Been gone so long

So, I have been gone. Not gone anywhere, just gone from blogging. Not only have I not been blogging, I haven't even been reading. I have actually been reading posts from BabyCenter.com daily, and not any knitting sites. I guess I can only concentrate on one thing at a time.

So, let's see...where did we last leave off. I couldn't find my Sirdar pattern for a baby set, but I had all this Encore DK that was SCREAMING to be used. I found pattern #1, and cast on, did a lot of it (baby stuff works up sooo fast!), realized it was going to be too big for a newborn (I am trying to make a going home outfit, after all), changed my mind. Pattern #2, same thing. Finally found a pattern I think will work - mind you, it is still too big, but this time I don't care anymore.
I started a top down sweater about 3 years ago, that I never finished. It would have been finished a long time ago, but I got some bad advice and the beginning of the sleeves was smaller than the wrist should have been. The whole rest of the sweater was done. I had two additional skeins of yarn for that project, so I cast on for a new sweater. All by myself, reading step by step slowly, I got the holes for the sleeves in the right place and the right size. I jumped for joy. It is now endless stockinette stitch for forever. That is ok. I like the yarn and the color, and I have the mindless and the complex to work on, so this is in the mindless pile. Now, I am about half way done with skein number two, and have to rip out sweater number one. I started it, but it is slow going.

I have a lot of projects going all at the same time, but it is not stressful. It is actually relaxing. I have two projects in my purse. One is the baby item (it is a Minnowknits pattern that is a baby suit. It is legs and arms and stuff), and the other is a sock. I am making good progress on both. Another project is the Knit Picks vest. I had some needle issues. The cheap side of me let me buy some Susan Bates Quicksilver needles. They are size 6 - 36". The pattern calls for 32" Addis. The vest is 40" around and I thought 36" would be ok. I decided something after a few rows of fair isle. I don't know if it is the yarn (Knit Picks Merino) or the needles, or the combination of the two. BUT, I HAD to get new needles. First, the length was too long. The vest kept pulling. And the yarn kept sticking on the needles and not moving smoothly around. I broke down and bought some Addis! Had to, or I would have never have finished the vest. I was beginning to hate it. Now, I like it a lot. The pattern is beginning to appear - so neat! It is slow work! It is 300 stitches around, with two colors. The pattern repeat is 18 rows high, and I think I have to work 9 of them. I think I am right now about 4 rows into the first repeat. Then there is the 3 year old sweater. So, there you go, easy and hard and portable all in my life at the same! It is really nice!

I have a knitting friend. (In person, not blogger - I have a few knitting/blogging friends.) It is great. Actually, I don't really have any friends who are close, so having a friend at all is nice. She is a newbie knitter, so she constantly has questions. This is fine with me, though. She lives about two doors down, and after we moved in to our house, we walked down the street to get our mail one day, and she approached us. We have been friendly ever since. She knew I knit and there was an offer at her church a couple of months ago to take a knitting class. I think it lasted for like 2 hours one time only. Now, she comes to see me often. We go to LYS's regularly, now. This past weekend, we went on a yarn crawl. We went to Craft Warehouse, JoAnn's, Mabel's (she had not been there, yet), then we went to Yarn Garden, but got there after it had closed, and our favorite - Naked Sheep. She actually thought she had been to all the Yarn Stores in the city. NOT!!!

I have an awful cold and the baby decided to start giving me heartburn. I was up half the night Monday night. I thought it was the cold, but when I got heartburn again on Tuesday, I decided it had been heartburn. I got almost no sleep on Monday night, but felt okay all day Tuesday. Last night I slept hard - didn't wake up once until the alarm went off. Today, I am soooo exausted! That is soo backwards. I went to buy some cold meds at Walmart yesterday - they practically needed my life story before they sold them to me!

Something to do this weekend. My baby shower is Saturday. You are welcome. It is Saturday at 2:00 at BJ's Pizza near Lloyd Center. Gifts are NOT necessary, but if you want, I am registered at Target and Burlington Coat Factory. (I don't want anyone to feel obligated to bring a gift, but I don't want anyone to feel bad that they didn't get me anything, either - I am torn.) It would be fun to have some knitters there.

I just realized I almost completely missed the whole month of September! Hopefully, I am better, now.