It's 19 degrees!

Holy buckets! It's 19 degrees at 8.30am. Sure, those of you in the frozen north are laughing at me but a mere two days ago it was 50 at this same time. Going from 50 to 19 is never a gradual thing in Texas. The good part - there is snow on the ground.

The bad part - it looks like this:


Bleh

Not enough snow to do anything with and too cold to take the Bean out in. We all have colds right now so the last thing I need to do is take her out to play in the slush...

Poppy has been abandoned in favor of my raging cold. The only activity today is going to be getting my hair cut and a much needed trip to the grocery store.

Christmas Chucks!

Christmas kntting

For me!


Ironstone Yarns Pizzazz


Scarf

The party was a smashing success (in more ways than one). The leftover dips were carted to a party the following night which was also a smashing success. It was a tiring weekend and, on Sunday, we did not get a day of rest. Rather, Hubster and Bean woke up with coughs and colds. Lovely.

Today was spent in futile hopes of getting Bean dressed up for a cute shot to send out with the Christmas cards. I'm one of those people who hopes that their Christmas cards will at least be postmarked before Christmas. Arriving at the destination may be a bit much to hope for.

I also wrapped all the presents I have and put them under the tree. (Bean's comment, "Oh, thank you!")

Tonight, I start knitting Poppy for Bean out of white fuzzy and sparkly Wool-Ease. I need to have it finished for the Christmas Eve church service. I don't think it'll be a problem but simpler things have hung me up before. I'm not worried about the separate pieces, it's the picking up stitches and knitting the band around the bolero that I may flake on.

That is the extent of my Christmas knitting. I have several presents I do need to knit. The recipients are well aware that these will be New Year's gifts (and not on the Day either). I also need to figure out something to give my friend's for their 10th wedding anniversary. We are going to dinner with a big bunch of people New Year's Eve (a cool day for an anniversary) and I want to give them something small but fun. I'm thinking a felted tea cosy and a funky teapot.

T minus 2 hours

These people are coming. To my house. With the den covered in paint samples that I loathe and detest but have not managed to do anything about in the last three years. Something about having a baby or some such...

The food is going to be ready. We have a guest room where I am frantically tossing everything that annoys me. If anyone opens that door, they may be crushed by the large amount of laundry I have not managed to fold.

My one saving grace is that Erratic Lawn Guy came today so hubster won't have to sweep the patio or porch.

Erratic Lawn Guy is this ancient man (in his late 80s) who mows half the lawns in the neighborhood. He always wears a fedora while mowing. He has mowed the lawn of this house since it was built. When we moved in, he told us his prices in terms that made it clear that if we knew what was good for us, we wouldn't mess with karma and would continue to employ him. When his rates go up, I consider the amount of money I'm spending on him mowing the lawn and contemplate saying, "No, thanks." But I can't quite muster the guts. One clearly does not fire Old Joe. (Seriously, that's what everyone calls him.) At least the yard looks pretty.

Party party party!

My husband has invited 50 of his coworkers over for some holiday cheer tonight. Granted, we'll probably only get a 50% attendance rate, but it's still a bit daunting. Moreso because I need to provide a variety of culturally sensitive dishes. We have regular Texas carnivores, vegetarians and vegans. I usually provide alot of food vegetarians can eat, but the vegans are not going to have as many choices. Given that this is a cultural and religious issue, I want to make sure there are enough things to make everyone happy.

The list of appetizers:

The ubiquitous chips and salsa
Cannelini bean dip with home-baked pita crisps (kind of like Italian hummus)
Veggie platter with curry cheese dip and a dip similar to bagna cauda but more dippy and less saucy
Blue cheese, walnut, and arugula crostini
Assorted fruit
Granny Smith apple slices with a smear of melted smoked gouda
Ham and turkey roly polys
The Cocktail Weenies of Death (in good Southern fashion, they feature a cup of bourbon - yes, a full cup)
Cookies
Nuts and wasabi peas and other munchables

All I've done so far is go to the grocery store. Bean has her Mother's Day Out Christmas pagent today. People are coming at 5.30 this evening. I need to go to Toys R Us for a present for one of Bean's friends who will be here tonight. And I need to make a last minute grocery run for a few things I couldn't find yesterday.

