One Crazy Fiber Lady

Wow looks like I’m going to make two weeks in a row.  Wonder how many recurrences is necessary before it becomes habit.  Anyway, here’s this week’s update:

On the needles

1.  Stripe Study Shawl is moving along.  For the last week it has been my only knitting project.  I worked on it at SnB, train, work (while reading a tech book) and at home in front of the TV.  There wasn’t much TV knitting this week as the kids were home on vacation.  They wanted to spend time together after I got home from work.  I did get TV time last night while watching a couple of movies that I hadn’t seen yet (King’s Speech and Hotel Rwanda)  I’d wanted to watch both of them and happily knit a couple of stripes doing so.

I’m really enjoying this pattern.  Pretty nifty and I like how the Woolmisery is working up.  I might just have to add another skein of the stuff to stash.

2.  Socks – Since Stripe Study is getting a bit big to qualify as purse knitting, and this yarn is yelling at me to work with it, i’m going to cast on for sock.

The yarn is the most recent installment in the Into the Whirled sock yarn club.  it is 3 ply super wash merino in the February 2012 Club – Mercy Hartigan.  I’ve been staring at it all week, ready to pet it, hold it and name it George.  I can no longer resist and will break out the ball winder and sock needles post haste.

Spinning

I spent a bit more time with my new Bee and am really enjoying this wheel.

Look how solid the base of that flyer is, how many layers of lamination there are!  I also really like the open orifice, no hook necessary.  Get a load of the pegs on the arms of the flyer, no hooks, but what looks like screws covered in a very smooth plastic.  They are perfectly offset between the two arms and allow for a very nice wind on.

She’s a real smooth spinner.  I’ve been using the middle range and finished up my first yarn yesterday. I plied it, using the continuous plying method, on the Womack Butterfly.

Fiber:  Forbidden Woolery 100% Falkland – Chinese Fireball colorway.  I got an amazing 610 yards out of 3.95 grams in a smooth 2ply.  The yarn needs to marinate, much like the fiber did.  I’m pretty sure I purchased the fiber at WOOL in 2010 😉

While I haven’t been working on any more of my own projects, there’s been this:

Since I sent the Ashford Scholar off to other pasture, I bought Alex a new wheel:  Dorre’s Ladybug.  Kat has the used Traveller I got her a couple of years ago.  They’ve both decided that they’d really like to learn how to spin.  Here I had them practicing controlling their feet and hands at the same time by winding sock yarn onto the bobbins and trying to keep them from being royal messes.  Then I moved them to alternating between adding twist and then winding on.   Another practice drill had been trying to start from a dead stop and go in the correct direction.  They are both using a double treadle wheel, which makes this easier, but not necessarily a walk in the park.  Next step was to sit double with them, I treadled, held the wool and with them in my lap, demonstrated what it takes to actually spin.  I then guided their hands before letting them solo.

Kat is now soloing.  I still need to sit with Alex.  I’m so proud of her.

In other wheel news, a second wheel is now leaving:  the Sidekick.  With the addition of the Bee and the presence of two other Schachts in the house, not to mention that I don’t find the Sidekick to be the holy grail of portable wheels that I’d hoped, I responded to an ISO post looking for one on Ravelry.  She’s now boxed up and will be dropped at UPS tomorrow to go to her eager new owner.  So now that’s two wheels in, two out with a third due to go as well.  The CPW should be out on Friday.  Not to worry, the herd is still sizable 😉

Reading

I’ve been doing a little floundering in the reading department since I finished that book last week.  I find that when I finish a really good book, I do tend to struggle to find what to happily read next.  I’m taking advantage of working for a publisher and sifting through the digital library that I’m allowed to borrow from at work.  Another bonus is that I can get my hands on books that haven’t been released yet 🙂  I’m now reading Ashes to Dust and enjoying it so far.

Other Stuff

Not much else going on.  I’m still pondering modifications to the two counter apps.  For the android, I’ve had more than a few requests for a widget to do quick counts.  For both, I’d like to take advantage of the Ravelry API and tie in with a user’s projects there, either to quick create projects and to sync up notes.  I also got into a discussion with a group on Rav where they are looking for either a web based or desktop based counter program.  Oh and there’s also the iPad version that I’d really like to incorporate a PDF reader with highlighting capability into the landscape view.

