Saturday, September 25, 2010

Booyah pt. 2

And who just assembled most of an electric spinning wheel? Yep. Me again. BOOYAH!

Home Improvement Wiz

Guess who just repaired a leaky kitchen faucet with little help?

Oh, that's right, this kid.

Friday, September 24, 2010

The Knitting Slump

Sometimes, one gets sick of knitting the same pattern multiple times. I've hit my wall. I have GOT to finish knitting this hat so it can become a store sample, but I've already knit it before and it's just lots of stockinette with a bit of seed at the end and I want to knit lace! Now!

Grr.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Trials of "Reversed" Gender Roles

I'm a stay at home mom, with a tiny part time job on the side. My husband is the primary breadwinner. I try to keep on top of household chores (though this doesn't always happen with a 6-month-old), he is in charge of paying the bills. I'm crafty, he's techie. I decorate, he keeps his hands off unless I start using too much brown or, heaven forbid, "Carolina Blue."

But when it comes to two very important household things, we come up against the reversal of traditional gender roles. My husband cooks. I am Mrs. Fix-it. It seems like it should work, right? He makes dinner, I fix things that stop working.

What this means in reality... I get tetchy when he tries to help me cook (which generally means he takes over what I'm doing as I don't know how to do it "right"), and he gets frustrated (and I do, too) when I try to teach him how to fix something. I'm not very patient at it.

September

It's this time of year, when the calendar says September but the oppressive heat says Summer, that I start missing Minnesota. When I moved away, I swore I wouldn't, of course. Who misses endless frigid months of a cold so intense that it makes your lungs sting when you take your first breath outside the front door in the morning? Who misses snow that lingers on and on and ON until the sides of the road are lined with half melted piles of black and brow spotted drifts instead of rolling fields of white? Who misses waiting for the bus, dancing from foot to foot in order to keep feeling beneath two layers of socks and fleece-lined boots?

I'm not that far gone, yet. I don't miss the deep winter, especially the end of it, when it feels like the summer will be swallowed altogether. What I miss, though, is September in Minnesota. I miss crisp, cool mornings. I miss that snap in the air, knowing that even if it gets warm enough to wear shorts in the afternoon, the days of baking in the sun are at an end. I miss dressing for the fair in layers, trying to decide if the morning chill will give way to shorts or only to jeans. I miss the early onset of chill, walking over crispy, frosty grass, wondering when the first hard freeze will show up for the year. And, most of all, I miss searching for a sweatshirt for taking a walk outside instead of searching for a water bottle and tank top.

I don't regret moving to North Carolina, but I think I'll always miss September in Minnesota, while I watch the thermometer hang in the 90s. My body thinks it's Fall, even if my surroundings prove it's still summer. So, I'll admit it. I do miss Minnesota.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Dye Day: The Results Post

And now for some before and after shots

First up, the lovely laceweight.

Before, slightly 70s harvest gold:

dye2

After, rose and gold with some dark rose bits:

dye3


And the sock blank....

Before, neon pink and hideous green:

dye1

After, blues with notes of teal and pink and purple:

dye4

I'm incredibly happy with what came out of the pot!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Dye day and cars

I had a fantastic time at the dye day. The sock blank went from hideous to gorgeous, and I'm really looking forward to starting on the shawl that is destined to come from the formerly pukey yellow laceweight.

I was going to take some lovely pictures of the dyed and dried yarn today, but something stood in my way... my car wouldn't start. So, in the morning (if I can get it started) I'm off to the garage with the little man. Sitting in a garage waiting room with a 6 month old - can it get any worse?

(The answer is yes. Just let me see what the bill will be...)

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Rejection sucks

No Knitty. Sigh. I thought my socks had a really good chance but ah well. I suppose publishing is fraught with rejections. Not sure I'm really cut out for so much of it, though!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Dyeing to fix some dyes

Tomorrow we're having a big dye day at a friend's house. Hopefully I'll be able to attend, as I've got two skeins that desperately need overdying. I'll do before and after shots!

In other news, the shawl proceeds as planned, when the Durham-Knits, Jr. allows knitting to occur. He started solid foods this week, and we've had plenty of fun playing with apples and pears, and washing them out of his hair.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Milestones

After surviving my first hurricane (Earl, which swept by the coast of NC and the island on which I'm vacationing), I also survived the first section of the Shawl of Doom. It was nice to get through both of them together. The dreaded shawl gave me something to focus on instead of worrying what a hurricane would be like. Earl turned far from where I am, so the answer was... nothing to worry about.

Next up, section 2 of the shawl, about 60 rows of simple and identical stitches.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Rescue from the WIP bag

I generally like to limit the number of projects I have going at any one time to one pair of socks, one sweater, one "other" project, and one crochet project. Having such a limit means I've got one guaranteed portable project (the sock), one long term thing to work on (the sweater), some crochet, and one other slot for whatever. I'm more likely to get my projects done (and my needles back) if I feel like I can complete what I've gotten. Sometimes, however, I end up with more projects than I feel I can handle.

This is one of those times.

So while on vacation, I've finally decided to resurrect the First of All shawl from the WIP bag. Winter is coming, and the kind of winters we get in NC call for a light shawl. I'll finish this time. I promise!