Patchwork Girl's Rambling Warps

i've gotten a fair bit

i've gotten a fair bit done on my Smooch! tank yesterday, and have a photo to show for it... yes, the picture could be better, but I'm just not good at this or maybe it's the camera that's not good at this sort of thing...

I'm making an attempt to show the side section where I made a shorter zig-zag or chevron, whatever you want to call it, since I had an odd number of the zig-zags going around. I did a try on yesterday & it looks like it's going to work. I'm done with the section where I have to decrease & am now working on getting the piece to 17 cm long & then I'll do the increases. Once I reach the armholes, I'll separate the pieces. I don't think I'm going to do the v-neck quite as deep, I'll start them when I start the armholes... hey, it'll still be sexy!

Gary's been working nights again in the shop & since he has a couple of orders that NEED to be finished up, he's been working the weekend... I don't think it's fair to the kids, but hopefully he won't have to work EVERY weekend. I'd love to take them swimming but without another grown-up, it would be a pain to take Reuven along & I don't think the lifeguards & other pool staff would like me leaving Reueven in his stroller while I swim a few laps. It would even be a bit of a pain to take Harrison along since he still has not gotten the hang of how to SWIM, but maybe there'll be a couple of other kids who he can play with in the shallow end of the pool. I'd really like to hang out with the twins around the slide & diving board & get THEM to do a few laps themselves to practice some of what they're learning in their swimming lessons & so that they can build some endurance...

Hmmm, not sure I like

Hmmm, not sure I like this new blogspot posting format, but we'll see.. this may convince me to go ahead & move my blog to the tornadowood.com website! Gary's pretty busy in the shop trying to catch up since he had a stomach bug most of this week...

The other day, i decided to re-start Smooch! with fewer stitches & I'm almost ready to start doing the lace patterning..had to do a bit of math since the number of zig zags is an odd number, but I'm going to try doing a smaller zig zag at the sides: the side zig zag will have 5 or 6 stitches instead of 12...

Swimmng lessons are going well... I worked on Smooch! today & yesterday & on Tuesday, I did some work on the Cabin Fever tank... I think Gary will take the boys tomorrow since he has a couple of errands that he needs to do... it'll be nice to be able to just stay home!

Today's weather was drop-dead GORGEOUS.. it rained last night & with the rain came a cool front and took the humidity aWAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY... I should have spent more time outside, but had stuff to do inside... oh well. It's supposed to be nice the next few days anyway...

Oh yeah, I warped up

Oh yeah, I warped up my mesquite Little Stick loom with silk yarn... navy & natural... did the checkerboard lettering warp, only with 8 strands of yarn per section instead of 6... we'll see how it goes. Silk can be a bear to warp with: it kept wanting to tangle, so I had to go slow...also this stuff is on a huge cone & cones don't feed yarn very well. I don't dare put this stuff on a center pull ball for fear of MAJOR tangles...I figure I'll take the loom & my knitting to the boys' swimming lessons & work on whichever suits me at the moment. I want to warp my mini-Stick loom with the pebble weave warp & learn how to do it. I'll use cotton for that. That said, I may find that I love weaving & doing pickup with silk, we'll see...

The boys have all been

The boys have all been knitting...all 4 of them, in varying fashion: Micah's GOT it & made a square & is working on his second square to make a bean bag from Kids Knitting... Evan's still learning & is having trouble getting the knit stitch right & i just checked his latest row & he managed to do a twisted version of the purl stitch...that's an improvement over not getting the yarn through the loop at all... gotta try to work with him, but he's pretty impatient... Harrison likes to sit on my lap with both of us holding the needles. He's still pretty tense when holding the needles & we do the rhyme that goes "Under the fence, catch the sheep, back we come, off we leap" and he can almost do the whole thing himself... Reuven just likes to sit in my lap while I knit...just for a couple of minutes & then he's off.

