So you know how sometimes…

…you work, and work, and work on something, and then you get it almost completely finished and realize that you’ve made it a little bit too big? Not someplace easy to take off, either (like the part you just did), but a little too much of the beginning section. Or it’s a little too wide. And it’s far enough off that it will drive you crazy if you don’t fix it, but you would have to undo and redo so much work that it makes you want to pass out somewhere with a cold compress and a fudge sundae, and then you start to wonder desperately if you could just sort of cut off the stitches you don’t need and then sew the edge up so that it doesn’t unravel?

Yeah. That totally works. And I’m never, never, ever telling how I know.

Just Checking In

Knitting: check.

Crocheting: check, check.

(Second project censored for the sake of someone’s surprise…)

Patterns in the works: check.

Silly Monkey is flying through testing: I hope he’ll be available this week. Oh, and hey, did you know my camera has a macro setting?

That would have been nice to know, oh, any time in the last year or so we’ve had it…I feel like a bit of a dolt.

I have the cutest sons alive.

And this time, I have it on camera.

I made Max a pony for Christmas in 2005 (I got the pattern here, it’s well worth making…). Over time it’s gotten buried at the bottom of the toy bucket, but today the boys and I were playing upstairs and Max rediscovered it. He was really excited about it, too. From the day I gave it to him, he’s been upset that it’s not sturdy enough to stay up when he sits on it, but today after a few tries he realized that if he used the ears as handles he could keep it with him in approximately the right position as he ran around, horse dragging between his legs like a fat, floppy tail. Once he figured that out, he dragged it with him everywhere until we came down for lunch.
Then, of course, he brought Horsie down with him. Max said that Horsie needed food. I told him to get up to the table, and I steamed some carrots in the microwave while we talked about how horses liked to eat carrots, and apples, and broccoli. (Hey, I need all the help I can get on that one.) Max suggested bananas - I asked him about it and he confirmed: Max’s Horsie likes bananas. I brought the carrots over and saw that Max had put the horsie very carefully in its own chair with its chin propped up on the tabletop for balance. He was sitting in the next chair (around the corner), waiting for carrots. Too. Freaking. Cute. I moved them together at the side of the table so they could share a plate:

Which they did.

Awwwwww. Oh yeah - Charlie is cute, too.

IT WORKS!

It woooorks, it woooorks, it woooorks. *Happy dance*

Hmm? What was that? I’m sorry, were you not already thinking about what I’ve been working on for the past few hours? The comment form over at Inner Child Crochet has never worked. I do all of my coding and everything myself (leaning heavily on the Google school of research) and so the more complicated stuff has frustrated me somewhat. I found a site today while looking for something else that had a really simple generator for feedback forms. So I used it, and I installed it, and I tested it, and it works.

Now you can tell me what you think of me!

I’ve Been Meaning to Blog…

…for days, now. I was going to blog today. This kind of counts. But not really. I suppose I could get the camera down and stick the pictures on here for you. I’m so tired, though. Sigh.

There. Fine. I did it. I hope you’re happy. My mom gave me some circular needles at Christmas. I hadn’t used them yet, but I wanted to. I actually had something specific in mind, using some specific yarn. I decided to cast on for it over this weekend, since these days sometimes Max will turn the pages of Hop on Pop if I recite it for him, and I can actually use my hands. If, of course, what I’m working on is easy to drop, easy to get back into, requires little shaping or attention, and I don’t have to take notes. Since most of what I design is, you know, pretty much the opposite of that, I thought some knitting would fit the bill. See?

It’s a swatch. Are you shocked? I’m a little bit shocked. Of course, it was a good thing I swatched, because then I knew how much to cast on (blah, blah, blah) but I didn’t enjoy it. Much. I certainly didn’t wash it, you know, because I’m a rebel. (Yeah…that’s why…)

Anyway, I frogged it once I had completed the requisite calculations and cast on!

I’ve more than doubled its length since I took that picture for blogging two days ago. I’m not going to take another one today. It’s dark. It’s seamless, in the round - it’s going to be a shirt for me! I’m making it with some Lily cotton in Faded Denim: nice and soft, pretty blue. Mmmmm. I started squee-ing as it got bigger, because it was starting to ‘look like a shirt.’

“That’s great,” Greg said. “When’s it going to be done?”

At this point I levelled a good stare at him and said something like “a really long time.” Greg is not a ‘process-oriented’ person. It’s fun, though. I’m not using a pattern of any kind! I’m flying free. A bit daring, perhaps, for someone who’s never knit anything more ambitious than a baby sweater. Can’t be too hard though, right? I’ve already stuck it on another circ and tried it on (it fits, it fits!) so we’ll see how it goes.

