The Great Crafting Obstacles list of 2018...

Well. I've spent a ridiculous amount of brain power preparing for this post this week,  which isn't unusual for me. ;-) It's nice to have a sense of purpose about my crafting again. I had really lost my crafting mojo after a difficult winter, and right now it's providing me with a lovely sense of peace and serenity. Life can be hard sometimes, and so we all need the little joys in life, yes? In my case, that means reams and reams of yarn.

👼

I have a personal goal this summer of using as much stash yarn as I possibly can, rather than buying new. This sounds quite virtuous and economical, but the real reason is that I'm going to the NY Sheep & Wool Festival in October, and I want to feel unfettered and free to buy as much hand spun, hand dyed yarn as my little heart desires. Carpe Diem, right? Following this logic, one of you needs to go in my will to inherit my inevitably still voluminous yarn stash when I die, so let me know if you're interested!

*virtual high five!*

And so here we have it! This list is a combination of Things I've Just Needed To Knit For The Past Decade, and Things That Truly Scare Me. :0

GREAT CRAFTING OBSTACLES LIST OF 2018 (AND WHO AM I KIDDING? ALSO 2019 AND 2020)...

Big and Frightening Cabled Cardigan

I've knit cables before, but they're still pretty new to me. Also, never in a man's sweater. I have had "Sweater for Mike" on my Christmas crafting list for approximately the past 5 years. At least 3 years ago (maybe more 😳) I bought a truckload of tweed yarn in a neutral color that men seem to like. I'm thinking of one of those fisherman-like cabled sweaters with cables out the wazoo. This one of those projects that I just need to pick a pattern for and cast on for lest I lose my nerve indefinitely. Mike will be excited.

😬

Scary Seamed Socks

My comfort zone with socks are cuff down, basic ribbed socks, knit on double pointed needles. You know, those ferocious-looking ones with points on both ends. THAT was scary to me at first, but I have mastered knitting socks in this way. There are, however, *many* other ways to knit socks, and this is one of them. I want to make socks that are knit flat into a complicated-looking pattern, and then seamed. I loathe seaming. Probably because I'm so bad at it. But these socks are awesome-looking enough to warrant the possibility of a thick and uncomfortable seam on the back of my ankles:

"Smokey Zickzacks" by Natalia Vasilieva

Tentative Toe Up Socks

I tried toe-up socks once. Let's just say it didn't go very well. Rather than a happy load of 64ish cuff stitches, you start out with relatively few stitches on your needles and gradually increase up. The kicker is that, until that happens, things tend to get all twisty and tangled. I was so determined to make those falling leaves socks, too! It was a curse called down on those freaking falling leaves, let me tell you. It's been years now, and I'd like to try again. I WANT THOSE FALLING LEAVES, #@%! IT.

"Falling Leaves Socks" by Kerin Dimeler-Laurence

How Could They Not Be Trouble When They're Called Fox Socks?! 

I like stranded colorwork knitting. But stranded knitting in socks in an entirely different animal. Indeed, we do have the Great Argyle Sock Incident of which we will not again speak. Picture Tiffany painstakingly knitting the argyle pattern with multiple strands of yarn going at once all the way down the cuff, knitting the heel flap and turning the heel, knitting the gusset, then starting the pattern again on the foot, and then finally trying them on. This all took WEEKS. For a single sock. Do you want to know what happened next, good and gentle reader? Imagine your Catholic Librarian trying to force her giant size 9 foot into this sock like one of Cinderella's ugly stepsisters intent on the glass slipper. Stranded knitting dramatically changes your tension, making it tighter than usual. Did Tiffany knit a gauge swatch to try and prevent this from happening? No. No, she did not.

And so I have not yet successfully knit a sock with a stranded pattern. I want the fox socks, people, and I want them badly!

Did you ever?! "Fox Isle Socks" by Life is Cozy

"Am I Going To Regret This?! Intricate Stranded Hat That Will Actually Fit A Human Head

Speaking of tension issues with regards to stranded knitting... Stranded knitting requires a particular kind of patience. Socks that do not fit size 9 feet = hats that would fit a baby bird. And Henry would like a stranded hat made with an image of Hedwig from Harry Potter on it. I have gray and white yarn, so I have no excuse not to try this. But...eeks. This is going to require swatching. 😭

"The Owlery" by Ingrid Carre

Praying That It Will Be Gorgeous, Complicated Lace Shawl

I have knit a lace shawl before. But only one. And it did involve some blood, sweat, and tears, especially when I dropped a stitch in the main lace section.


😱

I want to knit a lace shawl before Rhinebeck with a design inspired by the mid-Hudson bridge. The pattern is not available online, but it is *beautiful* and I have hand dyed yarn with a colorway intended for this specific pattern. That's a lot of pressure if I screw it up! :0

A Rhinebeck Sweater

Speaking of Rhinebeck, a "Rhinebeck sweater" is a traditional rite of passage each year for all knitters, and I *really* want to knit one that I've had in my queue for all time and eternity:

"Autumn's End" by Alana Dakos

Yes, more falling leaves, because I am obsessed with them. Don't judge. :0 I even have this very featured yarn in my stash!


Colorwork Sweater For Anne

More sweaters! I've been promising Anne one for a few years now, and I just cast on for this one:

"Little Lighthouse" by Carrie Bostick Hoge

She picked out a bright blue/green yarn, and I'm using neutral colors from my stash for the colorwork yoke. 😇 I'm hoping to have this done for her for the fall.

School Cardigans for Anne and Autumn

Anne and her adorable friend Autumn both attend Catholic schools with a navy blue uniform. I said last year that I'd like to knit them navy blue cardigans that are comfy, rather than the scratchy wool ones a person tends to find in the uniform stores or JCPenney. It is also infinitely less expensive to buy a navy blue cotton/acrylic blend yarn than to buy the sweaters.  I excitedly bought the yarn during a sale, and well...I haven't knit them. :0 Do you think I could get both done by September? eeks!

"Little Hiker's Cardigan" by Melissa LaBarre

I'm really enthused about this pattern. I think the garter stitch will be so stretchy and comfy!


Finish Up a UFO That I Don't Even Like Anymore

😨

This is not an alien invasion, UFO here stands for "Unfinished Object" in the crafting world. There are...let's just say, a NUMBER of possibilities for this category. I like to start new craft projects. I get all excited in the planning phase, and then after I cast on and the item takes shape, it's just bliss. And then, for some projects, the fever sometimes wanes. The pattern begins to bore me, the color starts to sicken me, whatever. And so I innocently tuck it into the bottom of my knitting basket, telling myself that "I'll get back to it later." For some innocent UFO's, later never comes. I know they're starting to resent me, casting on for bright new sweaters, while they languish amongst knitting notions and lost pencils. There's a cream colored, tweed poncho. There's a summer top in peach linen. There's a colorblock shawl. I can feel their beady eyes on me right now as I think about which I'll choose, and it's making me shiver. 😁

Double Knitting Bonanza 

Double knitting is a technique that I've never learned, so I can't even describe it to you, ha! I know that it makes a fabric appear on both sides of your item with no "wrong side," if you will. For example, I've always admired this scarf which is knit using this technique:

"Snowstorm Scarf" by Rose Stewart

See how the one side has white snowflakes with a colored background, and the other side is the reverse? Cool, right? Melanie, you mentioned double knitting. Want to do a winter double knit-along? *halo* I'm open to the Harry Potter scarf, if so!

