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That about sums up my week. It started off beautifully, I sorted out my anti-social self and made it to the Williamsburg SnB group. It was an extra meeting, so there were only four other people there. (This was probably a good way for me to introduce myself. Social anxiety much?) It was a great time, and it was a good time for Sylvia and James too. I called home at a quarter till ten to warn him that I was going to have to stop for gas and then I'd be home. No answer. As this was the first time that James was alone with her at bedtime, I simply assumed he was too busy to answer the phone.
I got home to find the two of them zonked out on the couch, snoring contentedly.
So, coffee and socializing. Home to happily sleeping husband and child. Schweet.

And then this child:

(Thankfully she isn't as keen on picking her nose anymore. I had to force myself to stop laughing when she did it.)
She's morphed into a demon. Every night it's taken two hours or more to get her asleep. James is lucky if he gets home by seven. We're lucky if she's in bed by nine. James, even when he forces himself to stay awake, will be unconscious by ten thirty. Last night was the worst. And he's got duty Saturday and they're working through Sunday. Yah.

I have been threatening to sell her to a band of travelling gypsies. Now I'm thinking zombies.

Seriously though. I discovered THREE new teeth in her mouth today, so I think that teething+transitioning to the big girl bed=HELL ON EARTH. So tonite we're going to go out for a while and have a little fun. Pick up some dinner someplace and come home and play some video games.

And on the knit-front? Still in the ribbing on Thalia, the test knit. Nearing the end of the ribbing though, and I'm getting excited. And now, since this is prime holiday knitting season, it is time that I order my Ravelry queue. After I get it organized I'm going to order a little yarn. FOR A SPECIFIC PROJECT HAHAHA. I never do that, but I need to start. And now that the tiny tyrant is asleep I'm going to have my lunch and do some knitting.

Big doin's...

Well, not exactly.
I've been on Livejournal, in some form or another, since somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000. I've had tons of different accounts and usernames, some I only used for a month or two. The most recent account is one I've used since before James and I got married.
And it's done. I put up some contact information for anyone who was interested, and in a week I'll be deleting the account. I'm going to inhabit this space, Ravelry, and use Myspace and email to keep in touch with people. I have precious few free moments throughout the day and I want to devote them to what matters: creative outlets and GENUINE interactions. Letters and phonecalls and emails. On Lj, all I ever really did was read. And it was addictive. I could zone out reading my friendslist and not have any clue how I killed that much time.
So no more.
Anyway. Time for the fun stuff. :)
Knit Things:
Plugging away on Thalia. As an aspiring designer, it's genuinely educational to be involved with a project at this level. I'm finding myself going: "Oh, that's why!" as I'm working, and I'm taking mental notes. Example: It is so cool to me to watch the "pleating" effect take shape. I'm nearly done with the decrease rounds and it's super cool how the decrease rounds seem to serve the dual purpose of decreasing and making the "pleats" look a bit more organic. (Intentional or not, I think it's neat.)

The current state of things. I'm liking the yarn more as I go along, and I ADORE the color. It isn't anything I have in my wardrobe, and it's a welcome change.
I'm hoping to get a little more done on my Belle cardigan tonite, and then cast on a hat for Sylvia tomorrow. I've got some Paton's SWS that would look beyond adorable on her.
Tomorrow, after James gets home from duty, we're all taking a big batch of donations to the local DAV Thrift, and then we're going out shopping for replacements. Sylvia and James are just in need of regular seasonal replacements, mine was a dire situation.
How dire?
My husband went out and bought me a copy of Tim Gunn's "Guide to Style".

Yeah.

So I purged my closet and dresser. And I purged. And I purged. Four large garbage bags full of clothes and one full bag of shoes. I currently own four outfits and four pairs of shoes. I'm wearing James' clothes today because I'm having to do laundry so that I'll have clothing to shop in.
I'm really looking for basically EVERYTHING, but the main things I'll be looking for:
Dark wash, straight-leg jeans.
Pencil skirt.
A camisole or two.
Some non-ugly tees.
A trench coat.
A great pair of heels.

And my darling husband is nearly as excited about this as I am. I think I'm beyond due for an overhaul. I'm going in a completely different direction style-wise now. I was always kind of vintage-y, a little fussy. Now my intent is something a little sleeker and more modern. Clean lines, spare on the patterns, bold colors. Relying more on accessories than the clothes themselves.
Whoo. And now the tiny tyrant wakes.

