Olympic Knitting and a new job!

I'm hoping to sneak in another post here while the kids are occupied. The girls are still playing with their sock babies, after a break to play outside and have dinner, and the boys are pretending to ice skate around the living room. Is it bedtime yet?

(already interrupted to kiss an owie and give a snuggle)

I am still surprised that I got my Olympic Knitting done on time. I am such a procrastinator and usually my eyes are bigger than my stomach (just translate that to knitting somehow) but this time I actually chose a project that was a challenge for me and that I was able to finish. I probably could've done something a little more challenging for me, but you just never know. Especially with me. The hat I made is intended for kamic who is such an example of strength and perservance. She amazes me. Her blog is well, well worth the read, as are her articles. I hope she likes it, and wish there were something more I could do.

In other news, I am rejoining the workforce! I am going back to work full-time, this time for good(at least I hope so anyway.) C-man is going to a really cool daycare, we visit with him tomorrow and he is pretty excited to have his own "school." I start on Monday, and while the job is not terribly exciting, it is involved, I have a lot to learn, and the place I will be working seems really relaxed and nice. I am looking forward to being out of the house again, bringing in some income, and the outside stimulation. Oh and the income. ;)

Super Easy Sock Babies

Okay, so the flu has been through here again, and I am way behind in blog reading, especially all of the Knitting Olympics stuff out there, so I am doing a quick post on the sock babies taking over my house.

My five year old came home with a sock baby made in his pre-kindergarten class complete with with its very own blanket, so cute, he is in love and the siblings were VERY jealous. I haven't talked to his teachers about it yet, so I am not sure where to give credit for these, but they are VERY easy and have led to at least one hour of occupied play time for all four of my kiddos. I'd like to say quiet, but I'd mean it in more of a non-fighting sort of way, as the the baby cries are echoing through the house.

I made sock babies for the other three, and then I ran with it, cutting little fabric blankets for each and even more! First it was baby carriers made by tyeing yarn to toilet paper rolls. Then baby cradles! More toilet paper rolls, cut and taped. AND with the scraps BABY BOTTLES! More tape and cardboard.

Now, of course these are very basic, I had thoughts of painting the rolls, or coloring them and many other fantabulous baby ideas but really, it would've put a damper on the fun for my kids. It would've taken to long at the time, they just want to play and with their imaginations those brown toilet paper rolls become much, much more.

I'm sharing here, in case there others like me who have passels o' children and are always happy to find a simple craft that can occupy for hours.

HOLY MOLY I'M FINISHED!

I DID IT, I REALLY DID. AND EARLY!!!!

Me, the Master Procrastinator has finished my entry for the 2006 Knitting Olympics!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!! The hat has been knitted, felted, blocked, and trimmed and is DONE! My models are my sons, who are five and three. Drew, the five year old is in all of the pictures (including the pre-felting pic, where he is giggling madly under that huge hat) except for the last one with the covered face. That is my three year old, Colin, and that is the ONLY way he would pose, even though he was way excited to have his picture taken. Go figure.

How I join yarn by Blue

I survived the knitting of the hat!!! HOLY MOLY! I did it! It is felting as I type. I will actually finish something BEFORE a deadline. The Denise needles ended up being great as I could take out the extensions as I decreased. I switched to dpn's when the circs were a little unweildy, I haven't used them much but it worked out pretty well. (Although I did lose a needle and have to rescue stitches.)

We saw Fiona Apple & Coldplay the other night, GREAT concert and we had a blast. It was also nice having some kid-free time and a hotel room all to ourselves. No waking up with kids, no sharing my food, AND sleeping in. I got a lot of knitting done on the trip there and back.

Taking a bit of a break

from the Olympian knitting to work on the magic scarf. Since it is BELOW ZERO and we got a bunch of snow-although not nearly as much as the East Coast had. Still though, with the windchill it is like -23 below zero out there. IT IS REALLY, REALLY COLD AND FREEZING. And then I called my sister in CA who had to rub it in that it is a little cool there at 68 degrees and she is running her a/c in the car. PUNK ASS BRAGGER!

The cold is reaffirming our decision to get our butts to CA, except when my sister had to wait TWO hours at the URGENT care office today. I suppose that could happen here in Iowa, but really not likely unless the Urgent Care doctor also delivers babies or something.

Yeah, that whole warmth thing seems to be winning though. Must.finish.my.scarf.

And I'm off! FINALLY! The hat so far, on top of a lovely picture drawn by one of my daughters. I'm using Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, this color is Mist. 

Here is the closeup of the hat so far, see my nifty decreases?  

I mean really

I should've realized way ahead of time I would be my own worst competitor in the Knitting Olympics.

After finally settling on the right length of circular needles and casting on the right number of stitches I thought I was off and running. Until I fell on a hurdle. Instead of actually comprehending the pattern and joining the cast on stitches and knitting a row, I cast on and went straight to row number 2. AAAH! No wonder those M1's were so tough.

So NOW I have frogged and am casting on ONCE again. Then I will need to obsessively recount the stitches to make sure that I have the EXACT RIGHT AMOUNT and then FINALLY I will hopefully be on my way. HOPEFULLY.

Bad Blogger, bad!

The yarn Olympics have begun and I haven't even CAST ON yet! Heeeeelp! The bag for Grandma is still on the needles I need and I have been working to finish it. My left arm is NOT cooperating though, the tingling has been increased lately and it just does not want to follow the commands coming from the brain. But it's the Knitting Olympics so it will just have to.

Now, I'm off to furiously ready myself and the kids for dinner out with my family. Wheeee!

