Lots of Interesting Changes....

I know it's been over a year since I last posted (not that anyone is really watching). I have gone through a lot of changes and have some new exciting prospects ahead. My husband and I have been living in Coos Bay, Oregon for a year now. We LOVE it here. It is green and cool and just feels like home. I can honestly say while I miss the choices that living in the city brings, I much prefer the pace of small-town life. It has allowed us to slow down and focus on us.

In May a huge adventure began, we decided to attempt to start a family. It is a work in progress, but we are hopeful and excited about the prospect. This journey has not been an easy one, and now it is a monthly cycle of waiting. I have so many knitting projects I want to start for our baby, but know better than to jinx anything. So for now I will continue to queue on Ravelry.com and dream of knitting projects to come.

Last night I finished a collection of 8 washcloths for a friend of mine. She and her husband will be adopting a newborn that is due to come very shortly. I liked the idea of the washcloths because they are infinitely useful. They get softer with every use and you never grow out of them. I will try to get pics posted soon. They are currently drying so I can get them in the mail soon.
(The Cow and Owl are supposed to be bright blue and the Monkey and Lion are bright yellow)

I need to finish Noah's Bama hat. It is hard to knit something for a team you are rivals with. Noah turned 1 this month and I know his daddy is excited about the hat. It has 4 different colors in it. One side of the hat says "Roll Tide" and the other has Big Al (an elephant). I found the chart patterns on Ravelry, but no explanation on how to translate to a hat. I tried knitting it in the round, but that hasn't worked out so well. It actually ended in a lot of not nice words and yarn flying across the room. My next attempt (after the extreme pleasure of ripping it all out) will be to knit it flat with yarn bobbins for each color yarn and then seam the hat up. I'm hoping this works. I my end up lining the inside of the hat if it doesn't look nice.

In the midst of all the Bama hat drama I decided to start a pair of socks for myself. I had been knitting for everyone else and wanted something easy for me. I'm using the Lifestyle Toe Up Sock pattern and just doing a simply 2x2 rib. They have just flown on the needles. I use them as my mindless knitting when I go somewhere. I don't know why I have waited so long to knit another pair of socks. I am doing them 2 at a time on 1 circular needle. I'm pretty sure I will keep a pair of socks going always now.

I have lots of other patterns to finish and hopefully will get to some of those while I'm on summer vacation. Speaking of vacation it is time to start thinking of what projects I will bring with me on my Colorado trip.

Now that I've been talking about knitting, my fingers are itching for some needles....

Just keep knitting, just keep knitting...

Our move is approaching quickly. I still have no hope for a job and we have no idea where we will live, but I have yarn. I can control my stitches (accept when I knit the wrong row on my shawl and don't notice for 2 rows).

I find myself drawn to easier projects right now. I think it's cause they are mindless (and I don't have to rip out like 400 sts when I make a mistake). I am currently feverishly working on my first real sweater which is a simply straight forward raglan pattern. I can't seem to put it down. The cable rib pattern is mindless and yet comforting. Today I also finally turned the second heel of my LSU socks! Unfortunately I am thinking of unpicking the bind off of sock #1 and adding a garter band at the top. I don't think that I like the way the top of the sock looks ending in a rib.

I recently finished an octopus, whose legs were a lesson in patience. I thought I'd make it easier and have a friend crank out a tube on her knitting machine and then make the legs from that. I didn't think about the time it would then take to count rows, divide the tube, cast off one edge, and then close the other end. With a little more help from my friend we finished his legs, and I was able to seam him. I should say that I ended up stuffing his legs with quilt batting because the poly-fil balled up and made for lumpy legs. Once his face was on he took on a playful personality. I just need to mail him to my lucky newest nephew.

I have started a new travel quest in hoping to be able to only need a carry on regardless of where I am traveling (ok at least for trips to visit family and such). In order to bring along lots of knitting and have room to purchase yarn and such I am enlisting the use of compression sacs. I am hopeful with these I will be able to pack more yarn and knitting than I would without them.

Well, my needles are getting lonely.

Really I can do this...

I suppose I should just make this a blog about me and throw some knitting in too. Maybe that way I will actually write here and not annoy my husband so much with nonsense.

