In the Bag

Last night, I finished the cuff of a sock. It still needs a heel and a mate, but the sock is there.

It is knit with Panda Cotton in Trail Mix and Pinto Pony (which is a dot dye, and I can't find it online). It has a contrast toe; will have a contrast heel; and the cuff is double knit:

The pattern is of Celtic Gryphons. I realized about halfway through that it wasn't one that really worked to be turned upside down, but I love the pattern so much I didn't care. I don't turn my sock cuffs down anyway, and I've been wanting to use Celtic Gryphons for a very long time.

I knit this from the toe up so I could get the longest possible sock. It's a very plain sock with just the cuff being intricate. I didn't follow any sort of pattern here, it's just an "on the fly" design. I did find the pattern for the cuff in Alice Starmore's Charts book.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out. This is how much I had left of the main skein of yarn:

The full skein is for the 2nd sock. The little scrap is what was left. I could have gotten maybe 3 more rows out of it.

This sock has been on the needles in my purse since last November. I don't usually take that long to knit a sock, but with Roo, I don't knit as much away from home as I used to. My hands are usually full of little boy these days rather than knitting- at least, if we're not at home.

I did take the sock out of my bag in order to do the cuff. Double knitting is not very good travel knitting, as you have to pay close attention to the chart and the 2 strands of yarn.  I'm pleased with how it turned out, but I am putting it back in the bag now. The heel and the start of the mate will be my purse project again. Hopefully it takes less than 6 more months to finish the mate. I like this sock and want to wear it....

Thoughts on a Thursday

1. I am too busy.

2. If I was not too busy, I would be bored. That's the kind of person I am. In which case, too busy is actually a good thing- but at the same time, it seems like a bad thing because too busy means I have to say no to things I really want to say yes to. Balance is hard in most areas of life, I have discovered.

3. Life has been especially overwhelming in the last 18 days since I have posted on this blog.
3 a. Mostly because I've been worried about my kids' health.
We had another health insurance change in January, and finally were able to get in and establish (actually re-establish, which is a good thing.) with the "new" primary care doctor for our family. Which event caused a lot of concern, as one kid was promptly referred to a rheumatologist, one kid to a cardiologist, and one kid to a urologist. It was a bit overwhelming to happen all at once.
3 b. Since the initial week of doctor appointments, we have had more (and dentist appointments, but that all came out ok and not very stressful), and gotten relief from one of the stresses (the cardiologist said all is well).
3 c. It's all working out ok, and while one kid does seem to have some issues with Juvenile Rheumatoid arthritis, I am finally feeling like this is manageable. I can help her with this. She'll be ok. It doesn't seem to be really severe at this point, and manageable with naturopathics, so I am encouraged. We'll know even more at the end of next week, and I am hoping for some definite answers and directions.
3 d. She is encouraged because she now gets to play with the paraffin wax bath a dear friend sent to us. We are enjoying it immensely (when we can find time to pamper ourselves).

4. I have been doing a lot of spring cleaning in between Dr'.s appointments and getting back to school after Spring Break. It's made my days extra busy. By the end of the day, I collapse in my chair and try to knit for an hour before I pass out.

5. I'm excited about the knitting I'm doing, and in the near future will get to show the results of some of the more recent work. I am also getting closer and closer to the end of the patterns for the big book that will be published next year. I am so pleased with how it is all turning out, I can hardly wait to share it with you all!

Picture Perfect

We've been keeping busy around here. Last week was "Spring Break"- well, kinda sorta. More break than not, but still had to do some school to keep from getting behind. But it wasn't a hardship for any of us. We just happen to be bookworms....

Such bookworms that my 8 year old Buddy decided he wanted to try out something he saw in a book, so he set the table for us for dinner.

I got a bit of a break from school teaching- but the rest of my life didn't let up much. Granola-making time came around again. 25lbs of rolled oats, 3/4 of a gallon of honey, 2lbs of raisins, 2lbs of chocolate chips, 3lbs of chopped dates, and 1/2lb of dried blueberries makes 10 and 1/4 gallons of the best granola.

Happy tummies make for happy families. :)

Christian Sci-Fi Book Review

Last night, I finished this book

I read it in less than 2 days. It was very difficult to put down. I attribute that to the story line and my personal interest in it, as I must confess I did not think it was very well-written as a novel.

 The premise of the story is that there are dinosaurs still living hidden in the Congo basin of Africa. Two separate groups begin hunting for 2 different species at around the same time. One group is made up of Game Reserve Rangers looking for whatever is killing elephants and Cape Buffalo. The other group consists of a millionaire backer and creation scientists looking for a specimen to study. Both groups find what they are looking for in their own very different ways.

 On a star scale, I give this book 3 out of 5. I liked it, I did, but it just had some issues.
The dialogue was more a series of monologues than actual conversation.
The romance. Ouch. The romance really should have just been left out. It seemed so contrived, under-developed, and quite unrealistic.