Your Linguistic Profile:

80% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Midwestern

5% Yankee

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

So I took pictures

but they were really dark and I was way too lazy to retake them or try to lighten them so all you get is text.

I am knitting away on my super easy purple comfy shawl, and SO CLOSE to being finished. I am still undecided on whether I will just be done, or add some sort of crocheted edge to it. I could always add an edge later though, so maybe I'll try it out for a bit first. (Of course you know it will then become one of those things I think about doing but never get around to.)

I also worked a bit on my grandma's bag, as I will need the needles for the KNITTING OLYMPICS! WOOHOOO! I am going to be making a felted hat, my first ever and I am way excited. I had the urge to look for something even more challenging, but then I remembered that I tend to take on too much and maybe I should just stick with the challenge at hand. Afterall, the pattern does involve counting.

I am also obsessed with Crazy Aunt Purl's blog. I've been reading from the beginning and I am absolutely enthralled with her. Hilarious, smart, moving, and just cool. I want to be her when I grow up. For now I will settle for obsessively reading her blog, I'm up to October. p.s She's also a member of Club OCD which makes me even more in awe of her. She's a member of the club! And likes yarn! And cats! And lives in a cute house in CA!

So, what do you do...

when you live in Iowa where it gets cold and your computer desk is next to a drafty window AND you have a whole bunch of delicious chunky yarn? You knit up a shawl for yourself!. I'm following this very, very easy pattern from Lion Brand using Wool-Ease chunky-the same yarn I am making the magic scarf with. I am not adding the fringe though. It's knitting up quite quickly in spite of a few mishaps that may or may not have been caused by the aforementioned Dyed in the Wool. It's just for me to wear at home so I'm not too worried about those little mistakes. Well, except that I might worry a little bit about knowing it's not totally right, but hey it gives it character, eh?

Yarn and this... Heaven indeed. 

Me, myself, and I

Some rollergirls, a finally quiet house, yarn, and a glass of wine.
Aaaaaaah. I'm having some Dyed-in-the-Wool "unchangeable"
(2003) Delicious, and slightly different, perfect for yarn
girls everywhere.

As a yarney type I was happy to see this wine when a friend
started carrying it in his shop. It's especially great to knit
or crochet while drinking it. Unless, of course, you drink a
lot of it and then it doesn't do a whole lot for whatever
project you happen to be working on. ;)

Because I have a hard time sticking with one or two, or even a
few projects at once I had to cast on another! A shawl from a
Lion Brand pattern, using Wool-Ease Chunky in the same loverly
purply blend as my hat and scarf. This is knitting up quickly,
and I can't wait to have it here to wrap up in when I'm a
little chilly.
I skipped over another shawl type pattern on the site. I
*think* I could do it, but I'm not totally sure and now I am
thinking it could be an excellent project for the Yarn
Olympics. Wheeee! The days are passing quickly and practice
time is dwindling. *chattering teeth biting fingernails*

After staying up last night

to finish up laundry and make sure we had the appropriate number of shirts, pants, socks, and underwear for the kids to be dressed this morning (and making my first bloggish button) I woke up groggy and tired this morning.

The husband and I did breakfast and got children dressed and polished and shined and ready to go. Of course this includes rousting them out of bad, no easy task in itself.

The husband takes the children off in the car to school, and I stay here with the youngest and the sick one. I call the school to let them know sick one will be home today.

"Well, there isn't school today."

Yes folks, I've done it again.

Go Team Sybermoms Yarn Whores!

Because we're entering Yarn Harlot's 2006 Knitting Olympics!

Are we crazy? YES, OF COURSE! Especially me as I am a fairly novice knitter, gah! Fellow Sybermom Divy and I are heading up the team and we've decided to make breast cancer our theme and more importantly those who've been affected by it our focus.

I'm thinking I will do a hat of some kind, I haven't knitted a hat yet, and it should prove to be a challenge, we'll see. I really should do a little training, eh?

Pictures? You want Pictures??

Replacement Bag #6, which is felting as we speak!

This bag is for my grandma, I am really, really loving it. 

My newest project, the Magic Scarf from Crazy Aunt Purl's blog. I've been wanting to make a scarf to go with my hat and this is perfect!

Extreme closeup of the dishtowel. See all those purls and knits? 

The dishtowel in moss stitch. It is really not attractive and I keep thinking of frogging it. But man that's a lot of stitches. And it would still be useful, right? 

This is the new star blanket I'm working on in Wool-Ease sportweight. I'm liking it. 

Too funny.

Guess what my five year old has been studying in school?

Mice. Yesterday he came home with his colored mouse pictures, today a mouse mask and a pop up mouse. It's really too much lol.

My poor little guy is still sick.

I thought this afternoon that he was on the mend, but he commenced with the vomiting and diarrhea again tonight. Poor thing. After my couple Blue Moons last night I ended up being awake most of the night with him. I am very, very tired today and really wishing my other children would crash so I could do the same. I so hope he is able to get some rest tonight and is feeling better tomorrow, poor thing.

On Friday my family-parents, sisters, and bil and I are starting a Biggest Loser thing. We're giving ourselves an incentive and putting money into the pot for the winner. Wheee! I am really not so good at the whole consistent exercising thing-even though I used to be a runner-and am more horrible at not eating stuff that's bad or fatty or whatever. Twelve weeks. Twelve weeks I have to get myself back into shape.

I need to make a plan for how to do it, one that I have a chance of succeeding at. But first I am taking myself out for a nice yummy dinner and not worrying about any of it. I've got to send myself off right!