And Another One Done!

Hola!
I finished the mitered shawl store sample. And man I am happy about that!

I really enjoyed the pattern and watching the colors combine, but after the 20th square, I was basically sick of looking at this. Too bad I still had 24 more squares to go!
The yarn is Plymouth Boku and the pattern is from Plymouth as well. Number 1110.
I think it is really pretty. It reminds me of tortoise shells.
This last picture here was a pain to get! But I had to have it. =)

So another one to mark on the finished list. Woohoo!

A Whole Lot of Knittin' Goin' On

I kind of dropped the ball on the whole blogging thing this week. Sorry about that. Not only have I not been blogging, I have not been catching up on your blogs either..heck, I have not even responded to e-mails from friends.
I guess you could say I have been laying low.
I am doing great. I appreciate all of your supportive comments on my last post. I was then, and am now totally fine...it is just that sometimes in life we have to deal with some real "winners". I was just standing up for myself and letting someone know that I was not going to be intimidated by them..and it is all good. =)
As a friend of mine would say, "Save the drama for the mama"...and that is exactly what I did. (Thanks for you advice and support mom, now and always. =) )

Just because I have not been blogging doesn't mean I have not been knitting though. I am starting to realize I may have bit off a little more then I can chew for my knitting goals this month...we shall see. I still remain hopeful, but if things don't work out all according to plan I don't think the knitting police are going to come after me!

So here is a little bit of what I have been up to:

First, the Mitered Square Shawl that will never end. (At least it feels that way!)

I have nine more squares to do. Then I need to weave in ends, and do a crochet border. I am really shooting to have this done by Thursday. Yarn Yoga is this Friday and come hell or high water I want to have this thing done and ready to hand off to the store that night. I will breath much easier when this project is out of my life!

I did manage to get the first baby hat made..isn't it cute?

I stuffed it with plastic bags for photo purposes, that is why it looks a little weird.

I got the yarn and pattern in a little kit I bought of EBay ages ago. It is Alpaca dyed by Cherry Tree Hill. It was so lovely to work with!

Next, and this is a horrible picture I am sorry..is the 2nd Dulaan project. The yarn is actually much lighter then this. This is going to be an Avalanche Vest..the progress you see here is about a 1/2 hours worth of work..this thing is going to work up fast!

And this is my UFO resurrection/ May Sweater of the Month project.

It is the Fairly Easy Fair Isle Cardigan from Stitch-n-Bitch nation. I started this during the horrible power outages last winter because it was the only thing I had to that was light enough and big enough (gauge-wise) to knit by firelight. Once the lights came back on it got tossed aside for other projects..but I really want to finish it. I love the colors (perfect for Project Spectrum), and I am really excited to see how they are all going to work together.

As far as the other projects?

I have finished tier 2 of the Forest Path Stole.

I have done 30 rows on the So Called Scarf, my UFO resurrection project for April.

I have Faina back on the needles..barely.

The Mystery Shawl needs to be tinked (again). I made a mistake somewhere a few rows back..and the rows for the border are loooooooooong. I am trying very hard to avoid this project..

The round 6 Sock Madness socks have not seen any love..and I have yet to look at the pattern for Round 7. I do want to finish/make these so I hope to find time for them soon.

All in all I think I am making good head way. And once I get that darned store sample shawl done I will have A LOT more time to dedicate to my projects.

OK, back to work for me. That shawl is not going to knit itself!

Happy Mothers Day everyone! See you next week!

This, That, and the other thing..

Wow! Thank you so much for all the nice comments on the tunic! I really appreciate all the feedback.

After spending some time reviewing the pictures and the actual piece, I must say that overall I am pleased with it. Very rarely do I like the way I look in something when I first put it on, this includes "store clothes"...my original reaction is usually "ugh!". It takes a while before I realize that yes, indeed, I look rather nice in this shirt/pants/etc.

And I wanted to apologize for the, "does this top make me look fat?" comments. That is such a stereotypical thing for me to do. But, I wanted to give you all a little background as to why I am a little obsessed about my weight, so please bear with me. I need to do this for myself as well as for everyone else. If you don't want to read it..please feel free to skip ahead..that's totally OK.

First off, I know I am not "fat'. But believe me when I say that I know what fat is.

I used to be more then 100 pounds overweight. No, I do not have any pictures to prove it..and even if I did, I would not post them on the blog. Even harsher, the period of my life when I was that overweight was the last few years of high school. Yeah, it sucked.
But then I got rid of the weight...and for most of my twenties I was a skinny little thing. And I got lots of attention, it was fantastic. Well, at first it was fantastic..then it got a little excessive.

At my smallest I was a size 4/5. I was skinny. I thought I looked great. And I want to say right now that no, I did not have an eating disorder..at least I don't think I did...I was not always wise in my eating habits, but then, I never have been.

Then when I was 27? 28? I got sick. Real sick. I was dizzy all the time, I had no energy. I could not do any of the things "normal" people did. I was going to school full time, working part time, and trying to manage the household duties (trust me, it was a big house! =) ). But I ignored how bad I felt physically, and instead became extremely depressed because of my limitations.

And then one day I was working a clinical at the hospital, and I nearly passed out in a patients room. Thank God I was with an attendant who noticed what was happening and took control of the situation.

That day I went to a doctor..and had the scare of my life.

She told me I was severely anemic. That my hematocrit was so low that she recommended I get a blood transfusion, and also wanted me to see a specialist right away. I was in shock. I asked if this was a "big deal'" and she said "yes".