Life never goes as we imagine it will, does it? My husband and I are moving to North Bend, Oregon this summer thanks to the Coast Guard. We are super excited to get out of the city, we will get my dog, and have a house with a yard. No, North Bend was not our first choice (or on our list of places we really wanted to go- not to say that we didn't want to go there). The main drawback to moving there is that there is only one hospital remotely close, and they don't really do pediatrics (putting kids on an adult floor doesn't constitute real pediatrics to me). No big deal right; I will just transition to the adult world. I'm kind of getting burnt out anyway. Only problem is the hospital doesn't even want to talk to me till I have an Oregon nursing license; which thanks to California will take like 10 weeks to get. Also I get the feeling that they don't take my 6 1/2 years of pediatric ICU experience as real ICU experience and want 'someone experienced in ICU.' To sum up that rant...I have no job when we move and my bills don't seem to pay themselves. My husband says it will all work out, so I plan to lean on his strength.

As for knitting: I am about an inch shy of being done with my first LSU sock- and it fits! As for other things I am working on my Shoalwater shawl still, a monkey, and a frog. Last month we went to Lake Tahoe for 10 days. It was productive for hat and cowl knitting. I made this very pretty cowl of wool. I was wearing it at the grocery store when the lady checking out our groceries was amazed by it. She wanted it. When we got to the jeep I decided that I could very easily make another and that I would give this one to her (after a quick overnight wash). I informed her and then delivered on my promise the next day. I made her day. It felt so go to do that. I mean on some level isn't that why we knit. We want to make others smile, or at least feel good about things we make. For now I need to put the socks down and finish the monkey.

Hopefully this will become more regular...not that anyone is following me anyway.

The giraffe...yes that one.

He is done and I have to say super cute. I will however have no problems giving him away. I more than likely will attempt a second one at some point. I have other babies to knit for at the moment. My sister-in-law is pregnant with their 4th boy and I have an octopus on the needles for her now. After that, I will start a Monkee for my friend Jen O and her baby boy. I suppose after that I will work on something for my friend Justin and Aimee's baby. It will either be a blanket or a bear. I have yet to decide. For now the octopus seems to be flying off my needles- not to mention that everything else I am knitting is being ignored. I will one day finish the socks and shawl, no really I will. We are heading to Tahoe in less than 1 1/2 weeks which means lots of car knitting, and knitting at night, and at any other given moment. Hmmm, I must start to plan what knitting I will take...

I have made a realization....

I like DPNs...who knew? I switch my LSU sock (one of the 2 I have started) to teeny tiny DPNs and find myself flying on them. I'm sure the total of 7 hours I spent on planes within the last month didn't hurt either, but I'm saying it's the DPNs magic. I also find that I am now more consistent in my stitches. You can definitely tell where I changed needles, but I can live with that. I just want them on my feet.

(this was before I switched over, now I've turned the heel ,and have a little bit of the leg knitted since switching)

I have made a decision...I am completely done attempting to work on the giraffe! I am going to make something else for my friend. I'm currently thinking a blanket, bu we will see. I am planning a baby blanket for another friend and an octopus for my sister-in-law that is pregnant.

My shawl is coming along well. I have finished on pattern repeat. I have no idea if I can manage to do a total of 4 repeats before I loose my mind, but long enough to make it useful is all I need. I love the play of the yellow, green, and grey of the alpaca. This pic was before the repeat was finished, but it's not all that much bigger now.

Well, back to watching the Olympics for me...

Why some projects and not others?

I find myself preferentially knitting on some projects more than others. I was so excited when I started my LSU socks, now they just sit in their bag and are barely worked on. I love them and want to finish them. I somehow think it is the magic loop method. I am not a fan of contantly sliding and moving the stitches around. I love the idea and don't find it difficult to do. I recently made a pair of fingerless mitts for myself. I knit them quickly on dpn's. Is it cause I can just keep going and going around and around without re-arranging all the stitches? I am tempted to place one of my socks on dpn's and see if I get more knit quickly.

Don't even get my started on the giraffe. I know why I don't work on that one; I don't like the pattern. I find the directions hard to read and confusing. The reason I can't the toy is the finished product is sooo cute! I just hope it is worth it and I can actually give it away in the end. I am tempted to look for a new pattern, but somehow I know I won't.

Time to get knitting again.

So I must still be on a knitting high! I have bound off another scarf, made another hat, and finished a fingerless mitt. I pretended to start a shawl today, but do to not reading the directions I had to frog the first attempt. The lace pattern looks relatively easy (yes I realize looks can be deceiving).

This Wednesday night my knitting group is going to have a frog party. Surprisingly, I don't have anything to frog, but I am going to take the giraffe toy that has been haunting me in hopes of working on it. Natasha says I'm not allowed to leave unless I have more of the giraffe knit when I leave. I am bringing only that toy with me...I must finish it before my friend's son starts college-I realize he is only a few months old now so I should have plenty of time to reach that goal.

Since I still have one hand that is mitt-less, it's back to knitting for me!