Just for Fun

It's raining and Sahara has been joined (pictures soon I promise)!

Both of these are big news for our household (well, maybe not the Sahara so much for everyone... I mean, the kids aren't begging to run around with it like they're begging to run around in the rain... but for me it is!)

Now, the just for fun...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I got a kick out of this because I am from Ohio (plus small stints in a few other states such as Florida, New York, Virginia, Missouri and Connecticut) but have spent most of my life here in So. California.

A Typical Day

Another movie, a little more "Driving". BTW, this is an incredible documentary on the lives of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and the other missionaries who died in the jungles of South America. The story is absolutely amazing and the people, both the indians and missionary families, are fascinating. I highly recommend it.

Sahara is almost ready to join in the round! Pictures soon.

And, a glimpse of my morning...

Driving-Thru Pirates

We had a mid-week family movie night the other night for the big DVD premiere of Pirates of the Carribean 2. It's definitely darker than the first and I personally thought it was a little gross at times, but the boys love it and I can't help but enjoy watching Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. The action scenes are clever and funny and I must admit that I enjoyed it much more the second time than the first. (I worked on Green Gable when we saw it in the theater.)

Anyway, the boys insisted on lights out during the movie so obviously I needed a project that would allow me to watch the movie and knit in the dark. So I cast on for Drive Thru .



I'm not a super speedy knitter but not too bad for a couple of hours of in the dark knitting... the ribbing slowed me down the most as I kept forgetting if I was knitting or purling and trying to figure this out in the dark was a bit tricky. I'm liking the Knit Pick's Swish. It reminds me of Cascade but I think it's a bit softer and squishier. And I'll tell you Drive-Thru restaurants may be quick but I'm making this sweater for less than it costs for our family of 7 to drive-thru a fast food restaurant!

This and That

So, I got in the mood to finish up a pair of socks (or at least one sock). But look...

Where do I put a big huge honkin' knot in a sock knit on itty bitty size 0 needles? I've never seen a knot a sock yarn before. Hmmm... Speaking of the size 0's, I plan to avoid this size in the future. The gratification is way too delayed for me.

Midwest Moonlight is coming along... but rather slowly. I love this scarf but I'm not crazy about the actual knitting of it. I made one for my mom last and, even though I never knit two of anything (except socks - cause you gotta), I really wanted one for myself. I'm using Rowan Cashsoft DK and it's going to be absolutely luxurious... someday.

And last, but not least, what a cutie....

??? What's that he's holding??? Why, it looks like new Opal sock yarn. How did that get in the picture? Hmmm... I wonder where he found that? He must not have been able to resist those amazing colors. Just guessing.

A Litte Sahara

A little progress on Sahara today.


Provisional cast-on unchained and shoulders separated from neck.







Knitting picked up and proceeding over shoulders.










Front and back attached. Ooooh... looks small. I'll knit a couple of rows and give it a shot. It needs to fit around the arms at this point.

Is the suspense just killing you?





And...

it looks like it's going to work!

and it looks like I have a long way to go.








But it is a very interesting knit so far. Wendy's design is ingenious... it's so much fun to watch this sweater come together. The directions are very clear and the pattern includes tips and pictures for the different techniques. The only suggestion I would make to Stitch Diva would be to picture the sweater on some women of diffent shapes and sizes showing that it could be worn on us non-model types (at least I hope it can!)

Time for a snack....

Do You See Gray?

Sahara begins! I returned to the LYS, my size 6 needles and their not-Karabella yarn in hand, and they let me use a ball of the RYC Silk Wool DK for a trial swatch. It was love at first knit. So the exchange was made and I returned home a happy knitter.

Now I will admit that the yarn doesn't quite meet gauge... I know because I knit a swatch (a swatch, ya hear that - actually 2 swatches on 2 needle sizes!)... but I was pleased enough with the yarn to ignore that *not-quite* part. While the old me would have considered 5.5 st/inch plenty close enough to the 5st/inch the pattern calls for, the new overcome-with-failure-and-frogging-me wisely realized that this would just not do.

