Cardigan update

I think I have about 8 inches done on the cardigan so I have about 6 more to do before I but aside the sleeve stitches and stop to knit the sleeves.
I also had help last night in the form of Melissa ripping out my Clapotis progress because it was never going to be finished in this life time and also she ripped out my branching out progress because there were two mistakes and she reknit the first 3 repeats for me though she did skip a row so I need to rip back a few rows to put in the missing row so the leaves are the right size ; )

After 1 one week

and about 72 hours of work I have one windows worth of curtains done... I think they probably need a bit of steaming to make them lay better the lining makes them a little poofy but I think they look pretty good.
So after this triumphant finish I went out for Chinese food and while I was eating my orange chicken I noticed there was something in the rice - what was it? a piece of string.... yep string in my rice - I guess I needed more fiber in my diet : ) the owner came over and said our drinks would be free ($2 for pop and $1 for tea) which I guess was okay and she said that the string was from the top of the bag of rice so I guess it's better than a bug or something

a little progress

I made about the same amount of curtain progress last night as I did all weekend. I have the other half of one panel done and I even hung up the curtain rod and put the clips on so it is ready to have the curtain put on as soon as I figure out how to finish the tops of the two halves. (Yes that is a box of 96 crayons on top of my TV cabinet) You never know when you may need to color something and have a lot of choices.

I didn't work on the cardigan at all I figure that since there is material everywhere I should probably work on those instead of letting the place get 2 feet deep while I sit placidly knitting.

as they say

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger - and apparently no one has ever had a nervous breakdown because of curtains before but I tell you I am on the verge.
I got out all my material on Saturday around 1 oclock to start the curtain making extravaganza I laid everything out got out the cutting mat, the rotary cutter and the matching thread I bought for the curtains, got myself all organized at which point the power went out. There wasn't enough light for cutting and I couldn't use the sewing machine so I did what every resourceful knitter would do - I started a new project. Above is my first 30 rows of Sitcom Chic in some red cotton ease from my stash.
When the lights came on I decided I should probably do a little cleaning up around the house so I put all the cotton yarns back into their bag and somehow passed the next 3 hours at which time I began the odyssey that will be known as my curtains.
Saturday I began around 7 and stopped working around 11:30 (at which point I remembered I had put my sheets in the washer and never put them in the dryer). After four and half hours of labor this is what I had completed..
That's right just one half of one windows worth of curtains and it's not even done that was just one panel with the borders sewn on after 4 1/2 stinking hours. I decided despite not having sheets on my bed it was time to go to sleep and the fiber bed I have covers the mattress and is really soft anyways.
I woke up the next morning determined to make serious progress on the curtains, as my new roommate was arriving and my place was a complete disaster. I decided in lieu of folding over the edgings of all the curtains to sew them down and prevent ragged edgings I would probably be better of using a lining and they would make the curtains more energy efficient and room darkening. So I made a voyage to Joanns and picked up yards and yards of muslin. I worked on the curtains for another 4 hours on Sunday and guess how many I have done? that 's right I have sewn the lining to the half of a window worth of curtain that I had done on Saturday, by all estimations I think I should complete these curtains right before my 37th birthday in 10 years. Here's a picture that you can sort of see the material with the border fabric. If I ever finish these I'll take another picture, if there are any volunteers to come and finish these send me an email and I'll get you directions to my house :)

So this is what I got out during Project Runway last night - I had to fix a pair of work pants that had a tiny 2 inch hole in the rump area which is now repaired. I am hoping that if I leave out the machine I'll start to feel more and more guilty about not making my living room curtains and that this guilt may catapault me into action. I'm getting a temporary roommate over the weekend so I plan on using her as forced labor in hanging the curtain rods. It's too hard to hold a level and a drill and curtain rod pieces at the same time.
I worked some more yesterday on steaming the mittens and more steam did relax the side bump more so I think the wet blocking should solve the problem. I posted 2 pictures because neither of them was a good shot of the whole mitten. If anyone is thinking that I've lost all sense of good taste to have this material somewhere in my house don't worry it's just the ironing board cover : ) I didn't work the thumb yet but that's what I plan to bring to meetup tonight so there should be picture of the palm tomorrow or Monday when it's been fully blocked!

