Do you want the knitting?

Or do you want the bathroom?

Heck, I don't think I can fit 'em both on one post! How about knitting? It's been an awful long time since I had some knitting on this knitting blog...

First, some of the stuff I finished knitting recently...these were the items I needed to get off my needles before I started the February Lady Sweater from Flint Knits. I almost committed to starting it for the Ravelympics, but I refrained, knowing that for me, the WIP's were getting a little burdensome. I needed to get the second Shetland Triangle Shawl done. What? I never told you about the first one? Really?

All right, you might remember that one of the projects I really wanted to tackle was a lace shawl. After checking out a few, I decided to try my hand at the Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style. It calls for fingering weight yarn, but Brooklyn Tweed did one in more of a worsted/aran weight, and (if you're familiar with his work at all you already know that) it looked amazing. That was my project. So I grabbed a bit of sock yarn I had lying around



and started to try the pattern out, making sure I was getting the idea and all. Wow. It was easy. Really. I never would've guessed that, but the lace sort of flew! I decided that I could definitely handle this project and that it would take me forever to finish in fingering weight, but since I was "able", I might as well order up some nice Dream in Color Classy to make the heavier weight shawl, right? Yum.



Well, while I was waiting for the yarn to come in, Shetland Triangle Obsession took over. Before I knew it, I was pretty close to finished with the shawl, and the "real yarn" wasn't even here yet! I even grabbed some worsted weight yarn I had around to test how the thicker yarn would look...



Yup. Obsessed.



Well, in the end, I ran a bit short on the fingering yarn (which was actually a bit heavier than that, almost sport, maybe) and I finished the first shawl with what I had. It's Regia 6 ply Silk, I think.



And this grubby, wrinkled looking thing transformed into this:









How wild is THAT?! Talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck, right? Awesome.

So once the "real" yarn arrived, I pretty much just jumped right back into the Shetland Triangle and started up. I used Aurora Dusk, I believe is the name, on size US 6 needles. And in order to start the FLS, I finished it up. I still have a few ends to weave in and it needs a bath and some blocking, but this is what I've got:





And I can't wait to see it morph into a beautiful butterfly...

Even after this baby was completed, I stuck to it and finished up the Malabrigo Loafers by Coco Knits. These are from some Malabrigo I picked up on my birthday at WEBS for just this pattern. I love how they turned out. I wasn't sure if I would do the finished detail options, and now that I've finished, I think I will leave them as they are. The penny loafer look is cute, but I sort of dig the plain way, too. And they are only slippers, after all.







With these two projects all set, I was ready to move onto the sweater. I'll show it to you soon. Right now, I want to get some knitting in, I think.

Right to the Heart

Something that always gets me in sad movies is the staged home movie footage. You know the kind. In the movie, a parent passes away and in the midst of the drama and grieving, someone walks in to find the poor little kid watching old camcorder tapes of the parent--happy, smiling, laughing, and doing something incredibly fun. Always with the fun. Last night we watched No Reservations and without fail, the little girl was watching she and her Mom tromping around on the beach, hugging, laughing. It's about the sweetest thing, and it breaks my heart every time.

And it should. But you know what gets me worst than the sympathy for the little girl? This thought: I don't think I have that footage. Really. If something happened to me, truly, I don't think there is a tape like that that the kids can watch and see happy/fun Mom and remember her in the best possible light, running around the beach or laughing. Now I don't want to have to watch and confirm this, but I'm pretty sure that our home movies don't usually have me in them, and if they do, I always sound weird. I am not smiling. Mostly I have that look a lot of us give the camera (or our husbands behind it) that says "get that thing out of my face" or "you know I don't have any makeup on right now". In fact, I dare say that I believe I've trained Brian to essentially keep the lens off of me. And now I'm wondering if that's a good idea.

So here's what I want to know. Do other people have this spontaneous, happy, loving footage of themselves snuggling with their kids, laughing, and seeming like the most perfect, beautiful (and skinny!) parent? Or is it just me?

