Don't Hate

I'm about to confess something that will probably get me punched in the mouth the next time I'm out and about: I kind of wish I'd gotten some snow this week. Not the blizzard that slammed the Northeast but just a light dusting. We hardly ever have snow in Georgia. Last year we had a White Christmas with about an inch falling. It was the first White Christmas in 129 years. 129, people. Some places haven't been 129 years without a White Christmas. It's more likely that you'll see snow here in January or February. And one year we did have a blizzard in March. But October would signal hell freezing over. So, while I love the look of a "snow sky" (when the sky goes all grey or white just before it snows) my chances of getting snow this early are pretty slim. I think the idea of being stuck in the house all week like earlier this year must seem appealing or something. The coming of snow is also the end of the holiday season. By the time snow comes Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are all done. And you know what that means? Christmas knitting is done too. And I'm ready to be done with Christmas knitting. I'm ready to be knitting on some new charity projects or making myself some new socks. But, alas, I have Christmas gifts to make. In fact, I have a quite a few I still need to finish. It might be important to note that I have only finished one (1) Christmas gift so far. This is not such a good thing. Maybe I can finish up the second tonight. The reason why I haven't gotten more done is that I took on a new nanny job and I've been baby-sitting lots more. And graduate school started back. These things now rule my life. So I generally try to stick to mindless things like washcloths.

Washcloths for a commissioned project.

I'm also trying to get a few rows in on the Log Cabin blanket too. Being all garter stitch helps in the mindless category.

*SLOWLY* growing.

Thankfully though, I have mindless projects to work on. Otherwise nothing might get accomplished around here.

Super Productive

For the last 3 days I've been stuck in my house due to ice and snow. Tomorrow I'll be stuck here as well. The snow is melting, a little. We still have between 3-5" piled up around my complex. The roads are the problem. If things warm up even a little it all freezes over during the night when the temperatures dip back into the teens (Fahrenheit). I haven't minded at all actually because I've been working on a lot of things. On Monday I updated the shop with new yarns and plan to add some more tomorrow.

 

In case you missed the update, this is Swamp Thing.

Tuesday I picked up and cleaned the entire apartment. I mean mopped, did the laundry, dusted, rearranged, the whole nine yards. The place looks awesome now! I even managed to do a good deal of work in the office which is by far the least organized room in the apartment.

Today (Wednesday) I spent most of the morning finishing up some assignments for grad school then I finished vacuuming and mopping. The rest of the day was for working on the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project website and setting up a Facebook page for EEROP. And I did more laundry. I think laundry might be my least favorite chore. It takes forever to do and by the end of the week the hamper is full again and you have to start all over! Surprisingly I still had time to knit some. I started a pair of simple wristers from 60 Quick Knits yesterday and I've worked a little more on them tonight. I'm not using Cascade 220 as suggested but some gifted DK weight yarn. These are turning out a bit smaller than originally planned but can still go towards Mitten Madness.

Tomorrow I'm hoping that it will clear up ever so slightly. While I've appreciated the time to get some things done in the house we are almost out of cat food and sugar. Penelope will need to eat and I can't function without my morning cup of tea! For now I'm debating putting in a movie. It's 9:15 but I don't have anywhere to go tomorrow :)

So Much To Show You!

I've been meaning to post for the past 2 or 3 days but I keep seeming to get busy with one thing or another and then blogging goes on the back burner. But today I had ample time to get ahead at a lot of things that I've been wanting to spend time on. I was able to dye yarn and work on the store today and tomorrow will be full of cleaning the house and continuing to try and get ahead with grad school work. Why all the time on my hands suddenly? Snow!

It started Sunday night around 9:45 or so.

And by 10:15 I would say we had almost an inch.

This morning was a winter wonderland.

