All about the knitting

So I haven't been posting much on the knitting front lately, so this one is going to be dominated by knitting news. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that blogger decides to work on the photo front this time.

I feel like I got absolutely nothing accomplished in August. Go look at my Finished Projects list - like one thing the entire month of August. Which isn't to say that there wasn't knitting going on - there was. Like the these:
The OH-IO socks I made for Ellie's birthday. You probably don't remember, but once upon a post, I mentioned that there was secret yarn that I couldn't show that I bought at WEBS, well, this was it. Louet Gems Sport. In some appropriate scarlet and grey. They were technically not finished until September - but all but a few rows were knit in August.

And there was some knitting that happened on WIP's that I won't show you, because they don't really look any different than the last time they were shown - funny thing about lace. And then, there was the obsession. The new Twist Collective was released on the 16th - and I was in lust. I waited until the 20th (payday) to go to KotS and get the yarn (Ecological Wool in natural gray) and immediately cast on. And knit with a fury. And kept knitting - had to get it done by the 1st, that was the goal. So I kept knitting. Couldn't stop to blog about it, had to stop while family was here - momentarily, and I did it. August 31st, I bound off.

And then, the moment of truth. The moment that the little voice in my head had been warning me about since I finished the first sleeve. I slipped in one, unfinished, and it....

Was ginormous. Freaking huge. Ellie was there, she tried it on. Probably could have given it to her. But I was delusional, and said that it would block out to fit me. Hahaha. The next morning I went to knitting pal Meagan's, and she put it on, and it probably would have fit her, with blocking. So, defeated, I frogged the entire sweater that evening at SnB. And Thursday I went back to KotS, exactly 2 weeks after it had been started, and re-cast on, 2 sizes smaller.

And this morning, I sewed in the last end. And here is my amended Vine Yoke Cardigan:
Doesn't look like much does it? But it's going to be blocked, and then I'll sew on the buttons, and it will be wonderful, and wearable - the most important aspect of a sweater in my opinion. This was a great knit - I didn't really mind the re-knitting, I want this sweater that bad. There are however, several errors in the pattern, and the errata have not yet been published (really don't know what's taking so long), so if you're a knitter and you'd like to have one of these too, wait until the errata come out.

So that's nearly done. And knitting has been happening like crazy again - I'm doing the HP House Cup again, dork that I am. But I've never been so productive as when I'm doing the Cup (stupid competitive nature) and with the holiday season around the corner... that's right Holiday knitting has commenced here at Annie's House of Crafting. A project - that will remain under wraps until it is gifted (and boy is it hard to keep secret - it's so dang cute!) is under way.

I managed to work some spinning in for this month. My first ever Navajo plying on the wheel (it was rough at the start - just ask the fam, they were keeping their distance and trying not to make any sudden movements around me). The yardage isn't great, but I knew that going into it.
The roving was a birthday gift from knitting pal Debi. Nameless, just labelled as merino. So I'm calling it "Auguamenti". I still have more to work up, don't know if it'll get done this month though.

I also started a dishcloth (ugh!). Assignment - use yarn/fiber that is at least 50% plant based. How I hate knitting with cotton! Correction, it's actually the purling on straight needles that hurts my hands.
It doesn't look like much, but I can only do so much before my fingers hurt. It'll be good when it's done. And the picture doesn't do the color justice, it's a really bright grass green.

I'm focusing on colorwork for the big project this time around. When it's all done, I will have mittens and a cowl and 2 stealth gifts done. Here's the progress:
The mittens I've been wanting for myself since I got this book last birthday. The mitten is about half done, and I'm loving it. Hoping to get the pair done this month to stay on track time wise. We'll see.

And Sunday night, I knit an entire fingerless mitt. And then ripped it out. Didn't like the thumb. So yesterday, I reworked it.
It's still missing a thumb, we'll get to that tonight. Using my "Vibrant Rainbow " handspun that I showed not long ago. Loving it. It's the Lola pattern, found on random browsing of Ravelry.
I've used the stitch pattern before (Herringbone Rib socks) and will love it. Will probably make those socks again, seeing as they felted in the wash...

Alright, now I really feel like I'm finally caught up with the blog. Yay! First time all summer. And in response to a comment - Krista, let me know what size you are, the sweater in question may fit you better than it fits me.

Let the madness begin

Greetings from Slap-Happy World! Well, ok, not this morning anyway. But the last few days I've been wandering around that strange wonderful for nearly all of my waking hours. That's right, it's football season again! Modified two-a-days started at 8 am on Thursday. So it's been a few long hot days in the life of Annie. I'm not complaining, I'm really happy to be back in my little world of high school sports, just trying to convey the full experience for all of you.

So, in the celebration of my life getting back to it's normal, crazy state, let me show you my training room. My training room in it's "this is as perfect and clean and wonderful as I'm going to be, so you better take a picture before the children come through and ruin it" state.

And this is from the other direction, just to give the full effect.

And the glorious-ness that is a fully stocked and organized training room. Oh tape, how the kids will try to steal you.

Seriously, that's 1280 rolls of pristine 1.5" tape, and though you can only see the one large box in the bottom right corner, there's 20,000 8 oz Gatorade cups crammed into my tiny office. What's sad, is that I'll probably run out of cups before the school year is over, and the tape will hopefully just get me through. Which is why, to the bewilderment of the athletes, I hoard them.

And a nice stocked and organized field kit before I destroy its beauty by having to rifle through it to find a particular size band aid in the 2.2. seconds before the bleeding kid has to be back on the field for the next play. sigh

And on an icky note, this is the stack of medical forms that I spent several hours inputting into the computer, sorting, alphabetizing and filing.

