I'd rather be weaving

...right now...right this very minute.    Weaving...sitting at my loom passing shuttle through shed and making a gorgeous scarf for my daughter (and then another for the other daughter).  And THEN I want to embark on a major stash reduction of towel yarn, so be prepared.  There may be stuff for sale eventually.

I truly do love weaving and I've missed it like crazy the past two years.  It's been really difficult to find time to weave once I started working away from home again.  Plus, the diet this past year left me really drained of energy so weaving of an evening wasn't really an option.

I'd planned to spend my Christmas break this way:
-4 days with my parents
-10 days weaving and dying (the latter if the weather was warm enough)

Instead I spent my Christmas break this way:
-4 days with my parents
-3 days at home getting everything ready to go BACK to my parents
-5 days with my parents
-2 days recovering from being at my parents.

Don't get me wrong.  I wouldn't trade that time with my parents for anything.  It's become painfully apparent that every minute I get to spend with my dad that he's aware that I'm there and interacting with me is a blessing, just not what I'd planned.

And, those of you who are artists and serious crafters know this, when you have been itching to cast on a new project, set up the loom for a woven design, or just need to get your fingers on yarn, substituting another craft because of time or space allocations doesn't really do you justice.

And, you also know this, crafting is an emotional release.  I need lots of that right now.

The right kind of crafting for the right kind of emotional release.

All of this is to say that what I WANT to do is weave, what I've had time to do is knit.  And knitting just isn't "cutting it" right now.  I love the pillow I'm making.  It's pretty and soft and will fit perfectly in Betty's house...and is almost finished on one side.  I've enjoyed seeing my "design" come to life.  I've even enjoyed that I'm combining my former love of quilting and my current passion for knitting by knitting a traditional quilt square.

But what I'm finding each evening is that when it's time to sit down and craft, I don't want to do what I'm doing.  I want to do something else, but there's a reason for me not doing it.  And I'm frustrated with that. I'm sad about it and I want to get to it.

SO, I'm (kind of) looking forward to the fact that David has to work 3 nights a week this semester.  I'll not have that excuse pulling me away from weaving.  And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to find a rhythm that works for me--weaving, knitting, hanging with the family, seeing my parents when I can.  Not overwhelming myself and stretching too thin, but being able to meet my creative needs...at least somewhat.

Because...look at this face...she wants me to finish "her" monster. (which is knitting, not weaving, but also not really a possibility right now considering my hands hurt when knitting monsters, so I'm pacing myself!)

Gift Knitting Continues

While everyone else in the on-line world seems to have finished up all their gift knitting and started knitting for themselves again, I can't seem to shake the gift knitting path I'm on.

I've decided to make a pillow for my Aunt Betty (surprise Aunt Betty) to go in her living room out of the lovely Berroco Comfort I have in my stash (see I'm still being good one week into the year...yea me!)

I WAS going to make her one from the Comfort Afghans book I bought...It was a star and so pretty...but decided against it after fighting with yarn ends and hating the way the intarsia looked...I haven't done it before and clearly wasn't getting something special that has to happen when doing intarsia in garter stitch.

So, that got ripped out and I'm now doing a log cabin in red and gold.  The back will be a mitered square.  It'll be pretty.  I'm thinking about doing some sort of attached i-cord to close it up.  That would be nice and tailored looking.  We shall see.  I'm HOPING to have this finished by next weekend so I can leave it after I visit...but here it is after 1.5 evenings of working on it:

I'm doing the "courthouse steps" version of the log cabin and will have 3 bars of yellow when I'm finished.  More to come!

3rd Finished Thing, and a few others from 2013

I know I'm probably cheating a little, AND I almost forgot to post about her, but Rosie, the knitted elephant, is my 3rd finished project of the year (technically 2nd, but I posted the slippers first and don't want to confuse).

I'm finishing off the leftover bits of yarn from the Noro blanket by making first my mitts,

 and then the Jackalope.

I'm making a "slug" next...too cute with eyes popping off the top of his head.  But these little critters require patience on my part...the kind of patience I have in very limited supply.  The kind that requires me to hold back from knitting on them non-stop for hours until they're finished.  And I'm doing that because I don't like pain.

After I make the slug, I don't know what will be next.  We'll see how much yarn I have left...I think I should get at least 2 more critters, but we shall see!

