I got this in the mail last night:

This book is written by Joelle Hoverson of Purl, which is located right near my job. How I found out about the store is a funny story. In the Summer Avery goes to camp down here in the Village. Now that he's older they bus him out to a campus on Staten Island, but when he was younger he stayed in the building down here. They would walk the kids down to the neighborhood pool everyday. One day on the way home Avery said, "Mommy I saw a knitting store on my way to the pool". I didn't quite believe him but the next day when I picked him up, he walked me down to where it was and thus I discovered Purl. It's a beautiful store with very friendly people, but a bit too pricey for me I'm afraid. I think Manhattan rents and yarn shops are a bad combination as a rule.

Back to the book. I really like it. It has some adorable projects. I paticularly like the Baby's Denim Drawstring Pants and the Child's Placket Neck Pullover. I also love the way the book is divided by the hours it will take to make a particular project. Obviously all our speeds are different but when you need something fast it's great to know which chapter to look at.

The hat for Ian is coming along, just not a quickly as I would like. I have only been knitting on the train coming into work. It's too crowded on the way home. Although I did get a good portion done during Desperate Housewives on Sunday. This has become my favorite hour of television to knit during. Between that and Lost I have a small glimmer of hope for network TV again. Once Alias is back in January I'll be set. Who knew ABC could be cool...

I have to admit I have not done much knitting. Work has been a little busy as we prepare to send out our first orders for the Spring Semester. This means that when I get home I am more exhausted than usual. Also Ian's cold turned into a truly nasty eye infection, so he missed 2 days of school. He was much better this morning although he still had a little cough and a runny nose but when I told him he was going to school he got very excited and ran to get dressed. I take that to mean he's just fine.

The consensus on the hat is to try it as I go but that doesn't work with this pattern as it is knitted from the bottom up and the bottom starts at the neck. Not to mention that it is on dpns so they would stop Ian's head from going through. The second most popular answer is of course to measure him. Of course I knew that but I am lazy as sin and Ian hates being measured but we'll work it out, he and I.

My best friend Maribel gave me a gift yesterday. She called me and said, "how would you like a stress free Thanksgiving, and no cleaning up for it either?". How does this happen I ask? Well we are going to cook at her mom's house, while her mom is in Florida. Of course there's the after dinner clean up but no worrying about getting my house in order for company. Yeah! Love ya Bel!!!

Best wishes to you and yours for a great thanksgiving.

I had a good weekend. We didn't do much but relax. On Saturday Avery had his final soccer game of the season. His team finished the season in second place. Which was a far cry from last year when the only game we won was the last one of the season. The teams change every year and this year he had a great coach so he really enjoyed himself.

Ian did well on his first day of school. The teacher said he was very shy at first but "found his smile quickly". He enjoyed circle time and story time and he even took a nap. He cried when he got on the bus the first day but the second day he ran right up to it and climbed on himself. He told me "bye bye" and gave me a kiss and marched over to his seat. His speech therapist came over on Saturday and was saying how far he has come in the three months she has been working with him. She says the teachers at school will be surprised by how quickly he picks things up. He was trying to sing the ABC song this weekend for the first time and he can now count to 10 perfectly (not clearly but all the numbers are correct, for awhile 7,8 and 9 were all 8). So we're very happy. Of course as it seems always happens when a child starts school for first time, today he is sick. He's been running a fever off and on since last night so unfortunately he had to stay home today.

I did finish all the pieces of the striped sweater, but I never sat down to do the finishing. I started this hat for Ian, but I'm a bit concerned. The yarn I am using does not match the gauge in the pattern. No big deal I just re-worked the math. The issue I have is that there is no listed row gauge on the pattern. Normally row gauge is not a big deal because patterns are often written with measurements (i.e. knit until piece measures 3" or something like that). This one is written by rounds, "do 20 rounds in K1 P1 rib". How should I account for the thinner yarn for the rows. Should I just add a couple of extra rows to each section? Should I try to measure the various parts of Ian's head? What do you guys suggest...

Today was a big day at my house. It's Ian's first day of school!



