Little Man's New Sweater

I have been knitting here and there; recently I finished the Shawl Collared Sweater from Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits for Beginners book. I started this sweater LAST Christmas, using some Malabrigo worsted from my stash. This was back when handpaintedyarn actually sold their worsted weight merino on the website.
Here's the sweater in action....We took Little Man to the Spectrum to check out their outdoor ice rink. LM and the Dearest went ice skating while Monkey Boy and I did some last minute Christmas shopping.
A couple more in B&W....
(And No, I didn't knit the mittens! LOL Those are straight from the shelf at The Children's Place)

Wow, a real live POST

Can you believe it?

I know I've been a very bad blogger (smack me with a wet noodle)...but here I am and I promise to post more faithfully now that the holiday rush is over!

I've to sooo much to talk about, but let's just start with this:
.This is my final SP6 package! My SP is absolutely wonderful- look at all the fun stuff she sent. PLUS she thoughtfully sent Da Boyz a couple of coloring books. Little Man was super excited to have a 'secret present' in the mail.
In case you can't tell, here's what all was in the box....2 coloring books for the munchkins, a package of Yankee Candle Fresh Roses candles/lotion (yum), a mernio lace kit with needles, some bath bubbly powder, a Chibi with the bent needles (needed that!), cute stitch markers, note cards & two cute monkeys! Little Man already stole the dark brown monkey!

OMG I have to go....Monkey Boy is getting into trouble....I'll be back to post again later tonight!

And just cuz y'all think I've dropped off the face of the earth...

(click for a better view)

Picture of the Day

Just a quick snapshot of Monkey Boy enjoying his first BBQd rib.

So true!

Check this pic out...

Ain't it the TRUTH!

Recent work...

So, this is what I've been doing instead of knitting and spinning....
A newborn (about 2 weeks old) little girl. Very sweet.

And her really adorable nearly 2yr old sissy...

Little Man

IMG_722257
Originally uploaded by shizzknits.

I took LM to the town center the other day to try out my new lense. I just got the Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 and am really trying to get used to it. I've been using my 50mm 1.8 prime for so long that having a zoom lense again was weird!
This was shot at 400iso on a very cloudy day, so it's a bit noisy. I had the lense wide open at 2.8 and let the shutters fall where they may....
A 100% zoom (showing the noise)....pretty sharp for a zoom. I'll have to try some shots wide open at 100iso and see if they're better.

The Ancient "Yarn Curse"

I have a feeling that I'm under some kind of Yarn Curse. Every project that I've worked on lately has given me problems. Here's the latest fiasco:
It's kinda hard to tell from the photo, but take my word for it that the front and back of this sweater vest for Little Man are two entirely different colors. This happened even after I alternated between two different balls of yarn every two rows. The back is leafy green and the front is a more hay-ey green. I am SO aggravated that this happened.

When I bought this Patagonia hand dyed cotton, I made sure all 5 balls were from the same dye lot. I guess that doesn't mean much because look at how different the colors are. *sigh* And it's not like I'm not used to working with handpainted/handdyed yarns either....

Oh well, I decided I'm going to rip all the pieces tonight and re-knit everything, but switching one of the balls from the back to the front so the color should blend better.

On another note, look what The Dearest got for me...
Now I can listen to my audiobooks just about anywhere!

Picture of the Day

Guess where we went yesterday?

Little Man had a *blast*. And Monkey Boy was content to hang out....

More pics.

Punkin Patch

Little Man at the 'patch
And Monkey Boy













They had so much fun; Little Man went crazy for all the rides. He especially liked the miniature train that went around and around on a short track. It made me dizzy to watch him, but he enjoyed it. More Punkin pickin' pics here.








And what would Halloween be without the obligatory pics of the kiddos in their costumes?
Here is Monkey Boy, wondering "What the HELL is this about?"

Can I get out of this costume now?

Wait, this whole trick or treating thing isn't that bad afterall.

And here's Little Man in his cool DaddyMade costume. LM wanted to be "A Wobot"
And yes, this costume was as unwieldy as it appears. Poor LM was having a hard time keeping up with the other kids, cuz he couldn't run at all. But he didn't complain. He just kept saying "I am a Wobot and I walk a wobot walk". Bless him!

Well, at least 1 pair of Socktoberfest socks got done..

These are for Monkey Boy. I used Knitpicks' "Dancing" sock yarn. Less than 1 skein with plenty left over. I'm not sure that I like yarn with elastic in it; kinda hard to work with IMO. But the socks are CUTE and they fit well.

I used size 2 DPNs and just winged the pattern. I think I cast on about 30ish sts and did a 1x1 ribbing for the first 8 rows.

Do not open till Halloween

Mist or ghost?

(Don't say I didn't warn you)

My son, the photographer

See, it's true: you lose all your dignity when you have children. Especially a 3.5 yr old that knows how to press the shutter button. Ask The Dearest how he knows.

Sockoberfest...

I joined Lolly's Socktoberfest a couple of weeks ago and totally forgot to blog about it. After some ruminating on which sock pattern to use, I decided to just wing it and make a pair of short anklets. I cast on 140 sts, knit six or seven rows and then did a row of K1, Ktog so I was down to 68ish sts. That gave me a little curly edge at the cuff. Then I just knit straight on for a regular ol' cuff down sock. I finished sock #1 yesterday...(ignore the shakey camera- Little Man was jumping on the couch while I was trying to take the pic). Now on to Sock #2 before I get hit with SSS (Second Sock Syndrome).