Total for our area was about 5 inches. I know that most Northerners scoff at 5 inches but we Southerners are not prepared for this type of weather! The whole city of Atlanta has been shut down for the day. And it's pretty much shut down for tomorrow too. Roads are starting to ice over where people have driven on them and there is freezing rain and possibly more snow expected for tomorrow. I'm having a 4 day weekend!

I had to go to my car this morning to get some paperwork out and was able to get an idea of just how much snow had fallen.

I'd say that's quite a bit! The first thing that happened when I walked outside was I stepped off the curb into a 7" pile of snow, ice, and slush that filled my shoe. I thought that would be the end of my snow adventures but I kept reading about everyone sledding and making snow angels so I went out later to put some mail in the box. The consensus? It was cold. And my feet got wet again. And there was some idiot trying to drive who was skidding all over the ice and I thought I was going to get hit. So I stayed in for the rest of the day. And dyed yarn! New yarn will be going in my shop tonight!

This is a little sneak peek of Booberry, a one of a kind, limited edition yarn. Also listing some washcloths in the shop as well. I'm going to start carrying a few little knitted items to try and expand my clientele. In fact one of my recent knitting projects will go in there (as soon as it's finished).

A single button little girl's cardigan.

Since I spent so much time on the shop today I'm thinking tomorrow will be a good time to tackle some charity knitting :)

Flurries Don't Count

Flurries don't count as real snowfall unless they stick. 11 days ago we were having tornadoes and now we have the first snow-type activity of the year. But it's not sticking. It's just making everything wet. And now it's even colder than it was when I woke up this morning. Maybe we'll have a white Christmas! It makes me want to start vacation today. Only one more week of work though! 40 hours....5 days...3 tests...1 winter party....1 pajama day....and a partridge in a pear tree. Then I'm free for two weeks! And my grad school classes will finish for the quarter this Friday as well and won't start for another few weeks either so I will truly have a break. Then I can catch up on all the things that need doing. Hopefully I will get the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project webpage updated. I've tried 3 times now without success. No idea what's going wrong but I will conquer it yet! One of our group members just took over 250 items of clothing to Romania to hand out to orphans and Gypsies. She should be arriving back in the U.S. shortly and, hopefully, she will have pictures to share (which I would love to post on the website if it will cooperate). What a wonderful out pouring of generosity from our group members to help make this possible! I did finally send out the last of the prizes for the EEROP/Project Hope Christmas clothing drive that we held over the summer. I custom dyed some yarn for the "winner" of the contest who knit a ridiculous amount of stuff (42 items) for the drive (for which we are all extremely thankful). This is a picture of her custom yarn:

Also been working on Christmas knitting but I can't show you that. I did finish one project that I'm incredibly stoked about and really want to show you but can't. I feel so clever having finished it. It's down to crunch time though so knitting has become an Olympic sport around here with a motto of "Go all the way or get tendonitis trying."

Snowpocalypse

Hello dear knitters! The Knifty Knitter here reporting live from the Georgia edition of Snowpocalypse 2010 (alternatively titled: Snowmaggedon 2010)! You heard about it in New York, you experienced it in D.C., now it's coming to the Southeastern United States!

We begin our coverage early in the morning when the sky looked threatening. Snow was originally predicted to begin at 9 a.m. Would it deliver?
Sadly, no.

Never fear folks! Snowpocalypse's arrival was pushed back until 1. At 11:00 we checked back in to see how things were looking....
I call that "Snow Sky". We've had about 4 months of Snow Sky with little more than flurries. And that one day of ice and crud.

Alright, I will admit, I'm skeptical of any time that snow is forecast for Georgia. For some reason it's never as bad as they predict. We haven't had a significant snowfall in, like, 10 years. I mean, there's not going to be a Snowpocalyse is there?
Gah!!!! Snowpocalypse!!! It's arrived!!!
:::sobs in the fetal position:::

It started snowing at 1:15 p.m. almost on the dot and I'm still not sure that it's completely stopped (it's almost 10:00 p.m. now). Needless to say, I believe. I believe in Snowpocalypse. And so does Atlanta. The city pretty much hit shut down mode around 5:00. Apparently, I-285, the major highway the circumvents Atlanta, had 1-2 hour delays headed in all directions. I was slated to head to Athens for a gymnastics meet but after speaking with a chief meteorologist (a.k.a. my dad) I was advised that "it might not be such a good idea" which loosely translates into "you'd be a damn fool to try and go out in this weather".