The icky part? This probably isn't even half of them. The really icky part, those are all the ones that I've received to this point. Which means that I will have to tell kids that they can't practice on Monday because I don't have their forms. The really really icky part, that's not supposed to be my job, it's supposed to be up to the AD to do this because it's a matter of eligibility, not medical reasons, that we have to have them.

So, as you can see, my job isn't glamorous all the time, in fact, it rarely is. I so happen to have an amazing training room. Seriously, I've worked out of broom closets before (literally) and been at colleges that hadn't updated the training room since the 50's. Maybe I'll take some pictures of the other training room I have, once I get it cleared out of all the junk that has been dumped in it over the summer. You'll see the difference.

Moving on, I've spent some good quality time with Kaylee this week, which has only added to my adventures in Slap-Happy world. BFF Bridget's mom has been in the hospital since last Thursday night with some issues that are related to the uterine cancer they diagnosed since she's been in the hospital. So, I've been trying to help out with Kaylee duty as much as possible for Bridget to be able to spend some time with Mama Fox. Yogurt popsicles make for excellent blog fodder.

The illness of Mama Fox leads me into my new knitting project. A comfort shawl for her.

It's the Tri-Aran-Angle from Knitty. For those not acquainted with the concept, a comfort or prayer shawl is knit to give comfort in a time of need, to be knit with prayer and love in every row and every stitch, nothing but good thoughts for the recipient.

Something that non-knitters usually don't realize, is that in knitting something like this, we knitters also take comfort. It gives us something to do in a situation where we feel helpless. It goes down to the reason that we knit. It allows us to put all the love we feel for the people we knit for into what we're knitting, so that we know, even if the recipient doesn't, that every time they happen to wear that knitted item, they are surrounded by that love, those good thoughts and well wishes and prayers. So to all you non-knitters out there, remember that the next time you receive a hand knitted item. That in all those hours that it took to make, the knitter was thinking of you, loving you, wishing you nothing but happiness.

Alright, I think that's enough of Mushyville in the land of Slap-Happy. Let's see if we can find something a little less emotional. How about a dishcloth?

My first attempt at anything resembling entrelac. It's the Garterlac Dishcloth. Out of some self striping kitchen cotton. Love it, as much as I can love a dishcloth anyway. Made me feel very clever. And here's a shot of where I'm at on the Spring Forward sock.

Close to the end of the leg. I'm hopeful that my motivation to knit will return after the insan- I mean two-a-days, have ended. The real fun starts tomorrow, when all the rest of the sports show up. Can I get a woot?!?

Happy Birthday Miss Kaylee!

First off - have to wish a happy birthday to my god-daughter Kaylee. She's now 2. Appropriately enough, most of my blog fodder today has to do with her, even though neither she, nor her parents, read this blog. Oh well, I'm all about cute children pictures.

Last weekend was super. Friday Mom and I went to see "Mamma Mia!" - I highly recommend it. It was a lot of fun, and I had no idea that ABBA had so many good, fun songs. Saturday was the Irish Festival out at the Berea Fairgrounds. Another big thumbs up. Here's Miss Kaylee, looking slightly like a drowned rat, after being spritzed. (It was 95 degrees when there was a breeze!)
Mom and I were very happy to get to see Seamus Kennedy, he's one of our favorites! He's so much fun to watch and listen to.

Kaylee also enjoys Seamus.

She spent the whole set dancing around, it was too funny. Mom and I stayed for a good chunk of time, and besides Seamus, we got to enjoy The Elders, Seven Nations, and a local fave Brigid's Cross.

Sunday was Miss Kaylee's birthday party. I went over early to help set up the pool, and as soon as it was filled, wouldn't you know, massive thunderstorm hits. It P-O-U-R-E-D. But amazingly enough, it dried out in time for the kids to swim. Here's Miss Kaylee modelling the latest in toddler swimwear fashion.
After the pool, it was time for the pinata. Kaylee was a little too young to understand that she was suddenly allowed to hit something with a stick. All in all, a good day for a two year old. So we'll move on to the pathetic lack of knitting. I managed to finish the Luna Moth Shawl finally. I think that might have even happened the weekend before - oops, maybe I should blog more.And then I decided that I was so pleased with the fact that I had finally finished an actual lace project, I had to cast on for another one. There may be something wrong with me. I found a pattern on Ravelry for the Lattice Lace Wrap. It's really pretty, and very easy. Time consuming because I'm using beads, but I can't help it. I'm easily sucked in by shiny things.
That's as far as I've gotten, but like I said, there's not been much knitting happening. I did manage to finish something though. I whipped out this cute little dishrag in an evening.
It'll be for Liz's birthday. It's actually my first ever dishcloth. Why have I not knit these things before? What the heck is wrong with me? For some reason I didn't like to knit easy quick projects when I first started knitting. A scarf? Nah, I'd rather knit a cabled sweater. A dishcloth that can be knit in 3 hours? No way, I'd rather make complicated socks. Seriously. I'm an idiot.

And I did cast on another pair of socks, even though I swore to myself that I wouldn't until I finished at least one of the pairs that's in progress. hahaha. I started "Spring Forward" from the most recent edition of Knitty. They're quick and simple, and I could work on them the other night when I was at Ellie's catching up on most of this season's episodes of Army Wives. I'm using some Lorna's Laces, in the colorway "Somerset" that was purchased last year in Philly at Loop.
So, my vacation picture order finally came in. Which can only mean one thing... scrapbooking! So hopefully, in the next few days, I'll have some pages to show you, break the monotony of the knitting pics.