Oh! My Back!

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I finished the back of The Sweater last night.  And now I need to rip out about 6 inches.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  In the Eddie Bauer version, the solid areas are not equidistant between the colorwork areas, but I made them a little too not equal so that I don’t have enough solid right at the neck.

I held it up to David’s back though.  The length is good.  Looks like it will fit around him.  But ugh – gotta rip.  Now when I look at it, I am kind of embarrassed.  What was I thinking?

Those big old size 11 needles and the bulky yarn are kind of hurting my hands, so I am taking a small break and going back to my socks for a couple of days.  I want to get the Joy of Sox going again!

Here’s a photo of my little computer boy.  I had no idea that trying to get him not to spend too much time on the computer was going to begin at the tender age of 3!  He plays Little Einsteins games.  He negotiates from game to game.   When I offer to help, I hear the standard:  “Mommy.  I can do it all by myself!”

He also helped me make cookies today.   He likes to scoop them out and put them on the cookie sheet.  It’s not yet a pretty process, but it’s good practice for him.  Coordination building and all that.  Again, I heard “Mommy, please stand back.  I am doing this all by myself.”

It is getting late in the day.  It’s about time to get Davey to bed.  We are reading Mo Willems Pigeon books.  They are very funny, and I highly recommend them — to anyone!


Getting back to it.

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Christmas is over, and we have had our New Year’s celebration.  Yesterday, David and I started back to school.  I am teaching literature this semester, so I am happy as a clam.

I made some knitting resolutions, but I haven’t made many other ones.  I did start doing a pilates video.  It’s fun.  I always say that I need to “get me some core”.  I have little core strength.

Davey calls it various things, mostly he likes to say spillates. He also likes to hold my hand while we do some of the exercises together.   He even offers words of encouragement:  “Mommy!  You are doing so good at that!”  So sweet – he apparently ignores the fact that I have about 1/10 of the flexibility of the ladies on the video.

As I type this, he is on the other computer playing Mickey Mouse games.  I know children pick up on using the computer really easily, but the sight of him gazing at the computer screen while his little hand moves that mouse around is just amazing to me.

It’s about time to get him off the computer though and head to “tum tum tumbling” as we always call it.

The back of The Sweater is almost done.  Gosh a man’s XL makes for a big back.  I love knitting with this yarn though.  It’s so soft and nice to knit with.  I also love watching the patterns emerge.   I am hoping to finish the back today.

The snow is melting.  It has stuck around for quite awhile since it has been so cold.  Davey doesn’t get tired of it.  We throw the snow boots on and off he goes.

 

Working on The Sweater

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Whew.  The back of this sweater is a puzzle.  I think – I hope that I have it somewhat figured out.  I am taking the advice of my blogging friend Susan B, and I am just thinking about the sweater in small chunks.  I am not going to think about how in the world I am going to adapt the sleeves to fit my altered armholes.  I am not going to think about the placement of the colorwork on the sleeves.  I am especially not going to think about how in the world I will put a zipper in my finished sweater.

Today there was much ciphering and eye scrunching as I tried to figure out how and where to decrease for the armholes.  I realized that my pattern is not going to totally work.  The pattern I am using has a colorwork yoke thing going and raglan sleeves.  The sweater I am copying does not.  David agreed that he did not want raglan sleeves, so I have been trying to do sleeve conversion.  I found another pattern in my book with regular old set-in sleeves. (I don’t know what the heck a person who knows what they are doing calls them.)

So I may just have it figured out.  We shall see.  This pattern measures things in centimeters rather than inches.  I am really kind of liking that.  Fewer fractions I think.  That may make no sense.  This project is addling my brain.

So back I go to my notes, scribblings and then the actual knitting itself.

 

2010 Knitting – Year in Review

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I’ve been reading several of my favorite knitting blogs today, and many of them created a summary of what they knitted in 2010.  This inspired me to want to do the same.   I began to list everything, and I was kind of surprised by all the things that I knitted in 2010.  Luckily, I’d kept track of most of my projects on Ravelry.

David put pictures of all my finished things into a collage.  It would have taken me 10 years, and it wouldn’t have looked nearly as nice, so thank you David.

There are five hats that I didn’t photograph, and I just finished a scarf and hat for my sister-in-law.  I forgot to get a picture of that as well.  Other than that though, I think this collage pretty much covers it.