Perhaps I should loosen up a little and try to be myself in the home movies more. I mean, if I died, how would they ever make a movie about me?

Rule of 85%

What have we gotten ourselves into? Ah, good question. A bathroom remodel. *Sigh*

Brian and I have been meaning to update the bathroom since the day we bought our house, over 7 years ago. It was papered, which I don't really care for, and the biggest challenge was finding time to take all the old paper down and all of that. Plus, we had several rooms to prepare first, like the nursery for Irene--yeah, that's how long ago it was--and painting our room.

Wanting to update the look of the bathroom turned into a real necessity to remodel pretty quickly. The closer we looked at the room, the more problems we found. In the end, now seemed like a good time to dive in. Here's the issue: we only have one bathroom. Uh-huh. That's right. Family of five. And I'm not talking only one full bath, but a half bath downstairs. Oh no, I'm talking just the one. You can imagine that with three smallish children, gutting your only bathroom isn't an easy feat. We needed to do it, and we needed to do it fast. Clearly, sending the kiddos "to visit" someone would work well. It had to be before school started, so we would have more than a weekend. That only gave us a couple of weeks. Time to find a taker...

Enter my In-laws. (Imagine a flourish of Superman-esque music here)

They agreed to take all three kids for a long weekend. For sure we'd need Saturday and Sunday, and I figured realistically we were talking into Monday and Tuesday as well. There was a ton of work. So we left for the beach house Friday night after Brian got home and slept over there so we could head home Saturday morning, first thing. I kind of laughed when Suzanne seemed surprised that we weren't staying for the day, or at least lunch. But seriously, we had a ton to do, plus a two hour drive home to Rhode Island.

Here's what the kiddos had to look forward to for the weekend:



Here's what Brian and I had to look forward to for the weekend:









It looked pretty grim. I'll show you the progress, but I'm happy to say it was worth all the dirt, grime, and hard work. I'm not as happy to explain the title of the post. Yup, you guessed it...we're still only about 85% complete.

Note in the pictures the mildew and mold around the ceiling. The weirdo ceiling that was falling down. The nasty old 70's light without bulb covers. The worn out vanity complete with a hole in the floor we found when we had to move it over. Ah, the site of the door rebuild. (Who puts a folding, accordion-style door in a bathroom?)

Brian truly is very handy, and he can tackle some projects that are pretty impressive. This bathroom was one of those projects. And he did a great job, and working together we accomplished a lot in a very short time. (Ok, it really took 5 days, but that's for another post.) He's super capable and I'm so appreciative that he can do what he does.

That said, somehow, my sweet Brian isn't able to finish a project without serious and continual prodding. He does MOST of it, and then...well, I don't know. Somewhere in the vacinity of 85% through a project, without fail, the work kind of stops. And that's about all I get. Rooms are painted, except for a piece or two of trim. A folding door is replaced, the doorway re-framed, and a new door installed and primed, but the trim doesn't go up around the doorway for maybe a year. (Yes, for those of you who haven't experienced this phenomenon, that means that you could see through the space between the door frame and the wall around the door for an entire year.) Things do eventually get buttoned up, like in the case of the doorway. An impending birthday party of a massive scale motivated Bri to install the door trim. Also, possibly my threats made an impact, too. And no, it's still not painted.

So there you have it. The bathroom is almost done. We worked our arses off for 5 days straight (seriously--like, I didn't even knit!), probably 60-70 hours of work, and then we hit the roadblock phenomenon.

I am remaining hopeful.

Or trying to.

Three Things (con't)

Three things I love about these socks:




1. The YARN. Wow, I've wanted some of this forever. It's a little pricey, so I waited and waited and then kept waiting. This particular skein was part of a Mother's Day gift for me, and I was almost afraid to knit it up. Would it live up to my expectations? Oh, yeah. It sure did. The twist, the fiber, the colors... I want to make PJ's out of this stuff and wear them from now until forever. Yummy. It's Duet Middy in Pebble Cove by A Swell Yarn Shop, and you can find it at The Loopy Ewe. (Just in case you wanted to get some and send it to me.)


