Knitting Frenzy

I'm thinking that maybe I'm in a bit of a funk. Depression is a weird thing. It is hard to tell when it creeps up on you. It's super gradual and one day you wake up feeling as if you have always felt this crummy your whole life.

I keep eating. I can tell that I need to exercise but I'm not. I want to hole up and do nothing but knit. I have all kinds of ideas of things I want to knit and not enough time to do it. Sort of a hiding-from-the-world-by-knitting frenzy. I keep thinking that it will make me feel better, but it doesn't.

So there are a ton of knitting ideas and possible projects and I can't get to them all at the same time. Here is just a sampling: A Clapotis out of some Silk Garden I scored for half off. A felted llama (per request from my son. His 6th grade science "invention" is a "llama launcher." I have been asked to supply said llama.) Then there's the felted hedgehog pattern that I just had to have after I saw it while searching out the felted llama in the pattern book. Too cute. And don't forget the afghan for each of my kids to go in their newly painted rooms on their new bed.

I started on the afghan for my son. He picked his yarn in like, two seconds. We decided to make them out of Lion Brand Homespun. Ugh. I'd forgotton just how much I hate knitting with Homespun. But the range of colors is great, and I figure it will go through the washer (and dryer) if need be. Sigh. The sacrifices we make for our children. The color is Rococo and it looks exactly like a bowl of oatmeal spread out in blanket form. I am guessing it will use 6 skeins to fit a twin size bed. The pattern is a simple one. You knit 4 rows, then you k4, p4 for 4 rows. I wish you could see it better than this picture. Emi has chosen blue (will wonders never cease, I was certain it was going to be lavender.


Hers is going to be a different textured pattern which I found here.


As if all that wasn't enough to keep me busy for awhile (and that is only the projects I have thought up in the past couple of days. Don't even get me started on UFOs and other swirling ideas), I saw this sweater in the Chico's catalog. I thought, hey, I could MAKE that sweater! Well, I'd leave off the huge wooden buttons. And I felt challenged to design my own pattern.


I found this yarn. It is called Mister Joe Blanket from Elann. It is a single ply wool blend that knits up at 24/4. I think it would be the perfect yarn for my sweater. And at approximately 2000 yards for $30 it's a steal! Right now,I can only dream. MUST. WORK. DOWN. STASH.

I'm Here, I Really Am

Hey Guys, I'm sorry. I really mean to post more often than this. I know, I know, I promised three posts a week. Not happening. I will try harder.

Let's see, it's been 10 days since my last confessi--er, post. It's been really busy. The White Tornadoes, aka my parents came over again. We spent the three day weekend painting the kids room. Have I already mentioned this? We live in a very small house. My kids have to share a room. So I tried to come up with a color that would work for an 11 year old boy and a 7 year old girl. We were thinking orange-ish, but it came out very peach. Kai was not too pleased. But he was such a good sport, I think because anything was better than dirty walls. We cleared out their closet and got a Home Depot closet organizer thing going on in there. Thanks, Dad. We cleared, we painted. Actually, my mom and dad did. We bought a new bunk bed. Actually, my sister did. She drove down to Ikea IN CARSON, no less (far, really far) and drove it all the way up to Santa Barbara. We're talking 150-200 miles. Then, she and my dad built it and had it up by the time the kids came home from school Tuesday. Is my family not completely awesome? It makes me all verklempt just to think about it. Then, if all that painting and cleaning, clearing and building wasn't enough, my mom ironed my clothes so I look all spiffy today at work! My dad also planted the front yard and put on a new screen door. See what I mean by White Tornadoes? It's like that commercial where the cartoon "clean" tornado sweeps through the house and the house is transformed into a beautiful, clean, sparkling home. I'm guessing that you are imagining me lounging on the chaise with a box of bonbons while all this is going on. In my defense, all I can say is this: I didn't have any bonbons. Heh.

Next up: my kitchen, bathroom and yes, folks, my room! Dare I? I'm thinking before and after pics. But it will have to be a secret between you and me since my mom would absolutely die if she found out I was posting "before" pictures. I however, have no shame. Well, almost no shame. I cringe a little at the thought, but it might be fun. Opinions? Votes?

On the needles: hats and more hats. I made a hat from sock yarn, then broke down and bought a skein of yarn to make a hat for my friend B out of Rowan Big Wool. Turns out I'm about 10 (or less) yards short. Ouch. Doncha just hate that?

Hat Mania

I don't know why I only just feel like making hats these days. But I do seem to be getting tired of them.



This one was for a co-worker. I gave it to him last week and he was very pleased.




I actually set out to make this one for myself, but I ran out of yarn. The idea was to make a wide band of ribbing, then have it poof out a little, kind of like a beret, then come back in again. This would have been a specially made hat to accommodate my large, rather strangely shaped head. Even though I have a big head, it is sort of pointy at the top. I thought it would be a good idea to try and camoflauge the shape of my head. Anyway, it didn't work since I ran out of yarn but it came out kind of cute for someone with a smaller head than I or my kids. Perhaps a toddler or someone with a pinhead, like my friend B. I only say "pinhead" because I'm terribly jealous of her little, ladylike head. I have to stand three feet behind her when we take a picture so I won't look like a giantess. It's embarrassing, let me tell you.

This is the beginning of a hat for my co-worker's wife. He mentioned that she loved his hat. When I asked what color she might like, he said white. So I'm putting a little pattern in to keep it from being totally blah. Can you see it? It's got a diagonal patterning to it.

I don't know why I am so hat crazy. But I really am using a lot of stash yarn up, so that is a good thing.

More Hats

I have been home all weekend with some sort of yucky virus. Aches, really sore throat and extremely tired. Didn't leave the house all weekend. Luckily, Kevin took the kids for the whole weekend and I just holed up and rested. And knit. And caught up on some Korean soaps. Korean soaps are perfect for that. You can turn them off, doze, watch a little more, knit, doze, etc. I really feel much better, even though my head is pounding.

I made someone another binary hat, which I gave away before I took a picture of it. It looks somewhat like Kai's, only it spells "Mike."


I made this hat for Kevin from stash scraps: It's Bernat Denimstyle, a cotton blend.



I took another crack at a visor hat. This is in some Cascade 220 I had lying around. I ran out of grey at the very end and used some orange at the top. I hope it doesn't look too tacky.


Here is a shot of my paparazzi-shy son who very reluctantly agreed to model the hat for me this morning. I have deleted the blurry, awful shot of me trying to model it and take a picture simultaneously. Multi-tasking is not one of my strong points.

I had forgotten how much I love knitting with Cascade 220. I love the stretchy feel of that yarn. Note to self: One of these days I am going to knit myself a Wonderful Wallaby out of Cascade 220.

I think I am finally coming to the end of my hat run. I have one or two left in me. But that will be it for awhile.