"Catch-Up" Weekend

I'd fallen behind on some birthday knitting so this was "catch-up" weekend. I completed two dishcloths (one "Idiot" dishcloth, and one with a kitty silhouette on it) for one friend and got a LOT done on a market bag for another friend. In fact, I hope to be able to finish it up after work this evening.

I like the market bag so much that I just might have to make one for myself.....after I clear out some UFOs, that is. *LOL* I'm using the "Grrlfriend Market Bag" pattern on Ravelry and working it up in KnitPicks' yummy CotLin. I'll try to remember to photograph it before I give it away.

I May Have Lost My Mind

Ages ago I made a mistake on the heel of the Diagonal Lace Socks I was knitting. It was just a dumb mistake made by not reading the CLEARLY PRINTED instructions (*kicking self*), but a mistake all the same. Irritated with myself, I decided that it was a mistake I could live with and just continued knitting along.

Everytime I picked up that pair of socks to work on them, that mistake glared at me. Finally, last night I decided, "Oh, forget it" and ripped them out and started over. Well....STARTED starting over. *LOL* While watching "Pulp Fiction" on TV and rewinding the yarn I got myself in a tangle, worked on the tangle until the movie ended, gave up and went to bed.

Ah well....as my hero Yarn Harlot taught me, there are no Knitting Police. Thank goodness.

Some Lovely Mindless Knitting

Tuesday I received some yarn I'd ordered from WEBS to knit myself a simple shawl. I'd actually started knitting one with worsted weight yarn, but decided that for the simple "dishcloth" shawl I wanted to make that heavier yarn was needed.

I just love getting yarn in the mail....that big ol' squishy shipping envelope just fills my head with project possibilities. Of course, what I REALLY need to do is finish up some of my UFOs, but oh well.....

I'd also decided that for this shawl I needed some size 13 nickel-plated circular tips and had ordered those (along with some other lovely goodies) from my favorite online source, KnitPicks. They arrived yesterday, and I spent the evening watching a Netflix DVD and knitting mindlessly along. Soooooooo relaxing!

But now I have a quandry....I've also received (from KnitPicks) some beautiful ON SALE sock yarn and a brand new set of size 1 Harmony wood circular needles. And I've promised myself that I absolutely will NOT start another set of socks until I complete the two pairs I already have on needles. *deep mournful sigh*

Gonna have to crack the whip on myself and get my other socks done so I can start MORE. After all, you can never have too many socks, right? RIGHT?

Hot Water Bottle Cozy

I finished knitting my hot water bottle cozy this afternoon. It looks like a little turtleneck sweater! I look forward to filling it with hot water when I get ready for bed tonight and tucking it under the covers next to my chilly toes.

I've been fighting off a cold the past few days, and it finally caught up with me this morning. Just a cold. But we all know what a cold can do for you. Chills, slight fever, mild headache, sniffly, snuffly.....BLEAH. I was happy to have my bottle cozy to work on, since it's an easy pattern that doesn't require a lot of headwork.

Even with the crummy cold, it's been a pretty good Saturday. :-)

I'm Back

So sorry I've been away so long....my beloved little MeggieDog was very sick and passed away on February 24. She was nearly 16 years old, and I brought her home when she was 5 weeks old. So, you can imagine how lost I've been feeling.

I still miss her terribly, but am improving a bit at a time. In the past few days I've started a couple of very simple knitting projects that don't require a lot of attention just to get my hands (and hopefully my mind) active again.

I'd finished my first "Regular Guy Beanie", so now I've put another one on needles. I'm going to do this one in stripes. I'll try to get some photos up in the next few days. I've also started a simple cabled hot water bottle cover. I've just discovered the joys of sleeping with a hot water bottle at my feet on frosty nights. How the heck does that thing stay warm all night??

More later....have a great weekend, all!

Back In The Groove

As I was saying in my last post, I've been dragging a bit lately, not being very productive at anything, not even my knitting. I began to wonder if I'd started associating knitting with pain, since I'd used knitting to preserve my sanity last year while waiting for back surgery.

Thankfully, my productivity is a bit better now. The weather is still icky (flurrying right now, in fact....big fluffy lazy flakes), but I'm able to pick up my Diagonal Lace socks and knit contentedly on them while listening to an audiobook or a KnitPicks podcast.

Had I told you I can listen to KnitPicks podcasts through my TiVo? That's a pretty neat TiVo feature. I'm not sure how I ever managed to keep up with any television series before TiVo. I never seem to be able to watch broadcast television when it's actually broadcast anymore.

Back to my knitting....today it occurred to me that it might help to toss in a charity item, so today I'm casting on a knit hat to be donated to a local charity that provides blankets and warm clothing to homeless individuals in our community.

I'm going to use the "Regular Guy Beanie" pattern on Ravelry. I'll keep you posted.

I'm Still Here

I've been terrible about blogging lately, I know, and I apologize. After I finished my Christmas "stealth" knitting, I can't seem to finish ANYTHING. I still have the same two pairs of socks on needles that I had started before I had surgery in November. I don't know what's wrong with me. Here it is, snowy ugly weather that should be absolutely perfect for knitting cozily in the recliner and I can't seem to get anything accomplished.

Not just my knitting, either. I promised myself that after I recovered from my surgery I'd start cleaning my closet and my "spare room" 15 minutes at a time (FlyLady style....do you know about FlyLady?). That hasn't happened either. I do manage to keep the daily household work done, but that's been about it.

I'm behind in my e-mail and blogging and I have no idea why, because I enjoy both.

So what's the problem? I blame it on this gray, ugly winter. Our local meteorologist reported last night that we've had 19.1 inches of snow this season, and the season average is 15 inches. And there's at least two more months of "snow season" left. (I've actually seen it snow here in April.)

By the time I get home from work and get unbundled, all I want to do is eat and go to bed.

So what's the solution to my winter doldrums? Action has always worked for me in the past, so I'm going to give that a try.

When I get home tonight, I'm going to set my kitchen timer for 15 minutes and do housework. Anything. Dusting is needed, so that's probably what I'll do. Then I'll fix myself some dinner and clean up my kitchen. Then I'm going to set my timer for 30 minutes, get in the recliner, and knit until the timer goes off.

For months, every time I got into the recliner I picked up my knitting. For some reason I got out of the habit. Lately I've found myself just vegged out in the recliner watching television. That brings up another thing I'm behind on....audiobooks!

So tonight I'll let TiVo save all the things I would've watched this evening. I'll put an audiobook into the Zune and pick up my sadly-neglected knitting. And GET BACK IN THE GROOVE.

I hope this post doesn't give you the impression that knitting is a chore. It's not. I love taking sticks and string and turning them into lovely, soft fabric. I just seem to be on the verge of becoming a recliner potato (a far worse vegetable than a couch potato) and feel the need to break this habit before it gets too deeply ingrained.

Get ready, socks, here I come!!