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:

Where Do I Begin?

This is a very serious question. Really, I'm not sure. There has been so much going on, and I have no idea how to dive in. Do I update all together right now? Parts for a few days until I'm caught up? Divide into categories...finished objects, knitting events (yes, there were events--for reals), knitting friends' updates, yarn footage? I have always been a fan of the old chronological format, but I don't know if I can work from that far back.

Any suggestions? No? Well, then I think I'm going to go with stuff I'm excited about and can still remember. And maybe I'll work back a little bit. Okay? Okay.

First off, I will share that a while ago (yeah, maybe around the time that I suddenly stopped blogging completely?) we got some scary news. Brian had a routine physical and blood work and we got some bad results. So we did the whole series of tests. We did the worrying, and the speculating, and the general-freak-out-ing. Good times. But in the end, all is fine and he's back to normal. Stop wondering if I "could be any more vague", because that's what I would be thinking, and just chalk it up to me respecting Brian's privacy on this very public forum. You guys get it, right? So he's all set and back to normal, and that is why I didn't call, didn't write.

I'll be honest, too--he's been all right for a week or two, but I sort of fell out of the blogging habit. It wasn't part of my routine any more, and I was having a hard time fitting it in, you know? But I missed it. A lot. So here I am...

Now that that's out of the way, I have lots to share. Some things I finished since we last spoke:

The Shibui Knits baby sweater I was working on. Love it!





I still have to add a ribbon to the top of each side of the front so it can be closed, but that will depend on the particular baby who is receiving it. When I know who's getting it, I'll go and pick some ribbon out. I think I'd love some pink for a girl, though. This turned out so pretty, and I would totally make it again. Next time, I would pick up the stitches for the sleeves from the first half of the sleeve, instead of casting them on, so I don't have to seam under the arms. Not my favorite thing, seaming garter stitch. No idea how to do it, so I just winged it. I think it's o.k., though.

My first Umbilical Cord Hat from the Stitch 'n Bitch book:





It's in some leftover Knitpicks Swish (worsted) in Red Pepper, and I finished it in one night I believe. Kind of a long time ago, but I remember because I was SO excited to finish so quickly! Cute, right? Newborn size. I'll have to remember this one the next time someone has a baby, because it's a cinch.

The Scrappy Scarf:

This one was fun. I took some scraps I had from Elena's Baby Blanket and Brian's scarf and just went to town.



These are some different colors of Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I cast on horizontally--not sure how many stitches, maybe 240 or so. And I picked up a different color for every row. And I just left the ends hanging and made fringe at the end. It was about 5 feet long, or a little more. I believe it was girl-sized, but it was long enough that I would wear it for sure. Very fun, and it was mindless. I love the way it turned out. It ended up maybe 4 inches wide.



This picture gives you the idea. It wasn't finished yet, but it is now. Unfortunately I never took a shot of the FO. Trust me, it was cute.

What were the hat and scarf for? They were charity donations...for...the Pawsox Stitch 'n Pitch!! Yeah, someone from Ravelry (OTKate) organized a stitch and pitch for us in Pawtucket, at McCoy Stadium last Saturday night. About 150 of us met up to watch the Red Sox farming team! We had prizes (no, I didn't win) and goodie bags and lots of fun. The game the night before was called on account of rain, so we watched a double-header: the original game and the makeup game from the night before. Wicked good time.

I don't really have any pictures because my camera died about 10 seconds after I pulled it out of my bag. Irritating. If you belong to Ravelry, you can check out the Pawsox group here and the group page has a picture of my SIL Maura, myself, and Krista. Maura took some pictures, but I don't have them yet. I'll try to do something about that.

Funny story about the Ravelry picture. The three of us are at the game, and things are just starting up. We've got out knitting out and we're getting into the groove, talking and having a good time. A nice gentleman from a few rows down asks us if we would just all smile for a quick picture. But of course! We'd be happy to! We all smile and he takes the shot. We're not thinking about it...we just keep knitting and talking. I watch the man walk away. Like away, away. You know, to another section. Seriously. So I ask them who that guy was and did they notice that he just sort of walked away. At first, we'd assumed he was with our group, but now we were wondering if he was just some nice man who saw three young ladies knitting at a baseball game and couldn't resist taking a picture. Perhaps for his blog, even? Then we didn't see him again for a long time. We looked. In the end, we did see him with our group again, so we didn't worry about it. The next day, Krista called and told Brian to make me go on Ravelry and see the group page. And there it was, the picture from the nice man. I cracked up.

