sillyrabbit pretends to knit

Thursday, February 22, 2007

I got VD!!!

The lovely raeknits_and_spins from Knittyboard sent me VD! See? Rae sent me a great box full of yummy chocolate(Lindt truffles!!), fabulous wool-free yarn (a cotton/linen blend and sari silk!!), a book to read (good timing, since I finished my last one yesterday and was starting to get twitchy), a sheepie puzzle, Soak (which I've just heard of and never even seen. Can't wait to use that!), a pretty calendar, and the Spring issue of IK!!! Little Man enjoyed rolling in the tissue paper.

Rae requested an updated picture...here's what happens when you give your baby a biter biscuit and no bib.










Monday, February 19, 2007

What is my problem?

I'm working on Trellis in Swish Superwash. I think when I posted last I was four inches in on the sleeve. It's a couple days later and I'm maybe an inch further along. I keep messing it up! I've already done the whole repeat once correctly, but I've ripped the same two rows out three times now. THREE TIMES. I love this sweater. I really want to complete it. I'm never going to be able to do that if I can't get through rows 13 and 15 on the second repeat!

I'm going to clean the living room and try again. As soon as I finish the sleeve, I want to post a picture.

Deep breaths....

Saturday, February 17, 2007

I should really update once in a while






The problem is that my knitting time has taken a huge hit. I was trying to think of the last thing I actually completed...um. I made a baby hat around Christmas, and a pink bath mitt out of Shine Worsted that I gave to my mom. I made a few baby hats for Hats for Alex, but haven't even sent those off yet. Currently, I'm working on Trellis for Little Man. I have no idea how I missed this pattern, but I love it. I'm about four inches in on the first sleeve...knitting in Swish Superwash Deep Ocean. I am actually knitting it a size bigger than the pattern calls for, hoping that he might actually still be able to wear it before I finish.

Don't let the lack of knitting fool you...I've certainly been BUYING yarn. I have so many projects waiting in the wings...but first and foremost, after Mr. Trellis is completed, I am knitting myself a Cozy. My wonderful, wonderful SP8 secret pal sent me all the fixin's to make it, and I haven't EVER completed anything for myself. I've been knitting for three years. It's time.

The best part about the Cozy is that I had purchased the exact same yarn (8 balls of KnitPicks Andean Silk in Bluebell) to make Cozy for a wedding I was going to in October 2005. I had just learned how to knit, and that was actually the project where I figured out that I was knitting combination. I found Grumperina's conversion chart, but it drove me bananas writing out the conversions, trying to remember...I made it about 9 inches in before I just gave up. I taught myself how to knit continental for lace purposes, but I never made it back to that project. I think I was just so determined not to rip it out that I wanted to keep going with what I'd been working on, but I didn't want to continue in combination, so I just kind of stuffed it under the bed. Slowly but surely, all those wonderful balls of yarn snuck out and became other things, until I have no yarn left. I put 8 balls on my KnitPicks wishlist, which then disappeared into the mist. I always intended to purchase the yarn to make it again, but never got that far. I didn't even mention it, I don't think--my pal took the info that I wanted to knit lace, wanted to work in worsted, and I like blue, and came to the same conclusion I did. So I am so, so eager to get through Trellis, partly because it's wonderful and partly because I'm excited to get to work on a beautiful Cozy for me.

And then I'm going to dye my hair the same color as the girl in the picture. I've been thinking about doing that anyway, and her hair is GORGEOUS. It would look really pretty against a bluebell Cozy, don't you think? Don't you all dye your hair to match your handknits?

In addition to the gift of psychic Cozy yarn, I got an anti-stress mask (which is being put to good use, let me tell you), chocolate--dark chocolate with raspberries and milk chocolate with hazelnut (we're currently conducting an experiment to see how long it can last in my house. I'm not giving it much more time...), and Stash white and green tea--which was perfect since I was sick when it arrived, and I'm trying to create a nightly tradition of drinking a cup of tea with my husband, which is a post in itself, but I'll boil it down to--tea is a lot healthier than what we drink currently (me--Diet Coke, him--fruit punch), and his grandpa has Alzheimer's, and he's terrified of it, so I'm trying to find some empowering things he can do to channel that energy. I'm as far as drinking tea and doing Sudoku.

So thank you again, Secret Pal! You are awesome. So far, the only clues I have are that you have the same handwriting as I do and you're a nature lover maybe? I got a beautiful Sierra Club card. I am the worst detective ever. I'll never remember to look at the postmark, but I think it's better that way. I like the mystery and the surprise at the end.