One Crazy Fiber Lady

…. so very close…

You can see the one on the left is just thiiiiis much shorter than the one on the right.  I made some astounding progress on it yesterday.  This sucker is going down today.  Which leaves, seaming, collar, button bands and picking n sewing on of buttons.  Almost indeed.  I seriously loves it.

Yesterday I had one of the rare days when I was able to go shopping by myself.  Let me repeat that.  BY. MYSELF.  Neither kid wanted to come along.  I know I mentioned on Saturday that the stores in my county are closed on Sunday, but the county over threw off their blue laws ages ago.  We all schlep over to shop there.  Not that terribly far as the southern end of my town borders the river, which is also the county border.  And for perspective, the town is only 4 sq miles or so.

So anyway, yesterday, both kids opted to stay home which left me footlose and fancy free.  I wanted to get over to Michaels to take advantage of a sale on Patons Classic Merino.  I’d decided that this year’s teacher gifts are slightly larger booga bags [ravelry link].   I spotted the new Lion Brand Wool while I was there and picked up a mix of both the Patons and the Wool to use to make two bags.  They’re up in the queue soon after finishing T&C.  I still need to make the twins hats/mittens/scarves first though.

I also reallly realllly realllllly want to make this:

That’s Yank by one of my most favorite designers, Bonne Marie.  While I’d love to use the Pastaza that Bonne used in the original, I couldn’t justify laying out the bucks for that much of it.  I did find that I had some Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran in stash but the note in Ravelry says I bought it for Juno and I didn’t like the color for this project.  Good thing I put the note in it though as I couldn’t remember from looking at the picture the why.    I picked up the LB Wool in a dark navy blue at Michaels.  It is a 4st” on US8, just a smidge smaller than the 4st” on US9 that the Pastaza is but I think it will work.  I’ll have to swatch it.  It won’t go to waste as I could always do one of the other sweaters in Fine Fleece with it.

When I got home (after getting lost in Clifton having made a wrong turn on the back roads), we had a quick lunch and then took the kids over to the open house at the local fire company.  They got to see what the inside of a house is like when there is a fire.  They crawled around in theatrical smoke trying to get from the entrance door to the balcony where a fireman awaited at the bottom of a pullout ladder.  Then came the fresh made donuts and apple cider from a local farm (which is sadly going out of business).  Up next was a short film on fire safety which culminated in a ride around town on the fire engine with lights and sirens running!!  Dad was sitting up front in the cab while the twins, mom and I sat in the middle seats facing rear.  The back of the truck was filled with kids.  We even went down our block!  The kids loved it.  After we got back to the stationhouse, the kids got balloons and played on and around equipment with their friends, whose father is on the squad.

A good time was had by all and the weather was just lovely for it.

Craft on!

There are polls turning up everywhere.  I just took one online at the last place I expected:  Dominos.  Yeah, I know they aren’t the best pizza place around, but they’re convenient, reliable and I can order online with my credit card.  Yeah, the folks are out tonight so I’m fending for the kids.  Yes I’m essentially lazy and I hate cooking.  I can cook, witness that I did survive out of the house for 16 years (2 of em with the kids) and didn’t only subsist on takeout.  Seeing as I only have to provide food for them once every couple of weeks, pizza just fits the bill.  

Whatever.

So yeah, I placed the order and got the confirmation screen and saw a poll.  Here are the results.

Keep in mind that Jersey is generally a very blue state.  Looks good to me!!

Anyway.. I’m still knitting away on T&C, didn’t get much time today as Saturday is the only shopping day around here.  Bergen County still has blue laws that close stores down entirely or limit what they can sell on a Sunday.  Annoys me no end, but apparently the residents of Paramus want a day without traffic.  They still suck and I makes Sat a very VERY crowded shopping day.  We hit only two stores but that took up the whole day.  Party City for the kids’ halloween costumes.  Kat is going to be a Spanish Princess and Alex selected at Clone Trooper with blaster gun.  Awesome.  Next up was 2 hours spent at BJ’s where amongst other things, I got me this:

I got some strange looks as I wandered through my North Jersey BJ’s wearing this! Though I wasn’t alone, there was a feller in one of them Red Sox windbreakers and blue baseball hat.  Awesome!  I’m so wearing it for tomorrow night’s Game 3.  

Go Sox!

I might just make it.  What’s this part of T&C sitting on my leg this morning?

Is it that pesky sleeve I showed last post?

Nope!  Finished that sucker during the day/night double header on Sunday.

Is it the second sleeve?  

Nope!  After casting that on immediately after finishing the first, I took it all around with me over the last couple of days, including a picnic with the kids while celebrating the new year (L’Shanah Tovah to you)

Oh and yeah, I finished it during the debate last night (we’ll get back to that in a minute).  I took this shot on the ferry yesterday.

You can see how close I was to finishing it I was.  Sadly I got stuck at work pretty late yesterday trying to fix a major production problem and had to skip not only lunch with Kim but also SnB.

