Monday I lost my car key. since it’s one of those bizarre keys that flips out of the remote and can’t be easily copied at a local store, I only have the one key. (I really should get a copy made, shouldn’t I?) where was it? in my purse. boy, did I feel stupid when I found it. (in my defense, the purse interior is black and the key is black. but still) so I stayed home (by the time I found the key, it really wasn’t worth it to drive and park or drive and park and bus since I work part time).

I spent much of the morning feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed (and downloading podcasts). at some point, I felt compelled to knit, so I worked on the strap of the Tasha bag a bit. (boy is that braided cable fiddly - I did get it memorized by the bus ride home last night, though.) I contemplated resuming work on the Sockamania River socks, but just couldn’t get the required mojo for that. meanwhile, the armless & faceless Mother Bear lay there staring at me (which I imagine must have been difficult for her, considering the lack of a face).

as an aside so that you may fully understand the way my knits can stare at me, my desk is angled to fit in a corner, with the computer in the center and space on either side. currently, on the left are about 4 WIPs and on the right side just out of the way (but barely) of the mousing zone are another 5 WIPs (which included the bear up until Monday). let it also be noted that there are more WIPs floating around the room in various places.

so yeah, the bear is now finished:

Started: Summer 2005
Finished: 2 July 2007
Pattern: Mother Bear Project - can be ordered from their site or found in Knitting for Peace
Mods: I knit it in the round. worked ok, though I think I’d prefer knitting it flat next time. also added the skirt.
Needles: Size 7
Yarn: Various worsted weight acrylics from the stash

I also finished sewing up the dh’s stripey pajama pants of blindness:

just in time for his trip to Ohio for Origins. he left yesterday, so I am home alone for a week.

in other news, nothing says summer like fresh berries. one only needs to walk about 3 steps from the front door to get them:

yes, they’ve taken over the front deck. we also have some along the edge near the neighbors horse fence and in the back woods somewhere.

the nice thing is, they don’t all go ripe at the same time - I think I’d go nuts if they did. (it’s bad enough trying to harvest and eat them daily)

we also have a little friend in the pond bucket. anyone know what he is?

(heh. can you tell what decade I grew up in?)

Here we have the WIPs started in 2005:
* red toe-up socks (one sock has a bit of the cuff started, the other is in the middle of the short row heel redo)
* a soap bag - just needs a cord to cinch it closed
* Mother Bear #2 - still needs an arm and a face
* The Sweater Workshop “Thing” - this is probably a perma-WIP
* modified mini-skull tote - got too tangled. I’m not sure why I’m so concerned with keeping the colors as continuous as possible - it’s going to get felted.

The 2006 WIPs:
* Fox & Geese mittens in purple & white - for Lilin. I’m at the point of increasing for the thumb.
* Dad’s xmas gloves - all that’s needed are one pinky finger and two thumbs
* Tasha bag
* placemat from sari silk
* lacy snowflake (it’s the tiny speck of white by the addi dpns)

* CTH glitz socks
* the start of some fuzzy feet (the blue wools)
* the test-knit sock - I have a toe! (and it fits! shocking)
* Dulaan hat #1 - needs a cuff. and maybe a pompom
* felted penguin

The Swatches that Mock me:
* blue KP Wool - a sweater of some sort. would help if I remembered what size needles I used on the swatch.
* carmel Dale Svale - to be a tank (think it was Calla from MagKnits last year). gauge was a bit off.
* sock yarn ribbing swatch - I was thinking of making gloves with it at the time.
* brown sock yarn - swatching for dh’s socks
* fushia CE Princess - possibly my Wicked sweater. again, gauge problems.

the result of this is that it feels like I have a lot less WIPs then I think I do. maybe cuz in my head, the list includes all the things I have yarn for but haven’t done much with yet. or maybe finishing and frogging things for the UFO Challenge has helped. (March’s project was my “Olympic” legwarmers. They are now frogged. frogging frozen mohair isn’t nearly as bad as ‘dry’ mohair. still a pain though.)

so, what to choose for April’s UFO project… I’m leaning towards one of the bags - either Tasha or the felted mini-skull.