We had found a spot at a good center for him (he gets free pre-school from the state due to his speech delay) but then getting the busing arrangements together took over a week. They literally called us at 5 o'clock last night to say the bus would be here at 7:30 this morning. I wasn't ready. I actually stayed home from work today because I seem to have a sinus infection. The good thing about that is that I can be here to get Ian off the bus. He was very excited at first when we were getting him ready, but when he realized he was getting on the bus alone he got very upset. I know he'll be fine but it's really hard to put a 3 year old on a bus. Of course as I recall it wasn't much easier leaving Avery at the school myself, he cried everyday for months!

Since I am home today I am going to run a few errands, maybe clean up a little (ha, ha like that's really going to happen) and hopefully knit. I have about 5 rows left on the striped sweater sleeve but I think I will save the finishing for the weekend.

If any of you have seen the Incredibles, you have no doubt seen the short that opens the film. For those who haven't it's called, "Boundin'"
and it's about a lamb with the most beautiful coat of wool who gets sheared. Now just so you know what my dear husband thinks of me, he informed Avery that the unseen person who so callously grabs the lamb, shears him and throws him back stark naked, was me. Yes, he said that I would do that for such beautiful wool, tsk, tsk...

...how well he knows me...

I am down to the last sleeve on the striped sweater. I had great hopes to finish them both this weekend but the boiler in my building broke on Friday. We were so cold that on Saturday we decided to go to my mother in law's house and hang out. Now this should have meant some quality knitting time. Sitting in a house where my children can run around and there's someone else to watch them, someone else cooking, you get the idea. There's a catch to that, you must bring enough yarn. Now to be fair to myself, I knew I was running out of the main color. I even went and grabbed another skein out of my knitting basket. The thing I failed to do was to put it in my bag. So when I went looking for it, there it wasn't. Oh well I took a nap instead.

Here are the 3 finished pieces:




I really love the striping on this sweater but I gotta tell ya, there are so many ends to weave in it feels like intarsia. I am so not looking forward to the finishing on it. I have been trying to get into the habit of weaving in as I go along but there are stripes where you change colors every 2 rows, so I didn't bother.

Devan Update

It feels like forever since I did a Devan update! I still have not ripped back the sleeves and re-knit them to fit the rest of the sweater. In the meantime Katy has finished. Scroll down to the October 19th entry to see her Devan.

When I tried to update the Devan page, I somehow broke the links to all but the 2 most recent Devan pictures. I am hoping to get it fixed soon.

Jasmine has picked up her Devan again after a few difficult months. She's working on her second sleeve and hopes to move on to the finishing soon thereafter.


For all you Buffy and Angel fans, only you can truly appreciate my most recent collectible purchase. Go check this out. It's a pre-order but I can't wait until March.

Finally, yes it's time for another quiz. Thanks to Katy for the link:

I am Progressive Girl Click on the picture below to read more: Take the 'What Kind of Girl Are You?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com

I finished the front of the striped sweater. I know, I know where are the pictures? I have been busy every night this week. You would think I had a life! Last night there was a fundraiser for our school at Chuck E. Cheese. Yes, feel my pain. I can't complain the kids ran my husband ragged while I sat and knit. We got home very late and then it took awhile for the kids to wind down enough to fall asleep. I finished the sweater front while watching the first half of the Alexander the Great special that I Tivo'd on Sunday.

Today I make the purchase I have been dying to make. I am going to order my Charlotte's Web. I was never able to time it right to get one of the kits from Threadbear, invariably I would see the colors I wanted, I would e-mail and it would be sold out. So I am going to order it from Ram Wools. I am very excited. I plan on beginning it January 1. On that note I have decided that I don't have enough sweaters. What I mean is that I don't knit enough for myself, so my early new year's resolution is to do more projects intended for me. I have had a very difficult year, I think I deserve to pamper myself a bit for the next 12 months.

On a somewhat sad but important note go visit Kerstin's site for her 11/11 post to hear from one of our female soldiers in Iraq. It is sad but true and it's something we should all be talking about.

I have been working pretty steadily on the striped sweater. I am just about at the neck shaping for the front. I really love the way it is working up. The Wool-Ease Chunky is much softer than I would have thought. It really feels like it will be a very comfortable sweater.