So what is it?  The last remaining large piece to be knit.  The other front!!  I’m so getting this sweater done.  Oh holy hell, I just tempted the knitting goddess.  I forgot about the whole sewing it together, knitting the collar and button bands, and oh yeah, I don’t have any buttons yet to even think about sewing on.  

Now, back to the debate.  I rarely (if ever) go into politics here.  However this election has me so engrossed to a level I’ve never been before.  Maybe because this election is more important than ever before.  I think McCain’s picking of Palin is a petulant and irresponsible act.  Her performance during debate last night further strengthened my belief that they are just the wrong choice.  And in her honor, I donoted to Planned Parenthood.

I won’t go into everything that pisses me off about the ticket and why I wanted to smack her.  All I’ll say is that I fell in love with Biden last night when he finally called McCain-Palin on this maverick business and slammed her on the looking to the past.  Obama has my vote.

I’ll leave you with a moment of zen:

Craft on!

This is Duchess. You’ve seen her before, but not like this.

(you defintely want to click to embiggen)

Miss Duchess really likes tomato sauce.  Then again, there isn’t much Miss D doesn’t like.  She will even fight you for blueberry muffin.  But you see, mom made meatballs in sauce last night for dinner.  After dinner, with all the leftovers nicely in containers in the fridge, and with the dishwasher already full (and running), we left the “empty” pot on the stove while we did the bedtime routine.  After getting the kids down, mom and I moved to playing Batman for a while (awesome game much like the Lego SW and Indy) waiting to finish the dishes and stuff until the dishwasher was complete.  

Not to long after we finished playing, mom comes back to my room, “you have to see Duchess”.  Curious.  I got to see Duchess.  She looked much like she does in this picture.  Only oranger.  She helped herself to the remainder in the pot.  There was a lot of Duchess in the pot, apparently, as mom cleaned saucy footprints off the counter. 

Bad cat.  Wonder how long it is going to take to loose her orange glow

Onto the better children.  A few weeks ago, we went to a Bar Mitzvah of the son of a very good friend.  This was the first one for the twins.  Yeah, I was surprised the monkeys were invited too.  Anyway, I bought them new dress up duds and want to share how very cute they were:

When did they get to be so grown up???

Craft on!

The last couple of days have been getting better and better.  Its been like the clouds parting and the sun shining through.  A few days ago, there was just glimmers of sun here and there.  Today is nothing but sunshine!  My headache is pretty much gone.  There are still after images of sorts when it threatens, but worlds better than it has been.  Sadly, a multiday headache is not something new for me.  I’ve battled them since I hit my head in a car accident when I was 8.  Again, I thank everyone for their commiseration, suggestion and support.  It was much appreciated.

Moving along…Kat wore her new socks this morning.  

Not sure what is up with the look on her face.  I think she was confused as to why I was taking her picture in the car this morning.  She doesn’t quite get the whole mommy blogging knitting thing yet.  She will

And now for the regular update on T&C.  I’ve finished 16 of 24 stitch increases on the first sleeve.  Its progressing nicely and I should have the sleeve done before too much longer.  Sorry for the crappy photo, but I took it quickly on the ferry this morning (which mind you was redirected to the World Financial Center since Pier 11-Wall Street was closed entirely.  Some bullshit about the UN.  I hear rumors that W was coming in and they closed the harbor.  Give me another reason to hate the idiot.  I got a nice long walk across the island.  I couldn’t have gotten further from my office without going uptown on the freakin ferry!.. but I digress)

Finally, I’m so in love with my new bag.  I ordered a Swift by Tom Bihn and it arrived on Monday.  Here’s a shot of the outside (with iMac in the background

I got the crimson/black in the ballistic nylon.   I’ve got all my daily needs easily packed into this thing.  The straps are long enough to sit comfortably on the shoulder over a coat, though I haven’t tried that yet.  Even with all that’s packed into it, it doesn’t weigh a ton.  Not exactly sure why.  I had the same crap in my Lady B and it nearly dragged me down.  With this I’m tempted to toss in a book or two.

Cool bag.

Not sure how much knitting I’ll get done tonight as I picked up the new Batman Lego videogame at lunch today.  Mom and I have played the Star Wars and Indy versions and loved those so I have no doubt this will become a pretty big time suck for us.

Craft on!

I want to thank everyone for their concern and commiseration last week.  I stayed home on Friday, still quite uncomfortable.  Talked with my doctor thursday night and he suggested seeing a neurologist.  I put in a call to the dude he recommended and am still waiting to hear back.  Whatever.  Seems that while there was a migraine part of the weeklong painfest, it wasn’t the whole story.  There’s a sinus component for sure (so I started taking my daily Nasonex again as it is that time of year) as well as a tension/stress piece.  The fact that I wake up feeling fine and then within a few hours or so, the back of my head gets really tight leads me to believe that tension is a major problem, probably tense for fear that the headache will continue/come back.  I feel this is working the same way an entrenched insomnia pattern operates where the fear of not being able to sleep prevents sleep.  Vicious circle. Add in a little TMJ (I skipped the steak at dinner last night), shake well and you have one-long-assed-many-pronged-headache.  I’ve chosen to ignore the whole thing.  Mind over matter and all that.

