Direct view was that of 7 World Trade.  I remember sitting at my desk on windy days listening to the building creak and watching my window blinds sway.  It was truly an interesting experience.  We moved out of this space when the contract ended about 8 months prior to the first terrorist attack in 1993.

My father started at another company that had its offices in Tower Two for a couple of years.  At one time both my parents and my youngest sister were all working there simultaneously.  In early 2001, they moved their office space to a building in Jersey City.

Five years ago today, I saw the first plane hit and did as most others did, wrote it off to a horrible accident.  Hey, didn’t a plane hit the Empire State Building?  Okay so there wasn’t a cloud in that beautiful blue sunny sky, but the alternative was unimaginable.  After coming out of the PATH train at 14th street and looking south along 7th Avenue to see the south tower ablaze, the true was unavoidable.  I saw both towers collapse from our south facing office windows on 15th Street and cried on my VP’s shoulder as I couldn’t contain the emotions any longer.  A very long commute including long lines and lots of walking got me home, unlike too many others who never made it out.  I saw the cars in the commuter lots, my lot included.

So much in my life has changed in these last five years.  I was supposed to leave at noon that fateful day to discuss exploratory surgery for my unexplained infertility, but had to call and cancel that appointment.  I had two surgeries and many attempts, before I was blessed with my own twins.  But the losses are permanent.  So many innocent lives were lost.

Initially I asked, how can I bring children into a world where things like this can happen.  But 9/11 helped put things into perspective for me.  Work became just that, work, a way to support the hobbies and a means to an end.  Family was what was really important and further enforced my decision to become a SMC.  My twins have restored my faith in the beauty and wonder in this world.

We shall never forget.

Is anyone even remotely surprised by this picture? I didn’t think so. If you are you must be a new reader Yes you are looking at a newly born Clapotis hatchling. I along with the valuable help of my comrades at the SnB at beloved Modern Yarn last night found the perfect yarn. This is Claudia Handpaint worsted weight in the Poppy colorway.

I love this yarn. I love this pattern. I’m seriously kicking myself for not having started this thing before now. OMG how totally excellent. Half the fun is watching how the colors interact as the stitch count changes. Love it. It might just enthrall me long enough to finish it.

I want to thank everyone for their offers of assistance, especially Michelle and Nancy. I’ve decided that the monkeys will be coming with me. Its not that far a drive that if they totally suck that I can’t go home. I’d come back Sunday when the folks can watch them. Anytime that I get all worked up before taking them someplace (including the boat for an extended weekend) they usually surprise the hell out of me. Hopefully this will be the case this time. The diciest time will be when they get hungry and have hit the need a nap wall. Regardless they will make it easier for being spotted for Blogger Bingo, which I so signed up for as both a player and a box

Have a great weekend!

Craft on!

See Kat. See Kat sleep. See Kat sleep on floor. Boy she does it a lot! I’m not entirely sure if she is falling out of bed, though that does happen periodically. Or if she gets down there on purpose. All I know is that I never know where I am going to find her. One night before going to bed I checked on the monkeys as I always do. I found the girl like this and put her back in bed. Guess where she was that morning…yup, back on the floor. I need to upgrade their beds from the toddler sized to twin but geez if she prefers the floor do I still have to? Nut.

For the first time in a very long time I did absolutely no knitting yesterday. I know! The shock of it all! I will be tonight at the weekly SnB at Modern Yarn. I’m fighting the continual urge to cast on something. The current contender in my head is the infamous Clapotis. I think I’m the last knitblogger to make one. I wonder what MY has in stock that would work for this. Pipe down all those that are going to remind me of the various yarns I’ve purchased for this little number over the years. Its all in storage. I think.

I have a bit of a quandry. Rhinebeck is coming. Woo. I am going. No question there. The problem is/are the monkeys. My folks will be away most of that weekend returning Sunday and can watch them then. No kids to wrangle at festibal: good, most folk I know are only going saturday: bad. Factor in the big reason for going is to be amongst the similarly afflicted with major socializing. Makes Sunday the less desirable day. Sat, if I can’t find a sitter to watch them all day without costing the discretionary budget (see need for new beds above) would mean wrangling at the fair: maybe bad. They’ll be newly 3 a few weeks before, are rebelling against the whole stroller thing and I fear be more than I can handle on my own. This is one of those few times when I wish I had a SO. Am I making a mountain out of molehill? I don’t know. Would there be some kindly heart amongst the similarly afflicted that would be willing to lend a hand wrangling? Anyone want to barter a ride to the fair/entrance/lunch for wrangling assistance? Curious minds want to know.

