Yarn Festival!

I went to a local yarn festival with the Husband, OP, and our cousin Teach! Like me, Teach was there for the yarn and to spend time together. The Husband and OP were there for the cider donuts (and spend time together). Well, OP was there for the yarn, too. She LOVES touching the yarn and finding the beautiful colors. I can only imagine how awesome each year will be as she gets older. Assuming she still enjoys yarn.

Originally, I was not going to buy yarn. I’m not knitting so there really is no point, but OP wanted an infinity scarf. I thought rather than have her go through my stash, I’ll have her pick new yarn. My hope is this will prevent her from stealing the scarf I’m finishing up. I know it won’t, but I hope it will. I also want to get back into sweaters so I decided I’d be on the lookout for good sweater yarn for both the Husband and I.

I bought yarn for two scarves for the child. She picked the two Periwinkle Sheep skeins (pink and dark pink) which will look lovely for her scarf. This selection shocked me because she was ogling the sparkly yarns at every booth and I thought for sure I’d be knitting a sparkling scarf. Then, because I felt bad she didn’t go with sparkly yarn, I decided to buy purple and black sparkly yarn from Mother Frogging Yarns. I mean, I loved the yarn (it feels so soft!) and wanted to try a new brand. It wasn’t just a weird guilt. I mean it was weird guilt, just not only weird guilt. She was happy without the sparkly yarn, but I apparently wasn’t. I have issues. The other yarn is from Ensign Brook Farm. It’s a Merino-Romney yarn to be used in a sweater for the Husband. Hopefully, I have enough.

I didn’t find any sweater yarn that spoke to me, but that’s okay. I’ll pick something up at a local yarn store in a few months. In the meantime, I should probably try to start OP’s scarf so she has something for the winter which is fast approaching. But first, back to homework. *sigh*
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I am so tired…maybe

I’m three weeks into my internship. Where the heck did time go? I am tired and frustrated by this experience, but I’m not as tired as I like to think and am really enjoying it. How’s that for contradictions?

I’m tired because I get up at 5am so I can get in a short 20 minute workout, eat, get myself together, get the child together, and sometimes drop her off at day care before I leave. (No, I don’t leave her at home on the other days. The Husband drops her off). All that to get to my rotation at 7:30. I spend most of the day on my feet, running around like a mad woman and not eating. Yeah, I lost 3 pounds in the first 2 weeks because I couldn’t figure out when to eat during the day. That’s getting better, thankfully. I come home, make and eat dinner, get the child to bed, do homework for about 30 minutes, watch 5 minutes of TV with the Husband, and then go to bed between 8:30-9:00.

It sucks.

I have to go to bed early so I can get up early, but then I don’t seem to get homework done. Thankfully, I had the brilliant idea to keep getting up at 5am on the weekends. This means I don’t have a screwy schedule and I get used to these hours AND I have 2-3 hours on the weekends guaranteed to get work done. That and my in-laws have taken the child a bit. Although, right now I feel overwhelmed. As soon as I get something done and feel accomplished, I turn around and have 5 more things due. *sigh*

Oh my goodness, my life is dull. BUT I just have to get through 10 months and all the schedules will be different. In theory. Oh please, don’t have a rotation where I have to get up at 3am.

In the meantime, I haven’t gotten much non-school things done, but this is okay. I did knit a few items over the summer and I used up 4 skeins! I went from 70 to 66 and have more stash-busting ideas! Is it bad that all my projects right now are chosen for their stash-busting properties? I don’t think so, because I do like the projects I have selected on top of stash busting. Of course, there may be a yarn festival coming up soon which could potentially mean more yarn. No, I will be strong.

What else? I’m currently making oatmeal bars, muffins, and egg things to act as quick, on-the-go breakfast items to streamline my mornings. That, or I’m procrastinating by baking. Still, I do need to do it, which is what I’m telling the Husband. Don’t tell him it’s really procrastinating.

Small Frustration

I went to the second knitting night at my local library last night. I really enjoyed it, despite Yarnkettle not being able to attend. I think I lost the knitting bug a while ago and this group makes me want it back. So, yay!

That said, a woman showed me a shawl pattern and I am DYING to make it. It was gorgeous and I’m pretty sure I have enough yarn in the stash. Unfortunately, I can’t find it. So I’m putting it out there and maybe one of you know what it is.

She called it a butterfly shawl but it had no butterflies on it. Maybe the shape is called butterfly? Anyway, it had two colors, but wasn’t striped. It had a shape sort of like this:

(image from Artesian on Ravelry)

but the yarnovers were stockinette stitch and in the second color. More similar to

(image from Triangle Shawl by Patons on Ravelry)

but that’s the wrong shape.

Anyone have any idea what I’m talking about? Help!

FO: Flower Hat

Pattern: OP’s
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US 7

Still way behind on finished object posts, but here’s another for FO Friday!

The colors are weird in this shot.

First let me start by saying this is 90% my daughter’s design. OP wanted a hat with flowers. She picked a flower chart from several given to her and chose the colors. I used double knitting to give her two hats in one (and because I had never tried it). I did ask her to change from blue and green to a combination because I’m old and the two were way to similar for my elderly eyes.

The reverse side and more accurate representation of the colors.

Double knitting was interesting. I love Fair Isle and thought it would be just as easy and fun (Yes, I find it fun. I’m a geek), but it was a headache. I did start to get it down and after a while it wasn’t so bad. I’d even do it again.

The fifth time I cast on.

Sadly, the child doesn’t wear it much. Before I could finish it, she was given another hat and that became her favorite, which is fine. The other hat is cute and I did knit the flower hat a little big so she could grow into it. When it is really cold, she does pull the flower hat out (two layers of knitting it is WARM) and I have been known to steal it on occasion. Hey, she stole Maluka so it is only fair.

It should be noted that the child has recently been sold to gypsies because she asked that I make her another hat. One that is purple and pink with all kinds of things that start with ‘P’ on it.

FO: Maluka

Pattern: Maluka by Bea Schmidt
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Fingering
Needles: US 6

It’s FO Friday! I’m finally posting about Maluka after completing it in March 2013.

Yeah, I am so far behind on these. You should see my Ravelry project page. Grossly out of date.

I really liked the pattern–it was easy, understandable, and fun–and while I loved the final product, I felt it came out too small. I don’t  know if it’s small because I didn’t meet gauge (I never used it), I didn’t understanding the construction, or it was the right size, but I need it bigger.

I tried wearing it different ways, but I couldn’t make it work for me.

I even tried dressing like a babushka.

Fortunately, my daughter decided she wanted it, and it fit perfectly. Since it did, I let her keep it.

I will definitely make this one again, but a little bigger.