Anyway… been doing the knitting thing!  I finished Kat’s Princess Socks yesterday.

Cute little things eh?  One skein of Koigu KPPPM - US1 magic loop.  Pattern is one of my own devising but is nothing really special.  Simple stockinette.  Started at the toe with 8/16st turkish cast on increasing to 44 st overall.  As for how long to make the foot?  I had a tracing of her foot on paper with lines indicating where the ankle bones are.  When the foot hit those marks, I did the short row heel down to 8 unworked stitches.  She happily tried them on last night and declared them perfect.  

Yesterday I finished the first side for Town & Country and cast on for a sleeve.  I’ll spare you the photo of the cuff repeat again.

26 days to go.  Maybe.

Finally, I got the cutest box bag from JessaLu’s etsy shop!  

She used Amy Butler fabrics and has the cutest pulls:

I loves my bag.  Go get one for yourself.  I’ve got a new sock project in mine

Craft on!

That headache I had?  Not sinuses.  Jess used the mom voice and made me go to the doctor on Tuesday when I had complained about having the same headache for 4 days.  My doctor diagnosed it as a migraine and prescribed Imitrex and Percocet for the pain.  I wound up taking the max two doses of the 100mg Imitrex and 2 of the painkiller over the course of the evening.  I tried to hide in my darkened room.

Wednesday morning the pain was mostly gone, but I had the postdrome or migraine hangover.  Though it was hard to really tell the difference.  I sat with my sunglasses on in the office, slouched down in my chair, willing my head not to move.  I went home early and for a change turned in early.  This morning, it is better, not great, but better.   I still don’t want to move much (walking jars the head) and the back of my head feels like it was hollowed out and filled with concrete, but at least I don’t need my sunglasses this morning. And I don’t feel queasy either.  Eventually it will go away.  I have to check back in with my doctor this afternoon.

Before turning in last night, I was able to do a little knitting.  I finished the back of T&C.

Lurve it!  I cast on for the first front piece but didn’t even finish the first row.  I did that this morning during the commute:

Thanks to the head, I’m going to pass on SnB tonight and probably turn in early.

Craft on!

I finally moved my code that does the countdown to Rhinebeck (or other festival) to the sidebar for this theme. It is the finish line for Town & Country. Other than a now four day long sinus/tension headache, I’ve been getting a lot done on T&C. I went home and straight to my room last night, heading for the heating pad and my comfy chair. I had the heat on the back of my head, which helped. iMac on and dialed up for the Sox-Rays game (go Sox!), I was able to knit. Kat was so sweet. She’d periodically come over and pat my arm. While her bro went off to play, she stayed with me until her bedtime.

Today it doesn’t hurt quite so much, but I’ve got a hangover kind of feeling. The back of my head is tight, for the lack of a better word, but at least the pressure isn’t so great that all my teeth hurt. This too shall pass.

Moving along to the reason you stopped by, here’s T&C on the ferry this morning. I’m half a repeat from finishing the back. Sweet.

I did a full repeat of the center motif which is 24 rows since yesterday’s picture.  I’m a row or two from the midpoint now.  I feel pretty safe saying that the back will be done tonight.  Woot.

Now, take a look at this:

Does anyone else think:  “yeah baby:  spinning wheels and a keg”?  Or is it just me?

I know, I am crazy.

Craft on!

I’m cautiously optimistic that I might just be able to finish Town & Country in time for Rhinebeck.  As I quickly mentioned yesterday, this weekend has been one for cabling.  I brought my knitting with me to the park and stitched while the monkeys played.  I sat by the pool yesterday and did more of the same.  I did go in the water for the last hurrah of the pool this summer.  Dad is busy closing today.  Sniff.  Anyway, here’s T&C as she stands now (photo on ferry this morning):

I finished one more full repeat of the center pattern since yesterday’s picture.  I did a quick measurement last night and am about 6″ short of finishing the back.  For perspective, the ribbing at the bottom is 4″.  You can see my cable needle tucked in the honeycomb section on the right of center.  I’m cabling with it for just the honeycombs and without for the rest.  I find that that is the perfect balance between speed and ease on hands.  I tuck the needle in my watchband between uses while knitting and just stick it in like thing when not.

The princess socks, while not done, are awfully close now.  I worked on them a bit this morning while I was standing around waiting for the train, and then the ferry.  I have one more plain round and then I start the ribbing.

Well, I’m off to Duane Reed for some sinus drugs.  I’ve now had a sinus headache since Friday.  Ugh.

Craft on!

Needless to say I’ve been doing a bit of knitting. So far it has been a relaxing weekend with the family and the yarn. I’m now on the patio, post lunch and cruising along.

Hope y’all are having a good weekend!