It was not until much later that I realized she thought I had cancer. I did go to a specialist. I did not get a blood transfusion,(I felt really weird about getting one) but instead spent an entire day hooked up to an I.V. having iron pumped into my body. That was fun, let me tell you, especially when my skin turned an orangish color and my complexion went to hell for a couple of weeks after that. I had to have a gazillion tests and procedures done. I did not have cancer.

What I had was a body that did not like to create or absorb iron.

So now, I take (or try to take..I am horrible about it)massive doses of iron every day. I eat lots of protein and iron rich foods. And for the most part, I am healthy. And that is terrific.

However, I have gained some weight. About 30 pounds or so..maybe more, I refuse to get on a scale! =) And although I never want to go back to being that sick..it is a little hard to think I will never fit into those size 5 jeans again.

But maybe, with a little more exercise, and a little less french fries, shakes and beer..I can get back into those size 10's. But I am not going to obsess about it. Not anymore. Because I honestly believe that as long as I am healthy and happy..that should be enough.

And I think everyone else should feel that way too.

OK, now on to some lighter topics. Look what B brought home for me:

Aren't they fantastic? I love them!

But wait, there's more! Look what they do to the water:

(Yes, I know it's the food coloring they use on the flowers...but still..it is so cool!) I am easily pleased,.

And finally, some knitting content, with a bit of Scrappy thrown in. What, you thought I would do a post and NOT talk about knitting at all?

This is an update on the store sample mitered shawl I am finally back to working on. It is now officially at the half way point. I have just been knitting through the skeins, letting the colors fall where they may..still, that's a lot of yellow..it will be interesting to see what happens with the rest of the shawl...

Oh, and last..but definitely not least, are my narrowed down picks for the next round of Sock Madness. Round 5 can you believe it? (GULP!)

Yes, I know this picture looks different then the others..I was playing around with flickr trying to get you a picture you can click on..and I think I succeeded.

possible picks for round 5 top view

So give it a click and check out the cool notes I put on it. I am getting more and more computer savvy with each passing day!

My "Little" Secret

Woohoo! I finally had a day off. And I still have a few hours to go!
It was lovely. I sat on my butt and worked on my tunic, and lo and behold:

I finished the knitting and the pieces are blocking.

I have high hopes for this project. I am a little concerned about the gauge. (As always). I knitted to gauge, even a little smaller, but the stitches still seemed a little "loose". And I really had to stretch the hell out of it to meet the blocking measurements.

I am sure it will be fine. At least, I hope so. If nothing else, I will just need to wear a dark garment underneath.

All that needs to be done now is a little seaming..and a little shopping for some ribbon to thread through the eyelets. Yeehaw!

So now, I Must get back to that store sample I should have finished weeks ago. Woops.

I took it with me last night to Ya-Yo (Yarn Yoga), which is the knitting group at the storefor which the sample is being made. (Wow, now that's a sentance!)I dutifully worked on it..even though I really wanted to finish up the tunic back. I felt bad that it was not finished yet, but the yarn manager did not give me any flack about it. She just complimented me on my work thus far...so, it's all good.

I just better have it done before the next Ya-Yo..or I am going to lose some serious face! =) (I have nothing to feel bad about, I always get stuff made for them lickety split..and B is working on a store sample as well....and he is much more in the dog house then I am. But then again, he is making a blanket out of a furry yarn all in seed stitch..the poor man!)

So that is next up on the knitting agenda. As well as Sock Madness round 5..pattern release is this Friday. I am working that day, so I will get the pattern late..oh well. I am also still working on the mystery shawl..I am now on clue four (I will post on this soon!).

Then I hope to resume work on the Forest Path Stole, and hopefully whip out the Argosy scarf, the 2nd Jaywalker, and the My So Called Scarf that has been languishing in my bag.

I am really trying to truck through these WIP's. There is a whole lot more where these came from! But I am also trying to get my projects done for Dulaan, as well as bust out a few baby hats for Sophia. Oh, and lets not forget all the KAL's I have joined...or all the patterns waiting in line to be cast on....

Wait. Stop. Chill! Does anyone else do this?

Well, if you are still with me after all this rambling on, I guess I will reward you.

Many inquiring minds have asked where my new job is at. Until now, I have not revealed this little tid bit because I wanted to have permission first. And now, I have it.

I work at Little Knits. Have you shopped there? If not, you should. Check out those prices! And why yes! We do ship internationally.

So what are you waiting for? You know you want to browse the site, possibly even pick up a thing or two while you are there. And hey, if you do place an order..tell them Melanie sent you, k? Make me look good people! =) Who knows, maybe I will be the one to pack your order!

I'm a sucker for store samples.

So I went to Yarn Yoga (the cool kids call it Ya Yo) last Friday. When I got there I saw a table full of yummy yarns and cool patterns that needed to be knit for the store. Not only do I get the joy of knitting with these awesome new yarns..I also get store credit for them.
So even though I have more then enough on my knitting plate, I couldn't resist. It's mitered squares for God's sakes...the ones that you attach as you go..and they yarn was so cool I just had to snatch it up!

See for yourself:

The yarn is Plymouth Boku. It's 95% wool, and 5% silk. It is very similar to the Noro I love so much, but at a fraction of the price. ($6.99 for 99 yards).

( Wow, that is a much darker picture then I thought it was. Sorry about that..click for big.)

I really like working with it..But I have to say that I still love Noro more. The colors in the Boku are much more subtle. And I am anything but subtle. =)

Still, I think this is going to be quite spectacular when it is all done.

Six squares down, Thirty eight more to go!

This is going to be my #1 knitting project for now, along with the Sock Madness craziness.

Trust me, I know I need to get a handle on the projects, (I have not even begun to talk about that new project I started last week...), But, I think I have a plan.

Famous last words.