The Ultimate Terrifying Knitting Project - Steeking

OK. This one is the Big Mama. All of this other stuff? Yeah, I want to make/learn this stuff. But steeking? I'm actually afraid of steeking. Steeking is related to Fair Isle/stranded knitting, which in many ways explains it's intimidation factor. *eyes narrow* Essentially, when you knit using a lot of different colors, the most expeditious way to do it is to knit in the round, wherein you never need to purl. Now, this is all great and everything if you're knitting a pullover with no sleeves. :0 But the instant you need to make an opening for sleeves, or God forbid, a center opening for a cardigan 😱, you need a steek. To steek, means TO CUT YOUR BEAUTIFUL KNITTED GARMENT THAT YOU JUST SHED BLOOD OVER.

I literally don't understand how this is possible. There's something about reinforcing the fabric with sewing prior to taking your scissors to it, but I'm feeling woozy, so I do not understand these words.

This is the last knitting frontier for me. I NEED to try this and live to tell about it.

Before I'm willing to go there for a sweater, I need a smaller steek. A baby steek. A steek with training wheels. So I'm going to knit Fair Isle slippers:

"Frost Slippers" by Emily Kintigh

Don't laugh. I may need you to come and hold my weeping form before this takes place.  You may also need to bring a bottle of vodka.

I will grant, it's going to take me many months to accomplish all of these items. I'll update the blog as I make my way through each project, but it may take me a year or more! :0

Here is out Bingo card to keep track!

 Anne's sweater is already on the needles, so there's a start. *halo* Are you excited to join along with my crafting adventures? What new adventures are you up to this beautiful June day? Have you gotten your book club book, the time is getting closer!!

Ongoing summer reading, and sometimes we all need to challenge ourselves to try new things...

Well, isn't it just a splendid June day! The weather has been perfectly lovely here (by which I mean sunny and pleasant, sometimes cloudy, seasonal temperatures, and no scorching humidity that causes my hair to balloon or my skin to break out in a bumpy heat rash. Gross :0) and I'm reveling in the quiet serenity that the summer provides. My kids finish up school next week (they go late here, indeed), and are both excited by a few summer road trips they have coming their way with both us and their grandparents.

For my part, I've been enjoying the increased quiet time with more reading and crafting than I can normally manage during the academic year. If you're looking for some recommendations, I have your back! As always. 😇

I recently finished up reading Flowers and Foul Play, by Amanda Flower:

I read this with Sam, and we both absolutely LOVED IT. It's a cozy fantasy/mystery set in Scotland, and it has me dreaming of windswept coastlines, and knitting rugged cabled sweaters (we'll come back to that shortly :0). I highly recommend this author, I just love her! I pre-order all of her books, I enjoy them that much and want to support her!

I'm currently in a small aviation-related book club with my new friend Janel, and we are reading Scapegoat, by Emilio Corsetti:

This is INTERESTING. It's about TWA flight 841, which plunged from 39,000 feet inexplicably, and nearly crashed, in 1979. It was saved by it's crew within a few thousand feet from the ground, and this book details the incident from multiple perspectives, as well as the investigation and the dramatic saga of the crew afterwards. A fascinating non-fiction read!

As ever in the summertime, I have also picked back up with the Harry Potter series. I'm currently on Order of the Phoenix:

It may take me all summer just to read this particular volume in the series. :0 It's a long book, and as you know, I'm always reading other things as well! I am not monogamous when it comes to book reading. ;-)

Based upon the above (plus one previously read title), I'd say I ticked off 3 items on my Summer Reading List! Memoir, contemporary secular fiction, and historical non-fiction. Boo-yah! I just need historical fiction, and SNORT. That's easy. I have like 30 titles on my Kindle that fit the bill. :0

In other news, my crafting continues to bring me solace and joy. Never a gal to leave well enough alone and make things easy on myself, I have decided to issue a challenge. I have been crocheting since my teens, and knitting since I was pregnant with Henry (who is now 12). I've got a lot of experience under my belt. And it's not that I've gotten into a rut, but there are certain types of projects that are my comfort zone. I like my comfort zone. It's safe there. :0

But there are certain techniques that I have either never tried, or have attempted only rarely with mixed success. I think there is a greater life lesson in here that extends WAY beyond my humble crafting world. We often fall into comfortable habits without our hobbies and activities. After a time, we cease trying new things and motivating ourselves to improve beyond what we can already do well. This summer I have resolved that I'd like to challenge myself again. Try projects that intimidate me, and techniques that make me whimper to think of them. I'm hoping that all of this brain power will mean I'm less likely to develop dementia many decades from now like the research promises. 😁

I am actually so excited about this undertaking that I am merely teasing it in this week's post. Next week, I am working on a full-on list, with pattern links and pictures, and an accompanying bingo-like graphic, of the projects I'd like to challenge myself with over the course of the next year. It is complete and utter ridiculousness, and I am LOVING IT!!

*trumpets blare*

I feel strongly that as a child and young woman, I did not challenge myself all that often. I was shy and reserved, and even making a new friend was putting myself WAY out there. In a sense, this time of my life is making up for lost time. One of the biggest leaps I took in my life was in my very late 20's, when I left my legal career and went back to graduate school for librarianship. I didn't start taking belly dance lessons until I was in my 30's, and that's also when I learned to knit (which bears no resemblance to crocheting, despite them both using yarn, so it was a totally new skill). More recently, I became a professional belly dancer and learned to drive a stick shift, two things that I thought I would never have the courage to do. These are healthy things on which to challenge myself, and I want to continue that trend.

So. Next week. Dun dun DUN! The big crafting challenge list! I'm super excited. I can make it a little saga as we travel through the year together, with accompanying graphics and see how I do, lol. Do you have a bucket list of sorts? Generally, or within a specific hobby? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

You probably don't even want to ask :0

It's been a crazy week in the life of your Catholic librarian.

Because sometimes, you just really need a gigantic cutout cookie...

And I hate being all rushy, rushy, kwim? But I've been all rushy, rushy.  I know that my life is NOT more busy than anybody else's, but when it happens I do mourn for peaceful solitude. In that vein, every time I tried to write this post, I was interrupted (fits the theme ;-)) but whenever I come back to continue I keep remembering that the St. Gianna Beretta Molla novena starts today. When everything seems chaotic, turn to prayer, yes? So if you'd like to join in, I'm starting today!

For the amusement of all of you, I'll relay my busyness troubles of late, and maybe you can relate.  Do detail your own escapades in the comments. :)

All right, so last week every single weeknight had an activity in it. Don't get me wrong, they were fun activities: the ballet, a visit with out of town family, dance rehearsal. All fabulous.

Then there was the other stuff.

The first day above 50 degrees since back in the fall, and guess who had to work on Saturday afternoon?

*weakly raises hand*

I don't normally have to work on the weekends, but we all have to pitch in on a handful of undesirable shifts over the course of the semester, and Saturday was one of mine. Lucky me. And BEFORE that, in the worst instance of scheduling cluelessness so far this year, I had made an appointment to have my hair dyed delicately trimmed. I come by this brown hair honestly. Mostly.

