A bit better now..

So anyways..

(Hey...here's the shrug from a thrift store sweater that
was unraveled.
And no..I really dont appologise for anything.
I'm not neat, I'm not skinny, and I make stupid faces.
We'll all get over it.
Machine knit body and hand finished cuffs and ruffled edges.
The cuffs and edges are NOT recycled yarn...they are
Lion Brand Jiffy...erm..colorway is..el paso?)

In spite of being hit by the worst pain in my life on
Friday afternoon, it's been an nice weekend.

First of all, I have some lovely news.
I am the new editor for the Painting catagory at craftgossip.

I am being brief, tonight because I'm running
low on energy, and I want to make a new personal blog
that will help me to keep track of my projects.

I guess the "first of all" is going to be
the ONLY of all. I am really tired
and lacking focus right now.

Hmm..Bill just called and is telling me
almost all of the schools in the area
closed due to the extreme cold.

My weather thingy

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN
EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST TUESDAY.

SINGLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES WILL
COMBINE WITH WINDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH
TO PRODUCE DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND
CHILLS. WIND CHILL READINGS OF 15
TO 25 BELOW ZERO ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT
INTO MONDAY MORNING. WIND
CHILLS WILL STILL BE 10 TO 20 BELOW ZERO
MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH
TUESDAY MORNING.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN
A STRONG WIND WILL COMBINE
WITH COLD TEMPERATURES TO CREATE
DANGEROUSLY COLD CONDITIONS FOR
EXPOSED SKIN. THE WIND WILL MAKE IT
FEEL LIKE IT IS BETWEEN 10 AND
25 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. THOSE PLANNING
TO VENTURE OUTDOORS SHOULD
USE COMMON SENSE AND DRESS WARMLY
...MAKING SURE THAT ALL EXPOSED
SKIN IS COVERED.

Well...the girls have a different set up at school..no waiting for a bus.

Eh..I'm seriously sick of fighting with blogger for now.
Stupid italics.

 

PICS..for a change.

This is a painting which I thought was done..but
when I looked at the photo, I noticed that large
white splotch...which is far more noticable in
photos, than in real life. But online, it's photos
that count. So I need to fix that white splotch on
the leaf on the tree in the front. Painting is oil and
oil pastel on paper...and very darned big, for paper.




Then we have some yarn that I got from a
thrift store sweater. Bill and I are sharing it.
That's his swatch for the hat he is making for me.
I love my husband.





And while we are talking of spouses who make
hats...this is Bill's balaclava, which I made.
He got to test it out today..our first real snow this year.
He says it is almost TOO warm.
Yay.
Again..no pattern.





I also made myself a scarf and ...hmmm.it's kind
of like a hat with no top.
I didnt have enough yarn for a hat, but this
works very well. The yarn is a beautiful
wool/mohair/nylon mix...
I am VERY tempted to buy more.
Not appologising for the paint shirt, nor
for the blurry pic, nor for the mean face I'm making,
nor for being fat.

Also I am not appologising for the mess in the next photos.









This is large rug that I made from 6 smaller ones.
It goes in that room perfectly.( my family room)
Mom seems to think that we need doilies in
that very ...not-a-doily kind of room.
I have made a chair set that DOES match...
I just need to finish it up.
And yes..the wall not pictured is blue.
And yes..there is art all over it.

last time I'm going to try this...

 Some knitting...that Blogger doesn't want me to show.

OK...hat for my nephew( red)
Hat for his sister..modeled by my daughter ( blue and black stripes)
Mits for me

Red and Pink items are Paton's Classic Wool.
The blue, white and black hat which you can't really see is Lion Brand Magic Stripes.
It's a tasselded hat, and so cute that I wanted to keep it!
Since it was an easy machine knit( yes...you CAN use finer yarns on the USM...just be sure to keep those weights on the top edges...move them back up about everyother row.)..I'll make one for me.
Other hat and mits are handknit.
All made up as I went along.
Needle for red hat...mostly a size 5 Denise circular.
For the mits size 7 DPN's
and I think I used about 42 needles...and...hmmm...maybe 80 rows on the USM for the striped hat....I made a rectangle, folded it, used matress stitch to sew the sides.
Then I picked up stitches along the bottom edge for ribbing with a number 3 from the needlemaster set my sweet husband bought me.
After that, I made tassels, and sewed them on the top corners.

I get in these moods...

and it's better for me to just show a pic.

