Who knew?

I’ve decided that knowing how to knit is a total life saver when you have to spend countless hours at the hospital. I honestly don’t know how I managed to sit for days before when I didn’t have knitting to keep me busy! My grandpa was admitted to the hospital last night because he had fluid around hid lungs. It turns out that they think it’s Conjestive Heart Failure. He’s doing a lit better today but we’ve got at least a few more days before they spring him. His 94th birthday is this month so they’re keeping a good eye on him.

I’ve been working on a scarf since we were here on Wednesday getting his lungs scanned. It’s a lot like the Noro scarf everyone is making but it’s cheaper because it’s not Noro. LOL But I can’t think of the name of the yarn… I got it from Rae last weekend at Knit Michigan. I’ll try to have a picture soon… Right now I’m updating via the iPod at the hospital. Thank goodness for a hospital with WiFi!

Tis all for now.

Knit Michigan

Anyone going to Knit Michigan this year? Carpooling?

“Can’t get out from under a sky that’s falling…”

I’ve been trying for the last two hours to get a report written but my attention span isn’t cooperating. Then I discovered something that honestly has my feelings pretty damn hurt so I figured that avoidance and posting pictures in my blog might help. THEN I’ll get back to my report. *nods*

My ShiBui socks are finally done. They’re for my mom. They were supposed to be for me but she saw the first one a few months ago and went “Oooh!” so yeah… they’re hers. I did the Kitchner Stitch for the first time ever (first time successfully, that is).

Another first… I started a pair of mittens. This artic weather has gotten to me and inspired pretty mittens. Every time I make a toe up sock I think, “Wow this would make a cool mitten…” and then I keep on knitting it into a sock. But I’ve been meaning for a while to turn some gifted yarn of mine into a pair of mittens and just never did it. The yarn below isn’t the gifted yarn because I wasn’t in the mood to use it, but it’s still a mitten and I’m pretty happy with it so far.

The yarn is Crystal Palace Merino 5 (100% Superwash Merino). I bought 4 balls of it on the Traverse City COB trip last April. The pattern is the basic mitten from The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Bud with a Bamboo Stitch (I think) added to one side for prettiness.

The cold has also brought plenty of photo opps…

Rave turned 9 a few weeks ago…

Doodlebutt took the opportunity to spread big sister’s yarn all over the living room while we were playing a game and no one was paying too much attention to him. LOL

Rave and Wessels eventually dicovered the mess… LOL

It took Grandma all evening to re-wind the yarn… you can see her in the background of this picture that Wessels took of Aunt Kellie.

Another fan of yarn is my friend Shawn’s kitty Lola… she loooooves to “help me” knit and spent New Years Day helping me out.

I also have a new boyfriend. This is Hammy. He loves me long time.

And just because it’s cute… Doodlebutt showing us just what he might look like as an annoyed teenager one day. Can’t you just hear him saying “Aunt Kellllllllieee!” with a sigh and a roll of the eyes? LOL

That’s all for now. I really do have work to try and get done. No more knitting, blogging or facebooking until my report is finished.

FO: 3 Row scarf

Remember that scarf I posted about back in October? The one I was making out of Lion and Lamb? I really did finish it. I just don’t have a good photo of it yet due to the camera issue. Here’s a bad phone photo though. I’m adopting my mom’s camera until I can get mine fixed or replaced though so I’ll try and remember to get a good photo of it soon.

Super easy pattern which of course I can’t remember now. I’ll see if I have it written down somewhere. I wanna say Row 1 was purl, then Row 2 was k1, m1 across, then Row 3 was knit. Don’t quote me on that one though.

WIP: Illusion knitting

I’ve been wanting to try illusion knitting for a while and apparently this winter it was finally time. This will eventually (hopefully before Christmas Eve) be a scarf for my Ravynnator.

Cool, eh?

The pattern is from here. Yarn is Caron’s Simply Soft (aka “Yarn my SIL can’t kill”)

That is all… I need to actually KNIT instead of playing online.

FO: Hats, Handwarmers and a scarf

I spent the weekend in Manistee at a friend’s cottage with 9 other women and a very large dog. There was a blizzard (literally) and we were “stuck” inside all weekend. Knitting was certainly accomplished.

This is from a Needful Yarns Camp Set… they fit the Doodlebutt perfectly. Matching socks are on the needles right now.

But wait… I’ve knitted for myself too! One Amanda Hat (free on Ravelry)…

Top view (cut off because my screen on my camera is broken and every photograph is a crap shoot)…

Sexy up-close view…

Sexy “I’ve been knitting in my jammies” photo… Still the Queen of Self Portaits, you see…

And I even designed a scarf to go with it… yup, that’s my own pattern, baby! Again with the crooked pictures…

Yay me! Yay for the scarf, not the cut off photo. Guess whose going to be buying a new camera in the new year?

I’ve got more to share but yeah… tired.