So I need to rushy rushy to and from the hair salon, and back home to scarf down lunch and brew coffee before heading to the library. I arrive for my shift Saturday at 1 pm, feeling particularly martyr-like. For two hours, I peruse Instagram for fashion ideas, chat with Samantha, and online shop for Mother's Day gifts. Then the phone rings.

It was a faculty member, looking for a specific journal volume. Everything went swimmingly until I discovered and relayed that aforementioned journal volume was located in our off-campus storage facility. And by "off-campus" I mean a less than 5 minute drive. We also will ship any requested volume to the library within a business day, free of charge.

Let's just say that the faculty member was very unkind in his reaction. This is a very charitable way of indicating "rude", just to be clear. Apparently, storage facility hatred is a thing. I was very calm and nice to him, which I think made him even madder. He hung up in a huff.

Afterward, I felt a little shaken up, but I thought to myself:

"You know, it must be a terrible cross to bear to be such a giant... CENSORED!!"

Indeed. In the past, I would have been upset about the whole experience for days, because it really bothers me to deal with people who act in such a confrontational manner. But over the years I have come to realize that we cannot control the behavior of other people, only ourselves. And it's pointless to let someone else's behavior disturb my inner tranquility.

Boom! Super professional and courteous, but inwardly conniving, librarian, for the win.

And those same skills are carrying me through this week, in that my students turned in the first draft of their final projects.

Sigh.

Does nobody read the syllabus anymore? Or come to class? That would also help. But even just READING THE SYLLABUS would aid them so, so much. It's only a couple of pages long, really. I promise. SO MANY QUESTIONS COULD BE ANSWERED THEREIN. That is the, you know, *reason* we created it in the first place. So when it gets to be time to turn in final projects, and some students have no idea what an e-portfolio even IS, let along how to use it, it gets a bit frustrating.

Thus, I spoke about how to draft and publish their work in the e-portfolio in class on Monday. I sent out an email that day, as well as this morning, about how to draft and publish their work in the e-portfolio. I pointed to the posted help documentation on how to draft and publish their work in the e-portfolio. Yet, some of the e-portfolios are still lacking content.

I get a few email responses:

"Do I need to hit 'publish' for you to be able to see it?"

Why yes. Yes you do.

Is it me? I think it's me. I am officially old enough that I have forgotten how college students think.

That's the verdict: I AM OLD.

Clearly, I need a few ridiculous belly dance gigs to stumble into my life to make me feel young and vibrant again. Where are all of those rickety stages and terrified-looking audience members when you need them?!

Oh, and then there is the overeager author who keeps calling me to request that the library buy his book:

"Have you looked at all of the emails I have sent to you?"

"Yes, thank you. If we're interested, we will order the book."

We're not. But I didn't say that. See, Operation Feelings Being Spared afoot, right there. I'm nice.

"But will you be back in touch with me?"

"No, we have all of the information, thank you."

"But you'll have to call me to order the book. You cannot order it any other way."

"I'm sorry?"

"The book is only sold out of my house. I have the boxes in my basement."

People, I WISH I was making this stuff up. Let's just say it's only Tuesday, and yet it's been a REALLY long week.

And then there's this:

This is after a WEEK of detangling work. #killme

In an effort to shorten my future time in purgatory, I occasionally put fingering weight yarn onto my swift and purposely tangle it into an absolute MOUNTAIN of thousands of tiny little knots, so that I can spend the next 10 days of my life painstakingly getting them all out, thus allowing the yarn to form a proper ball.  I will have to deal with inexplicable yarn fuzz causing tight, deadly knots, and the logistical nightmare of trying to detangle from both ends at the same time. I will have to face the terrifying possibility of CUTTING the yarn, and even worse, REATTACHING IT! And then, in the most painful irony of all: when the yarn is all safe and sound and ready to be knit, I will have to knit, not for myself, but FOR SOMEBODY ELSE. THEY will get to enjoy the super fantastic scarf/shawl/socks/whatever that likely has some of my own blood mixed in with it.

*glares*

That's how my week has gone. How has yours been? :0

"Is that a knitted Amoeba?" Adventures with mystery shawls on Ash Wednesday...

Good morning to you all, and a very blessed Ash Wednesday to you. I am all discombobulated today in terms of Lent beginning. I've been excited about it all week, did tons of Lenten-related retweeting all day yesterday, pulled out the book at the top of the Catholic Book Club list for spiritual reading during the season, and then...this morning I woke up all punchy. I felt rather down and beleaguered and didn't want to get out of bed. My hair would not straighten properly and looks like I stuck my finger in an electrical outlet, and I forgot to pack my Kindle so that I could begin my reading over lunch. I also forgot my print copy of the Magnificat Lenten Companion and didn't think at all about the Lenten fast while I packed my lunch, which thankfully by complete coincidence does not include meat. I am just all sixes and sevens over here. But I'm hanging in there.

I'm on the reference desk this morning, and then I am planning to go to a noon Mass with ash distribution here on campus. I'm rather looking forward to that, and hope springs eternal that it improves my disposition. I mean, if it's any indication, I just kicked a student out of the reference desk chair, which had been moved AGAIN overnight, as that has become a huge pet peeve of mine. Ordinarily I would have sat in one of the other, less comfortable chairs and said nothing. Not today. This is what we're working with here. :0

#AshWednesdayGrouch

#PossibleDemonicAttack

I did do it nicely. *nostril flare*  And things in my crafting world are not going much better. Granted, they are not going *terrible*, but they are moving along at a glacial pace that is making me antsy. After nearly a freaking month, I finished clue 3 of the Downton Abbey mystery knit-along. Here is what we have:

Let's not even get into the specifics of the many inappropriate things we could say this looks like, because there are too many to count. I think that where we're headed is that the center motif (which is currently all misshapen for reasons that are not its own) will become more prominent, and we'll add on a second wing on the other side. I've started clue 4, and we're decreasing, so this wing is coming to an end.

The lace is now going seamlessly, so no troubles there. I do like the center motif, but while I don't hate the lace on the wing, I'm not in love with it either. I think that with these mystery shawls it can be hard to gauge your feelings on the design until the end, because things are just so underdeveloped for so long.

And speaking of underdeveloped, here is our crochet cousin, who is a little bit further along in the process, at the completion of clue 4:

Terrible picture, sorry

This guy now has two full wings, so it's not looking quite so fetal. I've peeked at spoilers for this shawl, and I will say that clues 5 and 6 make it absolutely GORGEOUS, with layers of scallops along the border. Right now, he's looking a bit mesh-y and like he's not quite sure where he's going in life, but I am optimistic that things will improve for him. The colors in this variegated yarn are definitely pooling, as I knew they would, but given that I love the autumn colors, I'm happy with it.

Overall, given that they are lace, both shawls will benefit tremendously from blocking when they are complete, which will stretch out the design and show it to its full potential. I hope.

So, that's the progress update. How are your shawls going? I'd love to hear. :)  And let me know how your Ash Wednesday is going so far! All the details, pretty please. And we have Tea Time tomorrow, yay! I always look forward to that time with you. ;-)

I'm mystery-crafting-along. And along, and along and along...

Welcome everyone to a crafty day here at Life of a Catholic Librarian! I've been a very busy bee this winter with both knitting and crocheting, and every January for the past few years I've participated in a Downton Abbey-themed mystery knit-along sponsored by Jimmy Beans Wool. This year, there is both a knit-along *and* a crochet-along (hereinafter referred to as MKAL and MCAL, respectively). Guess which Fear of Missing Out Eager Beaver decided to do both?

