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.

Test knitters for super cool project?

I am going to need about three to four 
test knitters.
Requirements being that you are
 very comfortable 
with cabling, 
and that you are willing to work for free...
It would also be an enormous help if you are able
to read charts.
The finished instructions will probably be
for sale, so
your discretion about the project would be much
appreciated.

Email me at rebecca.lopez@gmail.com

By the way...this will not be the last project
where I will need
test knitters. You will get a free project out
of the deal each
time, and the satisfaction of
being my source of double and triple checking....and hopefully 
adding some inNovative
 things to the knitting world.

Where's the knitting bitch?

"excellent comment! if i could express myself
that well
verbally, i'd talk a lot more."

The response to a comment I made 
on a peice of artwork titled "depression".
The comment doesn't matter..I am not 
one to regal you with puffed up stories of my 
prowess in any depatment..but especially verbal 
expression.

When it comes to figuring out what to say, I hurt deep
in my head and sweat in my heart.
I am pretty sure I'm getting it wrong, and will
probably alienate someone...

well...best I just stick with alienating myself.

One thing is certain; I now understand why it is said
that depression is anger turned inward.

I am angry.

Very, very angry...about so many things.

But alas...gratitude is my salvation and my grace.
I have far more to be grateful for than to be angry about.

I shall write this 100 times...

hmm..maybe I could convince Bill to work it into
a naughty professor/student scenario?

Bill could easily teach salvation and grace 101.
Odd though that he found both in the love of
a broken soul....


as for knitting...hmm...ofcourse.
I knit all the time. But I don't have alot for show.
I should show you Bill's 2x2 ribbing...
now that's a man that can rib!
And I give credit where it's due...even if the student
does surpass the teacher..
He can weave in ends and do duplicate stitch like
nothing I have ever seen.
WAY better than I do 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.

trees?

I get freakin' weird ideas sometimes.

I wanna make big white papier mache trees.
Ones with no leaves.

I wouldn't mind making them water proof 
and putting glitter on them, etc..and decorating
 them with snow flakes and using them in the
 front yard.

I am a bad girl..I not only bought more yarn. But I also
bought the entire first season of Star Trek Deep Space 9
...for over 50 bucks.
I shouldn't have...
my Mom might need that 50 dollars for a bounced
check or something..or just because she "feels restless"
Which basically means "give me money or I'll sit here and
tell you how depressed I am... capped off with how everyone
abuses me."


No really..I love my Mom.

I do wish she didn't eat 4 times more than
anyone else in the family.

I knitted for Christmas.
I also left my camera batteries and
charger at my sister's house.

In addition to finishing the other mitten for Becca,
I started a pair of cabled fingerless mitts for me.
They're pink!
I'm not using a pattern.
I think I have actually used a pattern...
hmmm
I made "nautie"
That's one reason I don't slam out FO's like other people.
Most things I have a formula for..and they go quick enough.
Other things...alot of swatching. Alot of trial and error.
AFTER alot of sketching.
But the fingerless gloves...that's easy.
I just picked up my tools and let 'er rip.

Yanno....I see all the time on Amazon and
other places where books are reviewed...under
the knitting catagory...
the reviewers feel the need to say.
"This is not a book for beginners." ,
quite often.
It sounds to me like they are saying.
"I know this fact because I myself am an expert."
and
"As an expert I can and will say what books
are suitable for beginners."

I would love to think it's just a case of an
experienced one wanting to steer the innocent
newbie away from the perils of intermediate
writings.
But...
there is rarely a reference to a book that IS good for a
beginner.
And there is generally reference to all that they can do in
one form or another


Now..if that doesn't make you angry...

What is it with yarn snobs!?
What really cracks me up...acrylics that
are acceptable if they are put out by some
"fashionable" company.
What also cracks me up are "fashionable" yarns
that are pure crap!
No..I'm not the world's biggest fan of Red Heart Super Saver.
But...acrylic in general, has it's place.
And people who knit with it...and who knit with Lion's Brand, Red Heart, Paton's, Caron's....STOP LETTING YARN SNOBS MAKE YOU FEEL YOU SHOULD APPOLOGISE!



 

Well..mittens ofcourse.

So..What do you do when you make a hat and
 a scarf that match?
Yes..you make mittens.
Since this daughter will stick her
 hand in damn near anything, 
especially if it's cold and wet....
I decided felting was in order.


Conversation with daughter numbers
 one and two just now.
It begins with yelling and crying.

Becca: I'm sorry! blughber, hoody, 
booboo...ACCIDENT!
Me: Huh
Becca: Accident, garbledty, mishy-mash,
 foozle..I said ACCIDENT!
Me: Please state the nature of the 
medical emergency 
Becca: I don't know!
Crying has long since stopped...that
was Donna
doing the crying by the way.
Me: Donna...are you still alive?
Donna: No
Me: ok, then.

Children are indeed like tiny drunks.

Interesting how my Mom always
is saying things like

"If you want to buy me a gift..." And then
points out some expensive item.