Let it snow…

Due to an unfortunate accident in which my beloved camera decided to kiss the cement floor at a local Taco Bell, I have no knitting pictures. The camera still works, but the screen is trashed and because my camera doesn’t have one of those old-fashioned hole thingies to look through like all of my cameras of the past did, it’s sort of hard to figure out what I’m taking pictures of. And then I can’t review the pictures until I take the memory card out of the camera and put it into my computer. Oh technology, how you frustrate me! *giggle*

So let’s see… I finished the scarf that I posted about when I was in Midland for training session #1. Training session #3 is in just about two weeks and then I’m free to spread my social workiness all around Ingham county without as much supervision. hehe. I’ve got two cases going right now which are going well but there are three of us doing the case together which means that it’s not nearly as hard as it’ll be when I’m on my own. I know I haven’t really posted here what my job is though so you’re probably thinking, “What the hell is she talking about?” I’m a case worker for a program that does intensive home-based work with people who are in serious risk of losing their children to foster care. We go in for 28 days (at least 10 hours a week, usually more) and teach them parenting skills and other shiz to try and help improve the situation enough so that CPS won’t yank the kid(s) at the end of the intervention. Hard work, but good work. I’ve never in my life worked with a bunch of people who are so in sync with the way I think, it’s pretty damn cool. Although I had to miss the Woven Art Book Club and Lynn’s Birthday Gala this month because of work, and I’m going to have to miss the Guild meeting this week for the same reason (we’re on call 24/7 with this job so when a situation comes up we’ve gotta deal with it no matter when it is). For some reason the universe just doesn’t want me to go to Guild and Book Club. Oh well… maybe next time around.

In other knitting news, I bought the new Mason Dixon book. Love it. Need to find a little girl to make the Emma Peel dress for. I started a scarf out of the Alp Oriental that I had in my stash and although it’s probably 80% finished, I’m not loving it. I think I may have to frog it and pick a different design and perhaps smaller needles. I’ve stalled at sock #1 of my mom’s Shibui socks because I can’t find the skein of yarn that I need to use for the heel, toe and cuff. LOL It’s somewhere in my house, I’m sure. I also haven’t done much on the sock blanket because I’m still debating on how I should go about it… some of my Monday Night Knitter Girls are thinking about doing a yarn swap for the blankets so maybe that’ll help me decide. I did have a pretty good idea for a chirstmas gift for my sister though, so I think that maybe today or tomorrow I might just cast on for that. And if it turns out the way I hope it does, then I’ll be making one (or twelve) for myself too.

Oh and remember the socks I made for Wessels? He had to have minor surgery last month and he insisted on wearing his Aunt Kellie Socks. He also insisted on not wearing the hospital gown so he went off to surgery in his Aunt Kellie Socks and his Underoos. hehe… He’s so darn cute.

I’ve not seen my COB ladies in FOREVER… *le sigh* They don’t write or call anymore… *sniff* I miss you guys.

In movie news, I’ve seen High School Musical 3… loved it. Beverly Hills Chihuahua… very cute. The new James Bond flick… hot, hot, hot. And I’ve got my 12:01 a.m. tickets to see Twilight on Friday morning as well as plans to see it on Friday evening as well as Sunday. Whoot! ) Crazy? Who me? Yup.

In sad news, my grandpa’s cat Bo had to be put to sleep shortly after I started my new job. His tumor started to grow again and he just wasn’t a happy kitty. Now my Oscar is living with my grandpa and all though I miss him, Kira is very happy to be the House Diva once again now that she’s the only cat in my home. Oscar’s doing well though, he’s enjoying being the King of Grandpa’s Apartment, and I try to get over to visit once a week or so.

I should go… I’ve got a hot theater date tonight with a thirteen year old who is now over six feet all *le sigh* as well as the oldest two children of our older brother. We’re going to see the “World’s Greatest Magic Show” at Wharton… should be fun. I must go make myself presentable for being in public. hehe.

“You’ve got me begging you for mercy”

I haven’t done much knitting… I’ve been up to my eyebrows in training and getting adjusted to things at my new place of employment. I’ve also traveled more in the past week than I have in a long time which is just part of the job… I now know how to get to Midland and Bay City without a map . Things are good though, busy but it’s a good busy. Next week I get another round of hotel living for more training for a few days so hopefully some more knitting will get done (unless of course we use our free time to get drunk, LOL we’re a crazy bunch of social workers…). I do have to miss the October MMKG next week though… Maybe next month!

The scarf I mentioned in my last post is growing slowly but surely and as soon as I have some time I’m so going to buy more yarn that I don’t need. I saw a scarf at book club the other day that I want to make.

That’s all for now… Just wanted to check in and say hello!

Where in the world?

Midland, that’s where! Why? Training. Three fun-filled days of training and social worky stuff. Yeah, I said social worky, deal with it.

Knitting? But of course! I brought stuff for making more fish for my boyfriends, stuff for making my mom’s 2nd sock, and stuff for two different scarves. Plus, there’s a LYS less than 30 miles from my hotel that might just need me to visit it.

For now though, the current project is this:

Remember the Grand Traverse Bay scarf that I started back when the COB went to Traverse City? I ended up frogging it because I hadn’t worked on it forever and couldn’t remember what my pattern was (I was making it up lol). So now it’s a random stitch that I found while looking around online last night.

For now though, it’s time to eat my dinner that FINALLY showed up, and watch Heroes. Mmm!

FO: Aqua Socks

So Nephew #1 aka Obi-wan Ka-Wessels decided over the summer that his favorite color is Aqua. And while some people tried to tell him that Aqua was a girly color, I’ve encouraged him to keep on loving whatever colors he wants to love. When I remembered that I had some aqua sock yarn in my stash I decided it was time for me to make Wessels his first pair of Aunt Kellie Socks. At first he wasn’t so sure about knitted socks, but once he put one on he was convinced. He then spent the next few hours playing video games with one sock on and would occasionally pause long enough to say, “Are you done with the other one yet?” hehe… So while I shouldn’t have done so much knitting in one sitting, how could I resist finishing up sock #2 as quickly as possible? He loves them and I’m a happy Aunt!

In other news, I’ve got another Fish for my Boyfriends Gerrit and Austin.

I also finally remembered to take a picture of Ravyn’s Bolero that I made forever ago.

Tis all for now!