Oh and then there are the looms that are all sitting idle!

And the kumihimo stand..

And the sewing machines, fabric and quilt projects..

I need more time.  I also need to sift through the stash monster and pick out the stuff that doesn’t stand a snowballs chance of ever growing up into something and move it along.  Well that and the unused electronics and Coach purses 😉

I’m tired now..

Craft on!

I’m going to try something new for a bit, a weekly update of what I’ve been up to (spinning, knitting, gadgets, reading, etc).  I’d like to try for a once of week sort of thing and see if I can maintain that at the very least.  I might be able to handle a routine better than the hit or miss approach I’ve used to this point.  Or not 😉

On the Needles:

I finished the socks that I started right before the cruise.  I dubbed them Explorer Sock as the bulk of the knitting was done on the Explorer of the Seas.  They are my basic sock pattern, this time using US1 over 52 stitches but cuff down for a refreshing change to the recent toe-upness.

The yarn is handspun from ITW fiber, May-June 2010 SAL Starcrossed – BFL that is a true 3 ply that I spun on the CPW seemingly forever 😉  Well maybe not forever as it did get finished and now continues life as a pair of socks.  Quite happy with the results.

Also on the needles is a new project I started, continuing the year of the sock, or at least another attempt at staying on top of the sock yarn monster that has formed here.  This one is actually utilizing two different skeins of sock yarn!

Stripe Study Shawl – the blue/black yarn is Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock while the red/orange/yellow is Wollemeise 100% in Campari Orange that I bought years ago before Wollemeise because the fad yarn du jour.  Its been marinating in stash, and I’m quite happy with how the two yarns are playing together.  I managed a couple more stripes on this last night, so this picture is outdated already.

Nothing else active on the needles, but there’s a possibility that a pair of socks will be started to keep as purse knitting for when I want to read as I can’t count to twenty AND read at the same time.  Not to mention, this GOREGOUS yarn just arrived as part of the ITW club and I.MUST.USE.IT (or hold it and pet it and name it George).

On the Spinning Front:

There’s nothing currently active on most of the wheels.  The Vermont Wheel has some yummy ITW fiber – 64’s Merino in Blackforest Cake colorway that has been marinating for a while.  I’m planning on n-plying it and have about a 1/3 of the fiber spun already.

The other spinning is this fiber:

It is Forbidden Woolery fiber – Falkland wool in Chinese Fireball colorway.  I’m spinning it on a new wheel that arrived on Thursday.

My new Spinolution Queen Bee!

I’d been intrigued by the SpinOlution wheels for a while but hadn’t tried one nor pulled the trigger when looking for a travel wheel.  I happened on a sale posting on Ravelry that I just couldn’t ignore.  It was for a gently used Bee with SEVEN bobbins and travel bag for an amount that I couldn’t help but pay.  Anyone reading here for a while knows that I’ve been on a grail quest for the perfect travel wheel.  While I’m not yet convinced that Bee might be what the others haven’t been, there are definitely some serious factors in her favor, including the widest range of ratios right out of the box, including the smooth treadling middle 18:1 that matches my Vermont Wheel.  Nice.  And I don’t have to pump like I’m trying to win the Tour de France to achieve that.  Set up is literally 2 minutes from bag to spinning, which blows my Sidekick and her suitecase right out of my trunk.  If only she were a tad lighter weight-wise, but that also makes for a solid spinner.  Might just have to go to the gym 😉  I spun up 2oz of the fiber on Friday night at my normal weight and am quite pleased with it so far.  I’ll probably be posting more as I work with the wheel more.

Other Stuff (gadgets / books / etc)

No other gadget acquisition, though I’ve been shuffling around the reading gadgets.  I admit it here and now, I have a bit of a gadget problem and eReaders in particular.  I’m coming to the conclusion that my favorite device to read on is my Kindle 3G.  I thought I’d like a touch screen, figuring that just tapping the screen while knitting would be easier and quicker, so I bought a Kindle Touch.