*raises hand*

The way that these work is that the design of the item (we only know that both are shawls) is revealed week by week. Every Sunday the designer releases a new "clue" that is an additional segment of the pattern. We're now into week 4 of the process, and I posted back after week 1 as to how things were starting out, if you want to go take a peek at the beginning of each shawl. I know that a few of you are also participating.

OK, so week 4. *sigh* Accountability time. To the surprise of absolutely no one except me, I am behind. I did really well for the first two weeks.

Famous.Last.Words.

**And if you don't want to see spoiler pictures of the mystery as it progresses, cease reading the post now!

So, the first two clues for both the knit and crochet versions involved what I'm thinking is a center motif. Here is the MCAL after two clues:

Autumn-hued loveliness

I really love it. It's slightly asymmetrical by design, and I like how the colors are pooling. Makes me think of the fall. *heart*

The knit version, meanwhile, was having a bit of a tighter squeeze of things. It's scrunched onto a 24 inch cable as we worked in the round, but it also is a center motif. It was harder to photograph as a result, but here is the MKAL after two clues:

"Somebody help me, please, this cable is strangling me!!"

I took that picture on our anniversary weekend, and by the end of the day Sunday, I had both clues finished and was ready for clue 3. Then came the troubles.

Well, maybe "troubles" is too strong of a word, but let's just say that I'm STILL not finished with clue 3, and the rest of the crafters are well into clue 4. Both shawls moved out of the round motif and onto a flat side in clue 3, into a bit of a...wing situation. I did manage to finish the MCAL clue, and here is what it looks like:

Sort of like the logo for the Detroit Red Wings

I still love the colors, and I have faith that as the design progresses, it will look less and less like something about to take flight, but right now it looks a bit odd. I have not been able to start clue 4 yet.

As for the knit version:

*crickets*

It's fine, it's just that it feels like the rounds of knitting in clue 3 may never end, and I will knit, and knit, and knit this lace pattern well into the next decade of my life. I was a bit intimidated by the start of clue 3 because the design calls for you to put a bunch of stitches onto waste yarn, and I was all scared to do that for fear that several stitches would take advantage of the situation to jump ship and nefariously drop their way down, ruining my lace work. I managed it all fine though, and began to knit, but there are something like 96 rows of knitting in this clue alone. I mean, I know that we're now knitting significantly less stitches than we were before, but I still feel like crying every time I pick this thing back up, look at the pattern, and find that I'm STILL on row 15. Wasn't I on row *19* the last time I worked on this? Am I actually moving *backwards*?! It's just seeming absolutely endless to me, and clue 4 is not even in sight:

"Ahoy out there, Clue 4! We're coming to get you! It'll just be another...week or two!"

In a development that seemed to be originating from the very pits of Satan's Knitting Realm, I found a mistake in my lace last night, and had to unknit stitches to fix it and align my stitch count again. Why yes, I am IN FACT GOING BACKWARDS, just as I suspected.

*glares*

I was able to fix it with just a bit of improvisation ("What the *&$! How is there *still* one extra stitch?! Forget it, I'm knitting 2 together and moving on with my life"), the lace looks fine, and my stitch count is now correct. So I'm on row 19 again.

Why God, Why?!

I'm getting a bit sick of this winged shawl at this point, but I'm slogging on. I've just come to the conclusion that I will be behind in the MKAL and I'm going to have to live with it. I don't have to like it, but I do have to live with it. Ugh.

How are your shawls going, dear knitters? I need a knitting pick-me-up, so please write in and regale me with your amusing tales. ;-)

Downton Abbey craft-along progress...This is supposed to be *relaxing*, right?!

Well HELLO to all you gals and guys out there in Blog Reading Land! I'm so glad that you're here! I thought the time was right for a crafty post, and so here we are, crafting along together. :)

This has been rather a busy week, and in terms of knitting and crocheting, I am WAY behind. But let's ignore that little tidbit for the time being. Last Sunday hearkened the start of the annual Downton Abbey mystery knit- and crochet-along and like the Type A Eager Beaver that I am, I downloaded the first clue right away and started knitting.

*spoiler alert! If you're doing the MKAL or MCAL and don't want to see progress photos, skip this post :)*

So, the way that this works is that each Sunday morning, a clue comes out with a portion of the pattern. We do know that the finished items will be shawls, but not how the designs will look. This continues throughout the season of Downton Abbey, with the final clue being released for the finale.

I decided to start with the knit shawl and leave the crochet clue for later in the week. I excitedly get my wound yarn and needles and look at the pattern: it calls for a heretofore unknown to me cast on method devised by some woman named Emily Ocker. It's a method of casting on in the round using a small amount of stitches, whereby you create a ring that can be pulled together later, creating a nice, small, non-gappy circle. That all sounds super efficient and lovely, right?

Well. :) Casting onto double pointed needles with just a few stitches on each needle creates...let's just say A NEAR OCCASION OF SIN. The needles are flopping every which way, stitches are sliding off of needles such that I have to start over, all the way back to the ring, I can't discern which needle even comes next in the circle and if it's facing the right direction...I have to re-start the thing multiple times, and by the third or fourth try, I'm pretty punchy. I'm thinking very uncharitable thoughts about this nefarious Emily Ocker, who has so obviously created a device of torture for knitters. Over on the Ravelry discussion board for the knit-along, people are dramatically declaring that they have given up and are electronically flouncing off. I'm far too stubborn to give up, but I'm certainly not happy about it.

I finally manage to get through the first few rounds by holding the needles taut in place using an octopus-like hand configuration and then things get a tad steadier. I knit and increase for about 10 rounds, cautiously optimistic about my future shawl. Then I pull on the yarn tail, which allegedly will close up my ring, and give me a beautiful center to the lace motif. Nothing happens.

*censored*

Let's just say that that wasn't a good moment and leave it at that. Mike had to gently intervene, coaxing me to put the knitting down and not rip it from the needles. Then I pretended to be totally calm and over it, before sneaking off with my phone to frantically text my friend Stacy, who is also participating in the knit-along. She texted me off the ledge, convincing me to leave it on the needles for her to look at in the morning.

Over lunch the next day, Stacy and I figured out a way to pull up a different loop from the original ring and pull it *mostly* taut. It wasn't the way it was supposed to work, I had clearly done something wrong all the way back at the evil, Satan-spawned cast on, but it worked, and so I didn't have to start over and risk losing what is left of my mind. After that, I finished the rest of clue 1 without incident, thankfully:

At least it's done

It's a scrunchy photo, to be sure, but as you can see it has a nice lacy look, and I'm wondering if the final design will be a pi shawl. We will soon find out.

Around mid-week, I started in on the crochet clue. This one generally went better, although I will say that this is not a beginner-level pattern. It's definitely intermediate, and the directions were difficult to follow. The message boards had lots of back-and-forth with the designer to decipher the pattern language, and there was even an update provided to the pattern to clarify things better. I was rather glad that the dust had settled somewhat before I picked this one up. I also switched my yarn choice from a solid teal color to a variegated autumn colorway, and I really love the result:

One can never have too many autumn hues in their wardrobe...

Right now it looks like a budding granny square, yes indeed, but I'm very fond of it. It looks like in clue 2 we may go asymmetrical, so excitement is in store! If you're a crochet nerd, that is. ;-)

I've started in on clue 2 for the knit version, and it's going well, albeit slowly because I have little time to work on it this week. I will post updates as the shawls progress!

