Gray Knitting Day

I didn't mean to be so literal in my title, but it is. It is now starting to look like winter outside, bleary gray skies, followed by slushy rain. The salt trucks and snow plows have officially left the barns for the first time this season and I do not really like to be outside anymore once that happens. It just means cold. I have gone back to working in knit, for now, I have made two other hats in the last month along with all of the baby blankets, and I am getting close to finishing, another made up pattern, it seems very flexible and stretchy and is made with an acrylic yarn from Premier that I am truly surprised with the softness and the texture. It is a chunky yarn, and I am knitting with size 10 Brittany needles. These are the ones that replaced my white Bakelite needles that popped in the middle of the last hat. I never recommend these needles enough. I forget, they are a silent favorite for me because after the initial grip wears off quickly, they are just as fast an convenient and slick as any of the other knitting needles that I have, and I am an Addi addict for the most part. But I have never been unhappy with a pair of Brittany needles. DPNs are my favorite for hat and glove and sock knitting, and sometimes sleeves. If you don't own a pair and have the opportunity to get some, do it, you will be pleased. Just remember the initial grit from the varnish texture wears off after about 1 hat. Then they are as slick as the nickels. And let me show you my progress...

Let the Chips Fall as they May

So as it’s nearing fall, actually it already is, but more feeling like it. I am closer to getting a job, but I keep having small things get in the way here or there, so far they have been overcome, but I am definitely being tested. I am behind on baby blankets, no surprise, I wanted to be up to date by now, but life gets in the way I suppose. Right now I am curious to find out if one of my sons is going to be punished basically for the misdeeds of the other son. Stressful to say the least. How do you turn a kid around? This kid has been a challenge for me all the years that I have been with my husband, even before marriage. He so desperately wanted to be my sidekick and he was until he started punishing the other kids and myself for when he got or gets in trouble. I digress, I have started two new items this week as I have startitis, a hat for one of the girls and a hoodie for my brother. Not sure If either one will work out perfectly, but I am trying it. And just for fun, a gratuitous picture of yarn goodness. Please excuse the string, I will sew that in later.

Distraction

I am looking for distractions, I am currently unemployed, house mom, who is feeling depressed and not happy about a lot of things. I have no motivation to improve anything at the moment. Not looking for ideas, but crocheting has become a happy distraction. At least I feel like I am accomplishing something. I have given up working out for the time being, I miss it. I have given up being hungry as well. I do not want to get along with anyone but I dislike arguing. Right now my sanity seems to be tied up in yarn...I feel like I am drowning in upset. It’s the weirdest thing. I just want to pick up and move, and never look back. Any ideas on a place to go that is always peaceful? I want no one to argue with and no one to judge my every movement, no micro managers allowed.

Also I made another baby blanket the other day, and I gave it away, I will try to remember to post a picture of it when I can. So this is number three that I plan to give away at church this Sunday, going to hopefully be one every Sunday until caught up. Should be interesting to say the least. But is is safe to say that I will not be buying any more yarn from Target, it wasn’t that bad, but the knots every so often were more often that I would have liked due to splicing. Several in one ball over and over is useless to me. Right now I am working with Premier yarn, Sweet Roll, colorway Jello Pop. I really like this combination.

Busy Camping

Recently my family and I went camping at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. We had fun and we also visited Ka Do Ha Indian Village, and we searched for diamonds and arrowheads and artifacts, for days at both places. Lots of things were found, sadly we did not turn up any diamonds. It was a little pricier than we expected since they only had AAA camp sites, instead of A or B sites. There was no McDonalds, or cheap places to eat either, lunch ran $70+ for the 6 of us, although it was delicious. If you would like further information about out trip just message me and I will let you know our findings. What I did find in this whole process is that, as I have known how to crochet almost my whole life, I now have a new pattern that I found in a magazine recently for making baby blankets that while up in a jiffy. I mean like 8 hours or less straight. This meant I was able to start a day or two before we left and I was able to finish halfway through our camping trip. I was disappointed that I was not going to have anything to work on for the trip home though. Apparently I did not pack enough yarn goods. I did want to include a pic of the finished baby blanket, it has already been gifted and was received with an exuberant “Yes!” I have to admit that made me feel good. I am already working on another one or two, lol, and have many plans to make more since the couples at the church having babies like there in no tomorrow, God is good, because the babies are sooo cute.

Frustrations

Ok, so I know that we have all found yarn that we want to make something beautiful with, and some times it is for some one specific. I found a yarn like that and I searched for months for the perfect pattern for socks. I thought I found it and I have started but guess what? I don't like the ribbing. It's not personal, it's just me I suppose, when I hold the ribbing up to the light it's super holy. How is that going to hold warmth? I have changed the rest of the pattern going forward to regular knit stitched instead of twisted stitches, thus alleviating the holy issues. See my progress thus far; posted for visual, you can kind of see through it without stretching. Please let me know what you do when you find something that you do not like, can you continue? Do you have to change it? Do you continue on blindly hoping for the sake of the project that it will work itself out, or block out? Let me know in the comments section below.

Land of the Lost, a.k.a. my Mind

Anyone else out there have ADHD? I find it so hard to focus these days. I feel overwhelmed and like I never actually accomplish anything because by the time I start whatever I am going to do someone in the house will tear it up, make it dirty or complain about something. I rarely get on the computer at home, which is why I like to take my iPad with me when I go places. This is rare because of the 4 kids, of course. I love them but I feel like I am sinking. Anyone else get these feelings? I am sure you do, but who really talks about it? There is too much to do. I can never do it all. It always has to be me right? What will they do when they move out? I will likely not visit their places very often if they are as messy as they are now, lol. Really though, I do mean it. I get so stressed out when things are a mess and I feel like I just break. I hate wasting time, I hate taking time for things like doing nails too. It just seems inevitable that I will have to redo them, right? Sorry I am rambling. I posted a new pattern in Ravelry. I should have posted it ages ago, but never wanted to sit down only to have someone breathing over my shoulder as they do. I know it's not an intentional thing that they do, but again, stresses me out. I think I need some sun. Maybe cabin fever is getting the best of me. Anyhoo, I posted a new pattern, have made a couple of hats from it, and is now for sale as the Parisi Beanie...I have to admit, one of my favorite hats to wear right now.