Short

Monday the KP bare yarn came, along with the Jacquard dyes. I dyed the yarn 2 colors of blue, which turned out to be so similar that on the skein it's hard to tell them apart. I was a little disappointed because I spent so much time on them for it not to look different, but I'm happy with how the yarn turned out. I decided to call it "Sapphire Sky" and if I ever launch a yarn dyeing/pattern company, it's going to be called Holey Sheep! Designs. This line would be called Jewels of the Nile.
In preparation for my yarn diet I got some Tykie Knits sock yarn. One skein if BFL, my first purchase of it. It really is nice and soft, I can't wait to knit with it. The other 2 are 50% merino/50% tencel which is really nice and shiny. I don't think I've used any tencel yarn yet.
My baby turns 3 tomorrow. Because she's now going to be a "big girl" we went to Ikea tonight to get her a big girl bed. A good idea turned into a fiasco. First, DH decided to take the long way (and the short way is 1 1/4 hours!). We needed gas on the way, add another 15 minutes. Then at a most inopportune time, Cee-Cee decided she needed to go potty, so we ran by our old neighbor's house to see if they were home. Nope. So we hope to get to McD's about 10 minutes away and she ends up peeing her pants. Good thing we brought extras. We hit about every light and got behind every slow truck on the way. Then we got in the general vicinity but couldn't figure out how to get to where we needed to go. So we had to go past it, then turn around. It was almost 7 when we got there, the kids (and I for that matter!) were starving. The line at the restaurant was long and we had to wait another 10-15 minutes. We didn't finish eating until after 7:30 (and we ate fast) and we still had to shop. We ended up checking out just after they announced they were closed, and we didn't get home until 10:20. Cee-Cee fell asleep in the car but the boys were still up. I hope they sleep in in the AM.
Long story short, Cee-Cee got a new "big girl" bed and bedding. The bed is adjustable, so it will be shorter for a few years (maybe) and then we can make it longer when she gets taller. She's so tiny that even a twin bed would dwarf her. Of course, we had to buy slats for it and a special mattress too. The bedding is stripes and polka dots. The one I really wanted was out of stock, but since Ikea is so cheap I can just pick it up another time.
So we dropped a load tonight but my baby is worth it. She always gets hand-me-downs and I really wanted her to have something new.
Here's a few pictures of her from a few days ago. She wanted Grandma to read her a story, so my mom lay down in her bed with her. That's a bottle of root beer in her hand, but we thought it looked funny so DH snapped a picture. In the second picture, she is wearing the tutu I bought her for her first birthday. She's obviously grown since then.

Stalling again

So today I just didn't feel like knitting. I did finish the toe of my Naive sock (which fits amazingly). There was no toe pattern included, so I just found another sock pattern to use as a gude for finishing the toe. I had some ends to take care of (because I used the Duets yarn) so the sock is all done and needs to be put on the blocker for a picture. I didn't feel like starting anything else until my KP order came, which it did. Then I remembered I ordered yarn to DYE for the Peapod set, so I couldn't get started on that right away. I also ordered a bunch of their limited edition sock yarns (they were a test dye run and they weren't completely satisfied with the colors, but they were CHEAP) but I just didn't feel like starting socks. I have an idea for a sock pattern but I just couldn't get the concept down on paper today so I gave up. I did knit several rounds on the pinwheel baby blanket but that is so freaking boring. I'm up to like 300 stitches per round so it's very slow going. It's also still pretty small. I'm using bulky yarn next time.
So I wasted most of my day and did very little knitting. Hopefully I'll get more done.
In case anyone is reading and wondering, I did hear from my secret pal and all is well. She had a sick child and that was more important. I totally understand that. Usually around here more than 1 is sick at a time. Oh the joy of having 3 kids.
I did cave and ordered some more Fly*Dyed from Little Knits as well as the Cat Bordhi book. Maybe if it comes tomorrow (it should, she only lives a few hours away). Maybe I'll find inspiration in it to start some new socks.
I ordered some new clothes a few weeks ago and they hadn't arrived yet. I called the company today to try to figure out what is going on. Turns out, I forgot to change my email address, home address, phone etc so they had all my old info from over a year ago before we moved. They canceled the order because they couldn't get a hold of me. My credit card had been declined due to an incorrect billing address. They wouldn't reinstate my order and I had to reorder everything. When I had ordered before, some things were on sale and they aren't now. I asked them to honor that sale and they wouldn't. But, they sent me a coupon code for 25% off over $100 (which I was spending anyway) and the whole thing ended up costing me $1 less than the original order. After I placed the order I reconsidered and wondered if I shouldn't order from them in protest. But I need some new pants so I guess it doesn't matter.

