20 Things Meme...

Ha! I've been tagged by Chrissy for the 20 things about me meme. I'm so excited since I've only been blogging for a few weeks :) Thanks, Chrissy, for thinking of me! 1. I play violin, guitar and sing (although not as much since having kids). 2. Hubby & I have recorded over 20 original songs together. 3. We actually met when I was in high school and I "auditioned" for his band. 4. I was the backup singer for a while and then became the lead singer and we've been together ever since. 5. I was married at 20 and had my first baby at 23. 6. I'm 26 (yikes - I first typed 27, my brain has turned to mush). 7. My mom taught me how to knit when I was around 10. 8. The first project I finished was a ribbed scarf knit in Lion Brand Homespun that I completed about 4 years ago. 9. I've only become obsessed with knitting in the past year. 10. I love knitting things for the kids, they're quick and easy to make the right size. 11. My favorite singer is Alison Krauss. 12. I think I'm the only Republican that knits (....and blogs)! 13. I don't like to watch or play sports. 14. I love reality TV. 15. My favorite TV shows are CSI, Survivor, Lost & Desperate Housewives. 16. I left college 35 credits shy of a degree because I realized I didn't like my major (Computer Science) and all I wanted to do was be a mom. 17. My favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip (or Dairy Queen's Butterfinger Blizzard). 18. I eat chocolate chip cookie dough out of those tubes they sell at the grocery store. 19. My favorite color is green. 20. I LOVE Target. I'm going to tag Jes, Caitlyn, Brynne and Amy (my only other blog friends at the moment) - let's hear 20 things about you! I apologize if you've already done this one and I won't feel bad if you don't feel like it either!

Trucking along

I'm getting a little farther with the socks, I'm really excited about them, I think they'll turn out pretty nicely. The pattern says to knit in SS for an inch after the heel and rib until they are the length you want but the picture looks like the SS goes up much higher on the sock so I think I'm going to do about 3 inches in SS until changing to rib. I've also started the Ribbed Jacket, I have about 40 rows done on that and it is SOOOO soft and cuddly. I've been pretty sick with mastitis (you nursing moms know what I'm talking about!) so I've been in bed a lot yesterday and today. You know I'm sick when I don't even feel good enough to knit. Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Home Renovation Marathon continued...

I got a lot done on the house today, I painted the 2nd coat of "Jersey Cream" in the living room, painted the living room and dining room ceilings and painted the baseboard molding in the living room. I am exhausted! My MIL & FIL helped, there's no way I could have gotten anything done without them. FIL is still here starting the crown molding! I don't know how I'm going to get out of bed tomorrow, I'm too tired to knit! Here are some more pictures. Everything is a mess but you can get some idea of what we're doing. I can't wait to have final "after" pictures to show off!

Progress

I have finally made some progress with the socks, they actually look like socks now, don't they? I didn't try them on because I know they will be the perfect size since I've taken them out twice. And it doesn't matter anyway since I'm going to finish them no matter what. If they don't fit me, I'll just keep them by the front door and everyone that visits will have to try them on and whoever they fit gets them. Kind of like Cinderella. On the redecorating front, the dining room paneling is finished but still needs to be caulked and painted and the crown molding needs to be put up. Today, we painted the living room which is much bigger than I realized. It took all day just to get one coat on and it definitely needs a 2nd coat. The color looks great though, I'm excited. We're going to put crown molding in there also so at least I didn't have to edge around the ceiling. We painted the crown molding today also which will hopefully save some time later. I'm exhausted I don't know how I'll be able to finish painting tomorrow. The house is a complete mess and I can't stand it any longer, so hopefully that will be encouragment enough to get it done. I'm off to relax on the couch with my knitting.

These socks will be the end of me...