2. The contrasting toes.




3. How well my short row heel turned out. Now, I realize it's not perfect, but I like them and I haven't done many thus far. I think I might be leaning towards these for a bit...

Three FOs I haven't blogged yet (besides the Duet socks):

1. My first washcloth! A gift for Irene's teacher at the end of the year. I packaged it up with some body wash and lotion, and I think it's kind of cute. Too bad I didn't think to take a pic until it was all packaged up. What? You've never been on a knitting deadline before? I was in a hurry...




2. Crusoe Socks in White Oak Studio's TVyarn in the Four Weddings and Funeral colorway.




3. Camera Sock (at least I don't think I blogged it) for my tiny camera. I keep it in my purse, so I can get all kinds of fun on-the-fly pictures for the blog. All right, all right--I WILL get lots of fun pics.





Three things I've celebrated recently:


1. Keegan's graduation. You saw that on last blog. How funny was the picture of Irene and Spencer cheering in the seats?


2. My niece Holli's 2nd Birthday.




3. Father's Day. Here's a quick one of me with my Dad...





Three things I'm dying to knit:


1. Some sort of lace wrap or stole. But I'm afraid. Very afraid.


2. Malabrigo Loafers. Out of this:


and this:



3. Pair of mittens from the Selbuvotter book using one of these and a colorful sock yarn:





Three WIPs:


1. Lucky Leafling socks. I did have 4 inches or so knitted up, but the gauge was too loose, so I had to frog and start over.



more on the yarn and pattern in a minute.


2. Lettuce Leaf Scarf. Hopefully this will break me in for that lace shawl...

Again, I didn't take a picture yet, but I will. It's in the pretty Elmers colorway by The Plucky Knitter.


3. Wrap/Blanket (not sure how big it will be yet) in Shibui Knits Merino Kid.

No photo--this is becoming a habit--but here's the yarn:





Old WIP's:


1. The Van Socks #2. Remember these? Wow, I haven't touched them in a long time. They are still in the van, though. Wonder if that's a good sign?


2. Sunrise Circle Jacket. Still love the idea--just a lot of counting and it's like I never have the quiet time to work on it. Except when I watch TV. But I can't count very well while I watch. Plus, it's kind of warm. Please don't ask why that doesn't stop me from making a blanket/wrap.


3. The 2nd Cowl project. I love it, and it's easy and quick. I just stopped having to pick Irene up at school, and that's when I used to work on it. Maybe I should take it out of the van?



Three things you never would have guessed:


1. Brian's knitting! You remember that around Christmas time I figured out he could still knit? Well, there's more. He even has a WIP! I'm going to save the details for the next post, though. Too much for this list...


2. I met the Harlot and forgot to blog about it!



Well, I didn't really forget. I guess I just never got around to it. She came to Webs for a book signing and blew us all away. She's so sweet and nice, and just how you imagine. Plus, funny. Man, is she hilarious. Like knitting stand-up. My face hurt from laughing.


3. Brian ran a 5K a couple of weeks ago!



Well, maybe it's harder to believe if you know him...

But he did an amazing job, and I was so proud. I couldn't believe he did as well as he did. And did I mention it was about 98 degrees outside? Whew! I was dying and I didn't run!



Three fun things about Keegan's new Sleeping Socks:


1. He requested a new pair of sleeping socks, because his old pair was wearing out. By "wearing out", I mean that they had like 5 holes in them and were basically unravelling. Anyway, he wanted new ones and I made them up using the yarn I got from Qutecowgirl's Etsy shop. He wears them all the time! Seriously. Like even if it's 90 degrees outside, he wears a tank top and shorts pajamas to bed with his DK weight woolen socks! EVERY night! Of course, while it's really pretty funny, you know darned well that if that kid asks for socks, I knit him socks. You can't buy gratitude like that. He takes his hand knit socks all the way, baby.