Ha! Life, I sneer at your getting in the way of my knitting.

Well, I try to anyway. Still need to finish James' boot socks. Or he will cry.
Finally cast on for Thalia, my test-knit. I decided since I have so much on my plate right now and I am a notoriously slow knitter, to go ahead and do the alternative ribbing pattern. The slightly more casual look will suit my needs in the end more than the arrow rib, gorgeous as it may be.
So I'm in the thick of the ribbing. The pattern so far is pretty simple, I find myself liking the way it's written. Reads a little different than most commercial patterns I've used, but it's a very common-sense way of writing. Dig that.
The yarn? Picked the Hempathy and I'm not so sure what I think of it now. It knits up beautifully but it doesn't feel so nice as you're working with it. Kinda scratchy in places.
And the transfer news came in yesterday. Wasn't what we were hoping for. We were both pulling really hard for Washington, which would have put us right outside the Seattle area. Someone else got the position. Monday there will be new requesitions in, but we're not getting our hopes up. If nothing comes in worth sitting around another month to hear about, he's going to put in for the instructor position in upstate New York. Which would have us moving to upstate New York in December/January.
Sweaters. Hats. Mittens. Gloves. As soon as I have some free needles, it's time for some practical knitting.
Ugh. And with all the toy recalls, time for some toy knitting too. I'm queueing up all the toy patterns I can find on Ravelry. Any crochet ones will be sent to my mother along with yarn and stuffing. I'm done with worrying about lead painted toys. Seriously.

Goals:

I have a problem. I acquire materials with no specific purpose for them. I start projects and start projects and start projects. I lose tools and patterns. I am beyond unorganized. With the tax return this year I attempted to begin organizing myself because this is a true passion for me. I want to take this and make it into something that can work for me in terms of a career, one way or another. If we transfer to Washington I am enrolling in a Fiber Arts program. Whether I design, write, edit, or work at/own a shop...this is what I love. So it's time for some discipline.
I have an ever-growing queue on Ravelry. I buy a new pattern book or magazine at least once a month. It's bordering on compulsive.
Time to set some goals.
1. I want to finish James' boot socks by Monday, so he can wear them to duty.
2. I want to spend at least half an hour a day working on Thalia. I swatched today and got near-perfect gauge. I love the yarn and I think the color and pattern are going to look fabulous on me. I almost never knit anything for myself anymore and I deserve it.
3. Sylvia needs two warm hats by October. One pretty hat with some cables and one funny hat with earflaps, I think. And nubbins or horns. Something bizarre.
4. James deserves a sweater by our anniversary. So by January.
5. A fancy pair of socks for myself by November.
6. A doll and a stuffed animal for Sylvia by Christmas.
7. A worsted weight wrap/shawl for my mother by Valentine's Day.
8. One heavy sweater for each of us before the transfer. (next summer-ish)

I will be coming back and editing this post as I think of more things to add.

Oh blog, I have not forgotten you...

James had five straight days of leave from the Navy...and we didn't go anywhere. This marks the first leave period in nearly two years where we didn't drive at least 500 miles to visit someone.
And it was heavenly. I didn't accomplish much in the way of finishing projects. The Belle Cardigan is still as pictured in the last post, I've only finished one of James' birthday socks...
But who cares? We all had a great time. Sylvia hasn't spent that much time with her father since he got back from deployment several months ago. We spent a lot of time just hanging around the house in our pjs and having cocktails after we convinced Sylvia to go to sleep. (Which was more difficult than you might imagine. Sylvia wanted to stay up and party since Daddy was home!)
But there was some acquisition! After suggestions by people both on Ravelry and at Knitting Sisters, I went to Colonial Fiber Arts in Yorktown and...
Oooh. Just Oooh. I want a wheel.

some wool/mohair blend and swtc soysilk. So yummy.
Also on my plate, I'll be test-knitting a project from Ravelry. see it here: http://lystessa.blogspot.com/2007/08/thalia.html
Bought my yarn yesterday

Hempathy, in a lovely sunshine-y color. I was going to pick a tan color, but James snatched this up and begged me to make it in this color. I'm hoping to swatch during Sylvia's afternoon nap and to cast on after she goes to bed tonite. Cross your fingers for me, everyone.

