Back, With A Vengeance

Where does one begin to explain a 18.5 month silence?  I’ll sum it up with LIFE happened.  In any case, I’m back now, with a vengeance.  I have ALL.OF.THE.THINGS on the needles, hooks, and wheel.  Lots of obligation projects, which I’ll talk about in the future.  For now, I’ll just pick up where I left off last February… I finished spinning the fiber, from the previous post, last weekend.  Got 343 lovely yards of a fingering weight out of it.  Now, if only I could remember where I got the fiber from…

Before navajo plying…

After plying, soaking, and drying.

Soggy Saturday

Most of my Saturdays are the same: Gym, knit, store, knit, church, knit, sleep (dream of knitting).  This Saturday started that way……

However, when I returned the the gym and settled into my office chair for a few rows, my teenager came downstairs.  Now, teenagers tend to look surly as a general rule, but it was kinda early for his scowl.   When I asked what his problem was he glared at our Maltese (this will be an important detail) and said “My floor is wet”.  I asked if he thought Mr.Marshmallow (the Maltese) had gone potty on the floor.  He replied “I don’t know.  There’s water.  Lot’s of it.”  Being a mom, my first thought was “that’ll teach him to ignore the dog when he’s whimpering to go out”, but I decided to say nothing and go check it out.

What I found was that half of his room, about a yard of the hallway, and the hall bathroom (ding..ding..ding!) was SOAKED.  I looked at intelligent high school freshman and said “You thought our 10lb dog did this?”  The teenager wisely declined to answer.

That left me no option but to wake the hubby and tell him that we had “an issue”.   (Mind you it is a little after 7am on s Saturday – waking my husband on a Saturday is about as smart as greeting a bearilla in a bacon dress)

Hubby was surprisingly calm and went to work with the shop vac.  He managed to lower the level of wetness from sopping to soaking, then said tis gar plen (okay, maybe he thought it) and we went to breakfast.  We are fortunate enough to have a neighbor with a carpet cleaning business, so when we returned hubby called him to see if he could help.

He agreed to come over, so after the hubby and I emptied the teenagers room, he brought an industrial strength vacuum and drier.  By the time he left it was 11am and I was beat!

Too beat to knit.  (The horror!)  Well, I couldn’t let the day go by without creating so I grabbed my spinning wheel and went to town.  The smooth motion of drafting and tredling helped ease the mornings tensions and just plain felt good.  Afterward, I took a little cat nap. (And expunged of his charges Mr.Marshmallow did, too)   🙂

Mr.Marshmallow catches some zzz's in the background.

Conference call knitting

Every time I get frustrated at my day job, I remember “hey… they let me knit” and suddenly things don’t seem so bad.  Really!  Freedom to knit is quite the perk.

In my line of work, I frequently have to attend several conference calls a day.  These calls typically involve the meeting host sharing information via live meeting or some other web conferencing tool.  This means I need to pay attention to the screen and that I can’t multitask.  Enter knitting…

With my wireless headset, conference calls provide optimal time for work in garter stitch or stockinette in the round, like vanilla sock knitting.  Sure it may take me 9 months to finish a pair of socks (like the ones below), but that’s a small price to pay for the freedom to knit at work.

Sleep deprived

What is it about sleep deprivation that makes me delusional?  Due to the nature of my day job I had to return to work from 8:45-11:30pm last night.  I woke up at 6am with a rush of finish-itis.  Not only did I finish the cowl I’d been working on, but I even set up the back drop, took photos, and went stash diving for the next project – all before 7:30.  Now, despite a splitting headache, I want to make all-of-the-things.  Delusional?  You betcha!

Jami's nubby cowl

Spring on the brain

We just had our first snow of the season and what’s on my mind?  Spring, of course.   All I can think of is budding flowers, spring scents, and lively colored spring yarns.

While spring isn’t typically the time of year associated with knitting, I really don’t see why it can’t be.  I imagine myself in light-weight cardigans, made from fibers such as silk and bamboo, that have fantastic drape.  I’ve even found myself stalking The Loopy Ewe website for new spring-like colorways of my favorite yarns.

Funny how the grass is always greener – when it’s warm I want to knit mittens; when it’s cold I fantasize about wispy knits.  Since the weather isn’t going to change any time soon, I guess I’ll just have to keep springtime in my Ravelry queue and Pinterest boards and try not to overlook the beauty of winter…. for now.  🙂

My little guy enjoying the snow.

Cowl Weather

For the last couple of days we’ve dipped down into the single digits.  Quite a contrast from the 50-60 degree temperatures we’ve experienced for much of the start of 2012.

At the risk of being flogged by my fellow Kansans, I must say that I fully embrace the chilly temperatures and all that it inspires – snuggles on the couch, hearty soups, yummy warm cider, and of course, toasty handknits.

Cooler temps give me an excuse to model my best knitwear with wild abandon… okay, maybe that’s a bit much, but you catch my drift.  In any case, my favorite cozy knit of the year to date has been my lifesaver-like adaption of the Ostrom cowl (designed by Norah Gaughan).

Jami's Ostrom

What’s your favorite cozy knit this year?

Mustache Mania!

This winter has seen a revival of the mustache…or is that just a Kansas thing?  In any case, mustaches are popping up all over – on t-shirts, on coffee mugs, on pencils.

Of course the knitting community hasn’t missed this mustache infatuation.  In fact, looking at the dates of Incognito  (published in the winter, 2009 edition of Knitty) and the It’s a Mustache, For Your Fingers! patterns (May 2009), us knitters may have kicked off this craze.

In honor of the humble mustache, here are a few pictures of my recent mustachy FOs.

Super Stoked!

How would you describe the feeling you have when you’re contacted by a member of Knitty‘s editorial staff and…. (I’m not even going to finish that sentence, because that alone was enough for me squee like a tween at a Justin Bieber concert).

I’ll cut to the chase – Kate messaged me on Ravelry; informing me that they were putting a Knittyblog post together on the Escargot and asked if I would mind if they mentioned my Escargot Jr. pattern.  Would I mind?  Pardon me while I go fangirl for a moment.  I feel like I’ve won the lottery! How many amazing things can happen to one boring KS girl in a month?

Okay… I’m composed now. 🙂

If you’d like to check out the blog post, you can find it here: http://knittyblog.com/?p=1329

It’s offical – I’m on Etsy!

For the last year my friends have been asking “Do you have an Etsy shop?” and I’ve always replied “no; that doesn’t fit into my custom knits by order model”.   However, lately I’ve been feeling the need to create.

So, what do you do when you want to make something, but not necessary for you or anyone you know….. You create it and put it on Etsy.

If you’d like to see additional pics and info, click here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/92610210/amethyst-infinity-cowl

What to donate?

One of the best things about being a knitter is the ability to create a tangible object out of yarn, time, and love.  That’s one of the reasons why I frequently participate in charity knitting projects.  This month I plan to complete at least 2 projects for charity (a pet blanket for The Snuggles Project and a hat for Knit Pray Love).

That being said, when I received an email this morning requesting a donation to a silent auction for Relay For Life of Douglas County, KS, I immediately said yes.  The item isn’t due until April, but my problem is…. I have no clue what to knit.  I want make sure that I knit something that has a broad appeal and gets lots of bids for the cause.   So what are your thoughts?  Wash/dish clothes?  Baby blanket? Child’s toy?  Let me know what you think.