Why I'll never be a fabulous knitter

1. I don't have a cat, and I never will. This is a big one. It seems they serve as knitting muses. Besides the fact that I am just not a cat person (stems from psycho cat experience when I was 5 & I think they can smell my fear), I am also allergic to them. Something about a protein or enzyme in their saliva. So unless cats stop licking themselves and quit acting possessed, this will remain the number one stumbling block to my illustrious knitting career.

2. I'm allergic to wool. I tried to knit a pair of socks for my brother from 100% New Zealand wool and I nearly lost my left index finger. My finger looked almost as gross as my brother-in-law's foot when he got that oozy staph infection only I didn't require a wound-vac and several antibiotic prescriptions (ok and I didn't ooze, either). Also, things just don't look as beautiful when they are knit from acrylic. Why go to all that work just to have it pill up and look frumpy? This just doesn't look the same in Caron Soft as is it would in baby cashmerino.

3. My pocketbook. I've already spent most of my expendable (hah) cash on quilting fabric, notions, patterns, you name it. My husband might end up having a stroke or heart attack if I started investing heavily into exotic Cashmere, Alpaca, Silk, and Organic cotton yarns. Whoever said that knitting is cheaper than therapy was delusional - and I have a few words for them:

Ther. a. py!

4. Not enough hip accessories. Although these gorgeous stitch markers are enough to suck me back in. Knitting bling, who knew?

5. The needles tend to get in the way of our romantic moments. Once, when I was trying to get a pair of socks finished for my sister, I actually took my double points with me on a date and knit under the table during dinner. Nothing squelches romance like secretive knitting with double points. Ouch!

6. Poor concentration. If I knit straight stockinette or garter stitch there is nothing to it, but the selection of patterns there is rather limited. I love those wonderfully complicated cabled aran sweaters, but they require brain power that has long since dematerialized with birthing five children.

7. I am what you call graphically/pattern impaired. This is Greek to me. I always thought I had a gift for foreign languages, but chartspeak - is a whole different story. (And yes, if you want to make beautiful cabled or fair isle sweaters, socks, blankets, or what-have-you, you need to be fluent in this language).

8. Poor coordination. Let's see, I'm not exactly known for my grace and agility (I wasn't exactly first pick when it came to choosing-up softball teams). I have heard there is a two hand carry method for knitting fair isle sweaters that makes it, get this, easier. Wha-? This, easier? I've heard some whoppers, but being able to hold even tension in both hands, simultaneously? What are the odds, something like this?

9. I have an aversion to frogs, or anything remotely frog-like. For those of you who are new to knitting terminology, frogging is the term we use when we screw up and have to take our work and "rip-it" back to a pre-mistake row. Ribbit, ribbit, get it?

10. Knitting stashes are like Tribbles. Close the door and the yarn gets it on. Before you know it you can't keep up with all the knitting genealogy, and you are giving up precious shoe space for the yarn offspring.

11. All that counting. I can't tell you how many times I have had to count my cast on stitches before I was quite certain it was safe to proceed to the next row and still had to start over because I missed one. Dagnabbit!

12. Moths creep me out. And there is nothing like a banquet of wool to attract the little buggers. Or sometimes, not so little.

13.Lastly, I have one of these

and she is very distracting (in a good way). Until she grows up some, I'm stuck with being mediocre.

Bye, bye fabulousness.

Argyle is not just an 80s phenomenon...

It looks great on babies, too! I just finished knitting a baby sweater vest from the Dale of Norway book 162

Here's a close-up of the argyle. This is knit on size 1 needles (very tiny). It was a fun pattern to knit up. I am definitely making some of the darling girl patterns in that book - hopefully before my youngest grows up.



Here is a view of the inside of the sweater. I haven't finished knitting the facings (I'm not exactly sure how to do those yet) that will cover those lovely maroon stitching lines. This sweater is knit in the round on circular needles with steeks. When you're done, you sew zig-zag lines down either side of the steek and then - gasp! - you cut down the middle. I had a few problems with that on my first vest (the blue one) and have had to mend some loose ends.


This was also my first attempt at knitting a fair isle sweater. I just hope they fit the babies they're intended for.
To see what other people are talking about, head over to The Lazy Organizer's place and check it out.

Cheery fall colors for a sick day

Today my son asked me if I had a headache. I told him, "No dear, I have a faceache."

My head cold hit me full force today, so I put my feet up (in cheery woolen socks I knit myself) on the couch and snuggled under a homemade fall-ish quilt.

You know the feeling - your whole head feels pressurized, as if an elephant is sitting on your face. Your ears crackle with each swallow, and attempting to breathe through your nose is pointless. Each cough or sneeze is felt in your throat as a harsh grating. Is there a little gnome climbing in there with aid of crampons and ice axes?

My voice made an occasional appearance, I kept Kleenex (with lotion) in business single-handedly, and me and menthol cough drops are like "this."

