Patience is a Virtue

Which I do not possess.

In an earlier post, I talked about starting a baby blanket using Rowan cotton chenille and how I've found it to be hard going. After only a few more rows past what I showed in the picture, I am ready to throw in the towel. Really. I do not have the patience to keep fighting the cotton. It won. It will not be a baby blanket, stubborn thing.

Now I know that not everything in life is as easy as knitting with, say, Cashmerino. However. Why make life any more difficult than it already is? Does anyone think that Cashmerino is "too good" for a baby blanket? I have a huge stash of it which I thought would be another sweater but it's really too hot for that. Besides, I need to somehow use up my stash as much as possible before the baby comes - the room she will be in is currently my yarn room. *waahhh* (That's me crying)

Another yarn that I have totally lost patience for is Caron Fling. I bought this at AC Moore in North Carolina over the holidays. I liked the knitted sample scarf and thought I would make an everyday scarf for work. Fling is a "pigtail" chenille.

Pigtail. Chenille. What is wrong with those two words together?

You got it, it's even harder to work with than the Rowan CC! What was I thinking??

So at the moment I'm eyeing my current projects on the needles: a pair of socks using Cascade Fixation, a pair of socks using Trekking, and a baby poncho using Berroco Plush. The most instant gratification would be the poncho so I suppose I will work on that. It is my own pattern, a poncho done in the round. You'd think I would be more excited but the Plush was orginally slated for something else.

Now check this out. Is this a cute baby hat or what? I found this in one of the pregnancy magazines and the article actually says something like, "And if you ever wanted to learn how to knit now is a good excuse to try" and pointed to the free bunny beanie pattern. I wouldn't necessarily call this made for a beginner but it seems easy.

That's all the ranting and raving I have for Monday. (is it Monday? I really can't keep track anymore)

4 More Things

It's early Saturday morning and I have the very rare opportunity to spend some quiet time reading blogs. This is better than perusing the local newspaper in my mind, so peaceful and yet productive at the same time.

Cyndi tagged me with a meme that's easy and quick so here goes:

4 Jobs You've Had in Your Life
1. Software Product Manager
2. Performance Test Analyst
3. Oracle DBA
4. Movie theatre box office jockey

4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
1. The Terminator
2. The Matrix
3. Steel Magnolias
4. Sixteen Candles

4 Places You've Lived
1. Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2. Durham, North Carolina
3. Sacramento, California
4. Folsom, California

4 TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. CSI
2. Law and Order
3. Sportscenter
4. Seinfeld

4 Places You've Been on Vacation
1. Kaui, Hawaii
2. Nelson, New Zealand
3. Port Douglas, Australia
4. Paris, France

4 Websites You Visit Daily
1. CNN
2. Yahoo Mail
3. Bloglines
4. People

4 Of Your Favorite Foods
1. My mother's lumpia eggrolls
2. Prime rib
3. Cheesecake
4. Mashed Potatoes

4 Places You'd Rather Be Right Now
1. New Zealand on a white sandy beach
2. Maui on a white sandy beach
3. Las Vegas, baby!
4. Holed up in mountain cabin with a roaring fire and hot chocolate

I think everyone I know has already done this meme so I won't tag, but if you haven't done it yet please feel free to do so and let me know so I can bop over and read it.

New Start

My first finished object for 2006 is the Ruffle Scarf designed by Marty Miller for Interweave Knits Crochet in the 2005 special issue. This is the cover pattern. Details...

Yarn: Lion Brand Lion Wool, 100%wool

Color: Flower Pot

Hook: Crystalites, size J

Gauge: Huh?

Notes: Very easy, good for beginners. The pattern is just 4 rows of double crochet, increasing by doing 2 double crochets every other stitch for rows 2 - 4. I did 5 rows since the scarf was a bit skinny using this yarn. I'm very pleased with this early effort and it's something I can wear a lot since my wardrobe consists of many pink and lavender tops.

