Obsess Much?

I enjoy texture knitting. Cables, seed stitch, moss stitch, rice stitch, sand stitch, and star stitch. I wonder if that's why I find socks so boring to knit? Just plain knitting row after row.

I try to do something each year that I've not done before whether it's a stitch or a type of pattern. Last year I began a wrap that is knit side-to-side in 1 x 1 ribbing. I've done that before with a kimono-style sweater. So I can't say that it's anything new I was trying.

Then there was the pug toy doll - now that was new in that I had not knit an animal toy before...voodoo doll, sure, but not something that was supposed to resemble an actual mammal. So, that was my new thing to learn for 2010.

This year I want to do more new things and find out what I like and what I don't like...and this? Well, this I adore:




And every day I look at it.

Every.

Day.

It's the Notre Dame De Grace.

I was poking around the Interweave site and saw took a look in the magazine issue this pattern was in, and well...there's the Origami Cardi that I really liked, and in my never-ending quest for the Sweater of Not So Much Shame - Garter Stitch Pup. Go ahead, go take a look, I'll wait...

See what I mean? So I bought the back issue with the patterns. Next step is to find any errata (hello, Ravelry) and go from there.

I'm no longer going to put off knitting sweaters because I'm concerned they won't fit the boobs, arms or shoulders.

I Want A Damn Tshirt

One that says: I Survived The Plague of 2011.

Today is the first day in a week that I don't feel the need to plunge back into bed for an additional three-hour morning nap, to finally get up to have some soup, and go back to bed for my afternoon three-hour nap to gear up for the big dinner hour of more soup to finally head to bed for 10 to 12 hours.

Here is Tank reenacting the Plague of 2011 for your benefit (without the gross bits):


I don't feel so hot...



It's just the damn sniffles, I'll be fine.




Then again, maybe not.




jesus god, I feel like crap.




Maybe I should go see a doctor before I expire.




Antibiotics! Better living through chemistry!




I am recovered.


[End of reenactment.]



Thank you, I will take your adoration tributes in the form of organic doggy turkey jerky and marrow bones. See me next week in the re-imagined version of Safety First For You and Me: I'm No Fool.


* * *

Yesterday, I felt pretty damn okay after my morning nap (only 2 hours!) that I was able to get cranking on my scarf out the remaining to skeins of Malabrigo Twist to go with my fingerless mitts:

Happy Birthday To The CoM!

It's her bday today, and I've been requested to make my hazelnut and dark chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting (from a can, her favorite)...the things you do for your child.

I'm one of the lucky moms. The Child O' Mine (with help from family and friends) managed to graduate high school with a decent education and without any of the problems that plague teens today. No alcoholism, no drug dependency, no pregnancies planned or unplanned.

The CoM is smart, sharp mind, a crack shot with her mouthiness, and can make me hysterical with laughter in under 10 seconds. She's also very sweet, thoughtful, kind, generous, giving, and loving.

FO #3 of 2011

Welcome back to the Plague House, Episode: Cough, Hack, and Wheeze.

In between fits of my body determined to hurl a lung out the window to thwart the healing powers of the antibiotics I'm taking, I managed to finish my fingerless mitts:





* * * *
The down and dirty details:

Yarn(s): Malabrigo Twist, in Tuareg

Purchased: Loopy Yarns, Chicago

Needles: size 8

Time: for me - 16 hours; for most knitters, 6-8 hours

* * * *

Thus ends the week of finished objects. Let us hope it's also the end of the Plague House.


Now I'm off to take a much needed nap. Tank is way ahead of me.

Day 451 Of The Lurgy

Okay, really only Day 5, but it feels like I've had this for a year so far...

The Damn Socks have a home, one way or another, and will not face extinction by frogging or endurance-smoldering in the fireplace.




Now up are the fingerless mitts that I'm knitting based on that pattern I told you about in December.












Now off to take that nap I was jonesing for earlier today.

FO #2 of 2011

The damn socks are done.

And they're too big, by 1/2 a size it feels like...crap.

Here, go look at the photos while I contemplate the pros and cons of disposal methods (shredding, burning/smoldering (wool doesn't catch fire easily), frogging):








It's bloody difficult to photo one's feet:








Since I'm so disgusted with my inability to knit myself a pair of socks that *I keep trying on as I'm knitting them* and they still don't fit, I'm going to my copy of Knitting Rules to see if the Yarn Harlot can help me.

For now, I'm going to have an ice pop and go take a nap.

Damn it.

* * * *
The down and dirty details:

Yarn(s): Malabrigo Sock, in Solis

Purchased: Simply Socks Yarn Company

Needles: size 2

Time: for me - two years, one month, two weeks (off and on); for most knitters, 10 hours

* * * *

The Lurgy Continued

For most of the population, watching someone knit is as exciting as making a day out of watching paint dry on the side of a barn.

Watching someone knitting a sock and turning a heel may put them into a coma.

But I'm willing to take that chance and post the great Plague of 2011 Turning of the Heel!

Getting set up to turn the heel - I used a circ so I don't think I'm continuing to knit in the round:




Said circ in action (notice lack of anticipation of action):




The heel turn I do, because I prefer to do toe-up socks if I'm going to knit any at all, is the short row heel. However, since I rarely knit socks, I need to brush up on the technique. Thank the knitting gods for YouTube!




At this point, I was getting bored with it and my throat was starting to get more painful...




I thought about getting into my throat lozenges...




Instead going for the ice pop:




And since it's practically impossible to knit and suck on an ice pop, I decided the sock and I would do some internet browsing:




After finding out that kd lang may or may not go on tour in 2011, I thought a movie might help me in finishing the sock's heel:




Hello Netflix instant viewing!




We now have a heel:




I have to finish knitting up over the ankle and then the cuff:




Meanwhile, it's more naps and ice pops hoping the antibiotics start kicking the lurgy ass soon.

The Plague

Still feeling the cootie fest, except it's now a party that includes my sinus and ears. Not groovy. So while I wait to go see my doctor today, here's some knitting for you:




That is my second sock of the pair I've been knitting/ignoring since 2009. I'm about to turn the heel.

I'm a little concerned that if I start this sock knitting on a more regular basis, that it will take the plague to get me to (a) turn the heel on them and (b) finish the pair.

I'm going to try to turn the heel tonight, if I'm not having fever dreams again of knitting unraveling while I'm with Keith Richards as he's tearing across a dirt road in a convertible flying high out of his mind. (I'm reading Life on my Reader when not in a coma.)

Meanwhile, some Tank cute to round out this post:


Cool! You're up! Can we go for a walk?



Why are you leaning on the wall like that? If I do it, will I get a treat?!



Wow. You really don't look so hot.



I'm just going to sit over here so you don't fall and hurt me.



Please don't die...I don't know how to get into the freezer for the stash of marrow bones.


* * * *
UPDATE

Officially it's the plague, my test came back positive for strep which also explains the other aches and pains I've been having - so it's time to hit the gods of antibiotics.

Also: another day at home napping and knitting for me (wish I felt better to enjoy the time off more) and no SnB tomorrow evening (boo).