Restless Knitter

I thought I was too young.  I thought I could wait another 10 years.  It’s not so.  I’m not too young, and I won’t be waiting another 10 years.  The most I’ll wait is 9 months.  Then I will be a GRANDMOTHER!  My oldest daughter took 4 tests while we were up there in Small Town this weekend and they all agreed.  Positive.  I really didn’t think I was ready for this, but I’m actually quite excited.  (Now, I’m still not ready to be called Grandma but I’m okay with the name we’ve decided on, which is Nanna.)  Oh, there is going to be lots of baby knitting in the months to come, yes there is!

I finally got my Summer 2006 IK and I have to say I like it. Alot. I’ve tabbed 5 things I’d like to make when I grow 10 arms and can knit faster. First of all, I have to say that I looked at the designs in a different light than I usually do. Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean it sucks for everyone. In most cases, someone spent time and effort to create the pattern. Notice I said in most cases. Still, that being said, here are my thoughts on some of the designs.

Kudos to Kate Gilbert for the Mommy Snug. It’s rare that you see something that can be knit for someone with a pea in the pod so I applaud her for that.

I like the Looking Glass Top in general, but the hole between the boobs doesn’t appeal to me so I’d have to close it. Shame on IK for taking a dark picture though.

Wedgewood Blouse. Not a bad design but the sleeves look wonky in the pic. It looks like if you lift your arm, your sweater is going to hike up.

Brooklyn Cap, not my thing but it might flip someone else’s lid and that’s cool.

Bias Corset. I don’t like asymetrical things, so it makes sense that I don’t like the belly flap on this. I knew who’s design it was before I even looked at the name, which probably helped taint it. (While what happened was wrong, it seemed really childish to air that dirty laundry and it sort of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.)

Icarus Shawl, one of the things that went on my to-do list.

Seaberry Shell, it’s not often you see bulky knit lace. It’s cute but I don’t really like bulky yarn so I probably won’t be attempting it. This would be good for those that do like big needle knitting though. Great for someone who wants to knit something with a lace look and quick, unlike the amount of time it can take for a lace shawl on small needles.

Bonita Shirt, really cute but I don’t do embroidery. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone that does. Maybe I should say Fortunately, because I might be reduced to some begging and that could get ugly.

Lotus Blossom Tank. I wish they had taken a picture in a regular pose. In both pics, it makes me think she’s trying really hard to keep those shoulder seams up on her shoulders. If she puts her arms down, where will those straps fall to? Not a bad knit, but I think I would have liked a regular shaped neckline a little better. Something easily changed. Unless you’re a Restless Knitter and you make everything harder than it should be.

Eyelet Chemise. I’d totally make this. It reminds of the Lelah I made last year. One of these days I’m going to get around to making an FO gallery page. Which will be small. After I make backups. Whoops, straying here. Anyway, length would have to be added, I’m no longer in my lower 20’s and I don’t do belly shots anymore.

Evening Star Top. I’m going stash diving when we get back from Small Town USA and if there’s nothing in there, I may be forced to buy yarn. It looks long enough to cover the belly (may add length anyway, just in case), the neckline is attractive, the shoulders don’t look like they’re falling down, and I love cables. I’ve been wanting this exact pattern for some time, so I’m glad someone saved me the trouble of trying to design it myself. Probably won’t do the beads though.

Thorn & Thistle. I like it but I have to be honest enough with myself to say that I won’t make it. I want to make it, I’d wear it if it was already made, but all I can do is add it to the list of things that I’d love to have but won’t ever get around to making. Unless total shit comes out in books and magazines for the next year, and the chance of me not finding something to add to the to-do list? Practically nil. So yeah, honesty. Love it, won’t get around to it.

There are other things in the magazine but I think I’ve went on enough. I’ll just add that I was glad to see the article on lace. I’m saving it for reading material for the weekend trip.

And just so the post has a pictures, here are several pictures of my roses. I was pretty happy with the way these turned out, being as the day I took them it was pretty windy and they were doing a lot of dancing.  The third one from the end is the most fragrant one of the bunch.

You’ve convinced me. The Poinsettia shawl it is. I ordered it this morning from The KnittingZone. I asked them if Jaggerspun Zephyr would work for it and they said it would. Being as I had them on the phone, I also ordered the Cat’s Cradle Long-ways Scarf pattern. It’s currently out of stock but they should have it tomorrow or Friday so she’ll ship both of the patterns to me when it comes in.

I haven’t been working much on HLJ because I’ve been spending too much time surfing the web and looking through books. She’s not much farther than the last pic but here’s proof that she is progressing.

The bad thing about going through all the books and magazines is that I see all these things that I still want to make. Oh, that’s a cute baby sweater. I could have more than 2 things going at once, right? It would be a quick knit. And it would be a break between lace. Then Ooo, I like that cabled sweater, wonder if I have the yarn to do that? Then You know, a bolero wouldn’t take that long to make. I start going through the stash and make a list of what I have. I swatch. I’m getting 20 x 28, the pattern calls for 21 x 30. But I really like it, so maybe I’ll figure out how to adjust the pattern. I bounce around from project to project. My mind gets overloaded and I get discouraged because I can’t knit everything I want to Right Now!

Then I take pictures of some socks I bought awhile back because they are just too fun for words

Aren’t those fun? It’s like tattoos for the feet.  They had other designs too. Bella got ahold of one so there’s a hole in the other one. I’m sure it was only a matter of time before one of them got a hole but I would like to have worn them at least once before they had a huge runner.

Warning: This post contains no knitting content whatsoever. It’s all about a “flea bite” on my leg. If you’re squeamish, you may want to skip this one.

Monday morning - I feel an itch on the back of my leg, right in the bend behind my knee. I, of course, scratch it. I feel a small bump. Damn, I am pissed. I’ve kept up with Bella’s flea treatments so there should be no fleas, but here I am with a flea bite!

Monday day - It’s not itching, but I’m still bitching because I have a flea bite. I’m switching from Frontline to something else. I got a bum batch of it or something. Bastards.

Monday evening - Still obsessing over the bite, even though it still isn’t itching. I take a look at it in the mirror (do you know how hard that is to do?) and it’s red. Hmm, flea bites don’t normally stay red unless you’re scratching the hell out of them, which I wasn’t. Maybe this isn’t a flea bite. Maybe it’s a spider bite. Husband suggests going to the doc in the morning. Pfft, I don’t do doctors. But, if it’s still red Tuesday morning, I’ll think about it.

Tuesday morning - Still red, still hard lump. And, I may be imagining it, but the red may be starting to spread. I look up pictures of spider bites on the web and some of those pictures are freaking scary. I break down, call the doc office, and go in at 11.

It’s not a flea bite. (I take back the bad things I said about Frontline.) It’s not a spider bite. It’s a freaking skin infection. The doc wants to squeeze it and poke a hole in it with a needle. I wouldn’t let her squeeze. It seemed more painful when she touched it so I squeezed, she poked. Ouch. Cotton swab gets sent to a lab to live in a petri dish for a couple of days because this may be no ordinary skin infection. This may be MRSA, a very nasty staph infection. I guess we’ve already determined it’s a staph infection, but we won’t know if it’s the evil MRSA until Monday. At least, I think that’s what she said.  My mind was still in wtf-mode so I probably didn’t hear anything she said correctly.  In the meantime, I get to take a $60 (AFTER insurance for pete’s sake) antibiotic. The doc says the good news is that we caught it early, most people don’t come in for another couple of days and it’s harder to treat. She wanted me to come back to the office on Friday, but I’ll be out of town to see my daughter graduate from college so I’ll be going back in on Thursday instead.
How did I get this? Where did I get this? I can safely say it’s not from skin to skin contact because I haven’t been touched by anyone new lately. I haven’t been staying in a hospital. I don’t have a low immune system, and at my previous doc’s appt I was determined to be healthy. The only thing I can think of is I’ve been volunteering at the library helping sort and price donated books for the monthly sale, and I’ve picked it up from one of those objects. It’s just boggling my mind how and where. I guess I should just thank the stars that it’s not in my nose.  Still, this is upsetting my humdrum little world where there is rarely drama.  I don’t like drama, and while this isn’t technically drama I still don’t like it!