I decided that what this place needs is some color for cheering up. For starters, I give you the socks. They are made from a really cool fair isle sock yarn from Fortissima (I think in 9074). I made matching socks for Kelley some years ago. I mean hers actually matched - mine, however, do not. They are knit from the leftovers; I call them my Pippi socks, and I love them.

A few more cheery things:

Mums in the garden: lovely, cheery, and yellow as the sunshine

The wisteria arbor and the willow trees behind it

The red of a Burning Bush

The brown of the blazing stars gone into their fall rest

The unexpected snow storm today.
We had an inch in 20 minutes and the kids built their first snowman.

And one more shot of yellow. One can never have too much sunshine.

How was your weekend? What cheery things did you see today?

To know what you're up against

This is half the battle. You have to know what you're facing before you can properly face it.

Now we know. Tyler has a staph infection, and luckily it is sensitive to Vancomycin and Linezolid. We are trying the Vancomycin first, but because he showed signs of infection just one day after he finished the Vanc the last time - it may not work. We'll see, we'll do another 10-day course of it and go from there. Of course, if his fevers hit the 100.1 or up level and stay there, they will add the Linezodil or Rocefan to it.

He has started having fevers of 99.5 to 99.8, but so far he is managing to break them every night and sweat them out. Then his body temperature usually drops to 96 and we have to warm him up with his hat and an extra blanket so he can stop shivering. Although the fevers are back, he still seems much happier and is enjoying his music again.

We are having a strange problem with his line, it is difficult to push the saline through it and sometimes the antibiotic isn't getting through in the right amount of time. He may need to have some TPA (anti-clotting agent) run through his port. We have tried changing the access needle and are still having the same difficulty.

I am glad I have a great book to read, because it looks like another clinic day tomorrow.

Today's labs: (great)
WBC 7.0
ANC 5.1
Platelets 154
Hematocrit 26.6 (watching this)

*****
On a more personal note, I'd like to pick your brains about something. I am wondering how you deal with stress. Or maybe I mean tension and worrying. I tend to fret about things even though I know it doesn't do any good.

I'd love some suggestions for things to do when I start feeling the fretting coming on. Leaving my house isn't usually an option - at least, not right now. (Although I did get to sneak out to Target today and get some things for the yard).

It used to be that I would knit or quilt to keep my hands busy and my mind off of things. That's not really cutting it right now. Lately, I've started weeding - I'm sure the neighbors are glad about that one, but it's difficult to do unless there's another adult here to be inside with Ty.

So let me have it, any great indoor things to do for stress relief?

Baby Bliss

I darkened the door of a yarn shop this weekend and this lovely yarn was a steal. I just had to take the opportunity to begin stocking up on baby sweaters. Having 50 cousins pretty much assures me of an unending supply of babies for whom I can knit lovely things like this -

The pattern can be found in The Baby Knits Book by Debbi Bliss.
Wouldn't a star embroidered on the front be the perfect finishing touch?

To see what others are TATing about, visit Lara at the Lazy Organizer - she just made the cutest hat for her daughter, you must go see it and tell her how adorable it is!

7 Things

I saw this on Lara's blog and thought it would be fun to do. So here are 7 things about me:

1. I danced on TV for a Merrill Osmond Thanksgiving Special - but never watched it. Osmond? Who's that you say? Google it, I'm older than you.

2. I love foreign films - good ones. My favorite tend to be french - Count of Monte Cristo (w/Gerard Depardieu), My Mother's Castle, My Father's Glory. I can read french pretty well, speaking it on the other hand...

3. Growing up, I always wanted to be an archaeologist, a photographer for National Geographic, a writer, or maybe even a teacher. My sister was the one who wanted to be the nurse, not me. Not that I'm complaining; I love my life, it's just not exactly how I pictured life with 5 kids (but I'm pretty sure the same goes for a lot of people).

4. I have had a phobia of stinging things (bees, wasps, hornets). I say had, because it goes away every winter and hasn't yet poked it's head out this year and maybe there's still hope that it won't.

5. Closet sing-alonger, to my kids' dismay (actually only the 12 year old minds, the girls are all about it). You know, the kind you see on the freeway, in their cars. They look like they're having a very animated conversation with their self - but really, they're belting it out. The best tunes come from Queen, but Wee-Sing Sing-alongs works in a pinch.

6. I love to bake and quilt (handwork too), but I haven't done either since last October when Ty's bomb dropped. The only thing I've done is knit 3 hats from organic cotton to keep his head warm.

7. My music tastes are pretty varied (in no particular order): Harry Connick Jr., Elvis Costello, The Proclaimers, James Taylor, Queen, typical and not-so-typical 80s, classical, Les Mis and Phantom soundtracks, some Smashmouth, Allison Kraus, John Denver, ABBA, Beach Boys, Brian Setzer Orchestra, and so on.

Join in, if you like and tell me 7 things about you.