Not Enough Hours In A Day

Where to start?  It's been a very busy week.

To start off with, I finished the Business Casual Socks - finally.  They are made with Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock lightweight in downpour, using US #2 needles:

They are lovely!  I made them for a KAL (knit along) with Diane and her Knitabulls podcast.  Have you seen it?  I was going to keep them, but they have the very slightest bit of imperfection, so they're going to Anna.  She tried one on and said she liked them enough to keep them.  No problem.  I'll make myself a pair soon.

This week I also went to The Yarn Company with Joanne.  It's not a big store, but it's got lots of yarn in it.  I limited myself to one purchase since mainly I was there just to check the place out.  It was like a color explosion in a good way.  Like being in a candy shop.

Steve was so helpful and friendly it was hard not to buy.  Oy!  And he knits!  I asked him if he had to give his knits away to his mom like I do, but when she started asking for stuff, he had her take knitting lessons.  She liked it so much that she knits her own goods.  (Note to self: sign my mom up for knitting classes!)

We also met Irena who was quietly knitting something that was so vibrant with color that I almost hated to interrupt her for a picture, but she was gracious enough to comply with my wacky request:

And of course, there was me and Joanne - no explanation required.  The purpose of this picture is to show you the wall of color:

After we left there, we went straight to Knitty City where I made more purchases, but not yarn.  I'm still going to hell in a hand basket for spending money I need for something important - like the electric bill.

As if that weren't enough excitement for one blog post, today I took my sewing machine to knitting class so Maria could help me with Sojourn Knitter's tote.  This is Maria helping me:

I was so unhelpful that she had to call for help from Renee:

I would say that the three of us couldn't do a 9" tote bag, but there was only two people working on the tote.  See, the true mark of being the 'boss' of anyone is getting someone else to do it (whatever 'it' is).  I delegated.  Yep.  I found out that if you ask for help, take a picture and then leave the area, no one expects you to do anything.  Clever, right?

Meanwhile, the tote still isn't finished, but I'm (really? did I just include myself in that equation?) still not done with it.  A couple of tweaks and it'll be finished (hopefully) tomorrow.

Now I'm going to leave you with a picture of my grand baby, Nylah, who is even cuter than I can express:

When was the last time you saw cheeks like those?  Princess Diva is too cute for words!!

This post is picture heavy so on the next post I'll share my haul with you.

Barely Knitting

I'm going to 'out' myself to my fellow crafters.  Yep, I had a massively busy weekend and knitting, unfortunately didn't happen, but for a good reason.

By now, if you read this blog, you know about my hand situation.  Repetitive motion disorder has about done me in.  Dr. Marianne who tended my sprained finger told me that the other issues I was having with my hands needed a different kind of care and she suggested deep tissue massage.  So I went and had a session with Natalie.  OMG!

She massaged my back and told me to let her know when my pain threshold reached a 7.  It never happened.  I though this deep tissue massage was going to be a bust.  Nothing happened, not a twinge.  Then she had me flip over.

She massaged my neck (pain level 5), my shoulders, (level 6), my arms (level 8!).  While it was happening, my hands went numb, then started to itch.  What the ... ?  She said, "That's your circulation coming back."  Unbelievable!  I love Natalie!

When I left there, I felt like I'd been the punching bag at a boxing ring, but it was the best hour of my life since this whole ordeal started.

The good news - she can help.  The bad news - it's going to take a while.  The way she helped me out, I don't care!  I'd go every week for the rest of my life!

Enough about that.

I was participating in the Single Handed Knits (Mel) KAL and knitting the Hoaloha Sweater, but I didn't get far because one little mistake stopped me dead in my tracks.  Here's how far I got:

I don't remember what the problem was, but I'll figure it out as soon as I do remember.  I'm using Patons Classic Merino and now that the pattern is open to the public, I can tell you that my sweater won't be as long as hers.  Being short means long tops don't work for me.

Mel also has a wonderful blog at www.singlehandedknits.com.  If you haven't see it, have a peek.

Also on the needles is Business Casual, a lovely pattern for socks which I'm working on for the Knitabulls Podcast KAL.  She has a podcast also, and if you're interested, you can see an episode here.  The KAL I'm working on is to make anything using Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock.  So here's my progress on the socks:

I love this pattern.  I love the yarn (Downpour) in their lightweight base.   I love the colors and I think everyone in my family should have a pair of these socks.  (And they will have, if they learn how to knit them.)

There's no doubt I'll make more of these socks as they are my second favorite of all time.

If all goes well, I can stay monogamous and finish these socks in the next day or two so I can get to all the other stuff I started and didn't finish.

After the socks and the sweater are done, I'm going to tackle my WIPs.  For real!

Right now, I'm of to listen to The Fat Squirrel.  She makes me laugh while I knit.

Behind

How in the world did February get past me?  I was on a roll, and then one day it all came to a dead stop.  What in the name of orange polyester pants could have happened to make me end up so far behind?  I have no idea.

Wait.  Yes, I do have an idea.  What usually takes me out is the bronchitis, and this time was no different.  It just makes me tired.  Mix that with this repetitive motion syndrome where the pain starts in my hands and goes all the way up to my shoulders.  Oy!  Knitting is prohibitive, but I do it anyway.

Enough about me, what else about me?

I am doing some knitting with my new skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock lightweight in Downpour:

The pattern is Business Casual which is a great looking sock and a delight to knit, if only I could do more than a row or two a day:

I love the colorway, I love the pattern and I love knitting.  The skein looks so different when wound into a pancake and even more different knitted up.  I'm doing a KAL with Knitabulls (Diane) on Ravelry.  You can knit whatever you want, as long as you use Socks That Rocks sock yarn only.  So, naturally, I'm making socks.

And because knitting is such a pain, I agreed to make a tote bag for my friend Sojourn Knitter.  What did I do to make her believe I could sew?  She picked the pattern:

Just an ordinary tote bag.  Easy peasy, right?  Not hardly.  I took the pattern tissue paper out of the package and didn't understand a darn thing.  Where's the pieces I need for the tote?  It's on one of those thin, filmy sheets.  Dang!

It took me half an hour to find the pieces I needed and another half an hour to cut them out. Double dang!  I should NOT be allowed to sew anything if I can't even find the pieces which have numbers on them.  Jeezy!

My scissors worked on the paper, but they didn't work on the fabric.  Oy!  What now?  Crooked lines, that's what.  Anyway, I cut the fabric, then cut the interface, then cut the lining.  One thing I know for sure, I can never use the pattern paper again in life.  I hope I have it memorized because I made a mess:

(Sorry about the poor photography, but my camera made everything either too light or too dark, I went with too dark.)

Now my next dilemma is how to use the sewing machine.  I know there's a manual around here somewhere! Lordy!  How hard could it be to sew a straight line, you ask?  Ask me when I explain to Sojourn Knitter how I was going for a "wavy" edge - you know, one that isn't a wave or straight, but downright crooked.

The stress of it all is too much, I tell you.

I also made 10 preemie hats for Tracey and her Remembering Remy charity knit.  Ten little hats in ten days.  That was the easiest part of the last two weeks.  The one below is made with my handspun, but the rest were made from leftover yarns.

Not too shabby for being out of the loop for so long, eh?  And the ladies in the knitting circle are knitting hats, too - yay!  I'm hoping to have plenty of hats to turn over to Tracey in the next few weeks.

Now my mission, if I should decide to take it on, is to catch up on all of my podcasts, blogs, emails and other stuff that's been neglected these past two weeks.

Enjoy your knitting and remember to take frequent breaks!