It's going to be a busy day.

I also need to finish a scarf for a friend who will be here tonight, but that's going to be late.

The more I do the behinder I get

I finished Plum last Saturday and have yet to take a picture. Mother Nature did cooperate though and gave me some chilly weather.

I've been running around trying to get Christmas shopping done and get everything ready for a shindig we are having tomorrow night. My husband invited tons of people from work. Of course, he has yet to do anything to prepare. And I've been busy and ill and have not done anything to prepare either. I need some of those elves Stephanie was talking about. I may just lose my mind now to save time later...

I've been doing a bit of knitting and have some fun things to share. It's going to have to wait until another day though. I've been waiting to post until I had a pic of Plum and look where that got me. Maybe the blog fairies will inspire me tomorrow!

Frogathon and a philosophy

I'm having to do an unreasonable amount of frogging on Plum. That damn Debbie Bliss and her lack of schematics. Sure, the sleeve says it's going to be 17 inches, but I was only about halfway through the raglan shaping on the first sleeve when I realized that what they meant was seventeen inches from the underarm - sound OK until you realize that the underarms on this sucker are about halfway down my ribcage. Meaning the sleeves were going to hang down past my fingertips. R-r-r-rip.

The philosophy is something I call the Guest Soap Philosophy of life (or GSPL). It's something worth remembering around the holidays. Sometimes, you get a gift of a little box of pretty soaps or candles or some other especially nice little something and you save it. You put it away for "nice", or save it for when you have guests. But, the guests never come. The occasion is never quite nice enough and, after awhile, the soaps don't smell quite as nice or the candles get dusty and melty. The GSPL is Use the Nice Stuff First. Every day is worth something nice. We, as human beings, deserve nice things.

My husband usually gives me some nice perfume and lotion set for Christmas or my birthday and I have to remind myself that, just because it's Tuesday and the only places I'm going are the grocery store and the playground, it doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy a bit of luxury.

As a knitter, I sometimes have to remind myself that sweaters are meant to be worn. Granted, I'm not wearing Lara in lovely Alpaca Silk on a daily basis but that's only because it's 63 and sunny today and I'd die of heat rash and not because alpaca silk doesn't exactly mix well with Ol' Jelly Fingers. If we ever get any weather approaching fall (I've given up on winter), I'm going to wear it and damn the torpedos. It may get jelly on it. I have a sink and some wool wash. And a good dry cleaner.

A new word

And that word is ...

PANTIES! (That's going to get me some interesting hits on Google.)

Yes, yesterday there was an entire afternoon sans diaper. Those of you without children are likely to be worried that I'm a bit obsessed with my child's toileting. Those of you with children who are already toilet-trained are thinking "Thank GOD that's over with." Those of you who have children yet to be toilet-trained are probably reaching for the bourbon just thinking about it.

The only problem with panties is the complete refusal to have any other item of clothing on (other than socks) because then one would be unable to engage in constant admiration of one's Hello Kitty panties. Fine with me if you just want to wear panties but, no matter how sweetly you ask, I'm not joining you. Really. No, really.

Greed will out

Not only did we repaint the foyer, living room, and dining room and host Thanksgiving in the same week, we also started the massive undertaking of potty-training The Bean (because I'm apparently completely certifiable).

A friend stopped by and brought her a fairy Barbie which, helpfully, came with a book in which said Barbie was playing with mermaid Barbies. Bean sees this and says, "I want a Barbie. I want the blue and green Mermaid Barbie." I said, "Start using the potty and you can have it." She says, "I'll be right back." I followed her back and there she was, sitting on the potty.

One week later, Mermaid Barbie (who is far sluttier than her predecessor) and Fairy Barbie are best friends. It's amazing the amounts of flesh these Barbies expose but, the clothes don't come off on these versions, so I'm not complaining overly much. I briefly contemplated buying one of the books on knitting for Barbies but I came to my sense when I realized that a 2 1/2-year-old was unlikely to have much success dressing a Barbie. Maybe in a couple of years...

