The Coo of a Dove

The level of holiday spirit in my household continues to astound me. Now, all kids are going to be asking for certain things from Santa in November and December. And lots of kids might see something cool in a catalog and suggest that maybe they should ask for it for Christmas. Plus, I am aware that my children are not the only ones out there pleading to turn on carols and dance (though I still think it's funny). All that considered, I think we may have gone one step further.


My children's newest thing is "the coo of a dove." They love the idea of it. They love to say it. They love to make the sound of it. My daughter walks around all day cooing. Yes. Cooing. Really. My son plays with his dinosaurs (just this morning, in fact) and crashes them into each other, saying "Then, with the coo of a dove, he jumps on the Sharptooth and..." No, I am not kidding. And it goes on all day.


Where did they get this coo of a dove, you say? Well, I am not sure how many times you might have read and/or watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. If it's anywhere near as many times as I have, you would have known the answer right away, I guarantee it. Anyone know what the Grinch has to do with doves? C'mon--someone knows. Post the answer in the comments and maybe you'll get a special little something!? All right, not really. But I will consider you a special friend and if we ever meet in real life, I'll give you a big hug, o.k.? Hey, give me a break! It's the holidays and it's been a tight year. (Plus, it's insanely easy, but that's beside the point.) So, that's the newest thing here at my house. Constant cooing and dove references. Kind of cute, but believe me, it does get on your nerves after a little bit. These darned holidays are getting out of control...


On the knitting front, I did finish Irene's mittens. I used basically the same pattern as the boys' mittens: Classic Mittens from Free Vintage Knitting. Such trouble getting everything to work, details on Ravelry (I'm "theJilly" if you want to peek). In the end, I'm happy with the way they turned out, and Irene wore them to school this morning, so I believe she's happy, too.


The front:




The palm:

I think they'll be warm enough, and they match her coat pretty darned well, indeed. After much debate with Brian last night, we decided that she's probably too old to still have a string connecting her mittens. Actually, he kind of shamed me into the decision. I'd embarrass her...blah, blah, blah. All I could think was that if she lost one I'd have to knit ANOTHER one! He finally won. I deemed them officially completed last night, feeling mightily satisfied. Don't you know that this morning, she asked if she could have an I-cord, too, like the boys? Um, yeah, she did say "I-cord". Is that weird? Tonight, the cord will be added and I'll keep working on the matching hat. It's a cross between the Kittyville hat and the polka dotted mittens. Not sure how happy I am with the seed stitch at the bottom, but I am letting it transform and I'll decide later.

Did I show you Keegan's finished mittens?




They're just like Spencer's, but the size bigger. I believe it's 4-6 yrs.


Here's my progress on the Monkeys. It's not much, but I am close to the heel flap, so I'm getting pumped. It's just been so cold here that I had to put these on hold to work on the mittens and hats. Apparently, kids don't like to wear last year's "yucky" mittens while Momma works on fun stuff for herself instead of said kid's mittens. Who knew?




Ps. You'll be happy to hear that the Knitting Gods have taken pity on me and let Irene come home with BOTH mittens. I figure if she was to lose one, it would definitely be the day she wore them for the first time, while I planned to make and attach the cord that night, right?

Where have I been?

Sick. I've been sick, along with Spencer. And it hasn't been very fun. Luckily, we're all better now, though. I have lots to say, seeing as it's been a really long time since I last posted (sorry about that) and we've been very busy. Why is it that life doesn't stop when you're not feeling well? I mean, a little consideration...

I did manage to finish Keegan's socks in the generous four days I'd allotted myself. Note to self: DK weight socks CAN be made in a ridiculously short amount of time, but I should never attempt fingering weight socks in a crunch like that. Impossible, for me, at least.

I didn't take official pics of the finished socks, but you can see him opening them here.

He was very excited and tried to put them right on!

He's only five and was sort of freaking out (in a good way) so he needed a little help...

I think he was pleased...

We had a fun night. Here's one I had to show. He decided to "model" this new sweatshirt.

Apparently, my daughter does a lot of pretend modelling and it looks a lot like that. He's only five, maybe he'll pick up a more masculine runway walk?

How can he be so BIG?

A day or two later, it snowed for the first time here. Now, we have had some flakes already this year, but they didn't stay, so they don't count. I am not sure which day we did get the snow, as I was sick and sort of out of it, but I want to say it was Tuesday the 20th. The kids got all excited, but it didn't last long.



You can see the flakes falling a little bit. I know, it's a little blurry because of the screen in the window. Next time, I'll do better. I was sick! This snow counts because it lasted an hour or maybe a bit more and you can see how it collected on the ground and in the trees. Can you believe how many leaves are still on the trees in my yard? They only pick up leaves in my town until the first week in December, but lots of mine haven't even FALLEN yet! It's a problem every year...

I realize that my snow pics aren't so wonderful. Did you see the Yarn Harlot's pictures of snow recently? They are amazing! Take a peek here. Um, on second thought--don't. Mine are so terrible next to hers. Maybe finish reading and look at the Yarn Harlot's stuff tomorrow. Yeah. That's it. Tomorrow.

All right, I have to apologize--for some reason the pics on here are crazy-large. I don't know why. They aren't that big on photobucket, but they are here. And I keep resizing them, but it hasn't helped. I reposted the whole thing, but that hasn't helped. I even manually dragged the corners around to make 'em smaller, but then the pictures got all distorted and weird. Funny, actually. But weird. So I just left them big. Hmmm...maybe if I left them weird and distorted, but longer, I'd look thinner? ...Possibility.

Hopefully by the time you read this, I will have fixed the technical difficulties. But if not, I am sorry that they're big and probably take forever to load, and --my personal pet peeve-- you'll have to drag the bar around to see the whole picture. Ugh. Can't stand that.

I do have a lot more to say and update you on, but I have been at this post for about 2 hours now, and I am going insane. I will get more up soon, but right now I need a time-out. And possibly a strong drink.

Now you know I just tried to post it and it's all messed up again. Every time I preview and then try to post, I double spaces anywhere I have a single space, and takes out one space between each sentence! Ahhh!! I am gonna lose it...

(Calm now.)

More later.

'Tis the Season

How funny it is that the cold weather brings on the holidays? At least is does for me. Chilly days and cold nights have really gotten me into the festive spirit. I mean, I'm not decorating or anything--don't be silly! But I do have Christmas carols playing and I have even put some in the car already. I don't know, they just help me get in the mood. And the kids love them. They belt out the tunes. Since I first put a holiday CD in the stereo, they ask every night: Can we put on Christmas carols and DANCE? You think that's funny? ...You should see the dancing.

This season is a particularly busy one for us, since it is not only the busy holiday season that everyone has gets to deal with, but we have additional demand as well. It's our "birthday season". Let me break it down for you. Keegan's birthday, Thanksgiving, Spencer's birthday, Christmas, Irene's birthday. And this all takes place in a matter of 7 weeks. Yes, that's right. By January, I am a complete psycho, completely drained of any creative juices, decorating or baking skills, and the general will to live. Ugh. It's a little much. I know, what were we thinking? I don't know. I guess the spring is a romantic time for us or something?

In knitting news, I am all over the place. I gave up on Irene's hat completely for now. A new needle is on its way, and I will work on it more then. I cannot deal with another dropped stitch right now or I will scream. (That sort of implies that I have not screamed already, and well, that is not true. But I will stop from now on. You have my word.)

My monkeys are coming along a bit. I have passed the second lace repetition, and I'm somewhere on the third now, I think. This is the last picture I have of them, but they're kind of hanging out for now.



The Tiffany Mittens are really coming along. This is a picture from last night. I started blogging but was interrupted several times, so I never got to post it up. At the time of the picture, I had finished the top of the second mitt and was due to weave in the ends (oh, so many!) and begin wrestling with the picking up stitches for an afterthought thumb.



Currently, the weaving in is done and I've picked up the thumb stitches and worked most of that chart. I think I have 3 or 4 rows left before I am done with the thumb and need only to hem the cuff...and then do a happy dance. (This one's been in the works for a while.)

Also, I started something new. I suddenly got the urge to make a quick pair of socks (no, I didn't mean that ironically--why do you ask?) for my son's birthday on Monday. I figured it was Thursday, if I did half a sock per day, I should make it.



It's a plain stockinette sock in a DK weight. Yarns are leftovers from the Tiffany Mitts above, Knitpicks Swish DK in Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Dusk. Hey, so what if I've started 4 pairs of socks and three of them are Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe? Huh? Sheesh. I am just a boring person. And it's the quickest sock I could think of--I only have 4 days! They're coming along nicely. I am in the toe decreases, but I had to stop. Did you notice that the part of the Tiffany Mitts I'm still working on involves the Dusk? You did?! Good for you. Well, I need to make sure I have enough of that darned blue to finish the mitts. After that, I'll do the stripes of the socks as I can, depending how much blue is left. So I am going to finish the mitts, start the second sock, and make sure I can get at least to where I am now on another sock without running out. If I make it, I'll decide how much more I can do. Hopefully, I'll make it to the planned last blue stripe on the toes. Cross your fingers. I need all the luck I can get.

The best laid plans...

Wow. Long day here. No school + kids with colds (yes, all three) = long, tiring day.

Luckily, I've had knitting to keep me (relatively) sane. Once Brian's socks were finished, I sort of didn't know what to do with myself. This rarely occurs to me, as I tend to know exactly what one thing I want to be working on next. But here I found myself--socks finished, only one WIP (Tiffany Mitts) and quite unsure what to cast on next. Basically, I really wanted to cast on for either Monkey Socks with my Hazel Knits yarn or Purl-less Monkeys, the creation of Megann with I'm not sure what yarn. Hmmm...what to do? I also needed to cast on for Irene's hat and after that, mittens for she and Keegan, too. Did I mention how cold it is here now? Well, in the end, I felt like a bad mommy if I didn't put my daughter's welfare in front of my cute socks, so I cast on for her hat on Friday. What can I say? It has to get done.

OK, so I planned out what I wanted for the hat--not sure if I've mentioned it, but I think not. Seriously, how lazy is that? Can't I just click a few times and figure it out? Nah. It's been a long day. Here's the plan: some ribbing at the bottom, with a cuff...maybe 2 inches or a bit more? Then I am going to go a little bit in plain st. st., then add some polka dots (special request), and after a few rows of dots I'll start reducing. Dark purple for the hat, and lighter purple for the dots. I'm pretty certain that I did mention that part, right? Losing my mind? Don't answer that!

I swatched for the hat, and was not loving the looseness of the drape, so I went down to US 4's and tried again. Then I figured out how big I needed it to be, etc, and determined how many stitches I should cast on. Not good. The polka dot requires a 9 stitch repeat, so it has to be divisible by 9. You're following me, right? Then I also wanted K2, P2 ribbing, so I required a number divisible by 4 as well. Not good. I could only go up or down so much. The first number that worked would have made the hat 2 inches less around. Not acceptable. Ah! I had an idea--how about K1, P1 ribbing? Then I need divisible by 9 and 2, and that's not bad. I decided to go ahead and take 118, do the ribbing and then decrease by only one when I start the stockinette, which would give me the needed 117 sts.! Perfect.

After I realize that I don't have a circ. needle in size 4, I grab my double points and decide to start. I cast on and start the ribbing, but it's pretty tight on the needles. Not "gauge tight", but too-many-stitches-on-not-enough-needles tight. Well, I had some trouble. You know how it is, sometimes you just have trouble when there is no good reason on this earth for it. I cast on 3 or 4 times--not sure, I lost track. Ugh, frustrating. Plus, I am not fond of ribbing, especially 1x1. By that night, I'd decided not to have a cuff at all. I couldn't see adding that much length to this cumbersome project. Stitches were constantly falling off the needles and making me crazy. I'd even zipped out to a store to try to find either a circular or another set of 4's, just so I'd have another needle or two to spread these stitches onto. Again, did I mention that it's a set of only 4 needles? Yeah, great, huh?! Apparently Michael's at the Blackstone Valley Shoppes doesn't even carry a circular or double pointed needle under size 6. Can you believe that? So I guess I am stuck for now. Right before I went to bed, I looked at the hat and realized I had forgotten to use smaller needles for the ribbing. Doh! Sadly, I shook my head. I'm going to have to frog this whole hat... Zzzzzzz.

On Saturday, I ripped back the entire 3" or so of hat and took a fresh look. You know what Irene had wanted originally? The Kittyville hat from SnB Nation. Somehow we got off of that and onto the polka dots. What if I went with the seed stitch (which I've been dying to try) from that hat, and then just did the dots and skipped the ears, finishing the top like a regular hat?! Yes!! That would work and be totally cute. If I've got enough motivation left yarn left, I can even do the ear flaps and little cords. All right, I started with a fresh attitude and positive outlook. I could best this hat.

So here is what I've got:

Maybe a couple of inches of seed stitch, and lots of frustration. I do love the changes, though. This stitch is SO much prettier to me than the ribbing was, and looks lovely in the Swish DK. If I hadn't frogged I would probably be about done by now, but hey, we all know I would have hated that hat every time I looked at the super-loose ribbing. It was for the best.

Yesterday, I'd had enough of fighting the Knitting Gods, and just didn't want to even go near that hat. So I did what I generally do not do...I started something else. Now, I'm not going to abandon the hat, but I need something "else" to work on, when the darn thing drives me to either drink or knit, know what I mean?

So, I cast on for the Monkeys. And I am loving this project! Shame, shame--I know. I want the socks very badly, and I've been waiting, and I ADORE the yarn...I am so happy. The colors are amazing and I can't capture them properly. Wendee has an incredible yarn, between the colors and the little bit extra tight twist. I love knitting with it. I will try to make sure to finish Irene's hat, though. Promise.

Today I still wasn't ready to face that darned hat, though. But I felt a tinge of guilt to ignore it on behalf of my beloved Monkey socks. Then a thought hit me...my poor abandoned Tiffany Mittens. Yes, I would work on those. And so I did. They're really coming along. I am almost to the decreases for the hand. Want to see?

Now for some comment responses.

Qutecowgirl suggested using the orange as an accent in the shawl neck sweater, and I considered it, but I think I want it one single color. But thank you--you always have lots of other ideas I can tap into, no matter what the problem is. And thanks for agreeing with me on the baby poo thing. ;)

Ruth, you know, I am not sure what season I am. But I may very well be an autumn, or at least it's what I would guess I am. And for what it's worth, I did look into the reds, but I just have a hard time picking reds that look good on me. Some do, some are awful...and I can never figure out which are which. Hey, from the looks of it, I may just have to wait for the color card after all. I've got a lot lined up for now to work on anyway, right? Thanks for the input.

Shewolfy and Jen, thank you both for the insight into the circs for sock knitting. It's all becoming clearer now... And Jen, I certainly will email if I have a hard time, thanks!

Wendee, isn't Ravelry the coolest thing that way?! I love it. And I agree, the socks do look like tiny ribs. Brian said the same thing when I first showed him my very first sock (same pattern as his socks, by the way). It's hard to imagine that the plain stockinette looks so pretty and interesting, isn't it? Even if it is boring to knit... It's worth it.

And not to leave anyone out, thanks to Megann and Aimee as well, for the compliments on the socks! I did contact Aimee about the prize, and I'll announce the winner as soon as it arrives. Oh, and Megann? Jealous of the weather? Well, there IS something to be said for knitting socks for fun and never having to wear them. I am jealous of you!

I am so appreciative for the comments you all leave. It feels amazing every time I get a comment. Each, and every time. You are all the best!

Ps. Sorry for the hat rant.

Oh, yes

Oh, yes, they are DONE! Brian's socks are finished--finished them last night during Grey's, as a matter of fact. How fitting since they were my project for the Grey's Anatomy KAL. I'm pretty excited about that. Brian wore 'em into work today, and I have to give him credit... He wore a grey mock turtleneck to match the grey socks, and EVEN donned his black shoes, instead of his usual brown-with-anything look. Impressive, no? I am very proud. (If you didn't know, I sort of have a thing about grey and brown together; it just skives me out.) It either bugs you, too, or you have no idea why it bugs me. Can't explain it.


Yeah, yeah, I know it looks a little bunchy behind the heel. Not sure if it's the sock or how he's got his legs scrunched...I will check on that.





Not sure why he did the pose like this. I think because I did it before so my ankles wouldn't look fat? Again, not sure if it's because he just saw me do it, or because he's trying to make sure his ankles don't look fat. (His ankles aren't fat.)

In Megann's blog the other day, she referred to "the Kitchner Bitch", which I thought was pretty cute. I'm at my computer, and I read this and start giggling a bit. Brian asks me what's up, and I have to say that it's a knitting joke. He's all, "Oh." I ended up telling him what it was, figuring it wouldn't be that funny, and he started laughing, too! Hmmm...sometimes they surprise you. I guess he listens to my knitting rambles after all. He even brought it up again last night while I was finishing the socks up: "You gonna Kitchner Bitch them up?" Silly man.

So, today I cast on for Irene's hat. I really wanted to start another pair of socks, but I just can't put her hat and mittens off any longer. It's so darned cold here! It was about 32 degrees this morning when we left to bring her to school. Freezing temps really require mittens for 6 year olds, so I'd better get on the ball. Her request for her hat was that it match her new coat (duh) and that it have circles. I interpreted that to mean polka dots--not sure what she'd meant. Circles sounded like a color work nightmare. Polka dots can be repeated nicely, so as not to cause me any stress or Agata. Works for me. I'll take some pics, but right now it looks like a half inch of K1,P1 ribbing in dark purple. You can use your imaginations.

Are they growing?

Hmmm....Jen left a comment to the last post about the merits of knitting two socks at once, and I am all over it. I have got to figure out how to do this. A few questions are circling my head about it, though. 1) I realize there are all sorts of tutorials online to show me how to do the 2 socks at one time, but should I practice with one first? What do you think? Maybe get the hang of the circ needle idea for socks before I dive in with 2 socks simultaneously? 2) Also, does the book Socks Soar on Two Circs explain how to do one sock on two circs or TWO socks? I think I'd assumed it was one sock at a time, so I didn't order that one. (Ugh--I knew I should have just bought them both!) 3) Do you consider the socks on 1 or 2 circ's to be more or less portable than on double pointed needles? I realize this is a lot of questions, but I would love your input on the matter. There is a looming feeling (about learning this new technique) of doom advancing and I would love to outrun it, partially knitted pair of socks in hand. We shall see... Save. Your. Self.


On a more cheerful (and delicious) subject, my yummy yarn is beautiful. I'll take a few pics, but don't get your hopes up. My yarn cataloging talents have yet to be developed...

Here it is, all together.

and closer...


Knitpicks Swish DK in eggplant and cornflower to make Irene's hat and mittens. Should match her new winter coat, and looks good next to it.

And I ordered a couple sample balls of Knitpicks Andean Silk, just to see the colors. Now, they DO have a swatch card, but it's not available until January, if I remember correctly. Well, I am not willing to wait until Jan. to see the colors I am thinking about. I ordered mustard and orange, and I'm not sure what to do. I want to make the Retro Returns shawl collar cardigan from the Yarn Girls' newest book. The mustard in person is just too yucky. Probably a pretty color for many people, but for me it would not be flattering. Plus, you know how they sometimes say that breast-fed babies poops are grainy and mustardy? Ever heard that? It's true. And this yarn reminds me of that. Now I love my babies, and I don't mind changing their poops, especially when they're that young. But still, I just don't want to wear it around, you know? So Mustard is not going to work for me.

The Orange is really vibrant and pretty. And I LOVE orange. Really. Yes, I do know it sounds crazy...
It's pretty much my favorite color, and this shade of it is exquisite. However, I am not sure I'm wanting to invest this much time and money on a sweater that I want so badly, only to realize that it's really too bright and too flashy to wear very often at all. How sad! I've gone back and forth, and finally said that I should get a "neutral color" so that I can wear it more often. Brown? Already have it. Black? Got it. Navy? Check. Hmmm...what's left? Gray? Yeah, but how blah, right? So I am still on the fence about Orange. I may also order up a ball of the Lettuce green. It's a happy bright-ish color that is different, but still "fall", and wouldn't be so flashy, you know? What do you think? Oh, and did I mention that the yarn is amazing feeling? Like it feels so nice I want to knit up some quick undies out of it, and throw 'em right on. Whew--that's some soft and silky yarn!