I'm trying to figure out how to help Evan with his problem with the stitches... watching doesn't seem to help, nor does looking at the book. Funny how Micah got it right away (back when he was in first grade, he's almost in 3rd now), I barely had to show him & he was off knitting! Goes to show you how different twins can be...

still plugging away on Smooch! Last night, I worked on the Cabin Fever tank top to get the 2.5 mm needle back so that I could try casting on 180 stitches & see if that gives me a better fit for Smooch! I think I'll wait until I get all the lace patterning done on the blue-plum Smooch! before trying 180 stitches on another needle. I'm getting between 4.5 and 5 stitches to the inch with what I'm doing now & that's just a little bit larger than the extra large, SO we'll see how it goes... also, I need to find the green Cotton Fleece yarn... I only found one skein, so have to dig into the deep dark recesses of my closet to see if there are more skeins of green in there. I found the sage cotton fine yarn, and was almost thinking to trying a swatch of blue & sage to see how they look together... I almost have enough blue to make 2 tank tops, so may go that route, I don't know yet...

I got the 5th Harry Potter book yesterday & Gary snatched it as soon as I got home...I argued with him about it a bit but I figure that he's a fast reader, so I should have the book tonite or tomorrow.. he says it's the best HP book so far!

We all took the Sorting hat test on the Warner Brothers website & I landed in Hufflepuff, everyone else landed in Gryfinndor...

I'm almost up to the

I'm almost up to the 3rd section of lace patterning on the bottom band of Smooch! and it's going okay...I missed a yarn over in the first row of lace patterning & had to rip down (just that section, not the entire round of stitches!) to put in the yarn over...other than that, the knitting is going smoothly... When I transferred to the 4mm needles, I tried the piece on & it looks like it might actually be too big, but it's hard to tell... so what I might do, rather than rip is to just start another & make adjustments for gauge (I think I would use 180 stitches for the lace section instead of 192, maybe less, not sure yet) and aim for close to the same measurements for the extra large size in the pattern & work both tanks through the lace patterning & compare & then decide which one to work on & which to rip out for something else... I love the blue & plum yarns but will do the smaller test with green (worsted cotton fleece) and sage (cotton fine) (light green)

I'm getting somewhere between 4.5 and 5 stitches to the inch (need to knit a bit more before I know for sure...this is NOT a problem: when I knit, I usually do some arithmetic on the tightest & loosest gauge I'm likely to do & decide whether or not I can live with it or "should I do another swatch before the final cast on?" In this case as long as I don't knit LOOSER than 4.5, I'm happy... the pattern is for 4.25 stitches to the inch, but I think that would be too loose for the yarn I'm using...

There is a copy of the new Harry Potter book with my name on it at our local Wal-Mart... I'll be picking it up today... I MAY let Gary read it first so that I can work on Smooch! although once I get to the section where it's totally mindless knitting for a while, I may figure out a way to position the book & knit at the same time... I wonder if I can knit & read & nurse all at the same time? If I do, I'll get Gary to take a picture... if the bed is made...

Evan was reading Charlotte's web last night & showed me this & told me I should post it on here, so I am:

"What's miraculous about a spider's web?" said Mrs Arable. "I don't see why you say a web is a miracle--it's just a web."
"Ever try to spin one?" asked Dr Dorian.
Mrs. Arable shifted uneasily in her chair. "No," she replied. "But I can crochet a doily and I can knit a sock."
"Sure," said the doctor. "But somebody taught you, didn't they?"
"My mother taught me."
"Well, who taught a spider? A young spider knows how to spin a web without any instructions from anybody. Don't you regard that as a miracle?"

Last night I officially started

Last night I officially started knitting Smooch! It is all cast on & the picot edging is done... true to form, I have not taken any pictures yet, but I don't think they would come out very well, would probably just look like a squiggly mess on 29 inch needles...the larger needle is 32" so maybe I'll be able to photograph that... Is anyone irritated with me because I'm always talking about my projects & not showing them to y'all? It's not that I'm ashamed of my work, I just don't think the quality is that good with this particular camera... I may scan the swatch, though... if nothing else, so you can see the color...

About Smooch:

I've gotten to the point where I'm almost ready to start on the lace patterning & I made some adjustments to the pattern so far:

1: I'm working it in the round. I worked back & forth up to the end of the garter stitch patterning & then joined the round when it was time to start the stockinette patterning. Just a little bit to seam at the end...