Tomorrow, I’ll share the stash. Assuming I can find a WIFI zone that’s open.

this, according to my notes, was started in July 2005 with the thoughts of “it’ll be quick - it’s just garter stitch!” I think the yarn was bought during the xmas shopping season of 2004. good ol Lion Brand Wool-Ease and Fun Fur. finally finished: Feb 6, 2007

let me tell you, my it’ll be quick thoughts were so far off, it’s not even funny. yes, the circle base did go pretty quick, but the sides. tell me how you feel after you’ve knit a garter stitch scarf made with those yarns held together. (the fact that I alternated white and black fur every few rows probably didn’t help my speed.)

on the plus side, Kashka took to using just the base quite nicely. I think she enjoys it fully finished better though. I did make a modification - I stuffed the sides (with the stuff you stuff stuffed toys with). definitely like it that way.

here’s some pics for your enjoyment:

from January:

What do you mean it’s not finished? It feels finished to me?
(I don’t think it was stuffed at this point, and if you look closely, you can see the gray yarn ends floating about on the floor)

all finished:

thanks for putting this in front of the heater. now I’ll be comfy while lounging here.

ok, stop it with the pictures already. I’d like to sleep without that light that keeps flashing.

they don’t call me the Russian Spy Kitty for no reason. I’m keeping my eyes on you…
sidenote: she’s not really Russian. just her name is.

apparently I didn’t realize that my sister put up pics of Eli wearing the sweater I knit. She also put some pics of the kids modeling their hats last winter. Sorry!

and since I’m never home (or feels that way lately), I still haven’t gotten most of my pics sorted out to get them up on here. so you get to see her pics before my flat model-free pics. maybe that’s a good thing.

the snowflake sweater got stalled the last few days - no bus means less knitting. I did get over to Amazing Threads and found some amazing Alpaca (I want to keep it) that is destined to be sent to my Mitt Kit Swap pal, unless I find something else before the mailing date. I really need to figure out what I’m going to do for the bag for this. I found a felted bag that I’d love to send, but I still have 4 pairs of gift mittens to knit after I finish the sweater, so I may need to find a plan b (which would involve sewing).

the not-being-home thing also means that I still haven’t gotten the stitch markers finished. (I don’t think twisting beaded wire on the bus is the best of ideas.) I haven’t forgotten them, don’t worry!

I have been home long enough to pick up the mail though. The other night I got another package from my Winter Cheer pal (vegasknitter). She sent me some Karaoke yarn in a dark reddish sort of color and lots of other goodies. I also got a new monitor (thank you employer for the gift cards) - 19″ flatscreen. The best part is, the colors are pretty darn accurate! (The old monitor gave everything a greenish cast. Made it very hard to adjust pictures if they needed it.)

ok, so here’s one of the pics from my sister:

The other pics are in the gallery.

I’ve been in a great cleaning/organizing mode lately. I still don’t get much done, but I’m making a bit of a dent. I managed to return the contents of one box to their file cabinet drawer (it’s been how many months since we moved?), I put up my bulletin & white boards, I made a list of WIPs to hang on a clipboard on the wall (so it can threaten remind me what needs finishing), and I cleaned up the top of the yarn-case where knitting gadgets (needles, stitch-a-day calendar, i-cord maker, notions, etc) live. I’ve also been going through the knitting library a bit, trying to decide if I really want to keep all my Half-Price Books finds.

I was getting close to going through the basket o’ WIPs (not to be confused with the crate o’ WIPs, which also needs going-through), when I discovered the Mother Bear in-the-round attempt. Nearly finished, just in need of her head and arms (well, and her skirt and scarf too - the Build-a-Bear’s I bring home can be nekkid, not so for the Mother Bears I make). So I pulled it out and got to knitting. The head is now mostly finished (need to seam the other side and give her a face), but we got stalled when attempt one at adding an arm failed miserably (too few stitches picked up - it would have looked like the Ernie doll I had as a kid). The goal is to get this finished by the weekend so I can drop it off at one of the shops while I’m treasure hunting.

Socktoberfest has now officially begun. Amelia’s socks are progressing nicely - I turned the heel earlier this weekend and finished decreasing the gusset stitches on this morning’s bus ride.

There are also more pumpkins to be made. I also want to make the pumpkin basket from the new issue of MagKnits. I see lots of orange yarn purchases coming up…