I have ripped them out again because this time they were a little too small. I'm not obsessive compulsive, really! Ok, maybe a little bit. I'm getting so frustruated I think it may be time to put them away for a while and concentrate on something else. I've been knitting every night for the past week and have nothing to show for it! I'm feeling stressed because I feel like I should be knitting things for Christmas presents but I don't have any projects in mind. I can't think of anything easy enough to make 8-9 of between now and Christmas. I have an all or nothing mentality, if I'm going to make gifts for one I should make them for all. I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Accordion finished...

Well, almost! It still needs the zipper but is otherwise finished. It looks great, I'm so glad to have it all pieced together. That's my least favorite part. I'll post pictures when I get it totally finished. I wish I had more news to post about the socks. I'd take a picture although they still pretty much look like the last picture, even though I've worked on them for hours. I finally made some progress today but when I tried them on they were too big so I ripped them out all the way back to 15 rows. So I'm a little discouraged but will truck along anyway. At least the double circs are starting to make sense and things are moving a lot faster. The dining room is coming along also. The paneling is done, we just need to finish the quarter round on the baseboards and we need to put up the crown molding before we paint. I got all of the curtain fabric and I can't wait to make the curtains. I'll post a final "after" picture when it's all complete, probably another week or two.

Grrr...

I worked more on the socks last night and didn't get very far because I made a mistake and spent the whole night trying to get back to where I started. I have no idea what happened but the socks were on the wrong needles and everything was all mixed up. So then I tried to knit one row backwards and screwed up the increase and couldn't figure out how to get it back so I took the whole sock off and ripped a few rows. I had a terrible time getting them back on the needles, it was a huge mess. But it's all better now and I've finished the shaping of the toes so I can just knit in the round without needing to increase every other row. I'm using the Two at Once, Toe Up Sock pattern from KnitPicks. I've discovered how easy it is to mess up two socks on circs so I think I'll only work on them when I'm not distracted from now on!

The fun of socks

Ever wonder what 2 hours of knitting socks looks like? Well, that picture pretty much sums it up. That's as far as I got last night after watching a movie (which I don't remember much of) and lots of cursing and screaming. I now have two lovely toe warmers! We'll see how it goes. I love the way the self-striping yarn is turning out but they yarn feels like it may be a bit scratchy. Maybe I should try Lorna's Laces next time, if there ever is a next time! The toes look a little pointy, I'm having trouble getting the whole picture but I'm sure it'll make sense when I get farther along. In other news, we put on the base molding in the dining room and it looks so good! I had no idea my husband knew how to use a saw but he did an amazing job. Crown molding will be easy after this!!!

Done, done, done!!!

With the sweater you thought? Heck no, but the wallpaper is done! After 7 hours, my MIL and I finished the wallpaper in the dining room. We are only a small part of the way there since we still have to put up the paneling & molding on the bottom 1/3 of the walls. Plus, I still have to make curtains and put up crown molding. Here is how it looked when we moved in: And here is a picture from today with the new wallpaper (it's hard to see with the red paint, but that will be covered tomorrow with beautiful wainscot paneling). Isn't that a lovely shade of red on the walls? That was under the hideous red wallpaper that I've been scraping off for weeks that indirectly caused my heinous fall down the stairs. A close up of the wallpaper (it's hard to see but it's a cream background with green/yellow vine type things): It's really hard to tell from the pictures but it really looks great, I'm so excited! Hopefully I'll have a completed "after" picture soon. I hate having my house torn apart. Just wait until we renovate the kitchen, that should be fun! And my Knitpicks order arrived!!! Addi Turbos, Shine (I just bought a skein to try out) and Simple Stripes for my first pair of socks.

Cashsoft is calling my name....

Ahhh, this yarn has been sitting on my shelf for a few weeks and I just can't wait to start my next project, another sweater for Claire from Debbie Bliss Special Knits. The one on the cover of the book. I'm determined to finish James' sweater first, I only have to finish the 2nd sleeve and piece it all together. I'll definitely be finished by the end of the weekend, if not tonight! Here is Claire in her new sweater, what a cute model! Not the best picture of the sweater since you can't see the fair isle around the bottom, but cute nonetheless. Hopefully I'll get my Knitpicks order today, until then, I'm off to wallpaper the dining room...