I have been very remiss in thanking Stella for my candy, in the candy exchange. I'd love to show you a picture but it arrived a couple of weeks ago and is therefore all gone. Surprise, surprise. Just so you don't think me a complete glutton (I am only a partial one), my husband and son helped a great deal in it's disappearance.

I was disappointed last night because I missed the knitting group at Barnes and Noble. One of my publisher's sales reps got me tickets to the Knicks vs the 76ers game last night at the Garden. I am not a basketball fan but since it seems we may never have an NHL game again I thought it might be my only shot this year to hang out in the Skybox (gotta love those publishers!) Tashi loves basketball so I took her and her girlfriend and of course Tisha went because through all the pain and disappointment she still loves her Knicks. I have to say it was a good game and I really enjoyed it. I didn't even pull out my knitting once....

I made good progress over the weekend on the striped sweater. I didn't have a chance to take pictures though. I have finished the striped section on the front. I don't want to go too much further with it on the train tonight because I am pretty sure I made the back a bit longer than suggested, so I would like to compare them.

I am itching to make some small things though. Not baby sweaters! I want to make the fingerless gloves from Weekend Knitting, especially after seeing the pair that Alison made. My office gets quite cold at this time of year and I would love to have them to type with.

I have also decided that my beautiful purple Four Play that I bought at Rhinebeck should be Clapotis. I think the pattern will really show off the colors in the yarn and the blend of 50% wool and 50% silk is the same as the Lorna's Laces suggested by Kate in the pattern.

I have also decided to scale back on the holiday projects. I'm not really feeling the holiday spirit for obvious reasons and we plan on going away for Christmas, just us and the kids. I figure I will have enough emotions going on that I don't need the added stress of deadlines. I will still do some but I will try not to pressure myself to get anything done in time.

Poor Devan sits neglected because I am far too lazy and distracted to work on it. I can't deny that part of the reason I am so lackadaisical about it is the fact that it is a bit big. Suddenly there is no urgency. It can be a late winter/ early spring sweater instead. How's that for rationalization...

There is no joy in Mudville-

the mighty Kerry has struck out.



(my apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer)

Get out there and vote!

...even if you're voting for Bush. If he does win this time I would like it to be because more people voted for him and not because a court gave it to him.

I did rip out the cast off on Devan but it's going to take way more stitches than I would like to get it to the size it needs to be. It looks like I will have to rip it back and re-work the increases a bit. That is far too complicated for me today, so I cast on for the front of the striped sweater for my husband. I finished the ribbing on the train coming into work. Ahh the instant gratification of chunky yarn.

A little fun for what looks to be a stressful day and long night of watching the election returns:


You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer.
You are through those knitting growing pains and
feeling more adventurous. You can follow a
standard pattern if it's not too complicated
and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've
started to experiment with different fibers and
you might be eyeing a book with a cool
technique you've never tried. Perhaps you
prefer to stick to other people's patterns but
you are trying to challenge yourself more.
Regardless of your preference, you are
continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as
well you should since your non-knitting friends
are probably dropping some serious hints, these
days.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Nothing like a good quiz to lift the spirits!

I hope everyone had a good Halloween. We certainly did. We went to trick or treat up at Natasha's mom's house up in Haverstraw, NY. I think we terrorized the neighborhood:



Would you run screaming from that crew? Avery was Harry Potter in his Quidditch uniform, his little brother Ian was Thomas the Tank Engine. Natasha was an escaped convict, her sister Cheyenne is a little devil, her baby sister Zeyda was Blue from Blue's Clues.

I also managed to finish Mya:



I didn't wash it or block it yet but it looks pretty good. I took Devan with me to fix the sleeves but I never really had a chance to work on it and tonight I'm too tired from pounding the pavement extorting candy from suburbanites.

As soon as I finish watching Desperate Housewives it's off to bed for me...

Happy Birthday Baby

Ian is 3 years old today. My baby isn't really a baby anymore. He's even going to be starting school soon. Where does the time go?



As promised here is my haul from the Sheep and Wool Festival:



It wasn't as much as I thought I would come home with but I think it was a bit of sensory overload for me. I touched anything I could lay my hands on but when it came to making purchases I was just frozen with indecision. It was all so beautiful.