An FO!

You have to excuse the wonky picture below but my 2 1/2-year-old took it. Given that, I think it's actually a pretty decent picture.




Lara!!!

I'm pretty pleased with the finished boject.

Plum, on the other hand, is going less well. I'm on the third try. The first frogging was one skein of yarn because I did the increases on the wrong side of my marker resulting in a dart unknown to modern knitting. The second frogging was because the second size was so huge you'd have to be about 8 inches taller than I am to wear it. Six skeins frogged. SIX! ARGH!

Plum is out of Debbie Bliss Book Seven in Cashmerino Superchunky.

There are only two sizes listed for Plum. I based my decision to make the second size on the fact that the smaller size measurements were listed as 39 inches for the bust and 19 1/2 inches for the length. More or less the same measurements as the size I made in Lara. I wanted Plum to be a bit more generous so it would be a nice cozy and sort of sloppy sweater but this is ridiculous.

Whoever took the measurements was smoking something. Granted, I think the bust itself will measure 39 inches. But the hips are a good 8 inches wider. The measurement of the hips for my original attempt at the 36-38 size was 52 inches. Yes, I am getting gauge and I went down a needle size. Wild. The small may still be a bit big. That being said, she sure is pretty.


Not the greatest picture, but it's overcast all of a sudden. That is the back and sides. Hopefully, I can complete the back today. This version seems a bit short to me whilst still being too wide. If this version doesn't fit, I think I'll just give it away because I don't think the yarn can take another frogging. Keep your fingers crossed.

Lara!

Lara is almost complete. I have two more repeats of the sleeve decreases and then the cuff. I am very excited to have this project almost complete. I've enjoyed knitting Lara, but she is so heavy that I'm getting a bit tired of the sheer bulk of the knitting. I'm also looking forward to embarking on some small projects. I need to finish a bit of Christmas knitting and I also need some instant gratification.


Lara!

I will admit that I did cast on for Plum. I'll be working on that as well but with the short rows, I may have a short attention span for the project for a while.

Brenda and Me

I sound like Brenda Vaccaro. The Crud has progressed to where I feel a little bit better but sound a helluva lot worse.

Maybe I'll get back to knitting today. That's the one thing I loathe about being sick - I don't have the attention span to knit. I make silly mistakes so there is no point in trying.

We did get the wallpaper down in the foyer and mud it and put on a layer of Kilz. AND I found paint I like. Amusingly enough, when I went to look for a color "similar to a manilla folder" there was, in fact, a color called "Manilla Folder". It sounds a bit bland, but in the same room are a blue loveseat with tan and red in it, a multicolored wingback chair, a black piano, and dining room furniture stained a brown with alot of red in it and with cranberry red chairs. Believe me, we need a nice soothing background for all of that.

She who waits

loses out.

I was thinking of using the Peruvian Highland Wool over at Elann to make the Nicky Epstein Floral Felted Bag from IK Summer 2004. I'm not the only one. I worked out my colors and then promptly went on to feel a bit of guilt over having too many projects. Today I decided that maybe it was something I should buy after all as it's a really good deal. Alas, several of the colors I wanted are sold out. I'm taking this as an omen. I really do have plenty of projects already in the stash as well as enough yarn for several (OK, many) undertermined small projects. I have 4 sweaters not including the half-finished Lara or the Lopi sweater or the other sweater from the Stash of Shame that I haven't talked about yet because it involves 11 color changes. I really don't need another project (whine). And then there is the list of things for The Bean.

Ah well, if I had really wanted to make the bag right now, I would have bought the yarn. As it is, I'll keep waiting and maybe in the future. Besides, I'm thinking of buying the tapestry yarn to make Color on Color from Scarf Style at the big after Christmas sale at my LYS. That's only 42 color changes...

Ick and argh

I seem to be developing a case of the Creeping Mongolian Death Crud (CMDC). (Don't ask me how I came up with CMDC but I got some horrible lurgy one year and called it the CMDC and a number of my friends have adopted the term as well. The good news is that the CMDC is not quite the flu.)

