C is for Catching up...If you want to call it that

I have been thinking about what to use for my 'C' post for three weeks now. And I came up with quite a few ideas, but nothing was just right. Although my thanks go out to , who in my comments suggested "C is for complaining." Now why didn't I think of that one?
My 'C' List:
Cats (all three of 'em)
Children (all two of 'em)
Crayola (My crayola stash could supply my sons entire second grade class. I love buying
crayons, markers, etc. and always stock up at the back to school sales.)
Cupcakes....Mmmmm. I have a chocolate one right now. Love it.
Crap- weather, knitting
So I had quite a few choices, not were worthy enough so having that said....

C is for Cheating...I'm moving on to 'D', hopefully.

So tax season is upon us. We didn't exactly rake it in this year, but we didn't have to pay either. I won't bore you with the details but we bought some new end tables, movies stand, and tv stand for our living room. We tossed the old entertainment center and have a TON more space now. I've had all of my yarn stashed in the corner but the pile really was looking crazy, so I had to do something about it. I packed up some of my old books to make room and came up with this:

I put a couple boxes in the attic, but it's all stuff that I will never use or sell (no one would buy it). I totally love this, and it looks cool in the living room. Of course, it's not as big as other stash's I've seen but it works. The top shelf is all sock yarn. Next is all 100% wool. Third shelf down has a little bit of everything, and the bottom is cotton/loin brand stuff (yeah yeah...I know what you're thinking.) That basket on top is full of my yarn odds and ends. I like being able to see what I have now. Not that it matters right now....

Which brings us to my next ramble. I'm in a rut. I mean a huge rut. Hubby is trying to convince me to go away for a couple days, by myself (because I have no girlfriends to go away) and relax. He told me to fly somewhere for five days. Um, right. Any ideas where exactly I'm supposed to go on a limited budget?

My biggest issue right now is I want to make a sweater. Don't ask me why, I just really want one. The ella rae sweater is still not going to be talked about. I bought a bag of kureyon (10 skeins) for a sweater from a Noro book, ended up having to go down needle size, and would've had to buy at least four more skeins of the yarn. 14 skeins of itchy kureyon for a sweater. No thanks. So I scratched that. And then decided to start Rogue with the bartlett yarn I bought. It started off good. I knitted about 15 rows and went to bed. And woke up during the night with very itchy fingers. The under-the-skin-itch that won't go away. It took 24 hours for the itching/burning to stop. I have a swatch that was washed but it didn't soften up nearly enough for me. If I am reacting to it that much, clearly it's not something I want on my skin. So that's out.... Anyone want to buy 7 skeins of glen tweed?

Maybe it's the bigger needles that's killing me?

I did make some small needle progress. Here's my completed Mary ella. It's made with pearl cotton thread and 11/0 seed beads on 0000 double points. Surprisingly, it was fast and easy. Although I had a slow start. I say it often here, but I can be anal about things. There were 5 or 6 different shades of pink beads in the set I bought, and I seriously tried to separate them and string them in order. I got two colors done before I said the hell with it. I put them on the thread without looking. I'm pleased with the overall look. It only took me two days to make it. I have grey thread and clear beads to use for my next one.

It's a perfect fit and way cute.

I'm also working on Jaywalker two with more Vesper yarn. I just love it. Because of the "need to make a sweater" itch, these are taking a long time to make. This is the first sock and it's been on the needles for three weeks now. I'm expecting some new Socks that Rock soon, in some new colors not on the website yet, so I'm using that to motivate me to get these finished. I only work on one set of socks at a time, and when that yarn gets here it's going to be hard not to use it. See anything else in the picture? I was at the local grocery store today and the Easter shelves are starting to fill up. These are two of my favorite treats so I had to have them. Yummy!

The boys have been acting funny ever since we rearranged the living room. I've caught them sleeping like this the last four nights...Before that, never saw them like this. All together now.....

Awwwwwww.................

Quiet

Hold on to your seats folks, I have nothing to say. That's a lie. How about, I have very little to say. Yeah, that works.
This last week has been all wrong for me. In every aspect. Fighting with the hubby. (We made up last night. And not like that, dirty people!) Fighting with the kids who are getting too big for their britches. Knitting hasn't been going well at all.
I complain a lot. I noticed it the other day when talking to a Mom from preschool. And I felt pretty stupid complaining about the stupidest things, often. And yet, I find myself wanting to complain again tonight. If I don't, there's nothing to blog about. How about some random thoughts for tonight?

--I don't have my "C is for" post ready, I can't decide on anything.
--The ella rae r-shirt sweater has been banished from my knitting bag. I'm not going to go into details right now, but after a bunch of "little, fixable problems" I've decided we need some time apart. I haven't decided if I will re-make it (again) or use the yarn for something else.
--That super cute Odessa hat I made is no more. Emily wore it to school on Thursday. Thursday also happened to be the first time I let her go home with a friend for a play date. Said friend's Mom took the kids to Target then to the house for playtime. Somewhere between all of that, the hat disappeared. I'm kind of mad at the Mom, because I know she didn't look too hard for it. Maybe if she were a knitter, and realized that the ball of yarn used for that hat was $8.00, maybe then she would have bothered.
--Because Emily lost my hat, I am having second thoughts on making her one of her own, with the same brand yarn, so she can lose it. Grr! And I even ordered size 4 and 6, 16" Addis circs, and now don't really "need" them.
--I hate Virginia. I just wanted one decent snow shower. 3 or 4 inches would make me happy, even thought I know it would melt the next day. And my brother, who lives an hour away, got 5 inches. We got dust.
--It was 56 degrees today, and tomorrow is going to be in the 60's. This is why I didn't even bother to knit my Latvian mittens. They would just sit in the closet. I'll knit them this summer, just in case we have a winter next year. hah!

