Friday, July 13, 2007

Finally got started on MS3!!!

My yarn finally arrived on Thursday. I was a little leery about using black, but it turns out to be a heathered black with bits of blues and greens. It's quite lovely. I've only wound up one skein into a ball so far.
I only got the first 50 rows done yesterday. This pattern is a challenge. It is the most complex lace chart with which I've worked, and placing those darn beads is quite fiddly. My almost four-year old likes to sit on the edge of my chair when I'm knitting and hold my hair or just lean on me. I can NOT stand for her to be there when I'm doing a beading row. The little tiny hook, trying to catch all the strands of the laceweight, and not drop anything is a bit more than I can handle when she gets to jiggling her feet or wiggling around.
Above is the gauge swatch. It turned out a bit airy, but I think it will work. I liked it much better after blocking it out.

In FO news, I finished the Forest Canopy Shawl out of Koigu KPPPM. This is a horrible picture so just imagine a better one until I can get a better one taken. Ugh.
The WIPs are still going, but I haven't been working on them diligently. I've been distracted with lace. The feather & fan socks are still stalled out on the cuff. I did several rows on the Bellatrix socks while the kids played at the park, but didn't make very much progress. When I get caught up with the Mystery Stole 3, I'll devote more time to the socks. They're really my out and about projects more than sitting at home projects.

FiberArts club was awesome on Wednesday. We had three brand new people, one of whom decided to join the homemakers' club. One of the others was already a member of another extension club but wants to learn to crochet and/or knit. The third for now will probably just be one who comes to sit and knit rather than join homemakers.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

*sniff*

That's me sniffling away since dh gave me his heinous virus. I've got it much more mildly than he did, but then that's typical. I have a kick-ass immune system, and his immune system is about as strong as an hour old kitten. So I'm just sniffling a lot, raw throat from that lovely post-nasal drip, and running a low fever. I'll live.

I started another pair of socks, the Bellatrix pattern from July's Socktopia. It's a pretty quick knit so far. I have four more pattern repeats to go before I get to the heel, but I've been distracted trying to finish my Forest Canopy Shawl. I have 8 1/2 rows to go. I should be able to finish it today if I just sit down and do it. I'd love to have it blocked before the FiberArts club meeting tomorrow; however, I also need to clean the house and get to the grocery store before then, so maybe I won't get it done and blocked, especially if I can't get myself off the computer.

The Mystery Stole yarn still hasn't arrived. I'm hoping for today or tomorrow. It only has to come from one state over. Even though I chose the cheap shipping option, I wouldn't think it would take too long. I picked up beads for it yesterday. I hope they'll look good. I had trouble finding the 8/0 beads locally; there just weren't many choices in color. I'll try the ones I got, and if I hate them, I'll just rip back and do it without beads.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Shipped

My midnight heather Alpaca Cloud for Mystery Stole 3 has been shipped. The shipping date: Two days from now. There must be some kind of wrinkle in the space-time continuum at Knitpicks.

Friday, July 06, 2007

So much going on

I just haven't felt like updating so now my blog is sadly neglected. Let's see if I can do a top 10 things-going-on-to-distract-me-from-blogging list:

1. My dad has cancer. This really sucks. I can't say too much about it, or I will get really upset.

2. My mildly autistic ds has been enrolled in a study at the Christian Sarkine Autism Center at Riley Hospital for Children. We just found out he was on the placebo--good news because it means the recent improvements we've seen in him (which have been subtle but are definite) are just a result of his maturing and reaping the benefits of speech therapy and preschool. He now starts phase II of the study and goes on the medication. I'm somewhat excited, but also a bit trepidacious as I know that I need to be on the watch for real side effects now. I'm hoping that he will be communicative about any discomforts he may experience. The drug is an antibiotic previously used at large doses to treat tuberculosis. Decades ago when tuberculosis was more of a problem, it was noted in the schizophrenic (and some other mentally ill population which I can't currently recall) population that their symptoms of social withdrawal were improved. The results of the initial study of this drug in small doses with children with autism were encouraging enough to implement this slightly larger study in which my ds is participating. We are specifically looking for improvement in speech and social engagement.

3. Point #1 above seems to have the effect on me of withdrawing into reading and knitting to avoid thinking about the possibility of losing my dad so my housework--as well as the blog--is suffering. Short of making and sticking to my to-do lists, I don't know what to do here.

4. Ravelry. When I am on line, I'm either on ravelry or . . . .

5. Google reader. Reading blogs. I love it, but it is kind of a timesuck. And then that darn Yarn Harlot seduced me into. . . .

6. Mystery Stole 3. It's a knitalong where participants are given a supplies list and then given only parts of the pattern every week. It's all I can do not to call knitpicks customer service and scream, "Why is my order still pending?! It's been over 12 hours since I placed the order!! Get a move on!" *blush*

7. Sock knitting. I finally finished the Monkey Socks out of Mama E's C*eye*ber Fiber in the Mean Girl colorway.

Still working on the Feather & Fan socks in Tofutsies.

Started Priscilla's Dream Socks from Favorite Socks. These don't look like much yet.

I also have four or five patterns for socks in my ravelry queue (oops! make that six), and I'm sure I'll add more. It may be a Very Socky Christmas this year. *wink*

8. I keep thinking about casting on for my stripey sweater. It'll be a set-in sleeve top down following the procedure outlined in Knitting from the Top by Barbara Walker. I really want to make it, but I'm chicken to cast on and mess it up. What a goofball I am!

9. The four-corners dishcloth. (Pattern link in the linked blog's left sidebar.) I've finished two and I'm partway through a third. They're very fun to work.

Yes, that is a CONE of red, green and white Sugar n Cream. I don't know what I was thinking. Well, I do, actually. I thought I'd make dishcloths for everyone on our Christmas list, gather them up to look like bows, and attach them to the packages. Corny as hell, eh? Yeah, it didn't happen either.

10. Forest Canopy Shawl. The yarn is Koigu KPPM? KPPPM? I have no idea how many P's should be in there, and I don't feel like going to look at the label. It's multicolored. It's pretty. It's been moving along pretty quickly, though I know it will slow down as the rows get longer. I'm enjoying it very much. I just hope the two skeins I have are enough, or I will have to make modifications.
I can't wait to finish and block this puppy. It doesn't look like much here, but it's going to grow so much and be so lacy and beautiful when it's blocked!

And that's what's been keeping me busy lately. I'll try to keep up with the blog a little better.