Prioities

I am working mostly on Bobby's scarf and some on the Mock Cable Baby Hat (awwwwww ain't it cute?) for my cousin's grandchild-to-be-born-soon. Slow going on the hat but the yarn is the corn I bought at Celtic Knot a few weeks ago and is silky smooth. A big difference from some of the acrylic I have used from the charity stash. Oh, not for my hats. They're always soft and cushy for those sensitive heads. But a pet shelter blanket, Knit for Kids sweater, lots of Warm Up America blocks - oh yeah. I use up the stiffer, bulkier yarns I have for those. Hmmmmmm. Come to think of it, I guess it has been a while since I've touched that stuff, but not for lack of wanting to. It's been a while since I finished my last preemie hat too and I haven't touched my current chemo - The Floppy Brim Cap - in eons. My hands are still wonky, but I knit a row or two and stop to rest and that seems to help. I'm hoping it's related to some body swelling pressing on nerves (which I just got news should go down with a medication change as of today!)

So. I have a note from my doctor for the teacher, honest. May I be excused?

Happy Friday!

That makes three great knitting days in a row so I had to share.

On Wednesday Bobby was off and could take me and my scooter over to the Claudia Mayer Resource Center. I knit for charity there every Wednesday and haven't been able to go for about two months. I have missed them terribly. It was heavenly to see everyone and they were genuinely thrilled to see me too. We caught up a bit and had finally settled into knitting when one jumped up and said "Ooooo! Ooooo! You came the right day. We just got this in". There were new boxes of donated yarn almost every week but behind me on the table she pulled forth a box full of eyelash. Eyelash! I use it for my No Hair Day Chemo Hats and the colors she had were perfect to match yarns already in my charity stash. We loaded my basket with ball after fluffy ball.

It was meant to be.

On Thursday I went to my regular Sit-n-Knit at the Lakeside Cafe' and Deli. Mr Mike's place was nearly deserted and my friend Nittany Knits and I were the only knitters there. We had the best time, just the two of us talking about nothing but knitting, books and assorted other happy topics. It was the best Sit-n-Knit for some reason. Sitting with one friend and sharing your knitting time is, well . . . therapeutic. It restoreth the soul and sanity. Larger groups can sometimes stray into conduct unbecoming to a knitter. Discussions of acrylic snobbery, pattern burning, mass froggings . . . but I digress. Try knitting with one friend.

I highly recommend it.

And then came Friday. There was a light snow and a bit of rain last night. Even with a salting this morning, a few small scatterings of ice on our sidewalk nixed me going out for an appointment. The threat of more ice (even though it never materialized) around four in the afternoon canceled another appointment for me. Bummer. It was a totally grey and boring day. Then in comes my Boo. Look what my Boo brought home tonight! Happy Friday! He's all bright eyed and cheery bearing gifts of an armful of bright flowers, my favorite Starbucks Coffee (in the recycling and not pictured I'm afraid) and a knitting book. My Boo.

He loves me.

That makes three great knitting days in a row so I had to share.

LOL Tinkkintz

This is too funny.

LOL tinkknitz

Corn!

Had a great time at a gathering of the Central Maryland Knitting Guild on Sunday. Knitters communing, eating good food and knitting. What could be better? I like to sit with folks I don't know. You learn a thing or two and I've been socially deprived lately. The main staff member there surprised us with a chocolate laced goodie at the end to top it off. Very sweet of her. And quite fine - not a real sweet but chocolate - the way I like it.

The girls told me there was a sale at The Celtic Knot Yarn Shop over the weekend too. It was part of their 5th Anniversary Celebration complete with prizes - sadly no phone call came to announce my winnings later in the day oh well :-( The atmosphere was festive though and I spent the bucks my Dad gave me for Christmas on a bunch of Addies I wanted. Wheeeee! Carole had all the ones I wanted but one. She offered to have a friend deliver it to my regular knitting group on Thursdays. Funny thing, she still didn't have the Soak I want. Poor thing can't keep it in stock.