As mentioned previously most of my money was dropped at the Brooks Farm booth:



The purple is the Four Play (50% wool/50% silk). The blue is 500 yards of kid mohair that I am just itching to make into a shawl for myself.

I also bought this on Avery's orders:



We had just left the tent with the Alpacas and he decided he needed a hat or something made from Alpaca yarn.

So of course I had to get something for Ian:



I am hoping to get a hat and mittens out of these. They match his winter coat perfectly.

With everything going on of course I have barely worked on anything. I am actually just about done with Mya. I am finished with the knitting I just have to put it together. Then I want to get back to fixing Devan's sleeves and put that together. I am on vacation this week but I have a full plate with cleaning my mother's apartment out, but yesterday I fell and badly sprained my ankle so maybe I can take advantage and really get some work done!

I want to thank everyone for their kind words on the loss of my mother. I was overwhelmed by all the e-mails and so I didn't thank you each individually but each and every comment meant a great deal to my family and me. Thank you.

We had been preparing for her death for many months but of course it was still a blow. I did decide Saturday morning that we should go to the Sheep and Wool Festival anyway. The kids needed something fun and distracting and frankly so did I.

Here is the lovely foliage we encountered on the fair grounds:



The kids loved the animals. Ian's favorites were the llamas but Avery loved the alpacas, he especially loved that they would put their heads right outside the fence to greet you:



Ian's favorite part after the llamas was the hay maze (and the giant slide and the angora rabbits etc. etc. etc.) I lost track of how many times he went through it:



I took pictures of many animals but I am only posting the Icelandic sheep in tribute to my cousin Ingileif who is Icelandic (though definitely not a sheep!):



My digital camera has been MIA so I haven't yet taken pictures of what I bought. It wasn't as much as I would have thought but my heart wasn't truly in it. Next year watch out. Here's a sneak preview of some of the yarn.

I bought this for Maribel:


I spent way too much time at the Brooks Farm Fiber area and most of my acquisitions came from them. They had the most amazing colors and blends. The yarn above is called Four Play and it is 50% wool and 50% silk. It feels wonderful.

My mom finally passed away today...I'm glad she's not suffering anymore.


My mom and her sister giving an award to Helen Keller, my mom is on the left:



My mom and me:

Barbara J. Wetmore
1941-2004

The Knitting Group at B & N last night was rather small. Of course Maribel was there (it's her store) Sonia and Chaymie (I hope I spelled that right) and a new woman who's name I forget. She had attended last month's group which I missed. We also had the funniest little elderly woman who sat in with us. She thought it was a group to learn to knit. She kept asking questions about our projects and how it all worked. She also didn't quite get the difference between knit and crochet, no matter how many different ways Maribel explained it to her.

Sonia showed off the sweater she was working on at the August meeting:



It's her first adult project. It came out beautifully. The picture doesn't really do justice to the colors. It's such a deep shade of red with different shades swirling in it. Really a great Fall jacket.

Maribel wasn't crazy about the Suss Knit Kit Poncho so she is using the yarn for a scarf:



I again had to rip out part of one of the sleeves of Mya so I didn't get much done. The sleeves are in the lower right hand corner (the rest is the body of the sweater):



It's the same sleeve everytime. I think it's cursed...

She Stole My Post!

It's funny, I've been around the blogs lately and every once in awhile someone mentions that another blogger has written about the exact subject the first blogger was planning on talking about. Now it has happened to me.

I was going to blather on today about how I need to stop documenting my knitting goals for the weekend because once I do, invariably, I don't accomplish them. I wanted to finish Mya this past weekend, but I barely picked up my needles. Luckily for me I got a reprieve in that my friend Christina, mom of Joshua the recipient of the sweater, will not be attending tonight's B& N Knitting Group. She will however be visiting Thursday so I have a few more days to get it done. I'm working the sleeves at the same time but I have had to rip out one of them 3 or 4 times. I think they're both fine now and should go quickly.

Back to the point, this morning I was Blog surfing and there was Liz talking about how she is going to have to keep her plans to herself because when she talks about them she always ends up doing something completely different! Weird huh? Maybe it's just cosmic convergence, or two Bronx girls (Liz is formerly but it still counts)being insynch but it is a little weird reading someone else talking about what you've been thinking.