Scarf and hat.
Scarf is machine knit with hand finishing. 
Hat is handknit...mittens in the works.
Yeah, yeah
I showed these already...
but not totally finished and blocked.

The child wanted short fringe...just seems so wrong.
But...she is my first born.
 



First born and I also made soaps and bath bombs last week!
We put marbles in some....looks sort of weird, but feels
kind of fun
in the tub.



Blogger is pissing me off...everything is pissing me off.
Hence my reference to moods.
I know TV Land had better not have Star Trek on right now
after having it on at midnight last night.

I'm really just pissed at Bill.
Really pissed...cause..
I love him so much?

And he went ahead and risked his life driving out of
state in bad weather...well..it seemed alot worse
at the time..
when I asked him not to.
Asshole...making me worry
like that.
Not bad enough for him that I will
spend my old age alone...
he has to risk leaving me even earlier.
Shit...now I'm crying.
Gotta go....hate when I'm like this.

Hey..I'm also making the coolest ...maybe it's a shrug?
It's for me. It's gonna have lace ups here and there like a corset
does.
Not to worry...
I know what's a real corset.
I remember when Bill wanted to
buy me this dress..
sigh...
and I feel bad about yarn.
The dress was 500 dollars.
And we weren['t even engaged!
True...we've been together for YEARS...
and had been before we talked about
marriage.
Me: "I love you" Click. I then hung up on him.
Next day I call back.
Me: "Erm...hi.."
Bill: "Hi"
Me: "You still want to talk to me?" "Not scared off are you?"
Bill: "Huh?" "Are you kidding?!"
"You know I love you!"
Me:"Well....I didn't actually think you MEANT that!"
Bill: "I LOVE YOU!"
Me: " Me too"
Bill: "So...what do we do now?"
Me: " Do? We don't DO anything"
Bill: "Oh"

And then we said goodbye for that moment.
Phone goodbye, yanno.
I learned later, that the diamond I wear now had already long been purchased by that time...with hopes on his part, that one day...

Several years later...

Me:
( written)
I love you.
I don't want to live with you, but
I want to marry you.

Bill: ...alot of crying...and laughing...and
saying stuff about how he had always hoped..

The next month when the ring was ready...

by that point he already had it at the jewelers...the
stone that is..having the ring made...which took forever...
and ruined his little Christmas surprise of asking me first.

yes...

the next month..

he officially proposed.

We met like...back in 86?

We're lucky we lived long enough...geesh!

Unbelievable the things that man has rescued
me from..and put up with from me.

Drugs, affairs, smelling like a vets office,
bitchy moods, having not one..
but ..
two children with another man.
Disorganization, messiness, and mayhem..
my obsessions with knitting and art.
My tantrums.
Sigh...ok


he can go to West Virginia.

But TVLand better not fuck up tonight.
Star Trek and knitting is my sanity.

And Bill, ofcourse.

Oh...the dress reminded me of all that..
or I thought of the dress because of the shrug...
and it's corset like laces.

The dress was a corset dress...
I made one of my leaps in explaing all of that.

Comfort shawl...

 for Amber..Robin's daughter.



Garter stitch on needles too large for the yarn
to make a soft, floppy, warm...and quick fabric.
Crocheted shell stitch for an edging...which
looks pretty interesting in a boucle yarn...and fringe.
The fringe is a joke that Robin and I had...well...
part joke..part understanding.

kind of done

Donna's sweater.
I still need to put all the buttons, and weave in some ends.
But..it's kind of done.

Model( Donna)is home sick from school today.

Sweater is not intended to wear with PJ's.

My Mom is too much.
Seriously..I love my Mom, but...
Well..I could see myself doing the Mother Daughter version of that old blog "Why I hate my flat mate."
Or whatever it was called.

Food messes and filth are ok...but knitting being left around is shameful and slovenly.
She hopes for the day that I will stop painting, because she thinks it's too messy.
And has tried to get me to move my studio to the garage.
I reminded her that HER car is parked there.

I might also say that I own this house.
I support my Mother.
I buy the bananas and oranges whose peels she leaves around.
I buy the socks( and make!) that she uses to stop a bloody nose and then leaves laying here, there, and everywhere.
I buy the insulin syringes that she insists on never thowing out...much less never thowing out properly.
But this time took the cake.

I said something about needing to get back to work on Donna's sweater because sweaters dont knit themselves.
She says something about how she would have a whole bunch of sweaters if they did.
So I ask...
"Mom..would you like me to make you a sweater?"
She looks at Donna's bulky knit sweater with distaste and says.
"Oh..no...that's ok...I like my sweaters to be a little more refined."
WTF?