Or.."I see something I like"

Thing is..I don't know why she
is always assuming
that I'm trying to find her a gift.
Or that I'm scouring the universe
for something she likes.

My feline is being an ass..
plus I have a cold and
a nasty kidney infection/stone

so..I'm going now.

I actually have alot more pics.

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.

cute intarsia!

http://www.swakknit.com/

This place has some awesome patterns ...You just have to see for yourself. I am inspired.

Well...he'll kill me, but I am going to show off Bill's first knitting. I'm so proud!



And next we have his guage swatch for his first real project...a dishcloth...well..we decided that the swatch is also a project...a coaster ofcourse.
Even though it's just a dishcloth, I am having him approach it like it was a sweater. Planning, swatching, following a pattern that I am writing for him based on his guage. The dishcloth will teach him how to follow a knitting pattern, as well as how to follow written instructions for a stitch pattern...and how to manually do it...getting used to the switches of the yarn from front to back.
That was why I had him do those few squares on his first swatch.
I have to say his speed has increased dramatically...as well as how long he can knit at a session, before being mentally worn out.

Anyways...the guage swatch! Not too bad for cotton, and being a beginner.


And now show and tell for me.

On the USM...this was the first thing I made...basically it is a rectangle..I made it into a bag to hold Bill's juggling balls.



Next..I made Becca a scarf to match the hat that I made her...hat is handmade, and took two days...plus finishing.
Scarf...took two hours....still needs hand finishing.
Not to brag...but the hat actually has nicer, more even stitching than the scarf...hmmm...



Well..I have other pics...but they can wait.
I am going to change the main blog pic...
it has nothing to do with knitting, I just like it.
It's my bedroom window.

I wanted to love it...

 And I did!
I did!

I love it!

See post below...

Anyways..weird..I kept having the carriage jam.
I would knit a row...a row and a half..and bam..
everything would just stop.
Then I felt my hand relax when for some
reason my mind wandered...and the carriage
...which was getting ready to jam...whized
through the row.

Seems the trick to this thing is to relax.

I made a 12 by 13 square in no time..(an entire
ball of dishcloth cotton.)
after I had figured it out.
It took a couple of hours to figure it out.

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.

Knitting through

My cousin left behind a husband, 4 brothers, 
many cousins,
 a Mother...and three children. The boys are
18 and 20...her daughter is 14.
She is very lost right now...never again will
she feel her Mother's embrace.
The shawl I am knitting for her is a poor substitute..
but it's all I have.
Some of the shock has worn off..
there is still disbelief over the event...
but I do indeed accept it as real.
Very real, and very tragic.
I can't seem to stop the outbursts of tears,
just out of the blue, they begin.
Beautiful Robin Gail is...gone...gone by her own hand.

 

"I'll stick to my knitting."

That was the second part of Bill's statement, 
reflecting his opinion of crochet.
I thought that learning crochet would help him a
bit with the issue he is having in holding the working yarn.
I guess, it's my issue. His tension is fine...he just goes so slow
and looks so uncomfortable, with the needles anchored on his leg,
pointing to the sky...and his deliberate wind of the yarn when he
is making a stitch.

The first part of his statement about crochet...

"I HATE crochet"

I have never heard him say he hates anything
except for when people call him, "Will", "Willie", or "Billy" .

oo...and he "HATES" brussel sprouts...but who doesn't?

By the way...an interesting tidbit for the argument over knitting being art or not...and yes..I have had it more than once, with more than one person.
I was looking at Grove Art Online today...accessed through my local library's website. Here is how they describe themselves.

"Grove Art Online comprises the full text of The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner (1996, 34 vols) and The Oxford Companion to Western Art, edited by Hugh Brigstocke (2001)."

There is an entry for knitting..an entire page in fact. If the DICTIONARY of ART, defines knitting as art...then..well...so THERE!

What's with me lately..

I am not the best knitter in the world...but
 lately my work has been really loose and sloppy.
That ribbing is a disgrace...and ...bleh...the whole thing
looks like crap.
I think I will frog it and go down a size or two in needles.
The wool is sooo pretty.
Look at that color!
It is kind of  overly crisp in hand and not very soft...
and the store had one ball.
So I thought it would be great for mittens for Donna.
It doesn't look it, but that's a really tiny mitten.
She almost never can wear store bought ones,
since her hands so so small.
I knit for about a size 3 year old...tried it on her
while she was napping.
One thing I can say....the mitten fits perfectly.





Um..I painted some...



 

Yay...she liked them!

Well....the owner Purrpower on Craftster liked them...
kitty looks like she wishes someone would please
put the lid on the box.


It doesn'y really appear that the other sweater wearers
are any happier but owner is.

More detailed pics below




They DO however like the catnip toys...as Darlene aka "Puurpower" said...maybe a bit too much. ;)


Also well recieved was the clipboard...she said the painting looks like one of her kitties named Appolo.





I'm so happy she likes them. I can be so slow about things...but
I have to take care of the kids first...
and with all the illness, etc...well...plus it's winter knitting time for the family...so...yeah...slow..
I hate it, but try to make up for it by doing as good a job as possible...
She was very sweet and said only two sweaters would be fine..
but she has 4 cats. So..I wanted to make 4 sweaters.
We agreed on 2 for the swap..and two more to follow.
I had about every kind of problem possible at swap time, and
was lucky to be able to send the two sweaters as well as some
mini kitties.
I wanted to be sure to make up for that!
I make up for things by painting...I'm weird, I guess.

Well..it's Saturday....but I posted on Sunday.

I dont have much to do, yanno?
So, I thought I would write another 
facinating blog entry.
I found some 3mm DPN's.
What's with calling both 3mm and
 3.25 mm needles size three?
Frugal knitter call em size 2 1/2.
That just makes alot more sense to me.
Anyways, they are only $ 6.50! 
AND they are 10 inches!
I really was wanting some longer
DPN's.
Since I use size 3 the most...well..
I have wanted to use size 2 1/2...
but all I can find is size 3.25 mm...
anyways..I am going to get those
2 1/2 needles and now use those for most of my socks.

I have the flu...am I making ANY sense at all?

I think I'll save this as a draft
go do the SuperGirl chart for my
oldest girl's pink and white sweater.

SUNDAY

DAMN IT! I did all this work on finishing this post
..and Blogger couldn't complete my request...
and it's gone!


ok...
I have something to add anyways.
I could pretend I had added it..
you wouldn't know the difference.
But I'm honest.

I found some size 2.5 DPN's at Joann's!
They are plastic....my least fav material ...
(inspite of my beloved Denise set.)
And they are only 8 inches...but that's still a bit longer
...and I think it'll help when I'm doing hats.
I got a pair in size 13 also.
I am aquiring quite the needle collection..
as in I have the Denise set
AND I have a two needlecases full.
That makes me sooooo happy.


( Actually...pitured here..it doesn't look all
that impressive! Oh well..I have a few circs too? )

I wish I had a set of bamboo interchangables.
That would be...well...
The thought is making me all hot and bothered.
I wonder if I could call up my hubby and have him
talk some knitting with me...

( He has been sick all week...I haven't had any action.
So forgive me, ok? And anyways...isn't he cute?
He says I made him better looking than he really is...not true.)


Now onto Supergirl.
I use www.microrevolt.org/knitPro/
to make my charts.
I do ALOT ( often HOURS worth of 
work prior to the
 initial chart being made) to them
after, because they have
so many color variences.
But I still give credit.
I am NOT going to use 58 colors in achart...thanks.
Sorry..can't share the chart for this one...copyright issues.
But here is what I will knit for my daughter's sweater.
The yarn is more baby/bubblegum
pink than here...but Photoshop wasn't cooperating.



Wow..it posted this time..in spite of
getting the same error message.
Lets hope the link I made works too.

Look Ma...no flap!

I did indeed use my hands...and Mom doesn't care.
But I couldn't think of a better title.

A short row heel...

Why doesn't everyone do this?
It's way nicer!
Perhaps like me, they thought it was something really
difficult.

By the way, my answer to the holes...
cause the wrapping just so doesn't prevent them
...unless.. 

yes...there is an "unless"...

You have to pull the holy heck out of them as you knit the next stitch after the wrap.
I mean PUUUUULLLLLL.
HARD.
Like.."I can't hold her together much longer Captain!"...that hard.
So hard you think you could break the yarn.

Blogger is being an ass..I just barly squeezed these pictures in Captain.
Dont push her any furthur.

( you gotta use your best "Scotty is in my head again" reading voice for much of this post....you can do it.)

Ofcourse I need to edit.
I think something is wrong...
Would it KILL me to use a pattern?

I cant figure out what to do now. I dont make a gusset do I?

Off to look at socks patterns featuring short row heels.

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.




 

Just a sleeve and button bands..

then I am done with Donna's sweater!
( I also need to sew on the buttons)
Now if the warmer weather holds, I can 
get her coat to a seamstress this week to replace the zipper.
I dont know how to do that. I do good to sew a straight
line.
The zipper isn't broken, it's just a POS and slides down.
The coat is in good shape, so I figure it'll be perfect if I
can just get the zipper fixed.


 

21 inches of cat..

( 21 inches from neck to butt..that doesn't include his head!)
So cat is making a leap for my desk 
which is holding my keyboard and my coffee. 

I do this sort of "catch" while he is in midair, and
he sort of convolutes his form into a half circle,
and lands that way...feet splaying at the last moment.
I feel like an ass.

But he has this habit of putting his long frame in the middle
of everything I do.  
When I knit, he lays on it.
When I sew, I have to nudge him out of the
way of the needle...the MACHINE needle.
When I cook, he wants to see everything I am doing.
When I paint, he lays on my painting or pallette..
unless it's oils..he hates those.
But when he wanted my attention AFTER the strange
kitty acrobatics episode, he just sat on the floor
and looked up and purred as loud as possible.

Pictured Above:
Here he is laying in the middle of one of my work areas...yes...
I am messy.
No..I don't really mind it ...much.
No..we don't eat at that table.

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.