Now onto some randomness....
I've had a scratchy throat/runny nose for the past week and couldn't decide whether I was coming down with a cold or dealing with allergies. Turned out to be a cold; I now sound like a 50yr old smoker between all the coughing and hoarseness. I actually don't feel all that bad, but I sound *awful*.

Yesterday, Blythe and I went to a local craft fair called Artistic License. They had lots of different artists selling everything from handmade ceramics to dreamcatchers and handwovens. There were a couple of fiber artists too. I ended up buying a lovely little faerie for a Christmas present but no fiber *gasp*. There's another, more fibery festival in Torrance in early November that I want try to make...but that depends on how much work gets thrown my way over the next couple of weeks.

Now, off to enjoy a MNO (mom's night out) with my crafty friends....

Thank you SP!

Score! Look what I got from my sweet Secret Pal!

Two Fiddlesticks shawl patterns - ones that I have been dying to get.
A cute sticky SABLE (stash acquisition beyond life expectency) sticky pad.
Pure Lanolin for my very rough hands (yum)
and some little flower shaped soaps.

Thank you Secret Pal, I love everything!

What I've been doing....

I've been in a knitting slump lately. I have a ton of projects laying around the house, waiting to be worked on, and all I can do is knit baby socks. For me, socks are comfort knitting- like mashed potatoes and gravy. They are easy to make and easy to finish. Socks are my choice whenever I feel like knitting something mindless but satisfying.

Why do I feel I need mindless knitting? Probably because I've ripped out no less than three projects in the last week. (Let's not mention the projects I ripped previously). My Diamond Fantasy Shawl is once again in the trash. I actually got up to the 3rd set of repeats when I realized that I'd made *another* mistake in the body of the shawl. The whole pattern was shifted very obviously sideways by at least two stitches. So I'm putting the DFS to rest for now; I have some Zephyr yarn (isn't it pretty?) on its way to me and maybe that'll get me going on it again on the shawl.

I won't mention the other projects I've scrapped lately; it's too depressing.

Part of my knitting ennui probably has to do with the fact that I have been working quite a bit lately. Lots of clients calling for Christmas card sessions means I have very little knitting time at night. The only time I can actually do my post processing is after the boys are in bed so that means time spent knitting is pretty slim. At least I managed to send some of Monkey Boy's photos to the printer (after 10 mos!). Here's a collage I put together for our hallway:



I also spent a little time spinning this week. Wanna see the finished product?

It's Blue Face Liecester- very soft and springy. I think I undertwisted the singles tho- they kept breaking when I was trying to ply them. There's about 320yds here.

Lookie what I got!

My Secret Pal sent me really cute, handmade card, check it out!

So I gleaned from the note inside that she's a mommy (like me) and will be attending the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. How fun!

BTW, this just made me realize that I *MUST* send my own SP6 her package this weekend. I have been so busy that it just keeps slipping to my "will do tomorrow" list. Sorry SP! I promise to get your package out to you ASAP, please be patient!

Kill me now

(Or "How I Spent My Thursday")

I came home from Knit Nite on Wednesday feeling kinda "ick". Well by 2am I was camped out on the bathroom floor because it was easier than getting out of bed every time I felt like I might barf. By the time Thursday morning rolled around I was pretty useless.

Luckily The Dearest was able to stay at home and watch the boys for me, because I was so sick all I did was lay on the bed or sofa all day. He ended up taking them out to the park and having a picnic. I'm sure that was more fun than watching me lay around, pale and wan and trying not to puke more. In fact I was so ill that I couldn't even knit! Just sitting up made me nauseous- ugh. By Thursday night I was feeling a lot better, tho I still hadn't eaten anything more substantial than a piece of buttered toast in more then 24 hours. Thank gawd for Otter Pops cuz those are what kept me hydrated.

I had a photo shoot scheduled for this morning with a one year old and his mom, so it's a good thing that I was feeling better. I guess that's the only advantage to the 24hr stomach flu- you generally feel pretty decent once it passes.


Before my run-in (no pun intended) with my flu bug, I managed to finish some fun socks for my lovely MIL:



I used some Henry's Attic Kona Superwash that I dyed ages ago. When I first dyed the yarn I wasn't very happy with the finished product so I added more color. After a while I realized that I probably added too much color. The finished yarn is pretty bright (as you can see!), but MIL likes bright colors and I think she'll enjoy these as house socks.

Better than an inkblot test...

Check it out-

Do you see what I see?





Ok, if you don't see it, turn it upside down.

NOW do you see it?


(BTW this is an actual stamp for sale. Maybe I should purchase one and make Christmas cards, whatcha think?)

Figures....

I was at Meg's blog and followed a survey link to find out that I'm

Aragorn

"Putting your appointed path ahead of any inner conflicts, you make your own rules for the benefit of all.

If my life or death I can protect you, I will.

Aragorn is a character in the Middle-Earth universe. There is a description of him at TheOneRing.net."

Hmmm....could be!