SP11--in case you're reading my secret pal....

I'm really sad that I've only received the one brief first email from you. It's been a few weeks since the matches went out and I've tried to be patient and understanding but I feel very left out. I've participated in several exchanges and nearly always had a really good experience. I've had several emails with my downstream pal but just the one from you. I hope that you are just busy or something like that but I just want you to know that I'm sad and feeling neglected......
I spent all day yesterday avoiding knitting on the Naive socks. They just drone on and on. We spend most of the day cleaning the house, cleaning out the kids' closets, etc. And when I wasn't cleaning or cooking, I was on Ravelry or using other avoidance techniques. So today I decided I should just quit stalling and work on them some more. I've managed to get in about 15 rows today, which really isn't much. I plan to get this one sock done then putting the 2nd sock into hibernation status. I just CAN'T work on the second one right now.
I didn't get my KnitPicks order so I didn't get to start the Peapod Set this weekend. I hope it will come tomorrow, but then I have to dye the yarn. I forgot until yesterday that I bought bare yarn to dye. I haven't yet decided quite what color(s) to dye it. I hope inspiration will come to me tomorrow (when I'm sure the stuff will arrive).
I ordered one last yarn purchase before the big stash diet. One of my co-ops sells off Tykie Knits dyed yarn every once in a while so I bought some sock yarn. One skein is BFL, and I've never knit with it before. I hear it's 'da Bomb, and I hope that's true. It will ship Priority tomorrow, so it should be here by Thursday. I might sneak in an order with LittleKnits too, since she sells Fly*Dyed. Now that's some beautiful stuff at a great price with amazing yardage. I'm kind of dying for the new Cat Bordhi book too, and if I buy it there (it's not any cheaper at Amazon) I can get free shipping. I love free shipping!
My birthday is in a week and DH hasn't even asked me what I want. I tried to convince my mom to buy me a yarn club subscription but I don't think that she bought that one. Maybe DH will, or maybe my dad will send money. If I'm going to be on a yarn diet at least I'd like to get some yarn in the mail once in a while.

Still Naive

I'm still working on the Naive socks. Trying to keep track of the cable turns is really far more complicated than I expected. If I had designed these socks (which obviously I didn't) I would have coordinated the cable turns so that they weren't so hard to keep track of. But the socks will probably turn out prettier because of the way they are made.
I finished the heel flap and turn, then remembered I was using Duets yarn and was supposed to change yarn for the heel. So I had to rip the whole thing out and re-do it. That was a gymongo pain in the ass. And I was supposed to pick up for the gusset in a way that the edge stitch showed on the outside but for some reason I couldn't figure that out. Now I'm about half way down the foot and am glad to be almost done with the first. It would be d a shame not to knit the second but I need to take a break from all the cabling. I knew there was a reason I hadn't knit cabled socks before.
I'm hoping to get my package tomorrow so I can start on the Peapod Set. That needs to get done in a hurry so that's a good excuse to bail on the second sock for now.
I'm also considering designing my own sock. Nothing too complicated but pretty. I'm not too much into lacy socks so they will be more utilitarian but still feminine. I have some lovely yarn to use that is VERY light fingering weight. I'll probably have to knit with it on a 0 to get the density of fabric I want.
We're cracking down on our budgeting next month so I'll be on a yarn restriction for a while. That doesn't mean I can't buy anything but I need to bust through some of the stash I have so we can save some money.

Quick Post

I started the Naive socks yesterday, and had about 30 rows done. I screwed up one of the 6 stitch cables, and tried to rip it down and fix it but it was a mess. So then I decided to just rip it back to that point. When I was trying to get the needles back in, Cee-Cee got mad at me and grabbed it. Well, that was the end of it, and I just ripped the whole thing to restart it. I think it was going to be too small around anyway. I was using magic loop on a 2, and it just seemed small. So I switched to DPN's (the instructions are written for DPN's anyway) and it's much looser and is going well. I've completed about 50 rounds. What's difficult is keeping track of when to turn the cables. Each cable (2 stitch, 4 stitch, and 6 stitch) is turned at a different interval, and usually they end up being on different rows. I have a system, and as long as I make the proper marks it will be OK.
I got my 100purewool co-op order yesterday. It ended up costing me $85,45 (w/shipping)for 12 skeins, or $7.12 per skein. If I would have purchased it from the website, it would have cost me $128.50 (w/shipping) plus any customs fees. I think I got a pretty darn good deal. The colors are beautiful.