My next project reacquaints me with cotton. Since using wool for the past 3 scarf projects, I had blissfully forgotten how inflexible and unyielding cotton can be. Even worse when it's chenille and doubled up. This is the first baby knit - an easy striped garter blanket inspired by the Bulky Blanket in Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits. I'm using Rowan Cotton Chenille that I bought from Elann a few months ago. Basically it's just 8 rows of lavender, 6 rows green, 4 rows pink, 2 rows blue. Think I can handle that? You would be surprised these days *grin*. Pregnancy makes you quite forgetful and absent-minded. I'm all about easy knits now to prevent knitting funk. I think the absent-mindedness was a major reason for the funk; I couldn't concentrate and just made mistakes all over the place. Frustrating but I know better now. I hope.

This was a hard picture to take; I had to use the tub hence the blinding white background. I broke one of my rules and shot indoors in the evening. Bad, bad but I was impatient to upload a picture.

In other knitting happenings, I met up with Caitlyn, Ruth and Cyndi at Frog Pond Knits on Saturday. So fun to knit and chat with you all. Like I said to Caitlyn, I felt like I already knew her and Ruth, and Saturday was a reunion of sorts.

Congrats, you survived Monday. Have a good week!

Until the next day in the life....

The Bump

Look! I'm back!

Hey, I want to apologize from being away from blogland so long. I don't even know what everyone has been up to but I'll catch up. Now I'll try to be brief and not bore you with the minute details of my absence. Here are the top 10 highlights of the past several months:

#10 - I got a Palm TX handheld for Christmas, yay! More electronic gadgets - it stores my contacts, my calendar (from work), photos, music and even documents like, ahem, knitting patterns. Plus wi-fi and bluetooth to access the Internet when I'm on the road.

#9 - I bought a new digital SLR! It replaces the very nice Canon S2 IS which I sold. The SLR is the Minolta Maxxum 5D and fits lenses I already have. Pix in this post were taken with it, I'm still a newbie to this camera.

#8 - My orchids are blooming. Inside and out. Happiness.

#7 - Despite my knitting funk I've finished two pretty scarves:

My So Called Scarf using one skein of Manos which I gave to one of my mother's friends and the other is

a heather blue mohair lace scarf in which I used part of the pattern from the Not Knit Round Scarf in The Purl Stitch. The yarn is the discontinued "Imagine" from Lion Brand.

#6 - I'm teaching myself how to crochet! Again from Lion Brand, I'm using the new Lion Wool to see if I like it and well, I do.

This skinny scarf is the cover pattern from the latest Interweave Knits Crochet. The pattern is incredibly easy, just endless double crochet for several rows. I'll probably finish up with 5 rows.

Here's a close-up of the stitchery. I'm pleased because it didn't take me that long to pick up crochet once I spent a little time practicing. Crochet really is much easier than knitting so far.

#5 - Because I missed my 20th high school reunion, I was more than happy to meet up with some old friends from the Jordan High School class of 1985 over Christmas. Denny and Lisa, it was great to see you again!

#4 - Over the holidays I was also very shocked - in a good way - to discover that one of my oldest high school friends Kathleen got married last November and is expecting a baby this March! Wowwee!

#3 - My brother proposed to his girlfriend and she accepted. They are planning a San Francisco wedding over Memorial Day weekend. I must say, he picked a very nice girl to settle down with. And I will gain a terrific sister-in-law.

#2 - All right, all right...Karl and I decided we would get married too. This March.

And the #1 highlight of the past few months - we're going to have a baby! That's why I've been so distracted from this blog and from knitting in general. I'm essentially 5 months along and just started yet another blog, Babe in the Wool, as a journal of my pregnancy. I know, it's a cheesy title but my preferred title was taken. I didn't want to clog up this space with too much baby discussion unless we're talking knitted baby sweaters or something.

This is me as of today at 19 weeks, 4 days. You can hardly see the bump of my burgeoning belly but trust me, it's there. I also see I'm getting the dreaded fat face. Or maybe my hair is making it seem so.

There you have it. It's been quite a crazy fall and early winter. 2006 will be even more exciting.

Happy New Year to you!

Until the next day in the life...