I like the thing, the problem is that not only the finger tap turned pages, but so did the sock I was knitting on, as did the yarn tail, or the floppy needle tip when knitting a sock on two circs.  The Kindle Touch 3G is not for me.  Any takers before it goes on Craigslist? (Edited to add:  Just returned from BestBuy where I returned it.  Turns out I was still within the return policy so back it went. Much easier that way.)

What have I been reading?  I just finished reading A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3).  OMG.  The first two books of the series were good, but this one?  Blew my socks off.  I’d highly recommend the series.  Now the big problem, do I move along to the next book or take a break, extend the life of the series and read something else or not.  I think I can wait a bit, process what happened and finish up one of the other books I’ve had going 🙂  Yup, multi books along with the multi projects.  What can I say, at least I’m consistent.

Watching Hoarders has led me to re-examine what I’ve been up to.  No, its nowhere near like one of those houses around here as things to leave, somewhat regularly but there is a bit of clutter in my life.   I’m cleaning up a bit of the clutter now.  To that end, the CPW will be moving to a new home (no offers please as I already have a pending sale for it), I’m selling on Rav a couple knitting bags that I don’t use, and somewhere I’ll be listing a couple of Coach bags that fall into that same category.  I might create a page around here to list stuff that needs to move along.

Craft on!

If Tuesday is for Twirling, Wednesday is for WIPs.. lets break em out.  

First up is Kat’s Amore. ¬†I’ve made some decent progress on the first sleeve. ¬†I haven’t exactly been a monogamous knitter with this, which explains why it isn’t finished yet. ¬†I’m guilty of reading on the train again. ¬†I’m still deep in my¬†Philippa Gregory obsession and am on the third of her books and as I’m coming towards the end of it, the less I knit on the train and the more I read. ¬†Never fret, I have two more of her books waiting in the wings 🙂 ¬†Anyway, I should be getting back to this shortly.

Seeing as it was still WIP Wednesday and I’m trying to whittle them down before the SOL and SOS officially being on 6/21 and not actually start anything else (a big problem right about now), I pulled out some golden oldies. ¬†I had to transfer Orkney Pi to a longer cable so took the opportunity to get a better picture of at least part of this pi shawl. ¬†This morning on the train I neither read nor knitting on Amore, but worked 2 rounds on this. ¬†Yes, only two. ¬†Each is now 640 stitches. ¬†She’s going to be a big girl when she grows up as there is a 1280 stitch section after this one.

Not to be outdone, I spend some of my WIP Wednesday time Winding. ¬†I spent good quality time with my ball winder. ¬†Remember way back when I started the Kauni, I figured out that one of my four skeins was wound in the opposite direction. ¬†As I’m nearing the ends of the first skeins, it was time to do something about it. ¬†I rewound both of the remaining skeins so that they are going in the same color progression. ¬†This picture makes me smile. ¬†I’ve since broke off the remaining yarn and connected these two to the sleeve at the right points in the color progression. ¬†Fortunately I didn’t loose much in the way of yardage to accomplish this task. ¬†I have Kauni in the car in case I get motivated to work on her this evening at SnB. ¬†

I know I announced a few days ago that I was starting new socks with the Flat Feet yarn I bought a while back. ¬†Well I did. ¬†Except I can’t say as I enjoyed knitting with crinkly frogged yarn very much. ¬†It is pretty but not a pleasurable experience when paired with a lace sock. ¬†I’m not much in the mood to knit plain socks at the moment and definitely not in the mood to unravel the entire Flat, wash and wait, so back into stash it goes. ¬†I pulled out another new to me yarn, Lime & Violet’s Sasquatch Sock in Mahjong. ¬† I have the pattern for Ina’s SOS2007 design winner all printed out and ready to go. ¬†

You might think that that was all the time I spent with the ball winder, but you’d be wrong. ¬†I had some seriously quality and quantity time with it. ¬†My merino laceweight arrived and I was eager to get that wound. ¬†All 1750 yards of it. ¬†That would be the downside to lace! ¬†It was all I could do to not cast on for it last night. ¬†I did content myself to making a stitch marker for the center stitch. Yup, truly rediscovered the whole beading hobby 🙂

 

I figured that while I had the camera out, I should find the little bookworm bobbin lace project. ¬†I tracked down where my daughter hid it. ¬†isn’t it cute? ¬†I now am using it for its intended purpose. ¬†Why yes, as a bookmark! ¬†I loves it :)¬†

Since I haven’t posted a picture of the popular and goofy cat in a while, here she is in all her glory. ¬†Even declawed she manages to get into odd spots. ¬†I snapped this this morning after I spotted her sitting on the top of the high back chair in the living room. ¬†Good old Sara.