We finished ripping down the wallpaper in the foyer and put a layer of Kilz on hoping that Nature might be kind to us and let us take the easy way out without having to take down the backing and mud the foyer. No such luck. And we couldn't paint over the wallpaper because it was textured vinyl. And not a texture you'd want. So, Hubster has gone off to the Home Despot to get supplies. My being sick isn't helping anything. Nor is the fact that an old friend is coming in town in about an hour and I am expected to be at our ex-hangout for cocktails in about an hour and a half. Man, to think I used to actually drink in the afternoon. (To think I used to actually drink...) So, poor Hubster gets left with the mud and The Bean. (My husband is the most indulgent man in the world.) I did make a big pot of beef stew (really boeuf borgignon with carrots and celery) so I don't have to feel guilty about dinner ;>.

Needless to say, this has put something of a kibosh on knitting. The fog of sinus prevents me from paying much attention to Lara. I have managed to read some of All I Did Was Ask by Terry Gross who is the host of NPR's Fresh Air. Great book. I love Fresh Air and she has the Gene Simmons interview which was a total disaster.

Meanwhile, I have to print out 500 mailing labels by Wednesday. From an incomplete mailing list. That I have to update.

I think I need to go back to sleep.

Whys and wherefores

I was bopping around in blogworld a few days ago and, on a blog I cannot remember, I read something about knitalongs to the extent that this person was not much interested because she wanted to knit things for her own reasons whether than because other people were doing them. Its' an interesting point and she was in no way saying anything bad about KALs, it was more like I feel about mohair. It's just not something I'm nuts about. Nothing wrong with it. Just not for me ;>

At any rate, it got me thinking about how I choose projects. Before I discovered the online world of knitting, I picked things I knew I would wear or that I knew the recipient would like. Projects that I could learn a few techniques from or that were guaranteed to be relaxing and mindless. I don't feel that my projects wants have changed that much, but I think that the online knitting world has expanded my projects and increased my interest.

Some of the projects are KALs: Clapotis, Lara and Butterfly. I doubt I would have attempted Clapotis had someone on the Knitty boards not mentioned that Soy Silk Phoenix would be a good substitute for Lion and Lamb. And I actually had the requisite amount of Soy Silk in my stash! So, while the pattern repeats intimidated me (limited attention span), I jumped right in. And could not stop. Until I realized that I loathed the colorway of the Soy Silk. So, I bought some new yarn and am happy as a clam with the finished project and I had a blast knitting it.

Lara and Butterfly I wouldn't have knitted without seeing pictures of real people (as opposed to Debbie Bliss or Rowan people) wearing said sweaters and looking nice in them. I love the chevron pattern in Butterfly and am having a ball with Lara. I have learned how to cast on in the middle of a project.

On the other hand, Rowan Summer Tweed doesn't appear to have a huge blog following but it's really appropriate for Texas weather. I chose Plum from Debbie Bliss Seven the second I saw the magazine because I want to learn short rows and come on, it's Cashmerino! Not to mention that every project I work on these days uses 8US needles and I wanted something big and chunky.

I feel like the KALs are a great thing. They provide encouragement because there are people to ask about projects. I'm the only person I know at my LYS knitting Butterfly, Clapotis and maybe Lara. Sure, there may be a few other people, but it seems like I don't know anyone personally who is working on these projects. It's nice to have internet friends from whom I can glean helpful hints.

Lara is progressing. I'm through with the back and have started the eternal ribbing on the left front.

The Good the Bad and the Purple

Brit commented on my quote from the Bean on Sunday and it made me re-read the post and realize that my remark that I didn't laugh at Amen and Firemen might be misinterpreted. I didn't laugh because I didn't want to offend her. Hubster and I laughed 'til we cried after I left the room.