I am such a dope

I actually fell down the stairs today. Yep, and I'm admitting it on a blog for the whole blog-world to see. We've been stripping wallpaper off the stairway walls and I'd like to say I slipped on a piece of wallpaper but sadly I actually cleaned it up already! I have no idea what happened, and I was holding my 6 month old daughter too. We're both ok but my bum hurts. It knocked the wind right out of me and I'm starting to feel sore already. Oh well, I guess I'll have to sit around the house all day and knit. On to more interesting things, here are the labels I created from Grumperina's awesome custom label tutorial. I bought iron on transfer paper from Staples and satin ribbon & fray check from Joanne's. I didn't think they would turn out nearly as well as they did! Of course I sewed a label on the Cargo pants I just finished and when I washed them the iron on transfer peeled off. So I washed the others I made to make sure they wouldn't peel off before I sew them onto my projects and they were all fine so I must not have ironed that particular label long enough. I was thinking maybe they weren't sticking because I used satin but the ribbon is 100% polyester which the box says is ok to use with the iron on transfer paper. I think they are adorable, they say "Hand-knit for Claire (or James) by Mommy" and they have the yarn contents & wash instructions. If you click on the picture you can see the labels more clearly.

Knitty rocks!

I recently discovered Knitty and it has the best free patterns anywhere! I recently finished these adorable baby Cargo pants (knit with Rowan All Seasons Cotton). They turned out so cute, it was my first time knitting in the round and I loved it! I want to try some socks soon but I need to finish the projects I have going. This is also what led me to blogging, I discovered Knitlet because she is the designer of these adorable pants and I love reading her blog. It's what inspired me to start one of my own. This is the Accordion sweater I'm working on now, also from Knitty. I had this Plymouth Encore yarn left over from a sweater I started in college (7 years ago) for myself. I knit the entire back and when I held it up to myself, it was way too long and I got frustruated and put it away and it never got finished. That why I like knitting stuff for the kids so much more! The projects are small enough they actually get finished and they're easier to make the right size. Anyway, I went to my LYS and bought a skein in red for the stripes. I love the way it looks but the yarn isn't very fun to work with and I don't really like ribbing. I can't wait to break out the Rowan Cashsoft out of my yarn stash for my next project! I want to get this one finished though since my son is excited about it. It's getting cold fast and he could really use it soon!

My completed projects

Here is the first sweater I ever finished. I made it for my son a little over a year ago. It's the Sweater with Ribbed Yoke from the Debbie Bliss book "Cotton Knits for All Seasons". I made it with Lion Brand Wool Ease yarn. I loved it so much I made it with Cotton Ease yarn in Blueberry! It looks like it's still too big to fit him this year. I love the Cotton Ease yarn though, I'm so disappointed I can't find it anywhere because it's a great inexpensive yarn. Then when I was pregnant with my daughter I made this sweater. It's the Baby Bobble Jacket also from Cotton Knits for All Seasons. I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn for this sweater and it was a joy to knit with. I can't wait until it gets cold enough for her to wear it, it looks like it will fit her perfectly this winter. And here is my most recent completed project, Fair Isle Top from the Debbie Bliss book "Special Knits". It's my first adventure with more than one color and I loved it! I used Rowan Cashsoft DK for this project. It is so soft and cuddly! It still needs the decorative beads sewn on.

My first blog!

I've been knitting like crazy lately and have been enjoying other knitting blogs so I've decided to start one of my own. Hopefully there will be something interesting for others to enjoy as much as I've been enjoying reading everyone else's blogs. Reading about knitting is almost as fun as knitting! It has become an obsession lately and I know it will be for the rest of my life. It is so relaxing for me and I need something like knitting to de-stress at the end of a day with 2 kids! I'll take some pictures of my finished projects as well as what I'm working on tomorrow. I'm so excited! I can't wait to meet other people who love to knit!