We made it

Well, we made it through another Christmas. We somehow managed to get a tree two days before Christmas. See, we went to Wal-Mart, closest to our house, as that's where we'd seen the tree we wanted. All they had left were a few boxes of huge $200 trees that were completely mangled. I mean, it looked like someone seriously molested these tree boxes. Okay, next store.

We went to two other stores before finding a 7 foot unlit tree that we both liked. Except, they didn't have anymore in boxes. All that was left was the display. And since they said that there was still time to order us one (uh huh...4pm on December 23rd), they couldn't sell us the floor model. They did track down another store that had one though. So we went driving in search of this other store.

On the way there, I remarked to my husband that there was a Wal-Mart near the Sears that we were headed to. We decided to stop there first "just in case". We walked in the door to Wal-Mart and there it was. Our tree. 7.5 feet tall, unlit and only $55. It was $100 less than the one at Sears. You bet your hiney we bought that one. Sadly, Wal-Mart's selection of lights and ornaments had been throughly picked over by then.

The next day, my daughter and I trekked to Michaels (in the snow) and found all their Christmas stuff 50-70% off! Yeah, I spent way too much money. The funny thing is, I walked into a craft store, spent a fortune, and didn't buy one single item of yarn or knitting notion. I think I'm getting sick.

That night, all 4 of us put up the tree. It came out much better than I expected it to, given the short amount of time we had. But, since we put it up late, we decided it's going to stay up a little longer than normal. Next year we'll be better prepared.



Oh and I finished the set of Fetching I was working on. I haven't taken a picture of the two of them yet, as they still need to be blocked, but just finishing them was an accomplishment. I got the the thumb part of the second on and literally put it down for almost a week. It was like something was stopping me from actually having a finished object.

When not to knit

One would think that there is never a time NOT to knit. But, I have found such a time. Last night, I CO to make the Fetching gloves for my step mom for Christmas. It's been a long time since I've used the dreaded double pointed needles. I didn't have as hard of a time as I thought I would. Perhaps because these are metal and not bamboo, they're a little more slippery.

But yes, moving on. So I cast on and realized that I needed to make dinner. I have spawn and they get hungry occasionally. I figured, heck, it's a small project, I JUST cast on, so there's not a whole lot going on...I took it with me into the kitchen. I set it down on the counter, decided to take a picture for posterity...

There it is, on the kitchen counter after a row or two I believe. So I began dinner and threw myself into the knitting, stopping only occasionally to stir the pot on the stove.

Wait, back up a second. After I got into the kitchen with yarn and needles (dpn's plus cable needle), I asked the kids to bring me the needle I left by the couch. I decribed it from the kitchen and neither offspring could find it. So, I went to help them out. After 10 minutes of crawling around the couch, I realized that it was firmly stuck in my knitting, as I was in the middle of a row when I got up to go to the kitchen. This should have been my first clue that knitting while cooking dinner was not such a good idea. But no...

The pattern isn't complicated and I had no trouble getting through the first few rounds. Then...it came time to make the second set of cable twists. I had made the first set while sitting down, safely, on the couch. The pattern says I need to do the cable stitch, then purl one all the way through the round. Each needle holds 15 stitches, therefore, I do the cable / purl combo 3 times. The first two went off without a hitch...but the last one, when all I had left on the left needle was the lonely purl stitch waiting to be purled, and was trying to knit the two stitches off the cable needle....

Well, it was only by God's grace that the children didn't hear me swearing as I'd dropped the working needle for the 5th time. They did however hear the needle hitting the counter and floor each time it fell out of the lonely purl stitch.

I have to add, they are such sweet children....they came in to stir the pot for me when they felt I was neglecting it.

Here's a close up image of the cable pattern emerging. Isn't it lovely? I'm so proud of myself.

After a bit, and after dinner threatened to boil over onto the stove for the 4th time, I decided that perhaps, I should wait until after dinner was over with before continuing to work on these.

I was able to get about halfway done with one glove before dropping off to bed at 2am. That's why this blog is called knitting in the dark my friends....it's when I do the majority of my knitting.

Here's where I left off before going to bed...

First post...of many

So, apparently, knitting blogs are rather popular out there on the net thing. I think I used to have a blog once upon a time, but don't know what happened to it. I've recently wanted to share my innermost thoughts with the rest of the world (whether the rest of the world wants to share or not). So here I am, with a blog.

Any way...I guess I should start with some type of intro, even though this is my blog and all. My name is Jenny, I'm 31, married, mother of 2.5 (24+ weeks pregnant with #3). I'm originally from Southern California (since I was 8), but in August, I packed 2 kids, a hampster, and a Canadian into my car, along with about 1/4 of my worldly possessions, and we drove across the country to Toronto, Canada. In another week or so, we should have everything we need to file the papers for permanent residency.

I have to say, it's way different in Canada. For starters there is this white stuff on the ground and continually falling from the sky. I mean, it's just not going away. I'm told it's snow...and I should see the grass again sometime in March or April. Hell, I remember last March I was basking out by the pool. Somehow I doubt I'll be doing that this year. I mean, besides the fact that I'll be about 400 weeks pregnant, it'll just be too darn cold. Now maybe if we were ice skating at the pool, that would be different.

Oh, something else about me. I'm a knitter. I say that like I'm at a self help meeting. Hello, my name is Jenny, and I'm a knitter. I have too many projects going at once and it seems like I'm never going to finish anything. I think I'm what they call a process knitter. I love knitting for knits sake. I love searching for new patterns, going out and petting wool and buying wool and imagining what I'm going to make with said wool. I'm in over my head. My husband just thinks it's ADD.

I'm on Ravelry as Alleusion and frequently post at knittinghelp.com as Alleusion. I'm not the best knitter out there, and I'm certainly not fast. But I'm learning every day and there are so many things I want to learn and do and try. As I type this, I'm staring at the 2 balls of yarn I picked up today to make my father and stepmom fingerless gloves for Christmas. Might I mention that Christmas is approximately 14 days away and I seriously doubt they'll be done in time. But hey, it's the thought that counts right? I'll post progress, and of course finished pictures when I'm done. It would defeat the purpose of sharing myself with the world if I neglected to do this.

So, join me on my decent into madness. The madness that is my knitting addiction.