And I just had to have another keychain when I saw this at Knitting Sisters. Whee.

belle cardigan

It's coming along insanely quickly. The body is done and on stitch holders, and I just finished the first sleeve. One more sleeve and then I can join it all together. But as my looooovely apartment complex still has not come by to fix the air conditioner and it's nearly three pm, I'm done working on it for today. I was sweating just knitting a sleeve, PITY ME AAAH. Ha. Anyway.
(It really is hot in here. 80+. I call Sylvia my "smelly melly belly with the belly made of jelly...and today she really is smelly. So am I. Eew.)

James (teh spouse) turns 25 next week, and I've been promising him a pair of handknit socks for eons. They have to be black so he can wear them in uniform, and worsted weight is preferable. I'd knit a single sock in Cascade 220, but never finished the pair. Now I'm realizing that gifting my super low maintenance husband with socks that he can't machine wash is probably a poor idea to say the least, so I'm going to cast on a pair in a cotton blend tonight. Hopefully I can finish them by the weekend so I can hide them in my bag and find a properly amusing package for them for his birthday party. :)

Oooh. Maintenance man is here. Maybe the child and I won't die.

I finally remembered my sign in info,

and as I really have little going on that really belongs in a locked livejournal, I plan on making more use of my knitting blog.
And capitalization. Maybe even punctuation, if the desire finds me.
So what am I working on currently?

I just finished the child's version of the ballet tee in Loop-d-Loop. Using up some of my reserves of Cotton Ease was a plus, and Sylvia looks nearly as darling in it as I'd hoped. She liked it so much she decided to only allow a clear photo of it to be taken while she examined the contents of her nostrils.

I'm also working on the Belle Cardigan from the most recent Interweave Knits. I've had Wenlan Chia's book for a while but I'd held off on knitting any of her stuff because it is all bulky/super bulky weight and I have what might be know as gazongas.
but i couldn't resist.
(Photo copyright Interweave Knits and all of that. Do I need to say that? I don't know. So I will.)
Adorable, huh? So I grabbed some camel colored wool from my stash and this is approximately where I am right now.

I'm actually to the ribbed waist area, but I haven't taken any new pictures yet. This thing is moving along so quickly I might frog another cardigan I'd started by the end of the week so I can make something from her book. My Belle cardigan is triple stranded Paton's Classic Merino. If I end up liking how I look in her designs I might try to buy some of her yarn, but I am genuinely cheap at heart and don't quite think I'll justify it to myself.

And the nose-picking princess calls to me, so I'm off.

two new little projects

a slightly lopsided mini-clutch. perfect size to stick a couple of the sachets from 'one skein' in and give to someone as a little present/stocking stuffer/"hey i made this, you better like it." sort of present. first time using multiple colors. yeah. first time. i was so scared of trying anything but a basic square/rectangle in one color before. never again!
ignore my goofy freckled face and join me in the pride with which it glows! my first hat. i was just sort of screwing around with a little bit of wool i had left over from a mass of scarves i'd knitted forever ago, trying to see if i could make a hat without a pattern.
of course i didn't have circs of any size, so i had to knit it flat and seam it up, which is why it's kind of boxy up top. it's obviously a little too small for me, but i'm getting the idea. if james and i don't get completely hosed at the auto shop today i'll be going out and grabbing some circs so i can start making proper hats. i've got enough wool right now to make one for james, one that fits me properly, and at least one for the baby. maybe the baby can have one with ears? yay.

So it begins!

the first two official FOs of my knitting blog:
a felted (maybe not felted enough, but hand-felting is a pain in the butt.) bowl from the "One Skein" book. Yarn is just some obnoxiously joyful neon pink Patons from Michael's. This is my first project ever knitted in the round! Verdict: probably would have been easier if i had actually had the circs it called for, but i'm glad i lost my fear of dpns.
And a delightfully decadent headband made from about half a skein (maybe a little less) of Noro. It just ties w/i-cord, but even that was a joy for me: My first i-cord! How on earth was I knitting such boring things for so long? I just can't fathom it.
Being a lazy, 37-week pregnant woman I'm planning on just knocking out a few more projects from "One Skein" before I start work on a big project. Soon though, I'm tackling my first sweater: a modification of the Fairly Easy Fair Isle from SnB Nation. For now though I think I'll just knock out a few more bowls, a pair of socks and maybe a little felted bag or two.