This week I’ve become increasingly engrossed in a new cockeyed scheme. It’s extremely absorbing, probably a good idea, and possibly a bad idea. Details to follow…hopefully in the next week or so.

In other news, Wren has finally succumbed and asked me to help her brush up on her crocheting! We refreshed her, corrected her techniques (she was making the same mistakes I had been making. What do you make of that? Our current theory is that as a child I convinced her that she was doing it wrong…), and I taught her to follow a pattern! See?

I’m so proud of her! Pretty little dishcloth. Shhh, don’t tell her I showed you. (Who am I kidding? She reads my blog, I’m totally busted.) Now she’s making a Baby Snow Dragon. To employ an extremely overused pun, I think she’s hooked!

Crochetme is up!

It looks like it’s going to be a fabulous issue, but I thought I’d post before I indulged myself in a perusal. For one thing, I’ve got the cover pattern:

a very cute stuffed animal, if I do say so myself, and I’ve been itching to share. Go see- hope you enjoy! I’ve been plotting to get on the cover of a main issue for almost a year and a half - my first Crochetme pattern graced the cover, which set the bar for me. It’s always fun to know you’ve made the ‘coolest’ thing in the issue.
Anyway, sorry. Can’t wait any more! Going now. Bye!

Are you waiting for Crochetme, too?

Oh. Yeah. Ummmm…

Go knit an elephant.

New Patterns A-Comin’

Lots of new patterns are on the way! The final issue of CrochetMe under Kim’s direction should be here within a day or two. I’ve got another pattern in it - a really fun one. I’m excited to see it published, to see people’s reactions to it. I love when people get excited about my work.

I’ve also got the pattern for the Snake ‘Sock Puppet’ almost finished being written, and the patterns for the Silly Monkey and the Hard Hats are in the works. The patterns would get to you a lot faster if I would quit making new stuff, but apparently I just can’t keep my hands off the yarn.

This weekend I tried my hand at a (very small) knitted stuffed animal, and I don’t think it turned out half bad.

He’s only two and a half inches high - the arms, legs, and trunk are actually I-cord. (I don’t know why I’m fascinated with the stuff.) I’m really pleased with how he turned out, but now that I’ve tried one from scratch, I think I want to knit one from a pattern to see what kinds of shaping and finishing are employed in ‘professional’ patterns. My favorite project, currently, is another crochet project. Here’s a sneak peek:

I’ll let you in on a secret: the inspiration for more than one design has come from this book. (It was one of Max’s favorites when he was younger; I was forced to look at those illustrations for a loooong time. My mind wandered a bit.) In fact, can you see which Jungle Bug is lurking on this page? It’s coming along quickly, and looking great. I’d be having a ball, but I’m not quite sure if I have enough red to finish…

Mysteries Revealed

Hurrah! Look what I got in the mail today!

But…not because I ordered it. Look closely:

Kim offered me the essay back in December when there was all the high-kicking (*waits as sighs of relief subside from the previously puzzled and slightly concerned readers*) and I seized the opportunity. I wrote it, they printed it;

…it’s beautiful. I even got a plug for my site in Interweave Crochet.

Now, especially for this momentous occasion, I’ve added a new article to ICC: Technical Tips for Lefties. (It goes along with my essay, I guess.) I hope the lefties (or leftie-mentors) out there find it helpful.

Please excuse me while I go back to fondling my magazine.

*Edit* I forgot to mention that Kim sent me a very nice note along with it. I think she is a wonderful person, and I hope this new venture makes her a very comfortable hundred-thousandaire, well able to pursue whatever she likes.

Blech.

Yesterday was not the best day. Max and I were sick. Probably some variant of the flu - although I say probably because I’ve never had a flu quite like it before. Neither one of us had a discernable fever, we each completely emptied our stomachs exactly twice, went to sleep, and were over it. Not fun, although I did lose about 4 pounds yesterday. (…yay?) At first we thought it might be food poisoning because of the lack of fever, and because Charlie was fine, Greg was fine, and Wren was fine. Greg says that other people at work are out today with the same thing, though, so I suppose it was a bug. Come to think of it, we probably picked it up at the hospital when we went Tuesday to get Charlie his shots. Blech. Blech, blech, blech. (Hah. If it’s a next-day bug, that means Greg and Wren may be puking today. Isn’t sharing germs fun?)

So what do you do, in a wobbly haze, with no strength to be anywhere but on the sofa? You knit I-cord, of course. I have no idea why, except for the fact that my dpns were still out from the snake sock puppet and it let me rest between every three stitches. Seriously. I came down this morning to find about five inches of I-cord attached to my needles, stuck in a skein of yarn on the loveseat. Here’s hoping today goes better.