2: the yarn I'm using (1 strand cotton fleece & 1 strand cotton fine) is a TINY bit smaller than the yarn called for in the pattern & this yarn looks good at 4-1/2 stitches to the inch...so I'll work it with this gauge with a few extra stitches.

To make the lace patterning work in the round, I made sure I had a multiple of 12 stitches cast on... I've got 192. I'm shooting for a 42" or 43" tank, which MAY be too loose or may be just right... I'll see if I can "try the round of stitches" on when I get to the point of switching from the size 3 needle to the 4mm ebony needle (halfway between size 5 and 6 US...) and still have the smaller needle so I'll have plenty of room to see how it seems... may not be able to tell for another couple of inches,t hough...

I have not decided what to do about the neckline or armholes... may do them as written or may adjust them some...

Swatching was fun for this: I cast on, tried the picot edging, that was fun to do... started with a size 4 needle but found that it looks better with a size 3 needle... then I tried the lace, that was fun... figured out that it's a 12 stitch repeat, so i cast on a few more stitches to test my theory of working the lace in the round...easy enough...

I'm also working on the Bucket of Chic hat, that's mostly a car project, but I needed to finish the brim so I could have the needle. I'll be using double pointed needles on the top of the hat...

I did a couple of things differently: I'm thinking i want a sun hat so I did a few (3 or 4) more rows of knitting than the pattern recommended for more brim overhang... and i kitchenered the ends together instead of using the recommended bind off... I'm at the point now where I need to bind off the brim & steam it (will use a sewn bind off: this is just about the ONLY sewing I like to do! Am I weird? I like kitchenering & sewing bind offs, but hate sewing seams....)...

I pick the Cabin Fever tank up every so often... I'll be glad when I'm done with the metal needle. I think next time I need to use a size 1 or 2 needle, I'll just use a bunch of double pointed Pony Pearl needles!

I may be moving my blog back to Tornadowood sometime in the next few days... I'll post the new link when it's ready & will make the appropriate changes on the blog rings...

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The computer resolution problem is

The computer resolution problem is solved...Gary fidgeted a bit with the computer's innards & it's fine now.

I did a little work on the Cabin Fever tank top & I'm happy with the way it's coming out... I'll try to post pictures, but it is a cream colored yarn so I'll have to play with different backgrounds...I don't know if I can get a good closeup of the edging (which actually is plain, but I'm happy with it)...

Also, the Rebecca magazine & Rowan All Seasons Cotton Collection booklet arrived yesterday... today I did some swatching for the Smooch! pattern & I'm having fun with it. I used a knit-on cast on & swatched the edging & the lace patterning & am trying to figure out how many stitches I'll need to do the bottom in the round... seems like the zig zag lace pattern is a 12 stitch repeat, so I'll need a multiple of 12 to be able to knit it in the round...I hope I don't get a jog, but if I do, it'll be on the side & how many people will scrutinize the side of a top??

The yarn I picked it's Brown Sheep Cotton Fleeece & Cotton Fine: 1 strand of each... that works out well for the gauge & I'm using prosperous plum (a reddish purple) for the CF fine & blue for the worsted...

There's a story behind the Cotton Fleece & Cotton Fine yarns: a few years ago, when the twins were little, I decided I wanted to make them Wonderful Wallaby hooded sweaters and I think I was starting on size 8 figuring that they run small & they'd take a bit of time to make... welll, I cast on for one in green worsted & light green fine & went on until it was time to start working the pocket... at that point, I found out that I managed to twist the stitches when I joined them... I never went back to working on the sweaters again... when I starting thinking about which yarn I wanted to use for Smooch, I wanted to try REAL hard to pick something from my stash... I stumbled across a skein or piece of Cotton Fleece yarn & remembered about the Wallaby sweaters... I decided i would try to find the purple... I found it right away...

Today I did some swatching & some figuring & I'll do a bit more figuring before I actually cast on & hopefully will be able to do so tomorrow...

The computer resolution problem is

The computer resolution problem is solved...Gary fidgeted a bit with the computer's innards & it's fine now.

I did a little work on the Cabin Fever tank top & I'm happy with the way it's coming out... I'll try to post pictures, but it is a cream colored yarn so I'll have to play with different backgrounds...I don't know if I can get a good closeup of the edging (which actually is plain, but I'm happy with it)...

