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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Pictures, I've got pictures...

...I've got stacks and stacks of pictures. PICTURES!

Ok, so I'm no Paul Schaffer.

So, pictures. I got 'em. (Though, only a few - not stacks.) They're not great or anything, but they're more interesting than miles and miles of plain ol' text.

I mentioned I had finished the bolero. I did. I'll likely never, ever wear it. It's just not me. Now, in all honesty, I knew that from the get go. But I wanted to knit it. For the fun of it. I had been basically knitting exclusive stockinette stitch in the days and weeks leading up to the start of the bolero. I needed something with different stitches - like ssk, YO and K2tog. Needed them.

Here it is. If I knew someone else built like Olive Oyl I'd gladly part with it.

In other knitting fun, as mentioned in my previous post, I recently tried my hand at some Fair Isle knitting. And I didn't do too badly. At least that's my opinion. I certainly did a better job at it than I can do at, say, dancing. Have you seen Elaine's dance? She's got nothin' on me.

This was my first attempt. I stole the pattern from Eunny Jang, I believe. I just looked for a link to it, but I can't find it. Damn. I'll try again later and add the link in if I can manage to locate it. I think it's lovely in it's simplicity.

This is now a baby bib. I love the colours, 'cause I'm cheesy like that.

This was a pattern taken from a book of Fair Isle patterns. I'm assuming it's probably a pretty classic design. I have since knit an equal sized square in stockinette, and attached it to the backside of this - therefore creating a sort of trivet. I like it very much - even if some of the stitches are actually kinda uneven.

And lastly, here is the completed back of the Sesame sweater. I'd link to the pattern, but it was hosted on MagKnits, and as you may or may not know, MagKnits is no longer. Which means unless the patterns turn up hosted elsewhere, they are gone, gone, gone. Unfortunate.

I'm now half-way through one of the front panels of Sesame, as well. I would have been much further along, but I got sidetracked by the Fair Isle, as well as making some basic baby bibs.

This is not a very accurate picture of the colour of the yarn, but it's pretty close. It's not quite as reddish as it appears in this photo.

And that's it for pictures. As a completely unrelated foot-note? Did anyone see American Idol last night? I have said from the beginning that David Cook should win the whole thing. And, as much as I have no frickin' clue what any Mariah Carey songs are, I'm pretty certain that what David Cook did last night was a huuuuuuuge change from the original. The guy's a genius. I love him. I think he's great, and he should win. Period.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Got sleep?

I have been way too busy to get here to post anything that makes any sort of sense. Poor Little Monkey has been sick since about Wednesday, and as much as he's handling it very well, his whole little world is all off kilter. Naps are being taken at unusual times, meals are being picked at, and drool and mucus is abundant.

Last night he decided to revert back to about 3-month-old tactics, and woke me up. At 3:30am. Good god, I can't handle that anymore. That was over. Chapter closed. The ship had sailed. All that. Yet, there I was, middle of the night with an admittedly adorable sleep-stealer in my arms in the kitchen.

I had intended to post some amusing anecdotes here today. And mention the bolero. It's been done for a while, now, but I just didn't get around to posting pics or commenting on it. I've finished the back of my delicious orange-coloured 'Sesame' sweater. I took a picture. I was going to post it. But now I'm not.

Why?

Because I'm too flipping tired, that's why. But it will come. Maybe later on, after the coffee IV drip jolts me into mental awakeness I'll come back and post my little fingers off. Maybe.

In the meantime I will say this. Lace was fun to knit. For sure. Do I like the end result? Yes... but not for me, personally. I have, however, realized I really love Fair Isle knitting. All else seems boring in comparison, now. And while I would never wear a sweater done in Fair Isle, I am definitely dreaming of really great mittens and hats and socks (oh my!) I could work some great colourwork on.

Almost makes me wish it was autumn again. Almost.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Messy Tuesday

Inspired my the mess over at Shan's, and by the ever present mess around me, I've decided to join the Messy Tuesday bloggers.


I suppose we'll start small. This is the top of my buffet.

But Jen, you say, that's not a real mess. Well, maybe it's not catastrophic. It is sad, though, in the fact that pretty much all of the crap piled on there belongs inside the buffet. I'm so lazy that the simple task of undoing one of those [incredibly fiddly] child locks and tossing crap inside is beyond my level of caring. And so the pile grows.

And now we have my dining room table.Again, it could be worse. (And it usually is - trust me) But this is where we eat. When we can find space, that is. I have honestly been known to stand at the kitchen counter to eat because I can only shove things aside enough to make a space or two. Yes, that is a saw handle you see poking out. What? You don't keep your tools on the dining room table? Note the oh-so-lovely crusty bib. It really adds to the ambiance of fine dining, let me tell you. But hey, look! Five bucks! Sweet!

And now, the finale. The bedroom.

You know, there is a bit of an explanation, here. We recently swapped bedrooms with Little Monkey. And in doing this, have lost a lot of storage space. I have yet to reconfigure where things will be stored, which has resulted in a pile of absolute shame on my bedroom floor. Thankfully this is on Mr. Operandi's side, and I can therefore ignore it at will. We no longer have space to put our laundry basket in the closet, which means that when I get behind in laundry, it now overflows all over the room. I really think the archaic (aka: world's ugliest) dresser really adds a nice touch of ugh to the overall effect.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

A time-turner and the philosopher's stone

I have come to the realization that in order to actually knit everything I have queued at Ravelry, have printed out from various web sites, or have just doodled up on my own, I would need to seriously rework my life.

First off, I wouldn't be able to take care of my kids anymore. I wouldn't be able to do housework. Or eat. Or bathe. Or speak to anyone. Or sleep.

Oh, and I'd need to live until the age of approximately 317.

Nothin' to it.

If only the items J.K. Rowling has dreamed up in her books existed. I'd be set.

The bolero is coming along well. I think I'm about half done. I had a close call last night when I got a little cocky about my memorization of the lace pattern, and skipped a stitch. Oops. Thankfully I caught it and was able to knit backwards along and fix my boo boo. I have now put a lifeline through just in case. Crisis averted.

I have discovered, though, that I now find myself staring off into space daydreaming about lace patterns. Me. Lace. It's shocking to say the least. But, I have realized lace need not be dainty. Oh no. Lace does, however, need to be knit. By me. Now.

Is there such a thing as a lace dictionary somewhere online, where someone like me can look through a bunch of lace patterns, and dream up items I may want to make using them?

'Cause, you know... a few more things added to my knitting to-do list can't hurt.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Battle of the Bolero

After some very tense moments during the ripping back process, I have now made progress on the bolero. It was pretty ugly-going for a while, and I was starting to think I was going to just have to start the whole thing over. Thankfully I fought the good fight and came out on top. Victory is mine.

Can I tell you how much I'm enjoying this pattern? It's so simple to memorize, but it's not at all boring. I love how it's looking already... and I know it will look much better once the lace portion is larger. Right now it's kind of all smooshed up, but when I spread it out, it looks awesome.

I'm already thinking about who else I can make one for. The way the pattern is written, it's customizeable to any size, and that's a huge bonus if you ask me.

Here's the bolero thus far:
I love the colour, and although I'm not even remotely a shrug-type garment wearning kind of person, I honestly can't wait until I can wear this.