In 2010, I knitted  total of 13 hats, 11 pairs of socks, 6 scarves, 1 pair of gloves, 2 pairs of fingerless mitts, 3 sweaters, 1 pair of baby pants, 5 stuffed animals, and one mini-me.  Holy mackerel.  That seems like a lot.

And it was really a year of learning too.  I learned to make bobbles, lateral braids, and I did my first herringbone rib.  I did lots of colorwork.  I learned magic loop and knitting on two circular needles.  It’s been quite a year.

2011 Knitting Resolutions?

1.  Seriously – get rid of the stash.  I don’t have a huge stash of yarn, but I really want to knit down what I have.

2.  Finish knitting the patterns in the The Joy of Sox book.

3.  Join my blogging friend Patti in knitting another wonderful sock book called Around the World in Knitting Socks. It’s a project she decided to do, and I’d really like to follow along.

4.  Successfully finish THE SWEATER.

Who knows what else will inspire me in 2011?  Maybe I can convert and inspire some new knitters!

Happy New Year of Knitting!

Happy New Year!

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I made a torte last night to welcome in the new year.  This was the birthday cake we always had as kids.  I think I had previously only tried this recipe one time in my entire life.  It is a little tricky.  Egg whites being beaten to peaks, folding in the white mixture carefully,  and it was a little tough to get out of the tube pan cleanly.

When we were kids, Mom always told us not to stomp around the house when the cake was in the oven.  We didn’t want to cause the cake to fall. I told Davey that we needed to be quiet yesterday while the cake was in the oven, and so he insisted that we whisper especially when we were in the kitchen.

He liked helping me make the whipped cream, and he liked eating it even more.  The cake itself turned out nice.  I had some problems getting it out of the pan, but the small dents were nothing a little whipped cream couldn’t hide.

I always liked chocolate chips on my cake, so I put those on.  I also liked chocolate pudding and cherries for the filling, but David and Davey would have gone running for the hills, and I would have had to eat the entire cake, so I went with vanilla pudding for one layer and plain whipped cream for the other.  (If whipped cream mixed with a little vanilla and powdered sugar can be plain.  I don’t think there’s much better!)

So have a Happy New Year’s Day!  I think it’s time for a little piece of cake.  (another post birthday morning tradition.)

Please pretend to see 11 candles on the cake.  2011 would have been a bit too many, and I actually only had 9.

Snow Play

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Yesterday Davey took his first ride on his sled.  Not a lot of snow had fallen, but there was just enough.  It actually was a little faster than when we went back out this morning.  There were several more inches this morning, and so the little bitty hill was slower.

We got several more inches overnight.  I just came in.  It is about 4 degrees out.  I think it is supposed to be 12 today.  That is cold.  But we were bundled up in coats, snow pants, snow boots, and several cpeezers knits!

Davey and David are still at the playground.  It may not be easy getting him (Davey that is!) inside.  He is flying, absolutely flying down all the slides and tubes.  He emerges from the tube in the midst of a small slide avalanche.

Then David was shaking the snow down from the top of the equipment which Davey found hilarious.  I never get tired of taking Davey laughing photos.

As I am writing, David did get Davey inside.  I looked out the window and saw David balancing two large snowballs stacked on top of each other.  They carried snowballs home.  Somehow that inspired Davey to come in.

Now we are all warm once again.  We have a fire going.  It’s really the first time since we left Oklahoma (when we were 20 years old), that we have had a fire going.  We love it.

Ok Davey wants to continue with the New Year’s Eve preparations.  We are getting to make a torte.  I have only made one once or twice in my life.  I hope it turns out.  It’s our Happy Birthday to 2011 cake!

Back of THE SWEATER

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I am hard at work on THE SWEATER.  I have the first section of colorwork done.

It’s hard for me to take a good picture, but my size 11 needles should be a little longer, or I should brave the snowy streets and go buy some 11 longer circular needles.  So the stitches are kind of bunched up on the needles.

But I do like how the colors look.  My gauge is a little bit large, but not incredibly off, so hopefully this will be ok.

Now I am ciphering like crazy trying to figure out just how to do the rest of the back.  I have to figure out where to put the colorwork sections and how this will fit in with decreasing and shaping the raglan armholes.  Thinking about raglan and sleeves makes my eyes just kind of glaze over.  It sounds so difficult to me.