Second Finished Project of 2014

I'm really not trying to brag or anything, but I've finished 2 projects already and 2014 is only 1 week old!  Now, both of these were knit with chunky yarns on size 10 needles...but they WERE knit for David who has big hands and feet...

David was so thrilled when I finished these last night that he had me starting another pair to make for him just in case he wears these out quickly.  "It only took you a day to make them, right?"

Aaah, sweet David.

He's a challenge to knit for anything that should touch his skin because wool "feels hot."  And he doesn't mean that it makes him feel hot...no...it feels like it's burning his skin, and sure enough when he takes off whatever he's wearing he's red.  Even the softest loveliest wool is not an option.

These are knit using the Family Foot Warmer Slippers pattern in Berroco Comfy worsted--2 strands held together.  And they are very very soft, and not a hint of wool in them...oh...and they came from stash!  Big bonus.

p.s.  I did not start another pair of slippers for him.  Besides the fact that knitting on size 10 or bigger needles makes my hands hurt, I want to make a pillow from a pattern for a blanket...if I like knitting the pillow, then I'll save up my allowance and buy the yarn.  Yes, I'm using stash.  And yes, some more stash yarn fell out into my lap when I was selecting the first yarns and not I've got 2 pillows I want to start...

First Finished Project of 2014

Not to brag or anything, but I actually FINISHED a knitted project on 1/1!

These mitts were super-easy and totally made up by me.  I cast on the wrong number of stitches to begin with and had to pull it out and re-cast-on with fewer stitches (20), but that was just right.  I knitted 12 rounds for the wrists, worked back and forth for 11 rows for the thumb opening then 8 rounds for the fingers in ribbing and another 8 in garter.

I didn't worry with a thumb gusset on these since I didn't intend to knit a thumb and the back-and-forth rows are really quite perfect.

I used a soy/wool blend from Southwest Trading Company.  It's super-bulky yarn and I knitted these on size 10 DPNs.  I think total knitting time was about 4 hours...and it qualifies as stash busting since I found the yarn in my stash!  yea!

The end of 2013

On this day where we both look forwards and backwards, I'm going to do my best to look forwards.  It's been a rough year.  First there was this:

And we got gallons of water in the house and had to move to an apartment for 3 months.

Then there was this:  Weight Loss

and a little over 9 months later we look like this:

My Daddy was diagnosed with two brain tumors in September, underwent radiation and surgery in October and is now on hospice.   I will treasure this photo forever:

I have two beautiful daughters (inside and out) and am profoundly proud of who they have become...and can't wait to see them on their life journey in 6 months.  I'll miss the devil out of them, but will be so excited to hear about the life they'll build for themselves.

 I have two of the sweetest and prettiest cats one can imagine:

I've knitted a whole bunch...and even started a new blanket to ease the travel time in the car.  Isn't it gorgeous.

Tonight David and I will go out and celebrate making it through all the tough times this year.  We will toast our weight-loss, the professional and crafting accomplishments we've made this year...

And we will ring in 2014 with a positive attitude.  I have decided to stash bust in 2014 (and following) as things have grown to embarrassing proportions.

Love, Happiness, and a Pair of New Socks!

This weekend was a momentous weekend.

 Love:

I celebrated 23 years of marriage with my sweetheart on Saturday (though our anniversary was on Sunday).  We went shopping for new bras (yep, needed again...but hoping this is the last set) and dresses. I intended to buy 1 dress for going to dinner, but ended up buying 4 dresses and a sweater/skirt set.  1 dress for anniversary dinner, 1 dress for New Year's Eve dinner and the rest for wearing to work.  Here we are in sparkly dress #1 before heading to dinner.

Happiness:

A kitty sitting on my feet which are under a beautiful blanket that I knit.

A pair of finished socks:

Fire and Ice were completed about 15 minutes before we left for dinner on Saturday (thus the hint of fish-net stockings underneath).  I love them and am wearing them to work today.  And if anyone is wondering, I do not wet-block my socks before wearing them.  1: I'm too impatient and 2: I hardly see the need.

And of course finishing a pair of socks means that I've started a new pair (even though I currently have 4 pair (that I know of) on the needles...none of those are calling my name at present).  The yarn is Bertie Bots by GnomeAcres.  I'm using the Hickory pattern from my green socks that I made in August.  I love this pattern and I made it through the heel turn and almost finished with the gusset decreases on Sunday.  It was all I wanted to knit, so I revelled in it!