A Bitter Knitter

At the end of the year, it seems that there is always a race to finish those WIPs...  Christmas deadlines and New Year's resolutions and other goals always seem to create a knitting rush.  There were some WIPs that I wanted to finish before Christmas and year's end and some that I had planned on finishing sometime in the next year. This WIP was one that I thought was going to wait until January... But ended up being a December surprise! My baby girl, whose moniker for this blog shall be "Jo," was born December 21st.  I had gone into the hospital for a non-stress test to monitor my blood pressure on the 20th and it was discovered that I had severe pre-eclampsia, so they decided to induce me early (37 weeks) for both our safety.  Jo weighed 5 lbs 5 oz at birth and is 19 inches long.  As you can see, she's got a head full of dark hair (except for a blonde patch in the back).  She's also got long fingers like her mommy. I'm loving being a mom. ...

This November, rather than NaKniSweMo (a sweater in 30 days), I participated in NaKnitMo, knitting as much as possible in 30 days.  Over the course of those 30 days, I competed: A blessing dress for my little one : Booties to go with it : (somehow already lost one, and she's not even born yet.  Ah, well.  Just have to knit some more...) And a Dalek jumper for my little one as well: Plus  I finished another Gaptastic Cowl for a friend of my mother's , a pair of stealth projects (Christmas presents) for my biggest and smallest nephews, and got good progress made on a couple other stealth projects for Christmas as well.  The Gaptastic is pictured on my Red-Headed Sister below: So, all in all I completed three works in progress, started and finished three new projects, and got half-way through two more... all in November!  I feel highly accomplished, especially in comparison to a few months ago!  I aim to finish the two half-done...

If you do not care to read religious blog posts, feel free to close this one now.  I don't mind.  Have a pleasant day. For those of you still here, I wish you a Happy Christmas.  I recently finished rereading Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."  My favourite line in the book is when Bob Cratchit is speaking to his wife about Tiny Tim.  He says, "Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard.  He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and bind men see." Tiny Tim put it well.  This Christmas season has given my family good cause to think of the Saviour.  We think of my tiny nephew, Tommy, who passed away this month and we remember on this Christmas Day He who suffered for our sins that we may be forgiven and then died and rose again that we ...

I've decorated my window for Christmas.  My policy is that, since we're suspending Christmas we may as well suspend all the decorations, too.  I'm not putting any decorations on flat surfaces.  (Except the tree, which others insisted on putting on the ground and which I've already protested.)  They're hung or they're not displayed.  (Call me Grinchy, call me Scrooge.  Maybe I am as you say.  Some days I think that I should have skipped directly from the end of November to the beginning of January... today is one of those days.) Every time I turn around our holiday plans have changed.  I suppose they're as set as they're going to be now, as they're already in progress.  Husband and my sister-in-law left early this morning to drive up to see my in-laws.  This is a change because Husband and I were supposed to drive up next week, and sister-in-law had no plans of going.  After blogging Monday we received some very sad news.  Hu...

For a while there was some hubbub in the house as to the critical question of the season: Where are we gonna put the tree?! Last year this wasn't a problem.  But last year this room didn't exist and the Christmas tree was right here .  Where I'm sitting, right now, on my bed, writing this blog post.  Yeah.   SO  not going to work this year.  My sister-in-law's family (hence forth dubbed the S family for simplicity's sake) has a HUGE Christmas tree.  I suppose that when the average member of their family is over 6-feet-tall an 8-or-9-or-10-foot Christmas tree looks proportionate.  But now that Husband and I have moved in, there's no floor space for it. We ended up using our little 5-foot tree.  It stands in the entryway and looks so vulnerable petite in this household of giants.  But for a while, we contemplated a far more interesting solution: Take the 8-or-9-or-10 foot tree and hang it from the ceiling. Yup.  The idea was ...

If there was an award for being an inconsistent blogger, I would win.  My last post was a month ago as I was one week into NaKniSweMo. I think I'm going to add November National Whatever Months to my "I don't" list.  I did get about 16 inches done, which I calculate to be 19,074 stitches.  Not bad for moving in the middle of November, but not exactly a 50,000+ stitch completed sweater. I still have quite a bit to do; It's not close to done by any stretch of the imagination.  But for now it's on hold as I frantically knit Christmas presents.  I read the Yarn Harlot's blog today as I was taking a break from knitting and completely agree with the statement of "I feel like I'm going into this Christmas with no reserves."  I started knitting for this Christmas months ago, and yet I'm still really pushed for time.  (That and my family is Christmas-ing on the 19th, which cuts into knitting days.) I haven't completed anything since my...

I first tried knitting in 2002 or 2003.  I'm not sure which--I was sixteen or seventeen at the time.  I learned how to do a long-tail cast on and how to knit and purl.  As a result, I knitted a piece about eighteen inches wide and four inches tall in 2x2 rib.  And then the royal blue yarn and the aluminum size 9 needles sat abandoned in my closet.  And then I moved, and they sat abandoned in my new closet. Eleven months ago today, 22 September, I walked into the yarn store near my university and bought yarn and knitting needles.  I had seen a pattern online for a Hogwarts scarf and wanted to make one for my little sister for Christmas, so I purchased yellow and black yarn (Hufflepuff colours) and a size 7 circular needle and, with the help of YouTube and half a dozen knitting sites, I cast on again, some seven or eight years after I first attempted knitting, and began knitting again. Just knitting.  Solid knitting.  Solid stockinette...

Well, I have finally finished all the Christmas presents!  I showed you mom's mitts, and now here's Red-Headed sister's Hufflepuff scarf .  Finished.  Let me say that again.  Fin-ished!  Knitted, blocked, and fringed.  (It took four months to complete.  It's a good thing she loves it!  I will never make one of these ever again.) Wait--I take it back.  There is one more Christmas present I've promised: a blanket for my husband (a Chocobo blanket ).  But crocheting all those granny squares are gonna take a while, too.  But he's agreed to wait patiently. I got several more rows done on BIL's scarf , and the texture is showing up beautifully.  It looks awesome.  I have almost one foot done, and would like to have it done in the next few weeks, so that BIL can wear it while it's still wintry outside. Oh, and a picture I forgot to post from the trip to visit family.  My knitting "helpers" decorated my pattern b...

Alright, let's see... Christmas has come and gone.  I'm still finishing Christmas presents... the only gift that was finished in time was the pair of mitts for my Sister-In-Law , modeled here by my husband:   Oh, yes, see that in the husband's hands?  That is the present we were keeping hidden for Nephew #3.  Yup- we got to be foster parents to a kitten for a week and a half.  (She's cute, but I was pretty much over having my feet and fingers attacked... she'll be happier having lots of nephews to play with and a cat and a puppy for buddies.) I still need to finish Red-Headed Sister's Hufflepuff scarf & Mom's mitts .  One mitt and a few stripes (and then tassels!) to go.  Here's how they're progressing: We spent a few days up with my grandparents and some extended family after Christmas.  It was interesting having four generations in the house, and a little confusing for the fourth generation, as the three little ones (two years...

Christmas came early this year... I've already opened most of my Christmas presents... One of the coolest things that I got for Christmas is Dragon NaturallySpeaking. That's right, at present I'm not touching the keyboard at all. The possibilities are endless... This gives a whole new meaning to multitasking. Just imagine... I can now be typing/blogging/doing homework while knitting/cooking/who knows what else! Isn't it marvelous?!  Here's where my nerdiness really shows... I am thoroughly enjoying being able to talk to my computer. It's like being a Star Trek character... Now, if only it would respond when I addressed it as "Computer"... Ha ha ha... seriously though...   On a knitting note, the secret is out. My unbloggable project is no longer so, which means I can now tell you what it is. The Unbloggable Project on which I have been working for the past several months and a Hufflepuff scarf for Red-Headed Sister for Christmas. In a nutsh...