How about you, dear reader? Are you working on either of these shawls? Write in and let me know how it's going. :)

Holiday crafting: How is that going, Tiffany?

Well, it's funny that you should ask. :0 It's been on my mind a lot lately too, great minds think alike, right? ;-) Soooo, here's the scoop, settle in with your beverage...

There are traditionally many stages to the holiday crafting life. In my experience, they go like this:

(1) July. You excitedly make a list of handmade items for Christmas gifts. You get all giddy with creative energy and feel tremendously accomplished.

(2) Still July. You place a giant yarn order, feeling zero guilt whatsoever, because, seriously, THIS IS FOR GIFTS!! You can go *hog wild* and feel nothing but sanctimonious warm and fuzzies about your purchases.

(3) August. You cast on for a pair of gift mittens, feeling that if there were a Nobel Peace Prize for Knitting, you would clearly win it this year.

(4) September. You have finished one mitten, and are hip deep in the fall frenzy that is sweater knitting. None of these are gifts, but you fret not. It's only September. There's still PLENTY of time!

(5) October. You have finished the mittens, but you have finally re-looked at that list you created back in July. Oh dear. Better start focusing on those red and green colorwork dishcloths.

(6) November. You have finished multiple gifts, but you have come to the sinking realization that you are in deep trouble. You still have MANY gifts to go, of which socks somehow number about 57. You place another yarn order for sport weight yarn to replace the thinner fingering weight you originally bought. This will make them knit up faster!

(7) Thanksgiving. You are in denial. You are frantically knitting sock #6 and have convinced yourself that there is STILL TIME! to finish everything by Christmas. Is it possible to knit socks out of super bulky weight yarn? They'd be like pillows for your feet. Who wouldn't want that?!

(8) Early December. You are morose. You have come to the conclusion that you are an absolute IDIOT for making this clearly unattainable list and have set yourself up for failure. AGAIN. Also, you are sick to death of knitting socks.

This is the point I am at, my friends. I have indeed finished some gifts, but I am no where NEAR what I had hoped to complete. I'm not even going to go back and link to my originally posted list from this summer, because the whole thing would be just too demoralizing. :0 I recently finished this pair of socks:

But SO many more socks to go. I'm nearly done with another pair, I'm on the heel flap of the second sock, so that will get done this week, and I can mail those off. After that...more yarn winding, more sock knitting.

*sobs!*

To add insult to injury, I nearly *ran out of yarn* on that blue pair you see above. I was holding my breath knitting the foot of the second sock in the pair, praying to whoever is Patron Saint of Overambitious, Insane Knitters, that I would not run out. Because if I had to order another hank of yarn just to close up a toe, I would NOT have been a happy knitting camper, no sir. I finished with a few yards to spare and felt very thankful indeed.

That's sort of where I'm at. I'm not going to finish everything, but I'm doing what I can and have gotten substitute gifts where possible. Mike isn't going to get his promised sweater, but I have other ways of distracting him until I finish. ;-) You know, around the 4th of July. Perfect alpaca tweed sweater weather, right?!

In other news, the kids have harvested the saints they received on St. Nicholas's feast day from their shoes, and tucked them away with their friends in preparation for Christmas. Here is Henry's saint collection:

All nice and orderly.

That's St. Stephen, St. Isadore the Farmer, St. Blaise and St. Nicholas, from left to right. Lined up like soldiers. Anne's saints, on the other hand?

What is happening here?

Apparently, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Czestochowa are taking a nap in a plastic container she rescued from the garbage, and St. Nicholas is watching over them. She also has a collection of soft felt saint dolls who are all packed together into a baby crib. The saints like to sleep a lot, it seems.

Everybody is in high Advent mode with Christmas readying, it seems. ;-) How is your holiday crafting going, dear reader? General Christmas preparations? Do write in and tell me all about it!

Friday Fails, brought to you by your Catholic Librarian...

Happy Friday everybody! Once again, I was hoping to do 7 Quick Takes, but can I tell you a secret? I love writing those posts (and all of the quirky subtitles, or, at least I *hope* you find them quirky), BUT...they take at least twice as long to write as most other posts that I compose. 7 Quick Takes ain't so quick, I'm here to tell ya. And so unfortunately, I don't always have the time to dedicate to them. Today is one of those days.

But I do have time for a short post, and so here we are. I mentioned some knitting adventures last week, and in fact, after a really good run, I had *two* such knitting adventures. And what were those, pray tell?

*look of innocence*

(1) Let's just knit all these stitches together and move on with our lives, shall we?

I've been knitting for what feels like a decently long time now. Close to 10 years, maybe in the 8 year range. And though I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means, I still feel able to tackle more advanced projects. I'm not always *successful* mind you, but I have the skills to at least try. But every once in a while, even in a project that comes much easier to me (like knitting socks, because I've been doing that for years) something...*wonky* happens. I don't know how to define wonky exactly, just something that happens that shouldn't have happened. And I've found that when that happens, I am very averse to:

(a) figuring out what happened, and
(b) fixing it.

I just really, really want to plow ahead and finish whatever it is that I'm working on. I truly don't want to go BACKWARDS, kwim? And so the other day, when I was turning the heel on a Pittsburgh Steelers sock I'm knitting for my father-in-law's birthday, I suddenly realized that I had far more stitches on one end of the heel than I did on the other. And do you want to know what I did?

I sighed. I looked at the sock angrily. I pushed the stitches around a bunch on the needle. And then I knit something like 5 stitches together on the one side to even things out, and moved onto the gusset. And they look fine. Right?

Fine, they look fine, right?! *I demand that you agree to this* If a bit like a pair of socks a giant bumble bee would wear...

The heels don't *look* uneven, so hope springs eternal that he won't notice anything when he wears them. Because I wasn't redoing that heel. No awards for Knitting Martyrdom being given out over here. ;-)

(2) "Join in the round, being careful not to twist." *simmers with rage*

OK, keeping it real here. There are few things that vex me more in my knitting life than joining an item in the round after I have cast on. Here's the process:

(a) I dutifully cast on all 253 *freaking* stitches.

(b) I pause and take a breath, because this is the big moment.

(c) I line all of those stitches up like little soldiers, making sure they all face the same direction and are not twisted in any way, shape, or form.

(d) I VERY CAREFULLY place a stitch marker to indicate the beginning of the round.

(e) I recheck all the little stitches. Yep, all facing in same direction, no twist.

(f) I join in the round.

(g) I knit happily.

This is all going fine until DISASTER STRIKES. I've now knit over an inch of fabric, and do you want to know what I suddenly see?

That is Evil Incarnate right there. Next to my adorable and matching stitch marker, yes it is true.

Um hum, that's right. That's what makes it so insidious. You never know about The Evil right away. You are knitting and knitting, la, la, la, all the while thinking that things are FINE when in fact they are decidedly NOT FINE. I'm knitting so sweetly and innocently, and then I think to myself: "Oh, I need to straighten out this little twist so that I can keep knitting, how did that happen? It should be fine by time I get to the end of the round, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT THERE WERE NO PERMANENT TWISTS IN THIS THING WHEN I JOINED IN THE ROUND!"

Shouting things to yourself makes them so. I've tried and tested this theory.