Also, the Rebecca magazine & Rowan All Seasons Cotton Collection booklet arrived yesterday... today I did some swatching for the Smooch! pattern & I'm having fun with it. I used a knit-on cast on & swatched the edging & the lace patterning & am trying to figure out how many stitches I'll need to do the bottom in the round... seems like the zig zag lace pattern is a 12 stitch repeat, so I'll need a multiple of 12 to be able to knit it in the round...I hope I don't get a jog, but if I do, it'll be on the side & how many people will scrutinize the side of a top??

The yarn I picked it's Brown Sheep Cotton Fleeece & Cotton Fine: 1 strand of each... that works out well for the gauge & I'm using prosperous plum (a reddish purple) for the CF fine & blue for the worsted...

There's a story behind the Cotton Fleece & Cotton Fine yarns: a few years ago, when the twins were little, I decided I wanted to make them Wonderful Wallaby hooded sweaters and I think I was starting on size 8 figuring that they run small & they'd take a bit of time to make... welll, I cast on for one in green worsted & light green fine & went on until it was time to start working the pocket... at that point, I found out that I managed to twist the stitches when I joined them... I never went back to working on the sweaters again... when I starting thinking about which yarn I wanted to use for Smooch, I wanted to try REAL hard to pick something from my stash... I stumbled across a skein or piece of Cotton Fleece yarn & remembered about the Wallaby sweaters... I decided i would try to find the purple... I found it right away...

Today I did some swatching & some figuring & I'll do a bit more figuring before I actually cast on & hopefully will be able to do so tomorrow...

I learned a new variation

I learned a new variation of the long-tail cast on today! It's really cool... I emailed Deb, the designer for the Cabin Fever Tank Top & she said that she uses the long tail k2 p2 cast on that is in Elizabeth Zimmermann's book "Knitting Around"...it took several tries to get the hang of doing the purl long-tail, going back & forth between the written instructions & the illustrations & then finally something *clicked*! Even after that, I still had to refer to the instructions & then once I started casting on the 200-plus stitches for the tank top & by the time I was about a quarter of the way through casting on, I was able to do the purl long-tail without looking at the instructions. I've been doing the knit-long-tail cast on since I was a little girl, so am very comfortable with it..the purl long tail is the reverse of the knit long-tail, but has more steps & creates a purl bump & a nice edge at the bottom..

I would have tried to post photos earlier, but a couple of days ago, I made a big mistake: I was viewing the Pixie Punk web page that some of you have been visiting & I decided to see if I could see the whole screen if I changed my monitor resolution settings... first the screen went blank...then I rebooted in "safe mode" and reset the screen resolution... but now I can't seem to get 600x800 (which is what my monitor is capable of), and am stuck at 640x480...so everyone's photos look cartoonized to me... I tried going through the settings (including the advanced settings) and I'm just plain stuck at 640x480... makes me wonder if I somehow managed to do some hardware damage. This is an old OLD system (an early Pentium clone... AMD-k5)... If my brother doesn't have a solution, I'll give the computer shop a holler...

Anyway, posting photos is on hold for now until I can see what I'm doing on the computer... sorry about that, hope y'all don't find my blog TOO boring with the small number of pictures.

I ordered Rebecca #23 & the All Seasons Cotton Collection pattern booklet from my not-so-local yarn shop (1-1/2 hours away) and will probably make Smooch... I may have to adapt the pattern a bit since I'm a little large up top. Even after nursing 4 kids for over 8 years, I'm still not used to thinking of myself as large breasted, especially since I was on the small side up until my mid-20s!

Monday evening is the Weight Watchers meeting... I started doing some upper body weight training yesterday & had to stop because my elbows were hurting...this will pass once I get more used to it... I need to find some other types of exercises that might be fun...weight training is fun for me once I'm conditioned to it...

Yesterday was my baby's birthday...he's

Yesterday was my baby's birthday...he's 2 & proud of it! Every time you mention it, he makes a proud face, but he won't admit it out loud...