Having now spent quality time with the posting tool, I’m off to spend some quality time with my .NET console program to extract users from Active Directory.

Craft on!

It really shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’ve been pretty busy of late. My big project at work still proceeds apace and I managed to overcome a rather problematic issue today. Goodness indeed.

Jessica and I decided to take advantage of the varying sized cylinders we each have for our NZAKs and traded one to try out. In exchange for my 72, I have her 60 to test drive. Last week I cranked out my first pair on the NZAK using the 54 but amazingly found them to be a bit tight. Yeah, I know, surprised me too! Anyway, so Sunday evening, I gave the 60 a shot. I pulled out the Opal Acapulco that was included with my NZAK. Two hours of cranking, stitch moving, etc later, followed by another 40 min or so of kitchnering, I have a pair of perfectly fitting socks WITH a picot edge. Something I’ve never enjoyed hand knitting. Sweet.

I’m still rather partial to fraternal twins for some odd reason 🙂 I wore these babies on Monday. Perfection. Now I can only hope that the 72 is as magical for Jessica as the 60 is for me 😉

I figured it was also time for an update on Ballerina. I made a good deal of progress on it while I was laying in bed sick. The semi-mindless garter stitch was perfect for that. Honestly, I haven’t touched it since after the two days of sick time.

I then spent two days on Orkney Pi – take two..

And the reminder of the time (another day or so) went towards the ill fated Orangebell.

Sadly, there is NO knitting going on now, what with all the reading. See what Amazon brought me today 😉

And that doesn’t cover what I was reading today. I have this book on my new phone/pda toy and devoted today’s commute to reading it. ¬† Yeah I’m hooked.

I think I’m going to park on the easy chair for a bit and finally do some knitting before turning in early.¬† I was up far too late last night adding new tunes to the iPod 🙂

Craft on!

p.s. – as a forewarning, I’m planning on upgrading to the new version of¬† WordPress this weekend so the site might be down a bit.

p.p.s. РAlso as a remind, check your RSS subscription through your reader.   If typepad.com appears anywhere, it will no longer function once I finally close that account.

My oldest WIP is finally complete! 

Yes my friends, I finally sewed the darn zipper into Ribby Cardi Two.

I know.¬† Totally amazing!¬† This sweater has only been sitting completed except for the zipper since, um, October!¬† And now an odd and somewhat dorky self portait of me actually wearing the thing…

After all that, I do likes it.  Project details:

Pattern:  Ribby Cardigan from ChicKnits
Yarn:¬† Cascade 220 in Black and Grey (8555 and¬†8400) – purchased at a yearly Webs sale (which¬†I’m trying hard to resist now)¬†:)
Needles:¬† US7 & 8’s I think
Started:  04/05/06 
Completed:  04/06/08

The dates make me smile.  Unlike my prior two zippered sweaters, I actually hand sewed the zippers.

The current sweater is progressing though not as quickly as it should…

I’m just above the armholes currently.¬† If memory serves, and I haven’t touched this thing since Saturday as I’ve been deeply engrossed in a book, I’m one row away from putting the sleeve stitches on waste yarn.¬† What books has had me put the knitting away on the train?¬† This one: The Other Boleyn Girl
I walked past it a number of times in the book store.¬† I needed something to read one day and picked it up.¬† It was a really enjoyable read.¬† Seriously, I haven’t knit on the train since Thursday and have been reading this since. Well that was until last night’s right home when I finished it.¬†¬† I placed an order for the next book yesterday.¬† Hopefully Amazon will get it to me tomorrow.¬†

Well, back to hacking code…

Craft on!