I'm falling apart

so last night I finished the last few rows of the mitten shaping and pulled the ends into the middle to tighted the closure - then I realized I hadn't pulled the inside threads but the two strands that were from the cast on and the color join - oops - then I took a needle and pulled the yarn back from it's miniscule size back to actual stitch size
then I tried to tighten the top stitches which didn't go very well there are two white loops that are way too big so I plan on doing some surgery tonight on those
then at 11pm I decided before I went to bed I should try and give the mitten some steam to see if the side stitches next to the seam stitches would come unpuckered - steam didn't do it so after I finish the thumb I'll be doing some wet blocking to try and correct that....
in non knitting news I think I may have broken my toe - it's black and blue and swollen and painful but I can move it but it's above the joint so I don't know?
don't trip while trying to move your elliptical trainer barefoot no good will come of it

Stitches Midwest Review

Saturday morning started early everyone met at my house at 7am to make our way to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, I allowed extra time because I tend to take the wrong exit everytime I go there - which I of course did. We ended up getting there at 7:45 and after registration and finding our classrooms where pretty much right on time. Crystal and I took the Norwegian Mitten Class with Beth Brown-Reinsel and she graciously posed for a picture with me and my partially finished mitten. I sat in the back of the classroom and was really enjoyed my next door knitting neighbors including Lars. I worked a few more rows when I got home before I feel into an exhausted heap and had to lie still on the couch to prepare for some more shopping the next day. On the way home from the convention center I managed to get out and find McDonalds where we could all eat sundaes and then headed north to DesPlaines where I felt the need to tell everyone about going by the first McDonalds and then continued to drive around for an extra 45 minutes before we actually found where it was (and by we I mean me and my poor unsuspecting victims in the car). When I did finally find it no one even wanted to get out and see it.





My entire first days purchases consisted of three balls of this Cascade 220 superwash hopefully for a baby gift.

A little more shopping was done on Sunday after I recovered from the devastation of not being the winner of the grand prize - I had big plans for that money. I bought 7 balls of self-striping regia at Webs for some various Christmas ideas - a new size 5 circular so I don't have to use the bamboo for baby hats - I'm sure it great for other stuff but the baby yarn on the bamboo was killing me. And then Traditional Fair Isle Knitting that was recommended by Beth for the Fair Isle Charts in designing my own mittens.

Then the most perfect buttons - They really match my kitchen well - I think they are a little bit too dark for my intended project but I was thinking about making earrings out of them.

my homework is done

after much procrasination I did some procrastiknitting : )

and then I decided to play with the photo editor feature on the computer I thought it looked kind of fun

anyways there are my 10 rows for the cuff of the mitten I believe the next step is a stripe which will be in a contrasting cream color

Happiness

I got these two plaque/coasters from my aunt at Norbyfest I thought they were pretty funny - the top word on the black one is Remember (as in remember I'm not a good photographer)

Breakfast with the Stars

okay well sort of - after church on Sunday we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and while I was eating my french toast I looked up and standing behind my mom not 12 inches from her was Gary Sinise - he had been in town the night before playing with his band for riverfest...
He had his hat down pretty low and was trying to be incognito it actually took me a minute to get from that guy looks familiar to that's Gary Sinise alas no pictures but it was a good celebrity sighting - I wonder if he would have posed with a sock....

Drinking Dirt

Okay so not really but I was trying to think of something that could help my plants from laying down in their pot and straws were the only thing at my house that I could come up with - chopsticks were my other thought but I didn't have any at my house plus being flexi straws I can bend the tops down for a little resting place.
I gave them a little fresh dirt at the top that has miracle grow mixed in so hopefully they will get a little extra added pep in them.
I also took all my knitting patterns that I've printed out and put them into plastic page protectors next I need to get a binder and put them into dividers by pattern type.
and maybe get the yarn for my norweigan mitten class which is next Saturday - oops...

Blurry Photo Day

jaywalker socks
Originally uploaded by KellyKnits.

So I took 4 pictures of my jaywalker sock and every single one of them looks blurry - so I will subject you only to the least blurry or the very blurry pictures *blogger won't upload photos now so I posted this one using flickr*

I tried to take a picture of the melted yarntainer but it doesn't show up because of how the light reflects off the melted in angle. I didn't work on the sock because I was going to get my patterns organized in my new sheet protectors - but instead I watched Little House on the Prairie...

Melting

So it got up to about 101 yesterday and when I got my yarntainer out of my car to reorganize my knitting bag for meetup last night - my yarntainer had melted - luckily no damage was done to anything else in the bag or in the yarntainer for that matter but the lid doesn't stay on the yarntainer very well anymore and one whole side is sort of caved in.
I tried to take a picture of the jaywalker socks I'm working on and as per my usual everytime I try and take a picture my batteries in my camera are dead - so the 17 rows of progress I made will have to remain a mystery until tomorrow.
hopefully I won't find anything else melted today.....

Norbyfest 2006

Well we had no frozen custard taste tests this year so it was a little disappointing - it was also 99 degrees on Saturday while we were outside picnicking. All in all I think this years event was successful. We also decided every 7th year will be a destination Norbyfest so in 2010 we will be going somewhere tropical.
I finished a dishcloth while I was there and started a new one then realized I casted on the number of stitches that should have been the number of rows so I ripped it out and didn't start another one.
Tonight when I go to meetup I am going to work on the jaywalker socks again - last meetup I finished the 1st nine rows and that's all the progress I've made on them so tonight I'll be working on those and will take a picture of my progress for tomorrow's post.
I also learned that you should never leave a candle in your car when it's 99 degrees even for a short time... any one know how to get wax off of a car's upholstery?