2. I used a short row heel for them, and I did it without looking up the technique. And I think they still look good!! This one amazed me. Granted, they're not perfect, but they do look like heels. Good enough.




3. This video. Entirely spontaneous. He just asked me to take a video of his new socks. I thought--why? That would be kind of boring. Turns out it's not. You have to click on it to go and see the video through Photobucket. But it's worth it. And turn on the sound, too.

Three Things

Three things = Misc. information in random order. I thought that would be a good way to sum up some stuff of late.

Three things I've been busy with:

1. School field trips

Battleship Cove--very cool



Old Sturbridge Village--highlights include making a toy (house) from a block of wood, seeing the very old knitting projects, and the kids figuring what in the world an "outhouse" is for...



2. The end of the spring soccer season



3. Keegan's graduation from Preschool (sniff)

The performed a cute song with lyrics in sign language and sung as well. Adorable. Keegan was by far the loudest signer out there. (Think about it.)



OK, we were all excited:



I was planning much more, but I have to stop.

1. It's getting late.
2. It took longer to upload my backlog of photos than I expected and Brian's back already.
3. Turns out I can't yet post pics here from Flickr (or I just haven't figured it out) so half my photos aren't available right now, unless they're on Photobucket. And that just ruins the lists I have going on in my head, so I'll have to get it straightened out.

Back to knitting!

Cat Got Your Tongue?

Well, apparently so.

Ever feel like you don't have very much to say? Somehow everything I've thought of blogging about has seemed like it would bore the devil out of anyone. Sad, right? I mean, what kind of life is that, that everything I've done in the last month is so darned uninteresting?

To tell the truth, it hasn't been so uninteresting. It just feels like it is.

I think that it's the fact that it has gotten so warm here in Rhode Island. Today is in the 60's, but we've experienced some unusual heat lately. (O.k., small aside here...I've thought my life was too boring to blog, and now I've decided to start talking about the weather?! Send help...) The heat makes it hard to knit, you know? So I've been trying to keep up with my knitting and still get the rest of my stuff done, while allowing several hours to just sit around dying of heat exhaustion--I'm a kind of a heat wimp. After those pressing tasks, there's pretty much nothing left to blog with. Once the kiddos are in bed and everything's cleaned up, the dishwasher's going, etc, Brian and I just retire to the basement family room to watch TV and knit. Kind of pathetic, but it's much cooler down there. Thus, no blogging.

In addition, I'm having trouble keeping up with my pictures. I just never seem to upload them. So I will write this one picture less post and then I will upload at least SOME of my pics (two cameras worth) sometime today. I think that will help to keep things progressing here at the Jilly Knits.

Hey, the good news is that even thought it's been crazy busy and I've been lazy and I've had no energy, I've still managed to keep up with my knitting. I mean, that's important.

Have I mentioned I never win anything?

Yeah? Well, that changed. Ah, I have finally won a prize! I gave to Cayli's 3-day Walk for breast cancer, because you know how important that is to me. And she had a little prize raffle for donors, and I actually won!! Really, I almost couldn't believe it. This was a little while ago, but I never mentioned it, so it's part of the whole catching up thing. Would you believe that the grand prize was a stole she knit up herself? Oh, it was gorgeous! And she raised almost $3,000 to boot. Awesome. (Thanks again, Cayli!) Wanna see the yarn I won?



It's Cayli's own hand spun, and boy, was it gorgeous. Beautiful "Clouds" colorway in a Rambouillet/Mohair/Angora blend. It is a 2 ply worsted weight and there is 156 yards. Make that was 156 yards.



My pictures aren't really capturing the essence of the colors, but it's sort of a pale grey with some bluish undertones and lots of darker and lighter changes. So gorgeous. And soft, very nice.