Brian's socks:

They are coming along. I swear, the first sock is just growing. It's sitting in my bag, all nicely finished and lovely. And it grows. Seriously. It's like every time I measure the second one up against the first, it is bigger and I have even more yet to knit! (Probably some kind of secret plan of the knitting Gods to mess with me. I'm not surprised, since they also make swatches lie, hide your 4th double pointed needle, and cause my projects to be one ball short.) So here they are:



Brian has promised to let me take a picture of the finished one on his feet. It just never seems to happen, though. Perhaps he is trying to motivate me to complete the pair in his own sick little way? I assured him I am trying. (I think he bought it, too.) Maybe if I finish them tonight during Bionic Woman he'll let me get a good shot...

Back in Business

OK, the laptop is all right, I think. Finally, the charger plug thingy I needed (That's an industry term, by the way. You laymen may not have heard of it.) arrived this afternoon. I plugged it in and was relieved to see that it worked and there was nothing else wrong with my laptop after all. Whew! So I'm back in business.


Now, I did have limited access to the Internet for the past week. Not being able to access my pictures made it tough to blog, though. So I just kept waiting for the plug, not blogging. And feeling guilty about it. Why? Not sure, really, but I did feel bad about it. Tonight, I sat down to start this post and realized that I don't really have any pics ready to upload or sort or post. I'm going to pretty much post without pictures tonight. Not fun, right? But I'll tell you what I've been up to anyway. Please try not to point out that if I can blog without pics tonight that I probably could have blogged throughout the last week. I'm a little slow, but even I realize that now...


In knitting news, there is not much to report. I haven't had much time for knitting and when I did have time, I'm still working on the socks for Brian. Sadly, I did not finish them in time to post for October on the SAM knitalong, much as I tried. Once I concluded that it couldn't be done by midnight 10-31, it became harder to work on them. Mostly I sat around and sulked, annoyed at the socks and the absence of a power cord. I will take pictures and post them tomorrow, but you'll have to settle for a written summary for now. The first sock, as you know, is complete, and the second one is getting close. I just finished the gusset decreases, so now I have a rather l-a-r-g-e expanse of plain stockinette and then toe reductions. Not bad. I can't wait to finish.

Now, originally I felt bad that the socks are only plain gray, but here's the story. I picked gray to fit in with the Grey's KAL, and because I felt it was neutral enough that Brian would be able to wear them quite a bit, while keeping his manly dignity without lace or wild colors. When you put that much effort into a project, you don't want excuses not to wear them, am I right? Right. Well, turns out Brian thought they were sort of boring. Then I was heartbroken. I still worked on them, but I felt bad, and a bit guilty that they were too plain. Get this: a week or so ago, I was talking about my own socks or something, or maybe Bri just noticed them himself. But he realized that I wear my socks as...well, socks! Apparently, he thought they were just for cozying around the house or something. Like glorified slippers of some sort? Not sure. But the moment he realized that he was allowed to wear them anytime, as "actual socks" (yes, that's what he said), he was pretty psyched! And he was glad that they were so plain and neutral! So now he can wear them so much MORE!! Ha, ha! I am really not sure if my enthusiasm really comes through on this, but I have to say I am feeling much better about my yarn choice, and very pleased that he is so excited. Who knew a pair of socks could be this revolutionary?! Plus, the first one fits his foot to a "T"...

Really, there's not much else as far as actual knitting to report. I am "Ravelrous", and it's been occupying most of what little Internet time I could get this week. So what if that's not a real word? It's my word. Deal with it. I've managed to enter most of my projects from the last year or so, and most of my stash, too. I'm not too concerned with the "stash" that's already used for stuff...I just don't have that much time. And I've found a few friends, too, which is fun. Wendee, Megann, Jen, and Qutecowgirl are all on there.

The only other knitty news is that I've ordered some yarn for my daughter's mittens and hat, along with the Magic Loop book! I seriously cannot wait to figure out how to do two socks at one time. Please don't burst my bubble, but I think it will really help those socks speed along. The main reason I'm afraid to jump into a more difficult sock pattern (than plain stockinette, so I mean just about any sock pattern) is that I don't want to be overwhelmed and never finish the pair, you know? Hopefully this will help things. Perhaps I will try to make a pair of mittens first, since I know how to do them and they're quick and easy (ok, they're for a four-year-old, so this pair will be tiny) just to try out the technique. The order is not in yet. Please, please, please show up tomorrow...

I was going to tell you about my weekend, and some other new events, but I will wait, I think. Without any pictures, I'm afraid this is just terribly dull. I'll have to fill you in next time.