I went to my LYS yesterday and learned enough crochet to finish the Medley sweater. I had some Patons Super Chenille from the Stash of Shame (Motto: It's Small But It's Oooooooooooooold.) in a red that matched perfectly. It really finishes all the edges nicely. I may take out some of the crochet and redo it. Since this was a new technique for me, it's not even everywhere. The collar in particular could have been better.


Meddlesome with a row of single crochet at the hem(?) of the sleeve

Yesterday's trip to the LYS also provided some drama in the form of frogging the Lopi sweater. I'm not finished with the frogging (that yarn has been sitting in sweater form for 12 years or so and doesn't really want to go anywhere).

I really wanted to finish the Lopi sweater in a timely manner in order to reduce the Stash of Shame (two half-finished sweaters and a sweater's worth of the aformentioned Patons Super Chenille and some really nice but really purple Takhi Chelsea Silk and assorted Pingouin cottons that may get donated to charity knitters along with the large bag of yellow Encore I bought to make a baby blanket for a now 4-year-old).

Yes, I do have other stash, but it's not Stash of Shame if it's less than 5 years old ;>


Chamomile

I need to post a picture with me wearing it but that requires the presence of someone to take a pic.



I told you it was really really purple!

From the mouths of babes

We're putting the Bean to bed and she says her little prayer* and then she decides to follow it up by singing the blessing they sing before lunch at Mother's Day Out. "A-men". Long pause. "And Fire-men."

I did not laugh.

*I see the moon and the moon sees me
God bless the moon and God bless me

It was a busy weekend at Chez Casa Liz

Progress so far on Lara. I am about 2/3 of the way through the fourth ball and I've completed 22 rows (out of 32 total) of the first body section. I think I may add two extra rows on each side. I tried a store sample on of the small (which is what I'm making) and the body fit a bit too perfectly. But a medium would swamp me. So, I need a small-and-a-half. I also only knit three inches of the ribbing on the sleeve rather than four due to my extremely short arms.

I'm using 36" Clover bamboo circs. I really prefer Clover bamboo needles to just about anything else. I have several pairs of Addis, but I rarely use them. I find them way to slippery for the way I knit.

Resting beneath the top part of Lara, you can see my newest book acquisition - a copy of Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.


Meddlesome

I still need to weave in the ends and then take her to my LYS to get some advice about finishing. I need to do some sort of whip stitch or crochet edging or something to complete her. I have a nice matching chenille in a solid red color that I happened to have in my stash that is a perfect complement.


A detail of the yarn. It's a fairly gloomy day outside so that's about as good as I could manage for light without moving some lamps into the kitchen.


Time to go to the grocery store. Risotto tonight.

On the list of "what was I thinking?"

Add hosting Thanksgiving dinner. This is not a cooking problem. I love to cook. Even though I only have one oven and it's a really small one. I can get a turkey in there but nothing else at the same time except maybe a spoon. And that would be a tight fit.

No, the problem is my living/dining room and foyer. The foyer that I ripped half the boring wallpaper off of last weekend in a fit of pique. The living/dining room that not only needs new lighting but also desperately needs to be painted. Hubster is taking Turkey Week off so we can work on the painting portion. This means that next week will be spent buying paint and taping up the room so that next Saturday (not tomorrow), we can jump in and paint paint paint. I forsee a bit too much TV in the life of the Bean that weekend. I think it only took us two days to paint it from prep to finish last time. I'm hoping that prepping early will take some time out of the equation. Why did I paint the room green in the first place? I hate green. Oh well. It'll be fine. That and some judicious cleaning (read cramming stuff into overstuffed closets so it's out of sight and the house looks neater), and we're into smooth sailing.

Hopefully, either tomorrow or Monday, Hubster can go with me to the lighting place and we can pick out a new "chandelier" and some can lights and get that installed pronto. (Yeah, I know I'm borrowing a page from the Yarn Harlot in home redecoration, but I'm hoping that it will all magically fall in place the way it seems to for her.)

Hopefully, the installation of the framing around the back door will be complete this weekend.

Tea!

Holly O very kindly RAOK'd me with a $5 gift certificate to Adagio Teas. Just time time for the weather to actually approach cold down here.

Thank you very much Holly!!!