I have a little bit of a dilemma... I want to knit a tank top, but I keep thinking that I shouldn't be knitting for myself now, unless it's something that's more flexible size wise... I wouldn't be surprised if I don't lose much inch-wise up top until I stop nursing... and I don't remember what size I was wearing when the twins were little, I think I still wore large & extra large tops since they drape nicely for nursing... SO if I make a tank top using the 48 inch measurement in 100% cotton yarn, cotton shrinks, so maybe if I wash it in hot water once I need a smaller size, it should still be okay? Besides, the Cabin Fever Tank Top isn't a tight fitting tank so the size may be more flexible...

My other dilemma is that I can NOT decide which cast on to use. I decided against using the cast on which would have me use a crochet chain because even with size 2.5mm (1-1/4 US approx) needles, the edge looks kind of loose... I kind of want an edge that matches the knit 3 purl 1 ribbing...I may use a cable cast on, but it seems too stringy...and I don't like the chainy look of the long tail cast on.. picky picky! Maybe I'll come up with a decision about this later..

I may hold off on making any of the other tanks until I'm ready to start knitting for next summer & it's not like I don't have others I can knit for...I can work on the boys' magic carpet vests (and maybe Elephant vests if I can find someone to split some JaggerSpun 2/8 Maine Line cones with for this project so I'd get to keep enough to make 1 or 2 Elephant vests)...or Gary's Tattoo sweater, except I still need one more color & need to go through the colors i have to verify that I'm happy with all of them & also do one more swatch (I've already swatched the skull part) and wash both swatches...

SO what to do what to do... I guess I'll try casting on for the Cabin Fever tank again today & see how it goes... I'm going to be working the pattern circularly up to the arm holes...

It's been cloudy, so no photos...maybe today, the sun is being indecisive!

Tiffany of the iamaprincessdamnit blog

Tiffany of the iamaprincessdamnit blog made me this cool button:

Now I need to figure out how to do a favorite blog list & collect & set up a bunch of buttons. I may wait until I move the blog back on tornadowood.com, though...

Today & yesterday were wonderful mail days: yesterday, 2 magazines I had been waiting for came in the mail, along with a pattern from White Lies Designs for Nicole, one of the lingerie designs. I still need to get yarn for this pattern, but that will have to wait until a few more sales come in, and a few more bills need to be paid as well.

The 2 magazines were the Fall 2000 & the winter 1999-2000 issues of Interweave knits...

Today's mail brought 2 books: J.N. LIles' "The Art & Craft of Natural Dyeing: Traditional Recipes for Modern Use" & an old cookbook that I used to have that literally fell apart called "Good Cheap Food" by Miriam Ungerer..I got these two used from Lamira Books, through abebooks.com & I probably found the books on www.bookfinder.com Micah promptly went through the cookbook & picked out a recipe for lunch & is making it right now! it's called macaroni & tuna salad, but we're out of tuna, so he's using oysters instead... got the oysters from Dollar General for $1 or $1.50, so much for "cheap" food! (He's kitchen boy until Thursday, and then Evan takes over in the kitchen...usually we switch a week at a time, but a week during the summer seemed like a long time, so we decided to go 3 days at a time instead.)

I also received a box containing some Bernat White Buffalo unspun wool yarn for a customer, and in the box was a pair of size 4 bamboo knitting needles that will fill the hole in my bamboo circular needle supply and I'll use them to make the Cabin Fever tank top... I still have not decided if i will dye that yarn indigo or leave it in it's natural cream color... at this point, I'm anxious to start knitting, so if I dye the yarn at all, I'll dye it after the tank is knitted up! I don't know if I'll be able to wear the tank this year or not... I've probably lost 10 pounds so far, but would want to lose at least another 20 or 30 pounds before wearing tank tops in public again...

The Herrschners catalog was in the mail as well...

I finished the main knitting

I finished the main knitting on Sanquar this evening & did a 3 needle bind off on the shoulders...now all I need to do is the edges & armholes, wash/block & wait for cooler weather...The pattern doesn't have any buttonholes but I may put some in anyway, I haven't decided yet. I'll probably take & post photos this week.

I've been looking through my patterns & am trying to work out how I might alter a vest pattern (like SpinCraft's "Color & Cable Vest" so that it could be a tank top...I'd just have to figure out how to adjust the armholes so that they're not quite as open... I'm trying to decide which yarn I would use for this particular project if I decide to start it... I'm mainly waiting for my size 4 knitting needles so that I can get started on the Cabin Fever tank top with the soft off-white colored yarn.

