Project Catchup & On the Horizon

Lest readers think that I have been remiss in my knitting as of late... Well, I hadn't been doing quite as much as usual due to the overload of real-world stresses that were going on, I'll admit, but there was SOME knitting happening. And now those stresses are behind me so let the deluge of yarn commence!

First and foremost, proof that I have, in fact, finished Riley's sweater, despite the fact that I keep talking about putting the pattern up and it hasn't happened yet.

That facial expression is what we call "grumpy." But perhaps he will not feel quite so grumpy about wearing the sweater when it's 20 degrees F outside and he has to go tinkle. It kinda makes him look extra fat (or at least emphasizes just how fat he is), so I may decide to break it up with embroidery or a patch of some kind or a pocket... Something. Anyway, there it is, I did make it. It's just that I've been attempting to design diagrams for the pattern, and all I have is Paintbrush, which is extremely frustrating to try to work with. I will be working on the pattern today, but don't expect it to show up here until tomorrow at the earliest.

In the "Current Projects" department, 2 items.

I have actually cast on the front of Brendon's Leo sweater.

Ta da. He griped and griped about how he can't just wear the BACK of a sweater - a sweater that was promised to him back in August - so I finally took some action on it. And remembered why it was such a pain. TEENY NEEDLES - AAAGGHHH. But it will be done. By Christmas. Really.

Also, this little crochet bag.

This purse, which may look like it's all-but-finished, is actually less than halfway done. That's because it is intended to be a versatile purse/mesh market bag engineering phenomenon.
How will it all work together? You'll have to wait and see. The part you see here was done on the plane home from California, I just hadn't gotten around to taking pictures of it until now. And I actually have begun the mesh bag part, but currently it looks like a doily, and I can't have the world thinking I'm sitting here crocheting doilies, so - no pictures of that.

Upcoming projects: there are also two of those.

My brother's big fuzzy snowboard socks.

This yarn is very soft. And there's barely a word of English on the labels.

Also, B's Ferrari scarf.

There will also be black in there, but I had a helluva time finding this stuff in black - I went to FOUR LYS's without success and finally ordered it on eBay. I found a chart of the Ferrari prancing pony, and... well, he has a thing for Ferrari. What can I say.

By the way, this blanket may creep into some of these or future pictures, and I thought I would give it a formal introduction.

This was among my earliest crochet projects, and it is a HOSS. The weight is spectacular. I made it for B long long ago (like 2 and 1/2 years!), and it has been living on the ship making his icky ship bed feel a little more like home - but now he has no ship, therefore no ship bed, so for the time being it's on our couch and I get to enjoy it too. I don't even remember what I made it out of, something I bought at A.C. Moore, but it's rather soft.

Hopefully there will be a dog sweater pattern in the next post. Wish me luck.

School Days

Brendon started his school today. Saying that makes me feel like he's five years old. As does this picture:(That's him in NC a couple weeks ago, playing with one of our high school friends' son's Tinker Toys. I'm so proud.)

Having B starting class means a lot of things. First, obviously, it's the end of his leave/vacation. It was a great vacation, I'm sad to see it go. It also means a lot of starts and ends, like the end of him having scruffy facial hair, and the start of hearing the alarm go off at ten minutes to 6 every morning; the end of getting up and walking to breakfast without showering, and the start of a new diet and exercise program.

It also signifies a lot of alone time for me. I may have mentioned this in earlier posts, but I've chosen to not look for any type of employment while staying here in Newport, because the only type of job I expect I could be hired for a three-month tenure is, well, wrapping Christmas presents or dressing up like an elf. And, come on, really. I am college educated. But it may mean I have to cut back on my yarn purchasing over the next couple months, until we get to Florida and I do seek gainful employment. It also means I will be spending the weekdays without anywhere I have to be, and with only my dog for company unless I venture out into public. Sounds like a great time to set my creativity flowing and get as many projects accomplished as I can stand!

First among these projects today was downloading some pictures from my camera from the last few weeks. Some of them are worth sharing. Here's a couple of shots from our most recent visit to NC, of my KIP (mom and dad - that's "knitting in public") with Bethany at Borders. She was learning how to use DPNs (double pointed needles).

Here's our table. My dog sweater belly, and her scarf. Plus some festive holiday coffee drinks. Yummy!

The DPN lesson clicks:

See the light bulb over her head? Form will come later, but at least the theory is down! She's gonna make a great pair of socks.

Next, some nice shots of the boxed-up chaos of moving out of the apartment.