I reminded her that sweaters can be made in all sorts of ways and that this one is this way intentionally...but still..WTF?

Somehow though...just as boxed Mac and Cheese will always be superior in her mind over homemade, and canned soup so much better than my soup....
A machine made sweater from Wal-mart says love far better than one of my unrefined homemade ones.

And she sews....

Oh yes..her view on sewing verses knitting.
And my releuctance with sewing( ok...fear)

"Well..some people aren't meant to sew. It takes alot of presicion. Some people are just meant to knit..and you do that very well."

I will not call my Mom a bad name. I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.I will not call my Mom a bad name.

ok...done.

As for the sweater..I am especially pleased with the short row shaping done on the collar/back neck...I dont know what it would be called...it just seemed natural to do that. Gave it the baseball jacket look.
Also am pleased with the sleeves..knitted in the round, directly onto the sweater. And the heart...nice for no chart what so ever.
Entire sweater was a wing it project...no written pattern exists.




 

boo!

( ghost face painted by me)

Damn I'm tired. Sick kids, halloween, cupcakes made for my daughter's classroom party...that she was too ill to attend.
We pumped her up with meds so she could do a bit of trick or treating.
Maybe it was a poor parental decision, but it broke my heart to think that after marking each day off on the calender all month, talking non stop about how fun it would all be, how much she loves seeing and talking to all the neighbors( beggers night around here has a block party feel to it...it's fantastic.)I just couldn't stand to break HER heart.
She came up with the spooky princess idea all on her own...she elected not to bother with make up...a sensible choice.
Isn't she beautiful? When I look at that face, I see the whole world.


And her sister...the child so pretty that it makes me worry, wearing her poodle hat. I also knitted wrist bands and ankle bands so she would have a "poodle cut"


This is a better view of the hat.( edit...not so better..the pic was cut off, but you should be able to see it by scrolling down to an entry made last week, or just clicking the pic. I ofcourse would prefer you scroll down. ;) )


Anyways...in addition to that stuff, lots of work. Painting and knitting

I made something for myself! A pony tail hat!



I have never in 20 plus years made something for myself.
Then I fell in love with this yarn made by ...Red Heart.
It's called "Rag Doll". Described by them as roving wrapped in a fringed thread.
It is beautiful yarn but was oily and I had to wash it before I knit it so I didn't get hives.
After all that handling, I had to make something for myself. I caved over pretty colors.
Why is it a ponytail hat?
Because I made a hole in the back for my ponytail.
I was extremely pleased by that.

Other details...hmmm

my own pattern, colorway is "Wow", and I used 10 1/2 circular and DPN's.

And last but not least...a couple of painted pumkins!


Whew...alot of pics. Sorry if you are dial up.
Have a great day, night, stardate, whatever.

I said I would!

And look..I am.
This is a painting that I finally finished today...the recipient..if she sees this ever, will know how over due it is. I am sorry.
It's a Sphinx kitty. Acrylic on clipboard. ( yup..it's useful too!)

I am thinking to post about 3 paintings a week..both old and new. A gradual migration of the old art blog. A mix of painting and knitting..and other stuff..I NEED to do the "other"
It's killing me not to.
See..I also can embroider pretty well,applique, and also paint fabric.

Hey..it was free..

Mom gave me the ball of yarn from Joann's called "shaggy". I wasn't too crazy about it..still am not, but it was free yarn!
I made my daughter a scarf in 2 hours too!( first time I ever actually used those size 17 needles...it was weird.)The scarf is the last pic because I'm stupid...so there.
Also pictured is part of my other daughters costume...she's going to be a poodle.
Also a pic of another cat sweater...I won that yarn.10 balls of Phoenix by...ummm...I dont recall but at list price it was about 100.00 worth of yarn that I won! I combined it with knitpics palette to give more body to the fabric..

So..that completes our novelty yarn fashions for the family show.

In other news...I taught my husband to knit the other day.
In even more other news. I will be at Michaels tomorrow teaching people to knit for Warm Up America!

All my eggs..

hmmm...you know that old saying...

well..I have been putting all my data on one computer, out of the three that I have.
That computer has had it's wireless card go bad, and so it has been a challenge to post anything on the internet...nor have I been all that interested even.
I have decided that I would prefer to most of my free time knitting or painting.

I have loosened my self expectations when it comes to painting...and have been having fun as a result.