I straighten the "temporary" and "merely inconvenient" twist. I knit a little more. "Why there's that twist again! This thing must have gotten really twisted up in my knitting bag! I'll straighten it again." I straighten it. And then I do The Scary Thing. I pursue the twist, pulling it straight all the way to the end of the round, where SURELY it will meet another twist going in the opposite direction and the fabric will flatten out like a dream, reverting to it's natural untwisted state.

I get to the end of the round. The twist is still there, looking up at me mockingly. I swear it even cackled at me.

And that moment, my friends? Combined with looking back at the pattern, and seeing this phrase:

"Join in the round, being careful not to twist."

Let's just say that you might be a little shocked by what came out of my mouth next. You might even be scandalized, gently tell me that I may have a problem if I get this upset by twisted knitting, and suggest that I avail myself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

You wouldn't be wrong, but I would ignore you. I would then picture the designer in my mind, and then imagine myself punching them right in the face. I would then go into my kitchen and consume a shot of whiskey. 

And the fate of the cowl? *delicately clears throat* It's now a mobius design. I MEANT to do that. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

This post wasn't all that short, was it? But it was fun to write, and all stream of consciousness, so I wrote it quickly. ;-) I'm dancing both days this weekend, in an exhausting festival run. If you think of it, around 1 and 3 pm EST on Saturday and Sunday, wing up a prayer that your Catholic Librarian isn't currently humiliating herself by falling off of the stage. With a sword on her head.

I will talk to you all next week. And if you have any crafting fails, do write in and tell us all about them. :0

Fun spring knitting, and what's that in the garbage can? Oh. Winter knitting gone horribly awry :0

Good day to you all, and as you can see from the title, I decided to pen a light crafting post for today. It's my first day back at work since the Triduum began, and I'm feeling a little blue. I need a pick-me-up! And I always enjoy writing these posts.

So, what have I been working on craft-wise in recent weeks? Things that are springy, to be sure. I used the basic egg pattern from Easter Knits to make this fetching little guy for Anne:

Anne has named him "eggy." :) There are some lovely Fair Isle egg patterns in that book, but I was low on time and went the easy, self-striping route. ;-) Anne also received her much demanded penguin:

He's a baby Emperor penguin, hence the gray body. And I gave him a scarf to hide a slightly wonky neck, don't want him getting a complex. ;-) Anne loves him:

He's already showing signs of giving in to his wonky neck, he's been cuddled and squashed so much. I'm thinking of performing a little surgery and giving him some more stuffing, but Anne expresses much trauma whenever I mention this, and she sleeps with him every night, so no hope of me doing this on the sly. That remains an option though, we'll see how he holds up. The important thing is that she loves him.

Henry has requested a stuffed alien from that same pattern book, which is this one by the way:

I'm hoping to get to him this spring as well. Henry also loves handknit socks, and I have a pair for him in the queue, as soon as I finish the Easter pair I'm working on for myself:

I love self-striping sock yarn, as does Henry. :) This is a specifically Easter colorway, Henry's is called Gingerbread, so obviously leftover from Christmas, but this bothers him not in the least. He's such a good boy, and truly appreciates his knit socks.

So, those are all the GOOD crafting things I've had going on. :) There has been one unfortunate project leftover from the winter, and well... Let's just say that that one went so badly, I don't even have any photographic evidence of it, that's how much I hated it. :0 I rather wish I had saved the photos I took, because they would have provided endless amusement at this point for both you and I, but I was so traumatized I deleted the entire project from my Ravelry gallery, and so my Sunset Cardigan is lost to history.

*everyone breathes a sigh of relief*

This was one of those projects that I felt duty bound to knit because during a sale, I had bought some unfortunate yarn that I later regretted. Has this ever happened to you?

"Oh wow, what a great price on a high quality fiber! The color isn't really something I'd usually pick, but it's very...eclectic! It's different, and I like it. And the price is amazing! I really should buy this."

So I do. And then it sits in my yarn stash. And it sits some more. When the year point rolls around, it glares at me each time I dip into my worsted weight wool bin and don't pick it up. I think to myself that I just need to find the perfect pattern for it, given it's eclectic nature, and it sits some more.

Finally, I make the decision that this yarn has to go. Far too stubbon to try and list it for sale on Ravelry, I find a simple cap sleeved cardigan pattern and get to work, telling myself that I canNOT buy more yarn until this stuff is used up. I feel virtuous.

And so I knit. And knit. And knit. Stockinette stitch, back, and forth, back and forth, until I fear that all creativity has been sucked out of my very soul. But I heroically soldier on. I bought this yarn, gosh darn it, I'm going to use it up. The body looks weird by time I finish, but I add the ribbed trim anyway, and well.

I hated it. :0 Hated it, hated it, hated it. I have some knitting friends who, when they hate a project, angelically pull the yarn back out so that they can reuse it to make something else. Not I, my friends. I hope you're not disappointed in me. :0 But once I hate something, I hate it, there are no second chances. I never wanted to look at that yarn again, and now that it's not here to glare at me any further I'm just going to say it: IT WAS UGLY. It was ugly, and I'm not apologizing to it any further. It had to go. It was so ugly, I couldn't even donate it to the St. Vincent DePaul Society, because nobody else should have to wear something that ugly either.

I suppose I feel a little guilty, but I'm just glad that that torture is over. ;-) Lots of bad mojo removed from my yarn bins. All of the other yarn has already thanked me.

Have you ever had a project not turn out the way you envisioned? Are you making anything this spring? Do chime in. :)

Read and Stitch: A mystery set in Amish country & a mystery shawl revealed!

Afternoon all, I'm reporting in from the sick bay. Poor Mike has what appears to be the flu, and there was no way he was going to be able to manage Anne today on his own (let alone teach), so I stayed home to nurture everybody. I felt terrible for him, but I couldn't help discreetly edging away from him in bed last night as he hacked and shivered pathetically. Germs, stay away! 

But I still wanted to check in with another Read and Stitch installment. These posts have been fun so far, and I'm hoping to keep them going every couple of months. This month I read Murder Tightly Knit, by Vanetta Chapman.

Ok, so Murder Tightly Knit. This is Book 2 in the Amish Village Mystery series. I did not read the first book in the series, which is Murder Simply Brewed, but I do think the books stand alone. I chose this one because of the knitting title, but the connecting theme within the series is this Village of affiliated shops, set in Amish country Indiana. Hence, the first book featured the woman who manages the Village coffee shop, and this book features the yarn shop. Or, at least, that's what I *thought.* :) One of the characters in the story does indeed work in the yarn shop, but the main character is a non-Amish woman named Amber who manages the entire Village. We as the reader aren't in the yarn shop all that much. I was a little disappointed by that, but this is a sweet story nonetheless.

The action centers around the murder of a young man in the local Amish community, one who had left and recently come back to the fold. He's been in contact with Mary, the woman from the yarn shop, and she seems to be a conduit of sorts with members who have left the community. Mary seems jumpy and like she knows something, and the reader is given a glimpse that the killer is (or at least dresses like) an Amish man. Intriguing, yes?

The characters in this book are likeable. I mentioned Mary and Amber, and we have Amber's husband Tate, Hannah from the coffee shop, plus some co-workers in the Village who provide comic relief and other development of the story. I loved the setting and definitely am thinking about reading the other books in the series.

