Knitting, Baby and Houses.

Since I missed WIP Wednesday, FO Thursday and today is Family Friday, I am combining them into today's post.

WIP Wednesday would have been:

The shawl. It is endless garter stitch right now. I do a few rows and feel like I am making zero progress. I put it around my shoulders one day and it is too small, so I put it around Connor and it was ginormous, so I think that I have about a dozen or so more rows to go before it is "tween" sized.

I started a new scarf. Mom gave this yarn to me in March when we were home to have Connor baptized. I have 3 cakes of it. I have no idea what it is made of, how much there is, I only have a vague idea that the 3 strands together make it a light-ish worsted weight. Just a simple pattern, really. And it is free! I have an idea of the recipient, but I am not 100% set on her. We will see when it is all done, then I will know for sure.

Did I say that I started a new scarf? Well, I lied, I actually started two new scarves. This one is one that I have been obsessing about (it is free too!). I have been so anxious to cast on for it. Truthfully, I casted on for it when I met Deece last Saturday for coffee. But with all of the yakking and coffee drinking, I didn't get but two rows done. And I figured that somehow messed them up, so I ripped them out and restarted.

I am so proud of myself, I am cable-ing!!! I never thought that I would be able to do it, they always looked so intimidating, but with the awesome cable video tutorials at Knittinghelp.com, I got it down! I am cable-ing, y'all! This one is using Knit Picks Andean Silk (Wool, Alpaca and Silk) in Navy. I adore this yarn. I would love to have more eventually.

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FO Thursday would have been...

I finished two more dishcloths this week. I did another Palm Tree cloth. I need to make more of these, but green cotton is hard to find here. I guess that some people will be getting different colors of palm trees.

I also did a Grid Pattern dishcloth. It was easy for the most part. Kind of boring. I have decided that I really enjoy doing the picture dishcloths the most. I found a free pattern for a Coast Guard cloth (other military branches available as well) on this site.

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Family Friday

Connor is taking a few hesitant steps on his own!!! I can't hardly believe it. He has been walking while holding on to one of our hands for quite a few weeks now, but in the last couple of days, he will be holding on to the furniture and take a couple of steps on his own without holding anything. It is so cute. And so nerve racking! I am watching him like a hawk because I don't want him to face plant on the tile floor.

This is from Thanksgiving, when we were down at the Ranch.

Back to the housing in Juneau. It all boils down to a few things that are scaring me shitless about buying such an expensive house. It isn't that we can't afford it, because we can. But what if DH makes Chief and we have to move in 2 years? I don't want to be stuck with two house payments and end up having to go back to work and put the kids in daycare. The second thing is that I hate debt. Hate hate hate it. I enjoy not having credit card debt, car loan debt, etc. We do have our timeshare debt and my paltry student loan (why don't I just pay it off already?), but that is it. And a giant mortgage is a huge step. House prices are crazy. Where we are from, you can get a pretty nice house for 100-150k. So, to me 250k for 2 or 3 bedrooms on a subdivision lot is a stretch.

FO Thursday # 2

I haven't had that many finished objects to blog about in the past week, but I do have a few pictures (click pictures to make bigger):

The Ball Band Dishcloth
"Grinch Vomit" colorway (red & green Bernat cotton yarn)
I like the eclectic look/design of this cloth, but don't care for the size. I need to modify the cast-on rows to make it less wide.

DW Dishcloth

Yellow/White Ombre Peaches n Cream colorway
This was fun and makes a lovely cloth. I will make more of these.

Another view so you can see the neat color pooling.

Simple crocheted dishcloth, pattern from blogging friend
Same yarn as DW cloth
Quick to crochet, takes about a day for me...in between wrangling a 10 month-old

More to come next week, so stay tuned!

Gayle, you asked if I only used cotton for my cloths...Yes. For now at least. I have heard wonderful things about Bamboo and Hemp, so someday I would like to try those, but they are kind of pricey (since they are so new), so I will wait. I love the fact that the cotton is pretty cheap and you get functional things from it. I can get at least one cloth out of a little ball of cotton, and here, the balls are about $2.25 each. As for the wool, it is all for gifts. Although I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we do move to a cooler climate next year. I am getting tired of sweating day in and day out.

I have already pulled the pattern and the needles along with the Navy Andean Silk to start the Irish Hiking Scarf. I just need to get a little bit more done on the shawl/poncho thing before I can cast on. It will be my first time doing cables!

I was considering using the Bordeaux colored Swish and doing the Besotted Scarf, we will see. I totally want to order more Andean Silk to do a Clapotis for a gift. Must. control.myself.

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Do you just love my Meez on the sidebar? I do! She even has a Barack Obama shirt on, khaki shorts and lime green Crocs. So me! Of course I wear my glasses when I knit. Most of the time anyway. Do you think that the Meez is too big? I use firefox as a browser and my laptop has a wide screen, so it is hard for me to tell.

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In the sadness department:

When Mom died, my BFF's DH (Hi Jason!) very graciously worked with me to create a video to be shown at her memorial luncheon. Wait, back up...he did the work, I just gave him the pictures, the list of songs and pointed out the order that I wanted things (thanks again, BTW). Anyway, it turned out fabulous and I watch it every couple of weeks. I gave Mom's parents and siblings a copy of it along with a framed picture of Mom that nobody had ever seen before.

So, getting on with the sadness part. You all know that we don't have TV here (we have tv's, we just don't have cable so no cable = no tv, not even with rabbit ears, and yes, it is by choice), so every day I have the radio on a certain channel and I keep it on all day long. I have noticed that about every other day, I hear "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor during the day. The eerie/sad part is that it is one of the songs on Mom's dvd and I end up crying while singing it. I miss her so much, I can't even begin to try to explain how I feel. In a way, I keep telling myself that it is her trying to let me know that she is here with me, but I don't know if I believe that 100%.

Peace.

WIP Wednesday

I have been slowly plugging away at the poncho that I showed last week. It is hard to see progress. I will take a new picture next week for comparison.

I started a new dishcloth this morning. The Grid Pattern Dishcloth. Find the pattern here. I am knitting mine with my Clover circular bamboo needles size 8. The pattern says to use size 10's, but I thought that would be too lose. It is pretty loose as is.

Today I received my Knit Picks lot box from eBay!!! I am so happy with it, I was fondling the yarns all afternoon. I am smitten with the Andean Silk. So soft. And even the Wool of the Andes isn't that scratchy. I have heard many comments on Ravelry about how it is too scratchy. I disagree.

Berroco Touche (cotton & rayon)

Knit Picks Main Line (Wool & Cotton)

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (Peruvian Wool)

Knit Picks Andean Silk (Wool, Silk & Alpaca) *divine*

Knit Picks Merino Style (Merino Wool)

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (Peruvian Wool)

Knit Picks Swish Superwash (100% superwash wool)

Peace

More yarn love

Did I mention that I recieved my invite to Ravelry last week??? WOO HOO! I was on the waiting list for most of the summer. I *heart* Ravelry. You can see other people's projects, search for patterns (free & paid), search for yarns, search for projects by yarn types, etc. And it is for chicks with sticks (knitters) AND hookers (crocheters).

Get on the list, you will love it!

And to answer Monique's question:

I keep the yarn in the deep freezer because 1) We lack storage space like nobody's business. 2) It keeps it nice and clean and pet hair free 3) I need to use this brand new deep freezer for something since power supply here on island is iffy at times and I would hate to have a freezer full of food spoil.

No, it is not turned on. Plus, it makes a nice cutting surface for my giant rotary cutting mat.