Ran into pal from Ralvelry who's working there now. She helped me pick out some cool corn yarn in a pretty lavender for a hat for my cousin's baby granddaughter which is on the way. Yes, I succumbed. Besides, the hand is okay if I knit a row or two and rest it. I first was looking for a traditional pink baby yarn and there wasn't any. Turns out that was a good thing for my intentions to do more creative knitting this year. This gives me a chance to work with something cool for a change and it's completely machine washable and dryable. The couple is young so that is a must. But now I have to decide on the pattern. Arrrrrrghhh! Here comes the patternophobia.

Ravelry. It's everywhere now. It was only two months old when I came on board back in June 2007 and had only

3063 users, 682 unclaimed invitations, and 7,303 people on the waiting list

And 8 months later on February 1 2008?

Total # of registered users: 72,879

Wooooooooah! Impressive.

Hands

I'm having this problem with my hands. I get three rows done on Bobby's scarf a night. Grrrrr! I have gotten about 7 inches accomplished though. Even the turtle eventually won the race so maybe I'll get it done by next winter for him. It is very soft and beautiful though. My Boo can pick a yarn I tell 'ya.

I have gotten requests for knitted objects lately too. How nice to be asked but how dismayed I am that they come at this time. My sister has asked for a scarf. The other noticed on this blog that I mentioned something for her a while back. A cousin asked for something for a new granddaughter's shower soon. Eeeeeeeek!

Come on hands - cooperate!

Blame The Needles

So. I learned a valuable lesson over the past month or so. Sometimes yarn knits different with different needles - at least for me right now. I'd been trying to knit my husband a scarf with Addies and decided the gauge was off so I moved a size down. Twice. I like circs - I drop a needle fairly often - so I needed to switch to my Boye interchangables but was still having a lot of problems just feeling comfortable knitting the stuff in general. I've been periodically picking the swatch up in the evenings - frogging and knitting the same small swatch ball.

Tonight I got out my first pair of size 7 straight Clover Bamboos.

My Lucky Bamboos.

It was like night and day, the yarn flowed smoothly over the needles and my hands didn't fight as much. And yes, I did say "as much". I am still having trouble with knitting, but at least if I go slow and steady I can maybe enjoy it again instead of all this frustration I've been having. I have been picking up a worsted acrylic preemie hat for social knitting and getting by for a while now.

Now I can maybe make my husband a scarf before summer since he chose the yarn, put it in my Christmas stocking and requested said scarf?

Obligitory New Yew Year's Post

It's been an interesting year for my knitting world. Changes in my body have affected it and motivation has been obsessive - but not as productive as one might think given all the time on my hands in the last 4 months.

I did get in these:

30 F.O. in 2007(okay, two aren't pictured)

I haven't figured out how to post my nice little collage of them so you'll just have to go to my flickr page to see it. Sorry. I didn't get a picture of my Banana Republic Neckwarmer yet. I still need to get buttons so it and the Banana Republic Knockoff Hat will match now that Christmas season is over. My little bird needs to hibernate in the jewelry box. Also one of my hats got taken in without a picture - it was in my bag and I was at the center so I turned it in I guess.

Looking at the stuff I did last year really made me take stock of my skills.

• 21 hats(1 not pictured)
• 2 blankets, and a few other squareish things using that same pattern
• 2 scarves, a pair of booties and a single mangled armwarmer.
  

BOOOOOOOORING!

So what's in store for 2008

• Knitting for charity of course
• Knitting for pleasure I hope
• Knitting for variety please

I do have some things in my Ravelry queue to spice things up. For instance I got an idea from a woman on "The Greater Good" charity forum to make an item and donate it for auction to raise money instead. One Lion Brand Homespun scarf on a Teddy Bear went for $600. Go figure. I can make an intricate lace scarf, a toy, or anything I want in quality yarn and still donate it. Cool!

I am proud to say that 21 of my FO were charity items. And I like making hats dangit. It's why I decided to knit. I will always have a charity hat in progress. I just need to branch out a bit and explore my possibilities.