This left me forced to do something that I am quite capable of but try to avoid at all costs - study the pattern, pull out a calculator and see what I'm getting myself into. Now, I love math. I mean I really LOVE math! It's logical, analytical, and objective (well, except for matrices/matrixes, whatever, -never made any sense at all). I like these qualities... with math, you're either right or wrong... no guessing, no maybe's, no could-be's, it's just black and white. This is good. Actually, gray is a color that I only started to see over the last 15 years as God has filled my house with such a variety of personalities and qualities that I was finally forced to realize that sometimes, just sometimes, there isn't always a right or wrong way... sometimes, there's just a different way. Totally blew my mind.

Anyway, back to knitting, you would think that it would be my natural inclination to knit with a calculator in my hand but, truth be told, I rarely (read never) take math into consideration when I knit. Knitting and math must take place in totally opposite zones of my brain because it makes me cringe to "sit down and do the math" when it comes to knitting. The two should never meet! I love a good pattern... I can sit down with my yarn, see how many to cast on, then go. No thinking, no straining, just doing.

So, where was I anyway? Oh yeah, gauge. I didn't get gauge... But, I sat down and did the math taking all of the pattern notes into consideration and went a size up. I think it will work... pretty sure of it in fact... well, we'll see anyway. And if it doesn't... I sure know how to frog. (Rip-it, rip-it)

Look for the Bright Side

I wish I could tell you today was better... I wish I could tell you that when I broke down and used my gift certificate to visit a LYS to get something *special* for Sahara that I had only purchased one ball of the wonderful Karabella-like yarn they assured me would work instead of 12... I wish I could tell you that it didn't puff out into a very fluffy yarn more appropriate for a size 9 needle when unwound... I really wish I had trusted the label (it said size 9) and not the salesgal who swore it was just like Karabella and mumbled something about the Italian label... I wish it was just like Karabella... I especially wish I could tell you that it knitted up to gauge without feeling like a stiff piece of cheap acrylic... and I wish I had ignored the finite wisdom of the salesladies and bought the luscious RYC Silk Wool DK (one ball) that they said would never work. (I think it will.) But more than anything, I wish yarn stores gave cash refunds instead of exchanges only. Ugh!

On the bright side, at least I was using a gift certificate (for a good chunk of it) and I learned a lesson... buy only one ball at a time to check gauge! (Learning a lesson makes most negative experiences worthwhile in my opinion. I just wish I learned things quicker.) However, guilt is guilt, and after the last few weeks of eyeglasses, dentists, and the library, I really shouldn't be spending even a dime on yarn. So I guess my real wish would be for patience and self-control (those two lions that are always crouching at my door - sigh).

At any rate, send your good knitting mojo my way for the RYC Silk Wool to work because they really don't have a very good selection at this LYS and if the RYC doesn't work, I'm going to have to end up using my store credit to knit scarves and felted bags for everyone on my Christmas list instead. (And I was determined not to knit gifts this year... not to mention that it would leave me with no time to even think about Sahara.)

Finally, I wish my son hadn't messed with my camera and deleted the picture I took this morning because I think if you could see what I woke up to... specifically the son sitting on top of a bedroom door screaming for me to take a photo for my blog (I guess I should feel honored here) while the 3 youngest chased each other around the house fighting over the last of the Froot Loops (a very rare treat in our house)... you would understand my life (and my poor, impulsive LYS decisions) much better. BTW - after all the PR effort, he deleted the picture because he thought he looked dorky. Dorky! Imagine that... a 14 year old sitting on top of a door, wedged against the ceiling in flannel pajamas and a hooded sweatshirt... what could possibly be dorky about that? BTW - my 12 yos (the one we fondly refer to as "the good one") slept through it all. If only I could do the same.

Oh well, at least I don't have to cook. Pizza and family movie night await...