Run on Sentences...

co-worker baby gift II

My first experience in knitting lace was a lesson in patience and also a lesson in not talking because I needed to count stitches and apparently I cannot count without at least moving my lips.   But now I have the hang out of it (mostly) and it's coming out really, really cute.   It's bigger than I thought it would be, but it's ok if this one is bigger.  This one will not be re-knit.  If it comes out big enough to fit the momma, then so be it. 

Notice the big, not travel friendly, spool of yarn?  If I had a ball winder I would wind it into smaller balls, but since I don't, I won't mess with it since it behaves itself so nicely on the spool.   I bought it a while ago and I'm finally glad to have a use for it.  I had even given it to someone else to see if she would have a use for it and then asked for it back when I learned of the girl baby I wanted to knit for.   There's a ton so I'll have plenty to give back to my knitting friend.   

Here's a lacey close up:

If all goes well, it should end up looking like this:

I'm planning on making the bonnet but the booties may be a bit much.   Maybe if I can get my courage up I could try to crochet these cuties.  The layette is a Bernat pattern, which can be found & downloaded for free here.

secret agent man

Secret Agent Man.
Secret Agent Man.
They've given you a number.
And taken away your name.  (full version here)

When I was little I used to think that they catch phrase was Secret Asian Man.    The song makes much more sense in it's orginal form. 

I was reminded of my dorkiness by the witty cartoon Secret Asian Man (via HanziSmatter).  And now I can't get the lyrics out of my head.  And by lyrics I mean my weirdly altered lyrics.  It's more fun that way. 

lunch excitement

When helping myself to ice at the Subway self service beverage station, little ice chips flew everywhere (as usual) and one found it's way down my shirt and landed on my belly (very unusual).   Perhaps it's a clue that my v-neck shirt has more v than neck.   Perhaps this shirt will not be worn to work anymore. 

I don't always pick up on hints, but this one even I can read into.

finally

When making things for myself, my most often muttered phrase is 'good enough'.   Not that I do things half assed, but rather I realize that I'm knitting/sewing/etc  for fun and most details won't be noticed anyway.   This project was the opposite.  I really wanted it to be right because it is for someone else,  a co-worker, who I don't know that well.   I was also doing my usual thing of taking a free pattern of the internet, which sometimes have errors anyway, using different gauge yarn and then tweaking them even further.  I couldn't get the sizing right on this pattern.  The first sweater was too big, the next had the armholes off center making the front smaller than the back, the third was a little big, finally on the fourth sweater I muttered 'good enough' so many times that I've actually finished it.   I stayed up way late last night doing it, but I had to since the baby shower is today.  I could've given her one bootie today and the other one on monday, but one bootie doesn't take that long and I'll just have another cup of coffee, or three, today.

I didn't want to worry about uneven button holes so I knitted the button band plain, sewed ribbon on the inside (for extra support), and pounded some snaps on.

During a space of frustration between two of the sweater iterations, I also made a hat, but it is so small that a friend is now calling it a grapefruit cozy.

The first bootie string*  came out so long that it made me laugh and I left it long for the picture.  I did cut it down before wrapping the present though. 

I'll put all the knitty gritty details with the photo in the crafty section.

*bootie string?   that just makes me giggle.  but what else do you call it?   bootie tie? 

**Also spell check is telling me it should be either booties or booty.   I just couldn't write booty though, that makes me think of pirate booty.  Or Gwen Stefani in her new video.  Neither one is an image I wanted to convey in this post. 

confession:   I like the faint smell of chlorine on my skin.  I like that even though I shower after swimming it doesn't completely go away.  After I swim I can't stop smelling my hands, shoulders, arms....

Another confession: I think it would be fun to buy Breakin' It Down.    When I told my sister she said, "I think that's a little advanced for you."   

"Oh, probably", I said,  "but don't you think it'll be fun?"

"I think it's a little advanced for you."  was all she could say.  Shot down by the big sis who felt it so strongly she had to say it twice.   But still.  Don't you think it would be fun ?   

Blog this Book

Started by Gaile at FigetyBudgie, Blog this Book.  The concept is to trade books.  If one of the books below sounds good to you and have a book to trade, leave a comment with what you want, and what you have to trade.

I & Claudius : Travels With My Cat
I traded with Gaile for this last time.  It's about a British writer and her cat as they drive across the states.  It's interesting to get a Brit's perspective on the states and our more colorful citizens. 

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The Clothes They Stood Up in and The Lady in the Van

Two stories that were mildly amusing yet made me think... but not too much.

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Typical Girls: New Stories by Smart Women

Some of these were good, some were downright disturbing.  (I'm really selling this well aren't I?)

gum

Yesterday I was still feeling gross so in the car after work I gave myself a stern talking to.  I decided it was a mind over body thing and told myself I would feel better.  My body must have chuckled and said, 'oh yeah?  you think it's that easy?  You just wait.'.   I went to the gym and did a light work out and I did feel better.   That lasted until 1:30am when my body decided to show me who was boss.  I woke up coughing, as I have for the past week, but this time I couldn't stop.  I did everything I could think of.  I drank a whole glass of water.  Did the gross clearing of my throat thing.   Spit. Used multiple kleenexes.  You get the picture.  I still could not stop coughing.  You know what finally worked?  gum.   Nothing like sitting on my couch at 2am chewing gum and watching cold case files.   I finally went back to bed but didn't want another coughing conniption so I did something I haven't done since the Hubba Bubba incident of 1981*, I went to sleep with gum in my mouth.  It did the trick I as able to go back to sleep without coughing too much and I didn't wake up with gum in my hair.   

*Once when I was about 4 or 5 I decided I wanted to save my grape Hubba Bubba (or was it bubbalicious?) for the next day so I went to sleep with it in my mouth.   I woke up in the middle of the night and it was no longer where it was supposed to be.  I'm sure it wasn't this extreme, but I remember not being able to move because the gum had gotten all over and I was trapped in a bubble gum spider-web like thing.   I had to yell for my mom to come & get me out.  The next day after trying multiple washings and even peanut butter she had to cut some of it out of my hair.  Luckily my dorothy hamil cut didn't suffer too much.  That taught me a lesson about sleeping with gum that stuck until last night.

more ick

Another way for me to tell if I'm sick.... I watch really, really bad cable tv.  Most recently I watched Fools Rush In all the way through.  I don't think I had ever seen the whole thing before.   I hadn't missed anything.  Someday soon I hope to stop coughing long enough to come up with a real post.

yesterday i came down with another case of the ick.  This time it was only really bad for one day and I'm feeling much better today, but it's making work today very crazy.   

I can tell when I'm sick when I spent a day at home laying on my couch and I don't even knit.  err. or at least, not knit that much. 

baby wear

I was stalled on the orange sweater and needing some inspiration so I started another project, a baby set for a co-worker.  This project has a real deadline.    Since she is going to be surprised by the baby's gender, I went with a gender neutral, all colors, variegated yarn and fairly plain sweater & hat patterns.   The sweater looked so small that I didn't want to start the sleeves quite yet so I started that hat and then that looked really small.  My nieces are 7 years old so it's been that long since I've spent any real time with an infant.  I've forgotten how small new borns are!  I brought the set into work and consulted with other co-workers (while I was knitting at lunch) who said it was fine.  I'm so glad that I don't have to take it all out.  The smallness of everything means that it doesn't take very long to knit, but I still didn't want to have to take it out.  I'm not in love with the way the colors are pooling at the bottom of the sweater (more obvious on the back of the sweater which I conveniently didn't photograph)  but anything this small is cute by default.