Craft on!

I hope that all of you who celebrate it, had a nice Labor Day. We did. After Ernesto pushed through this area Friday night and all day Saturday, we did have a lovely, if cooler than desired, remainder to the weekend.

Sunday morning we headed for the boat where socializing with others was the plan. Sunday was spent in the company of good friends and dockage neighbors who also have taken the twins as grandchildren. Heck Aunt “I” waa one of the few people who visited me regularly in the hospital during me extended bed rest and even saw the babies in the NICU before I did. They are good people and we always enjoy spending time with them.

Yesterday included a visit to a boat two slips away where I can get a preview of my future and the kids can play with 4 year old boy/girl twins. it is always nice to have someplace when you can take toddler twins where they are understood (while that is not exactly the right word it is as close as my toddlered-out brain can get this morning).

While I did have a 5 day weekend not an amazing amount of knitting and no spinning at all was accomplished. I did finish the Cala Lily socks and the first off the koigu socks. I’ll cast on the second one as soon as this post is done.

I did spend some time with that indigo zephyr and the KYOMP2 shawl clues only to keep ripping it out. I did not like the stitch options and I guess that with a big lace piece that will take so much time that I prefer to follow an established pattern. Never fret though for the fate of the indigo zephyr. I have already found its true calling: the super spiral shawl from A Gathering of Lace.

Now it is back to work time and after 5 days with the monkeys I am sooooo ready. They start their first day in the Transitional Class tomorrow at daycare/nursery school. Where does time go?! Oh well, we’re in Secaucus now and if I want to get that sock cast on (and I will need it for the season premiere of House tonight!!!) I’d better finish this off.

Craft on!

I want to thank everyone for all their comments over the last almost 2 years.  Thanks to you I now have slightly over 2000 comments, never thinking that I’d ever get one, nor that anyone would want to read what I had to write.  The 2000th comment came courtesy of Beth.  The random number generator awards the second bit of swag to Hillary.  I picked up these two skeins of sock yarn at Modern Yarn last night.  They are "Handspun on the Web" and one skein is enough for a pair of socks.  Email me at crazyfiberlady AT gmail DOT com and give me your snail addresses so I can get your yarn out to you.  First to email gets choice

Being confronted with a band new to me yarn, I couldn’t exactly leave the store with none for me, right?  So I picked up a skein for myself   Debbie at the SnB likes to use the ball winder so I had her wind it up.  I’m close to being able to start a pair in it as the current crop of socks in progress (SIP) are moving along.  The Cala Lilly socks are all but done as I just need to weave in the ends.  The first of the koigu socks is ready for the toe and I’ll finish that today.  That just leaves the dreaded SSS for the Schaeffer Anne and the Koigu.  Personally, I think mixing it up with a new yarn makes it a little less like second sock.  We’ll see.

Trudging along on the Dale sweaters for the youngin’s, I’ve hit the point where I don’t think I can make this design again.  Which is a bit of a problem, as I planned to make the baby version for a coworker who’s wife is expecting in early December.  I’ve got a solution and picked up this yarn last night.  I’m going to make a blanket, which I think is a bit more useful for a baby anyway.  I bought the Cascade Superwash in this light orange for it.  They’re having their second girl and I figure they are pink/purpled out.  I’m going to use the Ann Norling blanket pattern in the novel, Shop on Blossom Street. 

Last but not least, the EZasPi group is starting another Mystery Pi project today.  While I haven’t finished the Anniversary Pi project yet (Shetland Tea Shawl), I choose to start this one on schedule and picked up some Zephyr to do it in.  I have three skeins of Zephyr in Indigo to do this mystery shawl.  Going to cast it on shortly after closing this out (and yelling at the twins one more time to TAKE A DAMN NAP ALREADY).   

I wish all those who will celebrate a good Labor Day weekend.  The weather here threatens to make for a lousy day for especially tomorrow, but we hope to at least get a decent boating day on Sunday. 

Craft on!