At least he's not blogging somewhere about these huge dorks at the ball game who were *gasp* actually knitting in public! Not that I really care, but it's one less thing to think about. Many thanks to Kate for a great event. We're already planning for next year.

Well, that's enough for right now. There will be more coming. For now, I have to get some stuff together for my knitting class at WEBS tomorrow. This is my first knitting class ever, and I'm pretty excited. The teacher is a well-known sock knitter...any guesses?

Where Have I Been?

....Just hangin' around.


Check out this video of Keegan reading to Spencer. I love it. They were like that for a while before I grabbed the camera. More tomorrow.

Lots of Fun, Lots of Knitting

Whew! Much has happened since I last posted, including lots of knitting (as promised). Let's get right into it, shall we? Right before I fell off the face of the Earth the posts became scarce, I was preparing for a girls' weekend. There was lots to do, and I put most of it off until the last minute. Naturally, I didn't end up finding time to update the blog right before I left. And you know I thought about posting while I was away, but I didn't have a spare moment, really. OK, maybe I did have a couple of moments--but it was a girls' weekend, so those were MY moments, if you will. Aw, I knew you'd understand.


Every year, I partake in a big scrapbooking weekend in Cape Cod. I know, scrapbooking is a little cliche, but seeing as I'm a mother in the 21st century, I believe I am in fact obliged to do so, if I'm not mistaken. Truth be told, I do enjoy it. So every spring, my CM consultant organizes a special weekend for all of us crazy scrappin' fools and we stay on the Cape at the Old Sea Pines Inn in Brewster. This year, I roomed with Krista and boy-oh-boy, did we have the ticket. Best room in the house, as far as I could tell.



We had a huge bathroom, separate bedroom, and this lovely living room. Lots of seating, so we planned to knit quite a bit, and a fireplace, too! Sweet. We even had a kitchen area to boot.



Krista was kind enough to bring along her coffeemaker, which was a huge bonus. Perhaps she was only trying to ensure that I'd have my morning coffee fix, thus protecting herself and all her limbs? Maybe. She does know me pretty well. The girl even remembered filters, the coffee itself, sugar and yummy creamer. We had all the necessities...



Um, things may have gotten a little bit out of hand. Yeah.

Much fun was had, though. This was my fourth year at the Cape, and usually I am all business. I want to make progress on my albums. I'm prepared and ready to go. I get up early for breakfast and get right to scrappin'. I stay up late cropping and pasting, etc. And I get home exhausted, but with lots to show for my efforts. This year, I didn't want to be exhausted. You know what I mean? I thought, it's a girls' weekend, and I always spend it working like a dog! What's with that? So this year, I had other priorities. Mostly, I just wanted to have a lot of fun, make some progress, maybe knit a bit.

I did meet my goal of fun. I didn't scrap like a crazy person (thought I did get twenty or so pages done, which is awesome) and I enjoyed myself. If I wanted a break, I took one. If I didn't want to set an alarm for breakfast, I didn't. I had a huge migraine on Friday night and I didn't worry about "getting stuff done", I just hit the hay early so I'd feel better. By the way, best decision all weekend. Krista and I enjoyed coffee in the morning together and sat around in our living room telling stories and laughing. I enjoyed several meals out, without any short people crying or whining or needing food cut up. Krista and I made Cosmos (seriously, the girl is *prepared*) Saturday night and just got silly and crazy.

We did not knit, which was sad, but we had fun. I enjoyed my weekend, my sleep, my quiet and my "girl talk". Yeah, like the kind you used to have in the dorms late at night with your girlfriends? When you were all kind of tipsy and just blabbing away? When you were afraid someone was going to knock on the door because you were all making way too much noise and it was like 2:30 in the morning? That kind. And it rocked.

I came back refreshed. Oh, yeah.

And it was a good thing, too. You should have seen the house when I got back.

Just kidding...thanks, Brian.



Ps. I didn't really get to much of the knitting progress, but here's a shot of the baby sweater I've been working on. It'll have to tide you over, and I'll show you more next post. I cast on for some socks for Spencer and a charity project. Pics are coming.