Remember how B and I spent all that time and effort packing up some stuff ourselves? Trying to be helpful? Well, apparently (we were never informed of this) the military won't move any owner-packed boxes. Damn. So they unpacked and repacked all those boxes. Their stacks look much more organized than ours ever did, though.

When it was all packed up like that, I seriously had to wonder how in the world all that stuff ever fit into that tiny space to begin with. Wow.

The new place is so refreshingly different from the old one. We went from a one bedroom in an apartment supercomplex built in 2004, tucked away behind the MALL, to a furnished condo encompassing the entire first floor of a house that's gotta date back to 18-- at least (we need to ask the owner how old it is next time we see her). Walking through the neighborhood here, every fourth house or so has a plaque noting that it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and just up the road about 2 or 3 blocks is a gorgeous Catholic church where John F. Kennedy and Jackie were married. Plus there are a zillion awesome restaurants, shops, pubs... There was zilch within walking distance from the apartment in VA. And across the street:

A park! Riley can run and play! People have their dogs out there off-leash all the time. I'm thinking perhaps sometime when it isn't too cold out (and it really hasn't been THAT cold) I'll sit out there, let him wander around leashless, while I knit on a bench. Brendon thinks that would make me a little old lady, but whatever. I may instead walk up to the awesomest coffee shop ever, Empire, and knit there while drinking some sort of wonderful hot chocolate/cider/bubble tea. I sense a new habit coming on...

A couple more pictures of the new house - my spot:

And the "ghettofied" computer setup:

To finish it all off, I know it's a bit late for these, but what the heck. Our Thanksgiving dinner turned out beautiful:

Too bad it may (or may not!) have given B a very mild case of salmonella. He's okay now, and it was probably just a stomach ache. And besides, it was delicious.

I have a lot of pictures of yarn, but I'm saving them for another post. This one has gone on way too long as it is. By the way, I have in fact finished the doggy sweater - it was done Saturday night - but I haven't gotten up the stamina/attention span for writing out the pattern. So I'm lazy. So sue me.

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Turkey Day!!

B and I have already enjoyed two separate Thanksgiving dinners this month, one in California and one in NC, so we're doing a quiet dinner just the two of us tonight. But quiet doesn't mean simple or bland! Tonight's menu:

Maple-glazed Cornish hens stuffed with shiitake mushrooms, sausage, and sour cherries, served over a watercress salad;
Butternut squash with maple syrup and allspice;
Sizzled green beans with crispy prosciutto and pine nuts;
Rich chocoholic pudding;
and this 2002 Cohn cabernet sauvignon we picked up in wine country.

Yum.

Everything but the green beans are from Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks by Linda Carucci - a recent purchase that we haven't yet tried out - and the beans are from the Oct/Nov issue of Eating Well magazine.

Sorry I don't have knitting pictures. This weekend (I hope) I'll be able to do a great big dog sweater post. If I get motivated. If and when I ever finish that project, posting the pattern will be very involved.

And yes, I know, I need to put pictures of Newport and the condo on here, but I've just now put fresh batteries in the camera and it's dreary outside. Not an ideal photography day.

See, that's what it currently looks like out my kitchen window. I guess that's November for ya.

Up (North) and Running

I have made it to Newport, and the internet is successfully hooked up.

We're still busy unpacking, and I have had NO time for yarn - but I have located the LYS and it's within walking distance!

More later. I promise.

Rachel's Amigurumi Kitty

Pattern: Amigurumi Dude from Crochet Me.

Materials: Bernat Cottontots in Wonder Dream, plus a little scrap mint colored yarn and a bunch of polyfill stuffing.

Time Spent: Approximately 6 hours; aka the plane trip from Norfolk to Houston to Oakland (minus a couple of Sudokus and the last third of Running With Scissors, the book), plus an hour of embroidering the face and claws and about half an hour of stuffing and seaming together at home.

I altered the pattern for the head slightly to make the muzzle stick out so it looks more feline than fungal, but I can't actually remember how many stitches I added where... Oops. Should have written that down. Also I added very basic ears and a tail. The sleepy face was embroidered on, which was the most difficult part - symmetry is not as easy to achieve as you may think. One ear got a little squished in the suitcase so it folds over slightly more than the other, but I'm sure it won't be the worst abuse this guy sees in his lifetime, being made for an infant and all.

The yarn is a little cheap, sure, but it's cotton, it's soft, it's washable, it shouldn't fuzz in baby's mouth when gummed upon... Really I think it's quite apt for the project, and I like it. The color can work for either sex, which was important since I will be several states away by the time Rachel finds out what it'll be.

I think she liked it. Hopefully baby likes it too!