This weekend might be Memorial Day to general American population.  To those of us who know, it is Cummington.  (Or as Cassie called it, the The Cummington Wool Cult).  I think Cate is doing her part to really get the cult status!  While the festival is a small one by MDSW or Rhinebeck (another cult you ask?) standards, the gathering promises to be one where friends can really enjoy it together.  My short people will probably get a great kick out of being in a house with other short, yet older, people.  They do so love it when their cousins come up for a visit.  The boy yearns to play with older boys and now that he’s a bit bigger, he got in on the reindeer games last weekend.  He was grinning from ear to ear while he chased after his big (almost 5 and 8 yr) cousins.

Tomorrow is an early out from work, and by exchanging lunch today for an extra hour tomorrow, I’ll hopefully be on the road early enough to be at Cate’s in time for dinner.  I’m bringing the baby benadryl just in case K&A take to sleeping there as well as they did the first night at MD.  I also hope that little miss velcro will detach herself from me long enough to enjoy the festival and mini-festival. 

Sunday we’ll be heading to stay with my folks on the boat.  The twins haven’t been there yet this year but as the boat is on the way back, sorta, we’ll be stopping off.  Right now we’re planning on an overnighter and I do hope it will go well.  It didn’t last year but again, that’s no indicator of what will happen now.  Heck the monkeys definitely have me on my toes and scared to commit to saying anything.  As soon as I think I have their likes/dislikes figured out, they switch it up on me.  I suppose I should get used to it.

I’m beyond the halfway point on the foot of the second F&F sock.  I picked up for the heel gusset on the PATH train last night and by the time I got to my car, I had 5 repeats of the lace portion on the foot done.  I counted how many repeats are in the first sock (15 on the cuff, 16 on the foot) so that I could match the two socks exactly.  As of this morning’s commute, I have 11 repeats complete.  This sock is going down.  I’ll have to bring something else for the weekend, in case I actually get some knitting time that is.  Cabled sweater is probably not a great idea for social knitting, but you never know.  Another pair of socks?  Maybe.  Not like I’m lacking for sock yarn.  And socks patterns.

Speaking of patterns, UPS’s little online tracking app is showing me that my latest order is out for delivery.  I’ve been watching Wendy knit Inishmore and my recent experiences with cables has me really itching to try something on a grander scale.  So I went shopping.  Online this time.  I bought the Starmore’s Fishermen’s Sweaters: Twenty Exclusive Knitwear Designs for All Generations and Elsebeth Lavold’s Viking Patterns for Knitting.  I’m itching to sit down with these books. 

Oh wait, must pack, or make a serious effort at getting everything ready to simply throw in the car tomorrow after work.  Sigh.  I hate packing.  I’ve done a lot of things to avoid packing,  including scrubbing a stove.  Don’t get me wrong, I love going places, I just hate the prep work in getting there.  Its worse now that there are little people relying on me to bring everything their fickle little toddler hearts might want.   Oy.  The weather (and I won’t go down that ugly path again today) is not making my packing any easier.  At least the NOAA webpage is showing Saturday as pretty decent and 64F.  Could be worse.  Oh and I’m bringing the little Saxony wheel, maybe just maybe it will find a new home.  I think I’m supposed to bring alone my Fricke drum carder.  Must check with Cate.  Wonder if I need the pack’n’plays.  Definitely must check with Cate.

Doubt I will have time to blog tomorrow and I must write a test plan now.. oh and I just found a bug I need to fix so I’m going to close it here.  Have a very happy, healthy and safe Memorial Day (to those celebrating – excellent weekend to the others) to everyone.  Fellow cult members: see you at the gathering!

Now that the siren call of MDS$W has been answered, we can now return to the regularly scheduled blogging content.  Okay so I have a ton of things to do tonight and seriously doubt that I’ll be able to do any crafty things, I can leave you with this:

Alex’s hoodie is done but for the buttons.  I ordered a bunch of cute ones off eBay and they should be here shortly.  It took just under 3 skeins of the Jaeger Shetland Aran.  I used the pattern located here, with some modifications.  The hood is from a very 70’s pattern that my mom gave me that too was modified.  Kathryn’s version will be a heavily modified version as I probably blogged about recently.  I didn’t like the sleeve construction so hers will be picked up and knit down to the cuff.  Instead of the half-arsed set-in sleeves, she’s going to get a drop shoulder.  I’ll more than likely do a 3 needle bind off for the shoulder as well.  While I didn’t like the actual construction of the sweater, being a toddler sweater it was thankfully quick.  I’ll start Kat’s shortly, probably after my Ribby Shell is done. 