I did a bit of swatching last night for the Magic Carpet pattern & it went okay... I was trying to swatch some of the lower half of the pattern, but I think I need to rip out the part of the lower band with the ovals in different colors & swatch one of the figures in the sweater, wash the swatch & then determine whether or not I want to knit that pattern at all... I may decide to just wait until I can buy some yarn to do the elephant vests or/and make an Aran vest for the kids... intarsia is clearly not something that can be done mindlessly, but it can have a rhythm, but following charts is something I need to get used to...

I'd also like to try an Aran & I've already done a fair bit of work on Medrith Glover's Bite at a Time Aran vest & need to finish that some day... I think I'd like to try the SpinCraft aran cardigan first...but I haven't decided which yarn to use for it. I eventually want to do something awesome like St Brigid, but I want to try another Aran pattern first.

Well, Sanquar is coming to

Well, Sanquar is coming to the finish line & I have a few more rows before starting on the finishing edges & will do 3 needle bind off on the shoulders. I haven't decided if I'm going to use i-cord or the edging in the pattern: I'll try a couple of inches of both & then I'll decide.
I'm having a little bit of trouble getting the edges of the fronts to match, but the problem is that when I started working on the right front (which is done), I wasn't using my tick mark system to keep track of the decreases & may have messed a couple of them up & I'm sort of trying to get the left front (which has the decreases done evenly, thanks to the tick mark system) to match the right front... I don't think I want to rip out the right front & redo it, but there's a small chance that I may do that...unlikely since the edges look pretty good anyway & the edging may cover it up anyway...

I found out what the light purple yarn is: it's Brunswick Comfy, 99% cotton, 1% lycra (the 1% of lycra makes it very springy!), 255 yards to 100 grams... it's nice to know the yardage so I'll know if I absolutely HAVE to find the rest of the yarn to start (or finish) the tank I want to make with it or not...I think I either want to make a tank from Rebecca #23 or I may do a cabled pattern...when I swatched the purple, I found that it looks nice with the ribbing I tried, will have to swatch a cable before proceeding...

I also swatched the off-white cotton yarn on a cone & decided it looks nice as a 3 strand yarn on size 4 needles.. it looked tight on 3, okay on 5, so I just have to wait until my size 4 needle arrives...and in the meantime, I may dye this yarn with indigo, just need to locate some washing soda..need to check the supermarkets, but Walmart did not have it, nor did Sack & Save, need to check the others... then I think I have everything...not sure if I'll use the method of dyeing that requires urine or not...that takes too long, so unless I hear from others as to whether or not indigo comes out nicer or is more washfast when urine or urea is used, I'll probably go with the other method...

The boys want to pick some blackberries across the road, so I'll finish up here...

I'm still trying to decide

I'm still trying to decide on a yarn for my tank top & found a couple of cones of yarn in the barn yesterday that I could combine strands for a tank...one is called Monte Carlo, but I think it was meant to be a tapestry warp yarn & the other is a nice soft cotton yarn, no idea where I got it from, but it's nice... will swatch it & wash it & see... I want a nice even yarn for this tank top and would rather "shop the stash" than to buy something...
It's a white/natural, so I'd want to dye the yarn & probably would use the indigo powder for it. My question is how nice will it look after knitting & washing..

I definitely want to use the Monte Cristo to make a tank top, but want to make one tank first & get an idea of size & shaping OR may pick up another pattern, possibly from Rebecca 23... meanwhile, I'm going to swatch the soft cotton yarn that I have...

So far I have 3 or 4 yarns that I want to make a tank with, this list is NOT in order of preference at all:

natural & khaki cotton that I'm using for the Bucket of Chick hat, IF I have enough yarn...
Monte Cristo
soft cotton, which will be multi stranded & dyed...
I also have a cone of white softball (worsted weight) but that might be too heavy...
I also have 2 or 3 skeins of a light purple, might be worsted weight or heavy DK, it's about 98 or 98 percent cotton, the rest spandex, I want to say it's a brunswick or patons yarn...