What's the use in trying?

I finally retired the Lime N Violet yarn back to the sock yarn bin for a while. I got frustrated with all the BS involved in trying to knit with it. No matter what I did, disaster followed. So I give up on it for a while, but I won't be defeated. I WILL knit that yarn at one point. Just not right now because I'm too pissed off at it.
I found a really cool pattern on Ravelry yesterday. Turns out the girl who wrote it hasn't released it yet, but she let me have a copy to test knit. This AM I worked up a chart for the leg portion because it was confusing to me to read the pattern the way it's written. I'm sure she will write up a better pattern before she releases it.
I caved and ordered some new yarn to make a Peapod Baby set for Baby M. I ordered it from KnitPicks so I didn't spend that much money. Plus, while I was at it, I ordered a bunch of their limited edition sock yarns. They are cheap and available in limited quantities because they didn't come out exactly like KnitPicks wanted them to.

Holy Disaster Day!

This was a knitting disaster day. What can I say except that nothing seemed to go right. I was trying to finish up the cute little vest, but the stupid pattern doesn't make sense. No matter what I do, it doesn't work out. I think that the person writing it must have been on crack. But someone on Ravelry made it and didn't make any notes referencing crack-using pattern writers, so maybe it was just me. No matter what I tried, the stitches didn't add up, and I couldn't figure out how I was going to attach the front to the back given the way I was supposed to bind off stitches. I hate it when patterns say "AT THE SAME TIME". I tried doing "at the same time" and that didn't work. So I tried doing what it says after it says "at the same time" at the same time, and that didn't work either. Somehow I ended up with a vest with a different sized front and back, and no way to understand why or how it turned out that way.
I just checked out the blog of the only person I can find who knit this blasted pattern, and this is what she says (and I quote)

A wee vest for the chap i work withs wee boy who will be 1 next week, cute dontcha think, looks like something one would play cricket in! Cygnet wool rich 4ply and this pattern
Was a fairly quick knit even if i did have to frog half the front due to unclear pattern, but i muddled thru!

Notice the part about the unclear pattern. Glad I'm not the crack smoking idiot, the pattern writer is. I hope she doesn't come to my blog (Jan McCarthy if you're interested in having a chat with me about this pattern, I'll have you over for coffee!) and see what I've written. Screw it, I hope she does. Pattern writers need to know when their patterns suck.
That brings me to a topic I really want to delve into today. Patterns NEED to be test knit. Not just by the pattern writer, but by a non-biased third (and maybe fourth and fifth) party. And please please please make things clear. None of this "at the same time" shit. If you want me to do a row, and do two things at once, write out the whole row you lazy writer! Sheesh, it probably would have taken Ms. Jan a few more minutes to write the pattern out more accurately than it did for her to slop together the crap she calls a pattern. Maybe I'm not supposed to complain since it was a free pattern but still, one has expectations of accuracy in a published pattern, and even more for one that was published by a well known yarn company **cough cough Classic Elite Yarns cough cough**.
So I pulled the whole thing out and rewound up the yarn and I intend to make a lovely pair of socks with it when I'm no longer so pissed off. That might take a while.
In the mean time, I decided to knit on my toe up socks in the Lisa Souza Lime N Violet. Well, in my flurry of pissed-off-ness, I tore out the needle from the part I'd already done. So I ripped that too, and decided to try a short row toe sock, thinking it might be less boxy. Nope, when I got the whole toe done, it looked basically the same as the Sock.ra.tease one I was doing, and was a lot freaking harder. So I ripped that, and plan to start the Sock.ra.tease one again. But I decided to blog first while the frustration was fresh in my mind.
So any pattern writers out there, please make sure your instructions are clear to even the most basic knitter (which I'm not). None of this "at the same time" shit, and have a few strangers test knit your patterns.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled program.
(PS now what in the heck am I going to make for my friend's new baby boy? Oh, and it has to be from my already purchased stash since I've bought 2 kinds of yarn already to make him something that hasn't turned out.....)