I proved that I really can paint half way ok...now I'm going to do what I want.

I have also been sketching and designing..and writing patterns.
Going to post pics...although at the moment none of it really looks like all that much.







ok..at the top is a very fitted leg warmer for my oldest daughter. I machine sewed this one with my machine's overlock stitch....they are going to have a button closure so that she can easily get them off when she arrives at school.
She prefers dresses...and detests tights...so, hopefully these will keep her warm.

Below that..the magic splotch socks are finally done...geesh.

Next is the start of Bill's balaclava....I do hope I know how to make a balaclava. That man would ask if I knew how to knit a pony and would I for him...and I would die trying.

Next...child sized hat thatI wasn't willing to wake a child to model..so...you get my big head modeling it.

And last...cuffs...
this will be the first pattern/tutorial on this blog....or possibly I will direct those interested to a page on my website.
They are for my long legged and quickly growing youngest daughter. A way to extend some perfectly good pants that I am not willing to give away just yet.

Most is knitted in various wools..the legwarmers are ...Red Heart...erm..light and something.
I LOVE this yarn.
It has such a beautiful color and feel.
The pic doesnt show it off well at all.
A medium rose roving type of yarn mixed with a delicate pearly pink.
It is light..and soft...and just really nice.
Plus it knits very fast!
This time of year..I am into fast.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some pics of the last two cats sweaters..totally different from the first two...drastically different, because of the yarn.
They are also the softest things I have ever felt.....sigh.

270..DONE!

I finally finished the 270!
I finished while Bill and I were away at the cabin for his birthday...it is proof that a large item can get done just a bit at a time.
Noone has ever knitted anything for him before. He was touched by the fact that I had done this for him.
Also, we had a little mini party last night so the girls could take part in celebrating his birthday.
I dont think he has had a party just for him since he was a kid.
It is something to see my 67 year old giant man near tears because...people cared..
I love him like a crazy woman..I would give him a party everyday if it wouldn't lose it's specialness to do so..but alas....the once a year aspect ..or in his case once every 60 years , is what makes it special.
You know? When we got to the cabin this weekend...that man had flowers and candy waiting for ME?
This is what kind of man I married.
I'm always trying to figure out how I got so lucky as to get someone like him.
And I thank God that in spite of his age, he is in wonderful health.( and he has the handsome to prove it! He is still as fine a man now as he was when he was 40. )
In fact he and I have discussed and planned for the fact that due to my health..I may possibly be the first to go.
I sometimes feel like that I am trying to cram as much into my life as possible...just in case.
I need to let common sense prevail and slow down...if I completely exhaust myself, I will go all the faster.
I have come to the point lately that I never stop..I go and go and work and work, until 3 or 4 in the morning. I dont go to bed..I pass out.


Ooo..I got some Lacette for a shawl..so I like cheap yarn..sue me. I have kids to feed.

I am beginning to wonder about all the yarns that I have encountered that give a larger needle size than you really would want to use with that yarn. Are they trying to make the yarn seems like an instant gratification yarn?
This yarn's ballband says to use a size three. The top of the swatch shown here is a size one.
The larger needle just made messy stitches, and giant holes. Ooops..I need to buy a size one straight needle....sigh..I went to Joanne's to buy a needle the other day and ended up spending 80 dollars ...Mom showed me were the clearance fabic is kept. Size two just doesn't get it with this yarn either..but it may have to..I already own some size two needles.

kitty sweater number two...done!

Here is the second kitty sweater.
I have to be brief here, have to be out the door very soon to take the girls to the Doc..Becca for a follow up on an ear infection..Donna for this dry cough that is persisting.

The color here is not accurate..no time to correct the photo today.

acid green teddy

My lid loves him..bought him with her allowance. Plus he was handy.

So, he had his great knitwear modeling career launched today.

I present to you..acidboy wearing ...a cat sweater.
This is the finished product from the last post.
It really is a shame that he is not posable on all fours...and that he is too small for the sweater.
Oh well..then he would want to keep it..and it isn't his..so there.

And on the bottom is the back to sweater number two...which is in the middle of being seamed. I needed to stop for a minute though. I may need to stop until tomorrow..I am passing a damn kidney stone...well..actually, I am TRYING to..and it just wants to stay put and be a ..pain. A screaming nasty pain.
Add that to the toothache that I have, and I needed some pain meds...
they are making me tired..
I doubt I could sleep much anyways..and I really do need to get this sent by tomorrow.

Look..I knit leaves!