I will say that it felt like it took me a long time to get through the story. Sometimes that happens when a book, while I like it, doesn't fully grab me. So, there's that. But I liked this book and would consider others in the series. Vanetta Chapman writes a lot of Amish fiction. Has anybody read this or other of her books?

As for me and my knitting, my Mystery Knit-along Downton Abbey shawl is one clue away from being complete. So far we have, ta da!

Not the greatest picture, but this was in the late evening after struggling with that lace chart so I wasn't exactly feeling up to a big photoshoot. ;-) Speaking of the lace, let's just say that mine is a little...unique. I'm going with "customized," let's never speak of it again. :0 Suffice it to say that when 350 stitches worth of yarn overs and decreases are on your needles and you discover a mistake from the previous row...yeah, I'm not going back. Life is too short.

I also started that wool stash busting afghan that I mentioned, in fall/forest colors:

I like it! I discovered a mistake in the pattern, this did not make for a happy Catholic Librarian, even when she's drinking wine. But all is well now and I like how it's coming out. The brown will be consistent throughout, but the pairs of contrasting colors will all be different, albeit within the same colorway theme. Or so I tell myself. It doesn't matter, I'll be warm. :0

Any other crafters out there? What's on your needles, do tell?!

Of really bad evenings and needed Lenten plans, come cheer me up!

I'm going to be honest - I woke up in kind of a surly mood. :0 I have St. Agatha right here with us because it's her feast day and I need a pick-me-up. Hi St. Agatha, pray for us please!

Ok, so my porky mood. Que pasa? I didn't have the best of evenings yesterday. It was just one of those times when nothing seemed to go right (aside from my potato soup in the crock pot, that stuff is *fantastic*) and the kids were bent on irritating each other, and Mike had play practice, so I was refereeing the two ruffians by myself. And then Anne didn't want to go to bed. AGAIN. And then once I got her in bed and started working on my Downton Abbey shawl I did something wrong and suddenly my 321 stitch shawl was 322 stitches. Lesson to all of us: when you are tired and cranky and your small child is howling upstairs because she doesn't want to sleep, that is the WRONG time to try and tackle a lace chart. You're welcome. ;-)

AND THEN my son comes to me and admits that, for no discernible reason, when taking his before-bedtime asthma medication, he took three times the recommended dose rather than the single chewable he has taken every night for years and years. Well, this may have been right around the time of the lace chart mishap, for understandable reasons, now that I think about it. But at any rate,  I feel myself pale and fire off a litany of questions to him, which makes him get this confused look on his face, like "what's the big deal?"

OH.SIGH.

Mike got home right around the time Henry was in tears as I made the necessary phone calls. He's fine, we just had to keep an eye on him, and needless to say we had a stern talk with him about prescription medication. Not a good evening.

So I woke up with all of that still weighing on me, you know? Henry was still fine this morning, all is OK there. But I just felt... blah. And my throat has been feeling "off" since yesterday afternoon, I'm worried that some nefarious illness is lurking there waiting to strike. Plus, it's February 5th, which this year means that Lent begins in...

13 days.

!

I have barely thought about Lent. I have no plan formulated or goals set or anything like that. I've been enjoying my Ordinary Time, it is true, but I do have to begin thinking of ideas since Ash Wednesday will be here before we know it. What are you all doing for Lent this year? If you have ideas, please do let me know. I love getting comments, it always makes my day, and I could use some cheer right now, yes? :)

I'm off to order some yarn to make myself feel better...

Adventures in intarsia knitting and Lent is coming! - The 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time...

Good morning all, and I hope that you are recovered from your Super Bowl festivities. ;-) We had a good time, inviting a few friends over. One of whom Anne has a crush on. :0 When your 3 year old is making valentines and wearing a dress in an attempt to capture the attention of a grown man, oh my. I'm not looking forward to her teenage years.

But yesterday was a fun day for other reasons too. The kids and I were at our usual 10 am Mass for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, one of the final few Sundays prior to the beginning of Lent. I'm still at 6's and 7's about a Lenten plan for this year. I'm sure I'll come up with one, and I will post it here, but so far I'm not feeling ready. I still want to enjoy Ordinary Time for now.

Our parish still has our poinsettia display on the altar, albeit along with the green banners symbolizing Ordinary Time. But Candlemas isn't until today, so everything still fits. :)  I was hoping for the St. Blaise blessing of throats, because this seemed to be the closest Sunday to his feast day of February 3rd, but the bulletin announced that we would be doing that *next* Sunday, so the preference must be for the Sunday following the feast. Our parish also always offers blessed candles for sale following Candlemas, so those will be out next weekend too. A bonanza of fun rituals and sacramentals for the Catholic nerd.

Mass was lovely, the music was particularly good this week. Anne is LOVING Children's Liturgy of the Word, she's asking every day about it. Yesterday, however, she was tired, and that's never a perfect situation. When Father called the kids up to go back into the sacristy, Anne straightened herself up with excitement, but then paused:

"What's wrong, Honey?"

"Where's my duckie?!"

She has this baby chick that I crocheted her for Easter last year, and suddenly he's her best pal.

"Oh. I think we left him in the bathroom, Honey."

Because, of course, our butts can't hit the pew upon arrival before she's asking to go to the bathroom. And duckie had made the trek with us.

"DUCKIE!!"

One would have thought he was trapped in a burning building.

"Don't worry Honey, I'll get him and bring him back to you, ok?"

*dubious expression*

"OK."

After she left the pew, I spotted the duck hiding underneath her coat. I grabbed him quickly, and made my way discreetly along the edges of the church, planning to bring him to her via a side door once she was back in the sacristy. But you know, Anne is 3. Discretion isn't in her vocabulary just yet.

Suddenly, from behind, I feel someone yank the duck out of my hand. It's Anne, and she looks furious.

"I'LL TAKE HIM MOMMY."

The look she gave me conferred the fact that she thought I was duck-napping this thing and was the worst human being on the face of the planet. Before I can stop her, she then proceeds to RUN across the altar to catch up with the class.

Oy.

Back at home, with Anne safely down for what I'd hoped would be a 3 hour nap :0 I was busy at work on this snowman stocking that I've been procrastinating over for months. This is actually a commissioned project, which I rarely do, but it's for a friend of a friend, and came with a heartbreaking story about a grandmother who knit all her grandchildren matching snowman stockings but whose arthritis no longer permits her to knit. So now, this friend has a new baby with no stocking. I mean...I couldn't turn that one down.

She said that she has other friends who knit, but they all said this pattern was too difficult to replicate, which should have been a clue, no, that maybe I was getting in over my head? The snowman is knit onto the fabric via a technique called Intarsia. This is when you are knitting a picture in the middle of a solid color. I have done Fair Isle knitting, which is when you are stranding the colors along as you knit. Intarsia is different. Because the colors are so localized inside the design, you need to have each color segment of yarn sectioned out and hanging there for every pass through the picture. Thus, even if you're using red in three different places within the picture, each of those instances requires a different segment of red yarn, you're not just carrying a strand of red along with you. What this means is that you have a gigantic mess on the wrong side of the fabric, with bobbins of yarn and yarn ends dangling about with abandon.

I finally told myself that Frosty had to get made, and since the weather was too snowy for a walk yesterday, I buckled down. Frosty looks pretty innocent, doesn't he?

But this is what it required to make Frosty:

And this is AFTER I wove in about a hundred thousand ends because I just couldn't take it anymore. AND I'd cut off the black and white bobbins since I was done with them. I mean...I was beside myself on every row untangling active bobbins from other ends and strands coming from God knows where:

"All right, I need the red."

Yes, I was talking to myself.

"Here's a red! No, that's the wrong red, I need the mouth red, not the end segment red.  Wait, what the...*&%$#! Where did that green come from?! And a black strand, I thought I wove those all in! Stop it, stop it, NOW THERE'S A KNOT!!"

Needless to say, I found Intarsia to be pretty stressful. #TypeA However, I'm really glad that I know how to do it now, and it is a cool looking result. Once I got through the color chart *angels sing!* I'm now grooving right along. The heel is done (it's white) and I'm finishing up the gusset. Just the foot and a white toe and we're done! Oh right, then I have to seam it.

*long suffering sigh*

But THEN I'll be done. And Frosty will go on to his new home.

How was your weekend, dear reader? Do leave me a comment. :)

#TBT What was I doing last year at this time? Read on if you care... :0

I don't even like Throwback Thursday (#TBT) so I feel a bit hypocritical taking advantage of it's wares for my own selfish needs, but there you have it. :0 Well, I suppose I usually dislike Throwback Thursday because I have zero intention of ever posting a photo of myself on here (or Facebook or Twitter) with the #TBT appended to it, of me with my horrendous 80's styled big hair, and high-waisted jeans with sock layers overlying the cuffs. Dear God, what were we thinking?! I like to pretend that I never looked like that and I'd appreciate it if you helped me along in my delusion, dear reader. ;-) So let's not speak of the 80's ever again.

*shudder*

Instead, let's re-read a fun post from early August of 2013, since I have a packed day today of meetings and a speech evaluation appointment to take Henry to, so no time to really blog. I'll be back tomorrow for 7 Quick Takes! There's dance updates to discuss (another performance this weekend!), big girl beds, books, sewing and knitting, oh joy! Be sure to check back tomorrow afternoon. Talk to you then!
_________________________________________

This is what it looks like when your evening doesn't go as planned...

...me, in my pajamas, with wet hair held in a messy bun by a hair fork and glasses perched on my nose, sitting despondently on the floor amongst a pile of yarn balls and half-finished socks in the living room, wishing that I had more wine, while Jane Austen's Persuasion plays in the background and I have no idea what is happening in the story.

How did this happen?

I had children. ;-)

Nah, seriously. The day started out well, with Henry and Anne both turning in good performances at Mass. I'd give Anne an A, Henry a B - (grade reduced by repeated instances of deliberately annoying touching of toddler and then *blowing on her hair*, "that's not touching!"). As long as I bring animal crackers for Anne all is well aside from all of the pew climbing, but really, I don't think we can reasonably expect that to be any different any time soon.

We got back to the house, had lunch, napped Anne, relaxed, did some chores around the house. All was well.

Then came the evening. Mike and Henry left for a baseball game they had tickets to. Anne and I settled in for some Dora watching and playing, and then mommy was planning for a Jane Austen night with wine and knitting post-bedtime. Sounds like a rock solid plan. I very rarely get the house and tv to myself, and I wanted to make the most of it.

As I was blowing Anne a kiss in her crib and closing her door for the night, the phone rings. It's Mike.

"Hank is sick. We're coming home."

Oh sigh.

By the time I grabbed my shower, they were pulling in the driveway. Hank comes limping in with a stomachache, and I fussed over him for a bit. We got him settled, and I went downstairs still determined to get my Jane Austen night started. Mike was down there, looking sour. :) It hadn't exactly been a fun start to the evening for him, either.

He poured me a glass of wine and put my movie in for me (he's such a thoughtful hubby) but retired to bed to recuperate and read. I happily settled in with my knitting and my wine.

I was finishing up a sock for Henry as I watched. I haven't read Persuasion, but I was confident that I'd be able to follow the story anyway. And I probably would have, had I actually been able to concentrate. We had a couple of interruptions, all very sweet, by Mike letting me know how Henry was faring upstairs. That was fine, of course, but at the same time I was having a yarn crisis: Sock #1 was finished, and it was perfect. but it's a sock, and so you know, you do need TWO of them, and my yarn supply was *clearly* over halfway extinguished. Hope does spring eternal, so I weighed it. Yep. Well under 25 grams left from a 50 gram supply.

*long suffering sigh*

Therein started an internal debate as to whether I should place another yarn order for more of this specific yarn when I just placed an order on Friday (that did not include more of this sock yarn). To get free shipping, you have to spend $50, and they still have some of that nice worsted weight wool on sale...

Ten minutes later I realize that the movie plot is getting away from me. I refill my wine glass and resolve to do better. I still don't have a solution for sock #2 in Henry's pair, but the first sock is perfect, and that's a victory. For the rest of the movie, I figure that I can work on the argyle sock for myself that I've been slaving over for at least 2 months. I procure said sock.

When is a good time to try on a complicated sock-in-progress? Good and gentle reader, I assure you that that time is decidedly NOT when you:

(a) are watching a movie that you are already having a difficult time following,

(b) are on your second glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and

(c)  are already feeling quite vulnerable from misjudging size and tension in a project that is still in plain view.

Do any of these things occur to your Catholic Librarian in the heat of the moment? No they do NOT, dear reader. I'm past the heel on a cuff-down sock and am working on the foot, so I push the sock to the cable of my long circular needle and slide my (allegedly dainty) foot through.

Well, I should say that I TRIED to slide my foot through. Argyle means that you are stranding multiple colors, and stranding means that you wind up with one heck of an inflexible fabric. I knew this, of course, but I am a loose knitter so I didn't think I would have any problems.

I was wrong.

It's not even *close*. My heel cannot in any way get near the heel of the sock. And by this, I mean that I took my foot out, took a deep breath, and then violently shoved it back in in while at the same time yanking on the back of the sock determined that it would fit in properly, sort of like Cinderella's stepsister if she had on cat pajamas, a librarian up-do and wire-rimmed glasses.

That turned out pretty much like you'd expect.

I resisted performing an act of terror against the hapless sock, but I did moan and groan about it enough that I completely lost my place in the movie. This is why you should never drink and knit.

I pissily got out the scraps of wool that I wanted to use to make Anne's fall cardigan and was determining which colors to use when Mike came down to check on me. This is when he found me in the state mentioned at the start of this post.

And so ends a sad sock saga. It happens in the life of all knitters, and it never gets easier, but you have to learn to accept it and deal with it.

R.I.P. Argyle Sock. I am not ripping you back because the thought of unraveling 3/4 of a sock worth of tightly stranded yarn makes me want to gouge my own eyeballs out. I am not finishing you, and then (even worse!) KNITTING A SECOND ONE OF YOU so that I can find another purpose for you other than being my sock, because well...I'm sorry to have to tell you this Argyle Sock, but I just don't love you enough. You only cost about $6 in yarn, and I'd rather have my sanity and waste your yarn than deal with the alternative. I have moved on to Anne's 2013 Fall Cardigan and I'm a lot happier. I hope that you can forgive me and stop hating me from your perch inside the bag stuffed in my closet. I know that it hurts right now, but I'm confident that we're both going to move past this. I may even try argyle again in the future.

DON'T GLARE AT ME LIKE THAT.