I'm not going to read over what I wrote before posting. It is all random thoughts. I realize they might sound silly, make no sense, and may not interest you. But that's all I've got right now.

'Eye' Can see clearly now

Do you know that in the last week or so I have gotten very little knitting done? What I have accomplished in the last week I usually can do in one or two days. I've been so busy, with what seems like nothing. I taught my first class last Saturday. I'm not going to blog about it, but it wasn't bad. Not great, but not bad. And because now you are probably wondering what could've
"gone wrong" I'll tell you this: The ladies who took the class were all really sweet, and the owner and her Mom were just as nice as usual. And that's all I think I'll share about it here in "blog world"

So I hit a knitting slump. Or rather, a finishing slump. I still haven't seamed up the ella-rae t-shirt sweater. And being the anal gal that I am, I can't start another sweater (which is up next) until I finish this one. I think what's making the seaming less desirable is the fact that when I knitting it, I use two balls of yarn at once, alternating every couple of rows. That did two things. 1) On the ends, I am having a hard time distinguishing between the sts and the yarn that was carried 2) I guess I pulled a little too tightly at one point and on one side you really have to pu;; to get the pieces to line up. And I can't count the sts because of the extra yarn. Yes, I am overthinking and complicating something simple. I'll blame it on PMS.

Then of course, there's the "I feel like doing something different slump". I haven't made very many hats, and I've never done any bead knitting. So when Grumperina's Odessa hat came around, I figured why not. I had the yarn and the beads. So I made it. I started and finished it on Superbowl Sunday. Show's how exciting my life can be. Woo. I really like the end result. More importantly, I really liked using the beads and feel another addiction coming on. I prestrung the beads but next time I'm going to try the crochet them on method. And then I went and ordered the supplies to make Mary-Ella. Someone made several of these and after seeing them on her blog, I was tempted to cross to the other side. 11/0 beads, 0000 double points, teeny ass crochet hook, and thread. Clearly, I'm nuts. If I were doing the knitting Olympics, this would be my project, 'cuz I have a feeling it's going to kill me!





And a close up for good measure. You can't see the bead colors very well but I think they are similar to hematite (is that right?) color wise. They sort of reflect blue to yellow to purple to green, depending on the light. I have two more balls of Rowan Cashoft dk in lime green and red so of course, I'm going to make two more. The green with clear beads, and the red with black beads for my Emily. A ladybug hat if you will. I feel like a huge follower, what with me knitting the same pattern more than once, and both times the pattern is by the same person. But I really like the hat, before at the Knitalongs popped up.


So did you notice something different in the first picture? I'll wait while you look.....
Yes, those are glasses on my face. Prescription glasses. I spent my day running around like a mad woman trying to find an eye doctor that could see me today, find glasses, and get them made today. Why the urgency? Get comfy, it's a long story and I feel chatty tonight (Once again, what's new?) I've had glasses since I was a teen. I tried contacts, but that was a waste. I don't like anything in my eyes. When I take a shower, I have a cloth nearby to wipe my eyes when I get water on my face. I don't like it. when I had contacts, it would take me an hour to get them in. Not kidding! So...I never had glasses I liked. Money wasn't around to pick the best, and with my odd little head, nothing suited me. So it was always "Get these and move on". Ugly glasses on a teen-ager? Yeah, I stopped wearing them. My vision is not bad, it's just barely enough for a prescription. I always wear my glasses when I am driving at night, if it's raining, and at the movies. Other than that, you never see them. I always said when I had the money I would find a nice pair and start wearing them. I'm still waiting for that money. Anyhow! The goblins broke my glasses on Sunday. The goblin shall remain nameless but he's closely related to a grown male who shares my bed and drives me car sometimes. The car where I leave my glasses in the console. The car that I left them in perfect shape, and then they somehow managed to twist themselves between the time I left them, the Goblin used the car, and then I used the car!
So I had fun today! And thank God I have some killer Vision Insurance (That's a quote from the Optitritian's office) I got a lot of help from the lady at Pearl Vision, and picked out to pairs. The one's in the picture are what my Mom calls "Lisa Loeb" glasses. I have always wanted some like this but never found any that fit my face. Until today when I looked on the kids rack. Told you I have a small head. I also got a pair of plain ol' wire rims just to have around. And Holy shit glasses aren't cheap! It's been 8 years since I bought my last pair and I don't remember them costing so much. The frames weren't so bad, but the lenses! Good thing I intend on wearing the new glasses all the time! I won't tell you how much I spent, but how about an analogy if you want to do the math and know the answer. (This is for us nosy types.)

Say Koigu costs you $10 a skein, and you need two skeins for a pair of socks. I could make 42.5 pair's of socks with the full price of my total, before insurance. After insurance, I could make 27.5 pair's of Koigu socks. Yes, my tax refund will pass 'Go' (The Bank) and go straight to 'jail', otherwise known as Visa. *sigh*

But I have great glasses now. And that hat...It didn't look half as good without the specs. :)

How's that for a Tuesday night ramble fest? Bore you to tears? Mwah!