We have had quite abit of snow.  I’ll share my kind of view that I have as I type this.

First Bike

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Davey got a new bicycle for Christmas.  His first bike.

Riding a bike is not too easy at first.  I’d forgotten that. Even with training wheels it takes a little getting used to.  Davey hopped right on and began practicing.

I am not sure what was going on here.  Davey was making a run for it.

Then he was focused again.

And then he decided that bikes are multi-purpose vehicles.  (He tends to find multiple uses and variations for all his toys.)

As I write this, I can look out the window and see where Davey was riding yesterday.  Today the snow has begun to fall and is gradually getting deeper.  Davey is ready to go sledding now!

Home Sweet Home!

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We made it back home last night.  We got ambitious and decided to drive it all in one day.  It really wasn’t bad at all.  Took us 12 hours.  Davey did great.  I  have to say he entertains himself so well in his carseat.  He just played and played.

Today though he is “poop-ted”.  I need to go to the grocery store.  He does not want anything to do with his carseat, and I can not blame him.  So I will wait until David returns from picking up the dogs.

I am going to make a little post Christmas dinner for us.  We still have some presents for Davey here, and so we will have one more little celebration. I have to try to redeem myself for my Thanksgiving dressing which you could slice and use for sandwich bread.  It was tasty, but the consistency was not right.

David drove all the way to Oklahoma and back.  Usually I pitch in, but this time I just knitted.  I knitted so much that my right forearm is sore.  I was knitting hats all the way back, and I was even able to knit in the dark.  I think I may have done just a little too much knitting.

I started THE SWEATER.  I am working on the back and have started the first colorwork section.  Tomorrow I will put up some pictures.  I’ve also gotten busy on my Joy of Sox sock again.  I have been a total slacker on my Joy of Sox project.

I tried to document our trip, but I had a tendency to forget my camera, so I had to rely on family and friends for some of these photos!

Christmas Morning.  Davey was ready to open presents.  I love his expression when he first saw the tree and presents from Santa.

As he opened each present, he’d say “It’s just what I always wanted!”

He was very interested in seeing what his cousin Addie had as well.  I love seeing them together here.

We had second Christmas Day (26th) with my family.  I’d knitted a little owl and a penguin for my nieces. (The owl pattern was from the winter Knit Simple, and the penguin was from Knitty.  Both were very fun patterns.)

One of the highlights of our trip home was the mini reunion with old friends.  (Old refers to the length of our friendships, not their ages – although I guess at some point that will become one and the same.)  Davey played with the four children of two friends (married to each other) whom we’ve known since we were all kids.  Brandon and Angie (the parents) graduated with my sister.  I used to babysit Angie and her 2 younger sisters. David was best friends with Brandon’s older brother, and he still is great friends with him actually.  So it was really neat for us to see Davey playing with their kids.  They really hit it off and had a big time.

A BIG time.

Then they played a game where they all gathered in a small group.  They must have been putting their hands in the middle.

And then – Big finish!

We had so many good visits.  A great Christmas in Oklahoma.

 

 

Oklahoma Christmas

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It’s been a great few days.  Davey has had a grand time.  He’s played with family and friends.  It’s been a non-stop celebration.

Tonight we had a mini-reunion of friends from our small Oklahoma town.  Davey played with the children of our childhood friends.  After we got home, it was bedtime, and I think Davey was asleep in under 5 minutes.  He was happy tired.

Tomorrow we will spend time with family and more friends, and then we will have to begin to make our way home. 

I took lots of pictures of both families, but I’ll spare most of them “blog exposure”.   You’ll have to take my word that they are beautiful families. 

Here is one representative sample:  (Davey with his Opa.)

And I can’t resist sharing a picture of Davey in his new little dragon hat.  He loved it.  It has little claw mittens too.  I know I am a biased Mama, but it was just so darn cute.

Oh knitting!  I have started THE SWEATER.  I have approximately two inches of ribbing done and have started on the stockinette.  It is almost time for my first fair isle section.  I am kind of winging it on the back – as far as the placement of the colorwork.  We shall see how it goes.  My David deadline is fast approaching.  I do have that I-70 drive back to Denver coming up, so who knows how much I could accomplish!  (Although I think we all know that the deadline is going to come and go.  I anticipate requesting several extensions.  I probably should start hoping for a record cold summer, so that he will be able to wear it when I finish it.)