So, my little knitterly peaches, I'm hanging out in my apartment admiring the view,
(please note these were taken from the window, no way am I going out in all that coldness)
fortifying myself with a tasty meal,
finishing up some charity sock knitting,
and getting ready to cast on for the Ravelmpics. I've set the daunting goal of something like 6 or 7 hats plus a kids vest. Guess I need to get on that.

Snow? Or No?

Here's the funny thing about weather: you can predict and watch and say this or that but in the end it just goes and does what it wants to. The early predictions were saying that Atlanta and the metro areas might get as much as 2 inches of snowfall tonight. Now they are saying a light dusting. Which means I probably won't get my snow day tomorrow. :::frown::: Maybe there will be some ice... It was kind of cool to come home this afternoon and see the lake in front of my complex frozen over with the "light dusting" of snow on it.


Knitting guild was canceled for tonight which means I had time to update my stores. I added 2 new yarns that I'm in love with.
Cedar Key and
Blueberry Chill. And I think the story behind the names is kind of cool too, but you'll have to check out the websites for that :) Both are listed at Vivid Creation Fibers and on Etsy. I also changed my shipping prices on Etsy because I hadn't calculated them correctly.

I should spend some time tonight on packing up my Christmas decorations (don't judge, it's not yet 2 weeks), washing dishes, and doing laundry. Instead I'm thinking of knitting on some projects. The baby blanket and also a set of gloves for charity.
This will go with the hat and slippers I've already knit to H 2 H International. I took some time the other night to start a new group on Ravelry for charity knitting. Our focus will be on making items for distribution in Eastern European and Russian orphanages. I'm really excited that we already have 15 members and seem to be growing! Our first KAL is socks for Global Knit. Each month I'll pick a new charity for us to focus our efforts on.

I also took a few pics tonight of the yarn that I picked up at Knitch.
Some grey nylon and acrylic yarn that I'm planning on making some Bella's mitts from. Even though it's acrylic this some super soft yarn. I'm pretty impressed so we'll see how it knits up.
I also nabbed some Socks that Rock heavyweight sock yarn in the colorway Lucy. I like the earthy tones and this yarn will make some nice thick socks. I may need to knit them now since ice and snow may be on my horizon (:::crosses fingers:::).

Of Snow and Pink Sweaters

Yesterday it snowed again. An odd occurrence here in Georgia.
Penelope found the warmest, most comfortable spot in the house and stayed there all day.

The Boyfriend and I braved the "fray" to go get some lunch. Hey, nice hat! :)
Lots of snow...
My neighbors and their kids had fun in the wintry weather. They really put a lot of thought into these snow people.
It was a good night for staying in since the temperature dropped to the teens. I watched Brit-coms on Public Television...
and worked on the pink sweater. This is where it gets kind of technical so if you just want to scroll down and look at the pictures feel free.

When I started knitting I taught myself everything. I think I did pretty dang good for someone who never asked another person what they were doing (What can I say? I'm stubborn and like to figure stuff out for myself.). Well, I taught myself to purl, for lack of a better word, wrong. On things where there is little stitch definition this doesn't really matter. However, with a large piece like a sweater with good stitch definition, it makes a difference. You can see in the following picture that the top half is done with purls executed correctly and the bottom with an "interpretation" of the purl stitch.

