Templates, beads and knitting blocks

You may notice I've changed how this blog looks again. Spring is coming, and I really need changes. All kinds of changes. And what am I knitting now, that should be one of the various sweaters I need to finish, but instead I've started a new scarf for my daughter! It seems ridiculous - even as I work on it - I feel like by the time I'm done, she'll no longer need it. But then again, I live in New England... We could have snow in May! For some reason knitting is not 'hitting that spot' for me of relaxation and happiness and motivation. Maybe it's the weather change - I don't know. So, I've set my scarf down and I've turned to beading instead.

I have been working on my beaded markers and I love how they are coming out. I'll post pictures soon , and then maybe open an Etsy shop? I'm so new at this, I'm not sure how to go about it, but I figured I'd create first - work on the rest later. If anyone has some helpful information I'd appreciate it.

I need sunshine and warmth and joy! Right NOW! Winter has drained me down to nothing but a nub of unshaven frumpy misery. Of course it doesn't help that I had a close friend pass away. I need a spark of new life - some brightness. I need a project that brings back my inner glow and giddy childlike wonder! Suggestions?? Anyone??

Secret Pals

I found the missing email from SP10 that told me who my secret pal is. Phew - I feel better now. I can't wait to get started. I feel like I'm studying her blog like I'm having a final exam on it next week. I just hope I can find nice enough stuff to rival her last SP! It pretty much looks like no one sticks to the suggested spending amount. I mean - how could they with all the stuff they put in each package? And multiple packages in the same month on some sites? Uh oh... What have I gotten myself into? Perhaps I can take out a second mortgage on the house?
I need to think about what my next project is going to be as well. I've decided I'm going to tackle something deep in my knitting basket - something old maybe. I just have to decide whether or not to rip it and maybe soak the yarn and dry it and start over, or to just continue. Wow, that was some long run-on sentence! I wonder how different the yarn will look if my knitting tension has changed drastically over the years. God, how I can't wait to get this ancient stuff out of my way so I can do something new, and exciting! I think if I had a bottomless pit of a bank account, I would just drop the work I need to get done today, and run out to WEBS and buy enough to fill my car. I have a Saab station wagon, so I'm not kidding around here. Maybe I'd even buy a floor loom and start a weaving project. I love the sound of someone weaving. Squeak Squeak squeak thump thump thump. My fantasy life is short lived. Work is needling me I have software testing to be done. Yup, I've just admitted it - I'm a bit of a computer geek. Although - who out there reading and writing blogs is NOT? Calvin is snoring beside me on the couch and serving up ripe reminders of his breakfast just under my nose. Perhaps the methane is making me delirious but oddly, I'm hungry. OK that's just plain disgusting. I'd better just leave now before I say something really odd.

Weariness and Wine

Well...it's official - I'm in a slump. I'm hoping this week will slide back into it's normal pattern of avoiding housework and knitting and reading, and playing on the computer. Right now, nothing seems to cheer me. I've even considered ripping one of my ancient projects and turning it into something completely new instead of completing the initial pattern. Even that doesn't cheer me much, since some of these patterns have so many years on them, I may only have enough yarn for a smaller size. Actually - reality is setting in now. I may only have enough yarn for a smaller size no matter WHAT pattern I choose!

So, I'm sipping wine and doing dishes and laundry in between reading some 80 blogs - and hoping for some cheer and inspiration.

It looks like I may have received a message from my Secret Pal, only I haven't received anything with information about them and I'm not sure how this works, so I've launched into some kind of passive aggressive worry thing. Deeeep Breath, let it go. Worry? Who me? If I somehow missed an email, someone will let me know. Right?

After our friend's Memorial service we couldn't sit around the house on Sunday, so we took off and hiked a bit. (That's an understatement). I found this site about Letterboxing. And actually this one too. I really like it. I dragged along the rest of the family (the dh-'architect', and the 4 and 7 year old) with bright enthusiasm that really didn't exist inside me, and basically had the attitude that we were going to love it - dammit, even if I had to drag them kicking and screaming to get there!

The first two boxes we hit were great! We stamped our little book and stamped their little book and moved on to the next. Then we went to find the third one which I did not have enough information about. The hike was about an hour longer than I expected and we were exhausted - and then on top of that we had to make our way back!

Ok - let me back up a minute. Unless you followed my links you may be confused. Letterboxing is sort of combination hiking, and a treasure hunt of sorts. Maybe a scavenger hunt better describes it. You basically find the clues and locations online and then you head out with a stamp and a book. You follow the clues to a buried Tupperware box (generally) that contains a little notebook and it's own interesting hand-carved stamp. The boxes are usually hidden really well and the clues will help you to find and uncover their locations. Then when you find it, you take your hand carved (or not) stamper and put your stamp with some notes in their notebook. And you take their stamp and stamp your own book. I don't have a book yet so I stamped some fine handmade paper and made notes, to place in a journal when I purchase one.

I never posted the pictures of the knitting I finished so I'll do it now:

This is Emma's Sweater. Yeah, I know horrible picture. I have to work a bit more at the visuals on this blog.

dh's socks:

Emma's Hat and Booties

And the Lake Park Hat!

Bittersweet

Its a dark rainy day and fitting to what has been going on. First the bitter: A close friend of ours "E" passed away suddenly the night before last in his sleep. He'd had high blood pressure and was changing his diet and taking medication, but I don't think anyone realized just how bad things were. We're stunned and sad and and I can't quite wrap my head around all the things I'm in the middle of.
Here's the sweet: I'm planning a HUGE Birthday party on Sunday, for my daughter who is four years old today . I'm tired and I'm weepy and I don't feel like cleaning the house or cooking anything. Tonight after celebrating very very briefly our daughter's birthday with my parents who are driving in from several states away, we must go to a gathering of friends to remember E. It will be a long night for me, and then I must get up again tomorrow and clean and decorate and bake and cry some more.
On a slightly brighter note: I have accomplished some knitting over the last few weeks: the socks for dh who may not appreciate them as much as I'd hoped. They are a tiny bit too small. The hat and booties for my sister's baby and using some old yarn, I knit up Marnie MacLean's Lake Park Hat only I changed the way it was ribbed, twice actually. It called for a rolled edge and then a couple rounds of single ribbing. I did a very short edge of single ribbing instead. It was too short, so I had to pick up stiches and I added a much longer double ribbed section over it, leaving the smaller one on the inside. This will all make more sense when you see the photos. This hat took me some time! I had about 3 false starts first knitting it flat, and then when I got the hang of the pattern I knit it in the round, so I had to rip it several times before I got the result I wanted. Yeah it has a couple of mistakes, but thanks to this weird dk yarn I used, you can 't really tell and I was damned if I was going to rip it one more time! So I've started a matching scarf adapting the pattern to a long skinny one to use up the rest of that icky yarn that is in a nice colorway.
And the only good news this week: My LYS has GIVEN me some of the extra yarn I needed to finish Emma's Sweater. It was either that or I buy another 30.00 skein just for the neck! Argh! So she was nice enough to give me some from a similar sweater to mine that she was finishing for someone.
Whoops I'm having trouble uploading the pics. I may have to edit them a bit to make them smaller. They'll be on the next post.
Until then... la vie peut être triste.