smile on the outside.
somedays the past six months have seemed to fly by in a blur. other days it feels like they’ve dragged on forever. finding out that my Dad has cancer definitely threw me for a loop. what fragile lives we lead.
tomorrow is my Dad’s surgery, the start of a new chapter. i’d be lying if i told you i wasn’t scared. petrified is probably a better word for it.
but i smile on the outside.
try to occupy my mind with fun, carefree times with family, loved ones. tackle a new knitting project. escape reality for a while with a good book. watch episodes of Wipeout over and over again. discover a new favourite drink at Starbucks, new wines to enjoy, new ice cream flavours to indulge in. getting better at my golf game. watch even more golf on tv.
keep smiling. stay positive.
knit(ter) fail!
Boourns. Yesterday I broke up with my Baby Chalice Blanket. I had no choice. It left me with no other option. This was tough for me to accept (although my fiance mister random would say otherwise after witnessing the project go flying across our living room…). You see I love that blanket. As soon as I laid eyes on it via Ravelry, I knew I had to make one. And I did – or so I tried to. Twice.
I’m still unsure as to whether this is a “pattern fail” or a “knitter fail”. For some unknown reason, when I got to the row 17-20 point in the pattern my stitch count would be off – I’d have 2-3 more stitches than you are supposed to, BOTH times I attempted this project. But a quick search on Ravelry showed that no one else had this same problem. Everyone who knit this project ended up with beautiful baby blankets. I was left with frustration.
At that point the yarn and needles went airborn.
Being stubborn, it is hard for me to accept my failure with this project.
Mark my words, Baby Chalice Blanket: “I will be back. You and I shall meet again. And this time I’ll be ready. You’ll see.”
And with that I proceed to search out a non-lace baby blanket. Enter the big bad baby blanket pattern from the first Stitch ‘n Bitch book. Easy. Mindless. And after peeking at similar FO’s on Ravelry, my mind was made up. In fact, it seems this was meant to be. You see I had wanted to use the same yarn as I was using for the Baby Chalice Blanket (Patons Decor in Sand Castle varigated), and as luck would have it someone had posted their big bad baby blanket project in that exact yarn and colorway.
Seeing it made my heart sink.
While this colorway was working well in the lace blanket, it looked most unappealing knit into a seed stitch/stockinette blanket. Now what was I going to do? I bought the Patons specifically for this baby blanket and intended to use it. Until I clicked on other yarns fellow Ravellers used for it.
Hello Dream in Color Classy!
Of the twelve project listed using this yarn, 3 of them were in the ‘Dusky Aurora’ colourway –> “I’ve got that in my stash!”, I thought. Yes! Surely my case of “knit(ter) fail” happened for a reason. The blanket looks stunning with the DiC yarn & colour! I *squee*-ed with delight and quickly ran to dig the yarn out of my stash corner.
So far the third time’s been a charm. It’s going to look fabulous!
merriest.
Well Christmas has come and gone for another year. The 2008 xmas gift list was well received (at least it seemed that way to me!). Even the mmMalabrigo felting disaster mittens found an excellent home — on my nephew’s little hands. But there’s one teensy weensy project left on the needles; it should be done soon, and I’m crossing my fingers that it will be a hit.
Now is the time to start on 2009 holiday projects. Will I? Probably not. But I’ll at least think about it, lol. Actually I plan to take a few projects out of hibernation. Most notably, my Seascape stole which was cast on last July !!! It needs to be finished by the time Lost season 5 premieres on January 21st. Then there’s my Lace ribbon scarf which is only about 1/3 finished, also cast on last summer. And finally, something that’s been tucked away for well over the one year mark…my “Zeeby’s Bag” totebag. This is really sad because all that needs to be completed in order to cross it off the WIPs list is the liner. Alas, I do not enjoy sewing. However I shall suck it up and git’r done — soon!
Also plan to cast on for another go at Koolhaas. This time I’ll try it using the ‘cabling without a cable needle‘ technique. That and the recent discovery that “k2tbl” does not translate to ‘knit two together through the back loop’ (yes folks, I did make that very silly mistake), it actually means ‘knit the next two stitches through the back loop // i.e. ktbl, ktbl’. This should make for a hat that actually looks like it’s intended to. Ah knitting, it is a journey isn’t it.
And this year I really will knit up some kick ass stockings for my nephew and nieces. There’s no time like the present, especially since Michael’s is having their annual yarn blow-out; up to 70% off all in stock yarns.
Today and tomorrow are my last days of freedom as Monday I head back to work. I plan to enjoy what’s left of my Christmas Vacation (love that movie – National Lampoon’s, remember?). Today a movie with Momma, tomorrow a sunday roast… But for now? Back to the last item on that 2008 xmas gift list.
getting nervous…
Am starting to fret over holiday knitting. Being the painfully slow knitter that I am, my fears are that I will not be able to knit (even just one thing) for everyone I’d hoped to. This week I finished Odessa (the second) and cast on right away for Foliage (the third). I’m really happy with how well Odessa goes with the Birthday Cowl. And Foliage is juuuuuuust about done – only about 15 more rounds to go. My other problem is that I’m not sure what to start next! And it’s not that I’m not confident that I can knit the next items, it’s whether or not the recipient will like them. We’re talking slippers for the boys here. Maybe I should make nice scarves/neck wraps for them. Ack, I just don’t know! Probably doesn’t help that yesterday we had somewhat of a shopping fiasco. Which I’m not quite ready to talk about yet. Maybe in a couple of days. And that bloody soft Malabrigo keeps whispering to me too. My hands are dying to knit with it already. But I’m not allowed to knit any personal projects until the holiday knitting is done. That should give me some motivation, but sadly it is not. And now I must clean. *sigh* This has not been the best weekend. At least I’ve got TWO knit nights to look forward to this week – Tuesday AND Wednesday. Let’s just hope that I’ve sorted out my holiday knitting woes by the time Tuesday rolls around…