What I did was basically half a purl. This is how a purl should look:
Yarn wrapped all the way around from right to left between the needles. This is what I was doing:
Wrapping the yarn from front to back. That resulted in every other row (or every purled row) being "twisted" or half done. I debated with myself on what to do. Do I continue to purl incorrectly on the back of the sweater and fix it on the front? Do I fix it now on the back and make a visible change? Do I do the whole sweater with a wrong purl?

I believe that what we practice becomes habit (as I demonstrated). I don't like doing things incorrectly. I also don't want to rip back an entire sweater back that I started over a year ago. And this is a charity piece. I probably am going to send it overseas to a gypsy in Romania. And if you are gypsy in Romania sleeping on a park bench every night are you going to scrutinize the back of a sweater? Exactly. This is just practice. At this moment I'm very happy there are no "Knitting Police." I will never take this to a serious whack of knitters and show it off proudly (at least not the back). But if I did I would like to think they'd laugh it off as a beginners mistake. Here's the sweater back thus far:

A line...oops. Boy my hands are dry and gross looking...sorry. I still feel really good about the sweater. Good that I even started it when I knew little more than how to knit and how to purl (albeit incorrectly at first). Good that I have stuck with it. Good that I'm almost finished with it. Good that I know better now and good that the front will look better. Good that I shared a secret that maybe other first time knitters have experienced.

I'll admit that telling the knitting world that I had been purling wrong was a little tough. So, to make myself feel better I took a picture of Penelope basking the early morning light. She didn't laugh about me and my purl deficiency.

P.S. The actual temperature right now is 19 degrees Fahrenheit (-7 Celsius) and the windchill is 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 Celsius). Brrrr!!!

Sour Puss

Yesterday I was seriously in a bad mood. I tried to think of the reasons why I was in a such a bad mood and I came up with the following:

1. I teach a knitting class in the mornings. There are 20 kids in there (including 5 guys!). 19 of them enjoy knitting and being in the company of knitters. 1 does not like any of these things. She complains everyday that she can't understand why anyone would find knitting fun or relaxing. She can't believe anyone would even think of inventing knitting. Thankfully everyone else just looks at her like she's nuts. Because, well, she is.

2. They painted my classroom and office last night. That meant that all during my teaching time I had to have kids pull things off the wall and move furniture. Words cannot describe the level of destruction my room was in.

3. While getting the room ready to paint I developed a massive headache.

4. This is the yellow sock:
I've seen denial and it's not just a river in Egypt. The more I looked at the sock the more I realized it was going to be way too big. So I started these:
Much better fit (always check gauge). However, there was a problem with the colors. Do you see how the pink is pooling. It kept doing that. I tried to knit looser for a few rows. Pooled in a different place. One side: nice stripes, other side: pools of pink. This new sock has gone the route of the yellow sock. Totally frogged.

5. Webs still hadn't sent my yarn from 2 weeks ago. I know they're probably very busy but I at least wanted to know what was going on. Side note: I got an email today that says they have sent my package. It should be here on the 21st. Just in time for my conference in Savannah. W00T!

6. I have been following a walking program to a T for the past 2 weeks. I don't diet well and had gained 5 pounds since Christmas so an exercise program would seem like it would work best for me. However, I haven't lost any weight. At all. Actually, I lost 2 pounds over the weekend but, don't fear, I found them again.

There was something good that happened yesterday though. Can you see it?
How about if I stick out my black sweatpants clad leg to show you.
Those are snowflakes on my leg there (sorry for the fuzziness). It snowed last night. Still had to go to work today because our county never closes for anything. I remember only 3 days that school was closed. Once when hurricane Opal hit the coast and there was tornadic activity throughout the entire state all day and then for 2 days last year when gas prices went through the roof and the government thought there would be a gas shortage. The four horsemen of the apocalypse could be riding through town and no one would blink an eye. Raise the gas prices a dime and watch the pandemonium begin.

I enjoyed the snow and it was nice to see it this morning on the ground. The room is back to normal(ish) and my office looks kickin'. Much better than before. Now if I could just get the kids out of here....