This morning on the train I read instead of knitted and finished this:

It was a fast and enjoyable read. This is the first book I’ve read by the author and I’ll probably be getting more from her. I love a good detective yarn. Yarn? Did someone say yarn? Oh yeah, I did 🙂 Back to the book, this one was a good one that kept me entertained on the train when knitting wouldn’t do, or gasp, I didn’t feel like it. Even better, this was a freebie book that I picked up off the giveaway shelf at the office. One of the perks of the job location, free books. A goodly number of those free books are uncorrected page proofs or advance reader’s editions, but every now and again a real gem turns up. This one was happily one of the gems. I hope the next in the queue is as good.

I think I might have a case of startitis as I have indeed started a new knitting project.  Like I didn’t have enough on the needles or in the queue.  I started one of these cute little Baby Bobbi Bears.  Thanks to some evil generous fellow knitter on one of the mailing lists I read, I found the yarn at a substantial savings online (sorry the sale is still going on for $5/skein :).  I shared the info with Marina and the two of us cast on for this on Tuesday at lunch.  We’re both using the Blue Sky Alpacas sportweight yarn held doubled in the natural streaky brown color.  I finished the first section yesterday at lunch and will proceed further during Knit Club today. 

I really need to put together a list of all the things I need to bring along this weekend.  The Pi group is getting together so I’ll be bringing my shawl for the group picture. If its cool I might just wear it and help others pick my petiteness out of the crowd.  I have a ton of stuff the kids will need.  I also have to decide what to bring to keep me entertained.  I think I’ll bring my Journey Wheel along for sampling fiber purchases Saturday night after the twins go to sleep.  This is provided I don’t feel like collapsing right along with them.  Though while I don’t have a specific fiber on the list to buy, nor a list to buy, I’m sure I’ll want to sample some new fiber!  Now that I think about it, some rainbow dyed something for socks would be nice.  Hmm, maybe some bamboo fiber so I can try spinning it myself!  I do need a new driveband for my Lendrum as the little monster that is Baron Belgarath gnawed through the existing one.  I would like a Woolee Winder for that wheel.  I guess I do have a wish list afterall 🙂 

I might pack Stonington or my Twinkletoes sock for knitting fun.  Yes, the Twinkletoes socks are back in semi-active pile even if they did completely fall off the blog.  I had been toting them around in my bag until the cable rib socks took their place.  The CRS even took the TS place in the sidebar.  I had even pulled the needles from the socks about a week ago, ready to proclaim the 3/4 finished sock dead.  Oddly, while making dinner Sunday night, I reinserted the needles and went right back to working on them.  Strange I know.  But then again, I am crazy.  It still is a simple 2×2 rib in this pretty handpainted yarn.  Having seen Cassie’s sock in the handpainted, I’m seriously tempted again to rip it out.  Maybe I’ll just leave them home afterall.  I guess Stonington gets packed!

Nancy posted recently about her HandpaintedYarn.com laceweight yarn that she bought (and got a double bonus of!).  She asked how I liked it.  I happen to like it very much.  I’ve been using the Bergamota colorway for my Stonington and I really do like the subtle color shifts that are in this colorway.  The others that I have aren’t quite as subtle and would definitely have a different effect.  I’m very pleased at the feel and the texture of it.  I’ve knitted a bit with singles, both commercial and my own homespun and this yarn is very similar.  So far it is standing up nicely to my knitting and I haven’t noticed any great variation in diameter, though there is some minor fluctuations.  It is definitely pleasant to work with.  My choice of Addi Turbos as the needles for Stonington have made for a slippery slick experience, but I don’t have any trouble getting the tips through the stick and no troubles other than general coordination.  Tis a good thing I like the yarn, I do have a load of it!  I am planning another pi, be it a simple one or a spiral shawl out of one of the other colorways.

So much fiber, so little time.

Knit on.

As I haven’t progressed very much on anything, I don’t have any pictures of goodness to offer up.  I did cast on the first sleeve for Big Sack yesterday at lunch and managed to get through the first two increases, but I have a great deal left to do.  I haven’t been knitting on the train as I’ve finally hit the really exciting part of the book I’m reading. 