With all this yarn, why go shopping??? I did see a nice ribbon yarn that I may get, but I dunno...

SO, today I will swatch swatch swatch & see what I want to work with first... I hope the light purple will knit up nicely at a DK gauge & will do ribbing...OR I may save that for the Rebecca pattern...

Did a few rows on Sanquar last night... I hope to get the left front finished soon, maybe the end of this week? I think there may be a hockey game on TV tonite.. I'd really like to see the NJ Devils win since I'm not at ALL pleased with the Mighty Ducks, especially after NOT playing the national anthem when they played the Dallas Stars because it had the word "Stars" in the song... The series is tied 2-2 so we'll see what happens!

Last night, one of our cats was being a pain, so I'm still tired & looking forward to Reuven's naptime...

Well I swatched & swatched

Well I swatched & swatched & finally came to the conclusion that the Monte Cristo yarn does NOT look good with a knit 3 purl 1 ribbing because it is not an even yarn. It looks much nicer knit plain. I'm not sure if I'm going to use it with the Cabin Fever pattern, will find or come up with a pattern for a shell or tank top that is knit plain JUST for this yarn. I tried swatching 3 strands of the natural/khaki yarn that I'm using for the bucket hat as well & it doesn't look good with the ribbing pattern either, SO I will order some solid colored cotton yarn that hopefully will look nice with this pattern...will swatch some cotton yarn I have on hand but won't use it since it is known to pill badly. Anyone have a suggestion for a plain even DK cotton yarn? I'll give Personal Threads a call later & ask them about a yarn that I have been eyeing (but could not find any photos of on the internet)...

The older 3 boys have been fighting a fair bit the last few days.. I guess they miss school. Once we figure out what to do about swimmng lessons, that will give us something to look forward to. I want to take Reuven for one IPAP (infant preschool aquatics program) class & the older 3 for 1 or 2 sessions. Harrison will only get to do 1 session unless he's ready to pass level 1. He wasn't last year...Evan is in level 2 & Micah in level 3...I'm debating whether or not I should put Evan in level 2 & then hopefully he & Micah will be able to do level 3 together (the schedule may be better for doing it this way anyway, not sure yet), but Gary thinks that Micah should be allowed to be ahead of Evan...again, the schedule will have to rule here since I really don't want to spend more than an hour a day at the pool while the kids are doing swimming lessons. I may change my mind here, but will change it back in a hurry if the kids are obnoxious when it's not time for their lesson. There is a playground near the pool, but it's not close enough so that I could keep an eye on both the swimmer & player... I enjoy watching the kids learn to swim!

I didn't get to work on Sanquar last night, but will tonite during Gilmore Girls. I didn't get home in time after the Weight Watchers meeting & shopping to see any of my Monday night shows, but they are all repeats that I think I've seen, plus I think I can see the Everwood repeat on Sunday. I've lost 9.5 pounds so far & I'm hoping to be back to my goal weight this winter.

I swatched the Cabin Fever

I swatched the Cabin Fever tank & got down to size 5 needles & feel that the fabric is still too flimsy... I don't have any size 4 (3.25mm) needles on hand, so need to order one... no problem with that..though I really need to wash the swatch before deciding anything... I can knit the bottom section in the round..Deb (the designer of the pattern) emailed me back & said she just knitted a sample in the round & she said that the main reason for knitting it in pieces is portability... I'd rather knit in the round! So be it.

I've been working on a bucket hat from chicknits since I need a hat to wear outside..it's going quickly & I think I have about 2/3rds of the main body of the hat done & I'll start the brim next... I'm using a natural colored cotton yarn that I had a cone of... it's very light (about 1400 ypp) and I wound up 4 balls on the ball winder, counted about 400 winds per ball & then grabbed 4 strands & wound up one ball... still have a fair bit left from the other balls & may even have enough to join 3 strands of yarn to make a tank top with, but I'm still planning on making a tank with the Monte Cristo (not Crisco!) yarn... the color of the natural yarn is natural & khaki, so it'll be a nice looking hat...I didn't like how it was coming out with 3 strands so I decided to go with 4...but who knows what'll happen after steaming or washing, but if it gets even tighter/thicker, that's fine!

I'll be working on Sanquar tonite...and tomorrow evening...