I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I wanted to use every last bit. This is my first ever hand spun, and I drooled over mulled over my decision for quite a while. In the end, I went with the Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf, and it worked out beautifully. I was sick when I took pictures of the FO, though, so they are rather terrible and deficient.



Sadly, that is the very best one. Guess I need a re-shoot. Trust me, the yarn is amazing and the scarf looks really nice. I think it will become a special Christmas present for a certain person, but I don't really want to say who it is yet.

Oh, and this yarn made me want to learn to spin. Something awful. I must hold out a bit longer...

So, having broken my losing streak, I won another prize recently, too. Crazy, right?! Jana had a contest for the Romantic Comedies Sock Club and I am a winner. Of what, I am not sure yet, but it will be coming shortly and I will post when I know more. Woohoo! We had to pick one of two movies for the next shipment, and describe the colors we would choose for said movie, and why. I chose Pretty Woman, and that ended up being the movie Jana went with. She did her own interpretation in addition to my idea, and it's more beautiful than I imagined. I haven't taken pictures yet, but I will soon.

All right, I'm off to enjoy some knitting and a movie with Brian.

Tag!....I'm it.

I've been tagged in a Meme, which I like to think of as "internet tag" of sorts. I was tagged by Qutecowgirl. This is my first one (I know, I'm such a has been dork, right?) and I'm kind of excited about it. Oh so lame, but that's me...

The rules:

Rules are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names. Then the player goes to the the "named" people's blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If you've been tagged, you do the same, letting the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer. Your answer of course, is the answer to the following questions. Here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Hmmm....I was engaged and planning my wedding in Maine...same church as my Mom & Dad. I was finishing up the spring semester right after I changed my major from Actuarial Math to Early Childhood Development. Brian and I were getting ready to move to Fall River, where he had just gotten his first job after graduation, and we were making the big "moving in together" step. Wow. I was very young...twenty-one. Holy crap. That was the phase where we were doing a lot of fun parties with our friends, like the kind where you get a ride to the party and then you just walk home, you know? I mean, we wouldn't be irresponsible about driving, but who wanted to be the one who didn't get to drink? Crazy days.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?

This questions seems funny after answering the last one. Kind of a juxtaposition against my life 10 years ago. *Hop in the shower and get ready, while the kids watch Sesame Street. *Second load of laundry. Yeah, I pretty much do two loads every day. That also means that I've already done one. *Pick Irene up from school, get homework done, and bring her to soccer practice. *Make dinner. *Knit--but of course! Sorry, guys, no plans to party it up on a Thursday night and have to walk home after...

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Ice cream--too much, chocolate covered pretzels, Pirate Booty, Banana chips, and well, pretty much anything chocolate.

4. Places I've lived:

Maine, Texas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Germany (my Dad was in the army), Massachusetts--in several different spots, and Rhode Island. Interesting fact: We've been in our house for 7 years, and it's the longest I've ever lived in any one place in my whole life. Actually, about twice as long as I've ever lived in one place before.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Ooh, toughie. Invest. Just kidding. Well, I would, but seriously... I'd buy a great old house wherever I wanted and we'd fix it up ourselves. Brian would naturally quit his job. I think we'd get some property in Jamaica, like we said on our honeymoon, and we'd build something where we could vacation and everyone who wanted to could come and visit, too. I'd get a yacht and we could sail and have privacy from the throngs of people asking for money. Always wanted to travel more. Other than travel, I think we'd keep most things the same. Mostly, I'd divide my time between enjoying the money (and sharing with some family, etc.) and trying to keep my kiddos from turning into rich brats, you know?

The following people are tagged: Megann, Krista, Jen, Jill, Melissa, and Jana. Now I know some of you haven't blogged in a bit (and you know who you are--wink, wink) but maybe this will get you going? C'mon now, don't dis me by not playing...

Back to School...