 The good points? I loved the story-line. Loved it. Although I do think it is very much for a specific audience. I fully expect this book to get very poor reviews from a non-Christian/Creationist audience. The author did a great job of explaining the evidence for a creationist viewpoint (in all those monologues), and as a creationist, I quite enjoyed it. His points were valid, and this is a very well-researched book with scientific terms, laws, and evidence explained in very clear terms for the average, non-scientific mind. In that respect, I loved it. I recommend it. I'm going to have my kids read it.

I received a copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for my honest review.

When there is time...

I finally seem to have gotten at least some of my knitting mojo back. It'a a good thing too. I seem to have a lot on knitting deadlines coming up quickly.

Or maybe it's just because I've had more time to sit and knit lately. So far this year, sitting time has been at a premium. But when you're sick, suddenly there's lots of time to knit.
Of course, that means that other things get neglected- like the floors, the dust, the dishes, the laundry....
But I do have something to show for it:

Swatches and flower (although, I discovered upon making the flower that the shirt I made if for really does look better without it. It was fun and easy and a good learning experience for me though.). I also have 2 nice long I-cords, and 5 inches worth of a man's summer shirt.

I'm starting to feel better today (I can tell because I can't handle the housework pile-up anymore and have the cleaning bug.), so the knitting is not going as quickly anymore; but I have a good start!

Tidbits

There used to be a little newspaper type publication in Eastern Oregon that was called Tidbits. I'd see it in restaurants.  It was a fun little read- just little bits of news, fun historical facts and jokes. I don't know if it's still around, but times like this I'm reminded of it.

There's not really a lot happening here that is newsworthy. Oh, there's always something going on, but at the end of the day, I can't really remember what it was that kept me so very busy. It's just life, you know?  But here and there are little tidbits that stand out. Just little bits of news or fun facts and the occasional joke.

Remember last year we were a bit concerned that Roo wasn't talking or even trying to talk? Well, I was a little, Joel wasn't at all, and the Dr. was concerned enough to send him to a speech therapist.  Anyway, none of us are the least bit concerned about his talking anymore. To those of you who were praying for him, thank you so much. He has crossed over and become an absolute little chatterbox. It's awesome. He gets new words every single day. Occasionally, they are words I have no idea where he heard them.
    Like last week, when it was lovely outside so I sent  him and his brothers out with a snack. Roo wanders back in, and I tell him that he needs to go outside with his snack and his boots.  He put his head down, turned around, muttered, "Whatebber" and went back out.
    I have noticed that he seems a bit dyslexic with his talking.  He calls coats "toacs", and to get is to "tec", things like that. But he's trying, we can understand him, and he's getting better every day. It is wonderful to hear.

Last night I completed the latest secret project for The Unique Sheep. That will be blocked today. I love finishing things. Not just because of the satisfaction of a finished product, although that is fantastic- but also because it means I get to start the next thing. I have 3 projects I need get to swatch for today, as well as a small project I should be able to start and finish within 2 days. I have to get cracking on it all- I have yarn coming next week for a new secret project....

Yesterday I finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I've heard a lot about the series for a long time. I was a bit leery of it because of the synopsis. It just sounded so violent and horrific. I'm not big on horror. In fact, I very much dislike it. But friends kept saying what a good book it was, and that it wasn't as bad as the synopsis made it sound. So I finally jumped in.
  I have to say, I was surprised. I get what they were saying; but the premise was still awful. It was tastefully done- but the ending was completely unsatisfactory to me. Of course I know it was done that way on purpose as a cliff hanger, but still.  I have hopes as to how I want things to resolve in the next couple books of the trilogy. Yes, I'm hooked. I will read them. Although I have heard that the others in the trilogy are not as well done as the first. I'll let you know what I think.

A Deep Breath

It feels so very very good to complete something.

That sigh of relief when you accomplish a difficult task seems to make your body feel lighter.

I feel lighter now.

Last night, I bound off the last stitch and weaved (wove?) in the last loose end of a project. A medium-sized project that took a lot of calculations. Then I tried it on.

And took a big sigh of relief.

It was a bit of a gamble. I knit designed this top from side to side in one piece, and I had never done that before. I also had to add a bit of bust shaping in a different way- and I really was not at all sure I had figured it all correctly. But it turns out, I did!! I'm very pleased with this pattern.

Today, the deep breath and big sigh of relief was completing the pattern writing and grading for that pattern. I had to write it a bit creatively in order to get the shaping, the stripes, the lace edging all in there without it seeming like an impossible pattern. I think I managed to accomplish it though!! I think the way the pattern is written will make it much easier to knit than the way I did it, actually. The math and pattern writing took me 2 hours on my own last night, and about 6 interrupted hours today. Believe me, that was a big sigh.

Now, it just needs a test knitter. Any takers?