I’ll have this done tonight on the way home so I can return to my knitting and actually post progress on that.  I’ve become a big Dan Brown fan this year having read 4 of his books in the last 6 months.  I know folk either really like him or really dislike him.  I have yet to hear anyone taking the middle ground.  Personally, I really like a good action book.  I love a techno thriller and adore Tom Clancy novels.  Ah shades of my nerdism shining through once again.

I lost knitting time last night.  As soon as I finished my chores and plunked down in the glider rocker, His Highness was up crying.  The twins are coming down with something as are all sniffly/coughing.  The night before I had the princess up, so it was his turn.  I do admit that I enjoyed sitting in the dim room with this warm little body molded to me, rocking gently and listening to him breath.  Sigh.  I guess he lulled me sufficiently that after I put him back in the crib at 9:30, I went to bed.  I still had trouble getting up this morning and couldn’t manage to quit hitting the snooze alarm until 7am so I had a goodly amount of sleep for a change.  Lots of sleep, not much knitting and no spinning.  I’ll make up for it.  I promise.

I’m going to put Big Sack on quick hold and try and whip out a pair of Fuzzy Feet, now that I’ve seen Stephanie’s pair and recall my ground level/concrete slab abode.  I have a pretty decent stash of Lamb’s Pride in various colors though the largest portion is in white.  I’ve read in various places that white yarn won’t full the way other colors will so I’m kind of hesitant to use it.  I seem to remember a whole skein left over from the booga bags.  I can probably whip these out pretty quickly.  This morning’s very frigid temperature educated me in the fact that my glovens, while pretty, ain’t all that warm.  I’ll be digging out that Morehouse Merino mitten kit that I bought at Union Square before the holidays and seeing how quickly I can get me some warm mittens.  I’m secretly hoping that the area thaws out before I can finish them though.

I fondled the Aurora Bulky that I bought at Majestic Yarns for a sweater for Alex.  I need to get a swatch sample of that, though it might have to wait as the 10.5 needles are being used by the Big Sack sweater.  Geez I hope the Denise Needles arrive shortly.  Though their absence is indeed keeping a lid on the number of projects I can work on at once.  I guess I could use {shudder} straight needles and have a lovely set of bamboo 10.5’s but ick.  I don’t like straight needles. 

I got in on a group order to Elann yesterday.  Bought more of the peruvian highland.  For another Ribby Cardi.  Yeah, I know, I haven’t started the first one yet.  So what?  This one is going to have the black body and ruby sleeves.   Must be the geeky trekker in me, but I’ve thought of nothing else but a black sweater with red sleeves since I saw the colors earlier this week.  It pushed aside the two tone grey one that I had been thinking about for over a week.  I’m willing to go out on a limb and predict that the black/red sweater is going to be the next big project for me after the BS sweater, leapfrogging the Dusty Rose version.  Bad Risa.  Very bad.  I toyed with buying the yarn for both color combinations, but thankfully Amy talked me off that cliff.  Thanks Amy. 

I’ve got to find the right yarn in stash (I doubt the newest ebay win of Skacel Merino Lace is enough) for a the EZasPi knitalong.  I have a cone of some very nice kid mohair that I got a couple of years ago at Silk City that might work, not to mention some more of the angora that I knit Amy’s Kris Kringle gift out of.  I’m just not sure what weight yarn and how much I need.  I guess I need to open the book and take a look 😉

I need to change groups at work.  I found out yesterday, while over asking a question, that there’s a group around here that knits openly, during the day, at their desks as a mental break!  Whoa!  How very cool is that?  I know I used to get up, go outside and smoke for a bit, especially when some puzzler was eluding me.  Every now and again, I’d tuck my knitting in my pocket and knit during those cig breaks.  Since I quit, geez 4 years ago, I haven’t had those kinds of breaks.  I would LOVE to knit.  I’ll have to try it.  Though I don’t have those kinds of puzzlers right now.  Work is pretty routine and more like a code version of babysitting.  At least I have things to do these days.  Makes the day go a little quicker at best.  Now if I could knit??!?!?  Work would be less like work 😉