My class at Webs was so much fun. The instructor? Cat Bordhi!! I wasn't able to get to the 2-day class on New Pathways for Socks, but the class I took was so inspiring. It was about finding your creativity, and fonts for new ideas and concepts you can apply to your own knitting. I forgot the title, and since it's trash night, I've already taken out the recycling with the paper I had it written on. I did a bad job with pictures, though. I only have one, and it's of Cat knitting (or maybe casting on?) behind her back. Yup, behind. Crazy. Sometimes I feel like such an amateur. "I'm not worthy!" So anyhow, it's probably a cute picture, but would I want someone to put up a picture of my butt to the world on their blog? Especially when that's the ONLY picture representing me? Hmmm...I'm thinking maybe Cat wouldn't appreciate it very much. I know I wouldn't, that's for sure.

You would think that I'd have taken a picture with her (of her face, this time), but I'm a really wimp when it comes to that kind of stuff. It's like I freeze up or something. No, not even that--more like I just don't have the guts to ask. Weird. One of those things about me. Makes Brian crazy. Finally, I got my hands on her book (secret birthday moneys--hidden in the wallet) and I did find the spirit to ask her to sign the book. Go me! ...Baby steps.

I need not tell you that I love the book and am dying to jump right in. What she's come up with is amazing and it sort of blows my mind. If only the size DPNs I need weren't being used right now. More on that later. If the opportunity to take a class with Cat Bordhi ever comes your way, I highly recommend you take it. You will love it.

Here's what I brought to work on in class, by the way.



They are the Crusoe Sock pattern in White Oak Studio yarn. It's a cool slip stitch kind of thing.



So here I am, working on my socks while waiting for class to start, and Cat comes up to me and starts checking out my knitting. (Here's me all uncomfortable and nervous) And she's excited because they're socks, and all I can think is what kind of shmuck brings socks to Cat Bordhi's class when they're not "Cat Bordhi" socks, right? Duh. So she asks me what kind of stitch that is, and of course I don't really know. I say, "It's some kind of slip stitch sort of thing" like some kind of crazy unknowledgable knitting fool. Double duh. She suggests it looks like some kind of linen stitch. (The lady next to me agrees with her, so I feel even sillier, not knowing exactly what linen stitch is. But I have heard of it.) Now I feel that I have to explain that I'm pretty much a self-taught knitter and I really don't know the names for a lot of stuff. I just sort of DO it, but I can't really name it. This is why Cat is so awesome--she just smiles away and says how great that is! She says that is wonderful because I can do things my way and not the way that someone else does their thing. Then she goes, "You're lucky!!" How cool is that? So please go and see her if you can--clever and warm woman, and a real asset to the knitting world.

Anyway, back to the socks. The yarn is from the first shipment (March) of the Romantic Comedies TVyarn sock club. I don't think I ever showed you, did I?



The colorway is Four Weddings and a Funeral and it's vibrant and fun.



This is what I'm up to today. Somehow I managed to knit an entire heel flap on the wrong number of stitches last night. Don't ask me how--I have no idea. But I frogged it back and had to restart.



All right, I will end with a huge announcement that I've been wanting to share with you. You know Qutecowgirl, whom I've mentioned a zillion times? She has opened her own Etsy store! called Qutecowgirl's Barn Yarn! She has wonderful hand-dyed yarn and roving, so go check it out, okay? I've already ordered something from her and it showed up superfast.



This is DK in Barn Red, of course! Beautiful, no? I love it!! I'm not usually a "red" person, but I liked it. In person I like it even more. She threw in a cute little stitch marker, too.

My favorite part? The tiny sheep on the label! So stinkin' cute...



Congrats to you, Qutecowgirl, on your new endeavor and best of luck! My yarn is gorgeous--thank you.

Actually, I lied. I will end with these...pictures from the Stitch 'n Pitch. Maura came through--she doesn't comment much, but she does read the blog, so a little guilt goes a long way. All right, just kidding...but I really appreciate her sending these along!



Crazy amounts of knitters:


Someone getting booted out of the game (why can't I remember who it was?):


Maura and I:


Krista and I: