Thermal is finished! I hate it!

here it is folks. The sweater that took me about 5 weeks or so to complete. It still doesn't have buttons, but that's just cuz I'm too lazy to scrounge for some at the moment. Bottom line...it turned out great, the yarn is yummy, and I like it a lot. However, it looks terrible on me. I have a very short body, this sweater cuts right at my waist, which is on top of my 42 inch or so legs, making me look like someone smashed my head into my armpits. Just not right for my body type. I will gift it to the lovely, petite sister of mine who gets everything I knit with the optimism of a person who knows they are a size 12 and insists on making clothes that are a size whatever.

Give up the ham

this is purely a picture post, although not one of them will be of thermal. I'm getting so damned tired of it, but it IS almost finished. So in lieu of FO, I present to you.....

Perrin in love


Me and my sister Steph during our visit to TX


And the last snowfall of the year.


Did I forget to mention that we got approved for our home loan? So it seems that we may be moving to either Naperville or Wheaton this summer. I'm so excited I could pee myself.

Etsy on the way

I'm going to set up an etsy shop as soon as I can get some decent pics of my original design sweaters and shirts. I just need to pay off my credit card badly, and before I can even think of buying new yarn, I need some cashola. I'm probably going to be knitting mostly children's clothes, but I'll throw in some necklaces I'm making with some dyed hemp yarn. I'm crossing my fingers that I can make a little money from this. I've seriously gotta curb the spending. With the trip to Ranger in May and my road trip with the diner gals in July, my debt will be sky-high. And if you casually come across this blog and are in need of a wedding dress, I'll be posting a link to the ebay shop I'm setting up as well.
Please check it out when I get it set up. I'll link it on the sidebar. Warm fuzzies to all my peeps.

Persephone has come home

It is spring! And as evidence, my front yard has sprouted some lovely purple flowers. The snow has melted, the rain has come, and the day is long.
Updates on Thermal:
I am furiously knitting the 2nd sleeve. I'm growing quite weary of this pattern, only in that it is taking me forever and a day to get it done, and I want so much to wear this before it's too warm.
My next project is Cubs koozies for my diner gals for our summer road trip to 4 games in 4 days. I can't wait. Kelly has sent me daily texts with her excitement and apparent lack of bladder control over this trip. Her and Manda are hard core Cubs fans, whereas I truly do not follow any sports. I'm just in this for the fun of being with my girls; when the 3 of us are together, I feel sorry for anyone brave enough to be around us. We are insane, over-the-top fun, and loud. My favorite 2 people in the world not related to me. Kelly and I go way back to junior high; she rescued me from a very toxic friendship, took me under her wing, and revived me from a shy wallflower to the brazen chica that those closest to me get to see. She also introduced me to John and forced us to express our feelings for each other when we otherwise might not have. I have no doubt that in 80 years, we'll be screaming at nurses together to get us more brandy.
And next, the wedding. Beautiful day of joy and family. It rained, but it forced all the guests to hang out together in the little clubhouse. We danced, drank a lot of spumante, and watched as Jen and Brian expressed their devotion to each other. His father made a toast that made everyone teary and the best man dropped Jen's ring. Jen was stunning as usual, and once her nervousness subsided, she partied with the rest of us. I sang "Lady in Red" directly to her with at least 2 video cameras on me, but after the first verse, I was living it up. I honestly thought I was going to either vomit or pass out, but I had fun with it. Jen and my mom both cried, as this was one of our many songs we all sang together as kids. I am so ready for karoake now. Singing in front of an audience has both been my greatest dream and my greatest fear for as long as I can remember.
Life is sweet. Love is grand.

Check out this hot chica!

Beth Ditto of The Gossip. This is hands-down my new favorite band. She kicks so much ass it ought to come with a warning. Voice like butta, body like whoa, and she crochets in this video. A big girl with big talent. Did I mention cowbell? Oh yes, cowbell. Check her out.

More on trip to Texas, progress of Thermal, and yours truly's debut as the wedding singer. Later, babies, later. For now, rock out!

Gone, baby, gone

Tomorrow morning we are on our fantastic voyage to TX for Jen's wedding to the marvelous and adorable Brian. A Tucker she will be no more. Only one girlie left to marry off :)
I'm so excited to get out of this cold for awhile. It's in the 70s in TX right now; how super-dee-duper. We shall return to the tundra in a week. I should have thermal nearly done by then. I've got the body done and shoulders sewn together. On to the sleeves, which are brilliantly knit in the round to the cap. Why aren't more sweater patterns done in the round as far as they can be? It's just common sense.
I browsed through Glampyre's book, Fitted Knits, and I must say, I have gotta have this book. Simplistic, elegant, and sexy are her patterns. However, since I just spent a bajoogles on yarn, the new Interweave, and other misc crap I don't really need, I'll have to hold off until I actually plan on knitting something from it.
Well, I have to get to Texas.

Anticipation

I have been a practicing Buddhist for going on 9 years. One of the essential teachings of the Buddha is to stay in the moment. The past is done; it cannot be changed and is therefore irrelevant. The future hasn't happened yet; the only thing that is of any importance is this very moment. This philosophy has been the thing I have struggled with all my life. I can't "live in the now." For some reason, I need something to look forward to. And without that anticipation of some future event, I find it hard to want to do anything. Hard to focus, hard to feel excitement. It is irksome to say the least. But for now, this is not an issue because next week, my boys and I will be road-trippin' it to Texas for my kid sister's wedding and some much needed fam time. Yay doesn't even begin to cover it. So for now, I will bask in the glow of something to look forward to and hopefully one day decide that this very moment, no matter how mundane, is good enough for me.

You're just an empty cage, girl, if you kill the bird

Thermal is coming along nicely. Slow as all hell, but gorgeous. I'm loving the knitpicks gloss; it's shimmery and soft and slides along the needle beautifully. I fear this sweater will take me the rest of my winter days to knit, but I'm hoping I can have it done by Jen's wedding in 3 weeks. Must keep knitting obsessively as if there are no other things to be done in life!
The stitch pattern is remarkably easy to memorize and looks darling.
In other news, I met some really cool peeps yesterday. It's remarkable how the universe brings people into our lives at the exact moment we need them. Either to learn from or to teach. As a mom with a high needs child, this woman brought something to my attention that I had definitely been denying for awhile. I'm now pretty sure that my darling boy has been given the not-so-cool genetic gift of Tourettes from me and his father. Looking back at the last 3 weeks it has become more evident from Perrin's behavior that we can no longer keep playing it off as normal toddler defiance. The more research I did on early onset Tourettes, the more obvious the signs. I'll be talking to Perrin's pediatrician this week about finding a specialist to do some testing. It was pretty much inevitable. It breaks my heart, but knowing what the problem is might just be the key we've been looking for.

The female of the species is more deadly than the male

I'm tired. Long day. Nothing interesting. Just this goodlicious hat - design by the adorable Delinquent Croissant, sans ribbon. Mostly b/c I just couldn't get that eyelot row done correctly. Don't know why. Cute just the same.

My baby is 3 today

Three years ago at this very second, I was preparing to have a c-section to bring my gorgeous boy into this world. A little before 8 pm on Feb 10, 2004 Perrin was born weighing a giganimous 10 lbs 11 oz. The nurses gasped as he peeped his big eyes at them.
Today was spent at the mall. Perrin loves riding on the train and playing in the treehouse. We went up and down the escalator about a dozen times and watched Jimmy Neutron as many times as he wanted. It was a special day for him b/c he finally understood what a birthday was. He enjoyed telling everybody that he was 3 yrs old today.
My baby is growing up. Sob.

Rather fetching, ain't it?

Fetching from Knitty. Used up some remaining Debbie Bliss cashmerino from the doomed tubey. I love these, and I will probably make another pair with the purple cashmerino left in the stash.

I'm super stoked though about the burgundy Knitpicks gloss I just ordered for Thermal. Cosmicpluto has some adorable designs, and she is a close second to Glampyre as far as being awesome with the top down design. I will eagerly await its arrival so I can cast on for the grooviness that is this sweater. It'll probably be the last sweater I knit this winter. I broke my own resolution to knit only from my stash this year, but what the hell? I like knitting sweaters, and I was out of sweater yarn. Next up, buttloads of cotton for summery knits.

I am so daydreaming about the swan lake top from the spring Interweave coming out in a few weeks. Might be buying some yarn for that one soon. So much to knit, so little time and money.

Oh, and there's so much snow going on out there that I'm kinda disoriented. Winter is quite winterly up here. It's in the 70s in the old town. What a strange and wonderful new world I've moved to.

This is way beyond my remote concern of being condescending

I am rewarding your breathless anticipation with oodles of photogs. First up - the finished Mesilla. This was a fantastically written pattern by one of my ultra mega fave designers, Stefanie Japel (Glampyre). It was quick and easy and hugs the body in all the right places. What was cool about this pattern was that it not only had decreases for waist shaping, but it also included a few in the back for a snug fit around the waist. This would have been much more awesome had I not had love handles, but all in all, I dig this sweater. I used the 3 skeins of Cascade 220 in gray and 1 in a gorgeous heather teal Ana gave me.

In other deliciousness, here are the cutesie shoes my darling hubster bought for me. They are from www.tukshoes.com. These are my favorite brand of shoes. I've been wearing this brand for 6 years, and their shoes are amazingly adorable, comfortable, and affordable. A little punk rock, a little cutesie. Just my style.

Okay, so maybe I AM that kind of knitter

I gave the Cascade another chance to do something pretty. I'm froggin' and turning my lovely idea of the cabled increase raglan into Mesilla by Glampyre. Well, sorta. I totally do not like the embroidery, but I love the neck shaping. I've always wanted to try a picot edge too, so not only am I happily starting over with the yarn, I'm learning something new in the process. Stefanie Japel is the queen of the top-down sweater in my opinion, and I love pretty much everything she designs. I'm feverishly looking forward to her book coming out in March.

Destined for frogness

Grr Grr Triple Grr! Finally tried on the cutesy little raglan I've been feverishly working on, and it's ginormous. I'm talking, falling off the shoulder, cables buried in my armpit kind of ginormous. I think I grossly overcompensated the stitches needed for the neck. Every sweater I've made seems to be a tad tight in the neck, so I added more stitches to the CO. Bad idea. There are knitters out there that don't mind ripping and starting over. I'm not one of those knitters. Into the drawer it goes, only to be picked up when I don't curse profusely at the sight of it. I had such high hopes for this baby. High hopes. Oh well. I'll just start something else. Eventually I will use that yummy Cascade on something else. When I recover from my grief.

How can I see the road if I'm looking at the signs

More progress on the cably inc raglan. I'll come up with a cooler name later. I'm still pondering what to do with the bottom. I don't want to rib it, cuz that's been done to death. I'm thinking some kind of lace panelling so it won't curl, but nothing too open b/c I actually want to wear this thing this winter.


In other news, the hubby is in Austin this week, so I'm single-parenting again. Usually I enjoy this quite a bit, b/c the kiddo is an angel when Dad's away. However, we have been experiencing some rebellion to the idea of potty training. This has turned my sweet little boy into a poop-throwing chimp. The joys of motherhood.

I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter

I just realied that the titles of my posts probably make absolutely no sense to anyone who lives outside of my brain. Most of them are song lyrics; the others are inside jokes or pop culture references between me and my sister.
this particular one is from Tori Amos' "Winter."

Winter. The ever elusive somewhat ethereal abstract season that those of us from Texas believe only exists in some sort of parallel universe. Children spend Christmases playing outside in tshirts just hoping that one year they will see snow. To me, snow is the most beautiful of the universe's wonders. The winter I lived in Wisconsin was magical. I lived at the end of a long country rode with canopies of trees overhead. The ice on the branches looked like diamonds, and I could hardly catch my breath as I drove beneath them. Growing up in a part of TX that just turns brown and dead in the winter will make a person appreciate something that to most people is simply a pain in the ass.

My son will never have to wish for a winter wonderland.

And if you complain once more, you'll meet an army of me

Shock upon shock! I'm working on 3 projects at once. I know, I know. I said I was going to stick to one at a time, but the truth is that I just can't get excited about something that isn't a sweater. Just can't. I started socks for Perrin, and I just don't want to do the 2nd. I started on some kitchen chair covers with the bulky yarn from that big-ass sweater that turned out to be somewhere around a mamillion pounds of yarn, but I don't really want to do 4 of them. So, I'm just gonna work on this here raglan for meself. I'm spicin' it up though, see. Instead of just regular ole' M1 increases for the sleeves, I'm doing a little lace-cable combo. Here's a blurry pic.

And if you'll notice folks, it ain't green or purple. Yes, that's right. It's a lovely shade of gray in Cascade 220. I will be doing the neck, sleeve, and bottom ribbin in a teal heather.

Only time will tell if wishing wells will bring us anything

I just wanted to buy some knitty stuff, so I finally bought the Knitpicks Options set. Verdict - they rock muchly! I never used the Denise's so I don't know how they compare, but I love nickel-plated needles and they're all pointy and sweet, so I love them.
I also really wanted this tote from Natalie Dee. She has this awesome site with totally hilarious and often insane daily cartoons. And she knits. So I have a crushlet on her of course. Here's the bag.


And here is finished Wavy from some chick at Knitty.com. I'll look it up later. Still plaguey, remember? I have an excuse to be lazy. I'm not showing my face because I look dreadful, and no one needs to see that.

Make your time

Well, we're all plaguing it up again here in the house of crazy. I am to that point of being sick and tired where I will just suddenly burst into tears upon looking at the mess in the kitchen that is piling up b/c not one person in this house has enough energy to clean up after themselves. I am VERY OCD, and anyone who knows me well will vouch for this, so it's killing me that for 3 days, 3 people have been wallowing in their own germy ickiness with no one to come and rescue us. This is the hard part about being a gazillion miles away from friends and family. There's no one to call up and beg to bring you some soup or something. John is slowly pulling himself out of muck so he was able to go wrangle me up some pills. Must keep reminding myself that "this too shall pass." Thanks Mom.

On the goodness front, it looks like we may actually be able to buy a house at the end of our lease. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of throwing away more money by renting. We'd very likely not be buying here in Downers Grove, since you either have to be excessively rich or be living in your parents house to afford to live here. I'm excited about once again being able to live in a home that suits our personality...or at least one that we can paint outrageous shades of green. :)

In knitting, I'm almost finished with Wavey from Knitty. I used Caron Simply Soft in this shiny navy blue which I love. I haven't been working on it much b/c Jen and Brian were here and now I've got the plague. Yes, I'm melodramatic.
Once I am healed of this sickness, I will post some more pics of the Lestico visitation and possibly have my first scarf completed.

She stole my heart and my cat

Here is the future GQ model, Brian, posing splendifurously in his DNA sweater. He hearted this sweater, and it looks awesome on him.


Here are a couple of posed shots of Sienna. My sis instructed me to "imagine you were swimming with seahorses" as heard in Napoleon Dynamite. Geekiness abounds.
Oh, and a closeup.



And last, but certainly not least in the gloriousness of my life, John made me a swift for Christmas. He worked so hard to make this as perfect as he could. Isn't it adorable? He's the bee's knees, I tell ya.