Tonight is Knitting Group at Barnes and Noble. I am very excited. I missed it last month because it was so damn busy here at work, so I'm really looking forward to it tonight. If you're on the upper east side tonight come hang with us, it's at 86th St. and Second Ave. We meet in the children's department at 7PM.

I've been RAOKed:



Thank you to Lynne for my lovely gifts. I am carrying the adorable Autumnal tissues with me to help deal with this horrible cold. I brought the hot chocolate with me to save for a bad work day when I may need the comfort. I left the candle home but I can't wait to light it. The gifts really brightened up my week.

Here is a picture of the completed multidirectional scarf:



I wasn't sure how I was feeling about the colors but I really love it. It will look really good on Ian's speech therapist. The colors are very complimentary to her.

Finally, I've been trying to let go of my quiz addiction but I had to fall off the wagon for this one (thanks Ann for enabling):


You're in touch with the world, and you have a very
strong opinion on things like politics and war.
Even if you do end up changing your image in
the future, most of us will still like you.


What band from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians Knitters (and non-knitters)!

The illness that has been attacking my family one by one finally caught up with me. I was deathly ill on my trip to Ohio but I just kept popping Tylenol to get me through. When I got back on Tuesday night I had dreams of spending Wednesday morning in bed, but I found out my mother in law (my son's week day caregiver) had taken the day off since she knew I would be home. Of course my early rising son, Ian, gets up at 6 in the morning. Thankfully my husband got up with him so I didn't have to get up until 7 when everybody starts getting ready for work and school.

I finished the scarf on the plane home. I was able to weave in the ends when I was home Wednesday so that's one holiday gift done. It's for Ian's Speech Therapist, she's a real sweetheart and he's made so much progress in the two months that she's been working with him.

I started seaming up Devan over the weekend but I discovered that although the sweater ran big (not too badly, he looks awfully cute in the vest part of it), the sleeves did not. I am going to have to undo the cast off and add a few increases to make them fit the armholes.

I am currently working on the sleeves to Mya so I can finish that up this weekend, hopefully. The knitting group at Barnes and Noble will be on Tuesday so I am hoping the mom of the recipient will be there and I can give it too her before he is much too big for it!

Have a great weekend...

Just a quick post from Ohio where I am on a business trip (not because I have much to report but simply because I feel cool because I am posting from "the road"). The only knitting I brought with me was the scarf and it is nearly done. In fact I stopped working on it in the airport yesterday because I thought I would finish it right there and then. If that happened I'd have nothing for today's flights.

I tried to make it to the Knit Out in Union Square on Sunday but we got caught at Book Country which was going on in Washington Square Park. Much fun was had. Avery got two books autographed. Cornelia Funke who wrote Inkheart which he loved, was signing her new book Dragon Rider. Also the illustrator for the Series of Unfortunate Events, Brett Helquist was there so we go number 5 signed (it was the volume we had in the car).

I was ok with missing the Knit Out until I visited Mindy's blog this morning. Sounds like it was a blast.

Forgive my lack of links, I seem to be missing a few of the tools in Blogger, I assume because I am on a MAC.

Block Party

Yesterday my youngest was sick so I decided to stay home from work. Interestingly enough he was fine by mid-morning but my mother-in-law and cousin were both sick as dogs. So what did I do. I blocked Devan.

Sleeves:

Sides:

Back:


It is definitely blocking larger than I expected but I figure that's ok, I mean children grow all the time right? I might throw it in the dryer for a few minutes after I sew it up to remove some of the stretch that wetting it caused.

I decided I needed a quick satisfying project so I cast on for the Multidirectional Scarf in Silk Garden:



I am sure it will go quickly especially considering my husband keeps asking how the scarf has anything to do with his sweater. Speaking of his sweater. I have joined the MANALONG over at Drew's. Yes, another knit along, but I have already finished part of the sweater so I figure it's ok. Having started the scarf that also means I have cast on for 2 holiday gifts already, whoo hoo.

I am also proud to say we carved our first pumpkin here at the Mathews household (this does not count the year my dear friend Leslie came over and carved one for us, miss you Les).

Here he is after he's been carved:



and here is a great creepy shot with his candle in:



Happy October everyone...