Pip Pip Hooray!

This feels good. The knitting for 2015 started off a little rough. However these Pip Squeaks have just redeemed my knitting mojo.

I don't have a modeled shot but I'm not shy of saying, they are cute and comfortable and I'm pleased with them.

cuff folded down

In fact my household is probably kinda sick  hearing me say how happy these socks make me. I like to wear them when I watch t.v. in my knitting chair and yep, you guessed it, knit!

cuff up

I admit turning them inside out to do the cuff sort of threw me off (learning something new is cool, kids!) but I think I did it right, and where I think I messed up a little bit, I fixed it so I don't think anyone could notice. I really can't. (It's where I started and stopped the round changed a wee bit on sock #2)

And though I've still some unfinished early 2015 business on the needles...

I needed more sock love ...  so I grabbed this in one of the sock bags by the bed, waiting, begging to be paid attention to.

Whats making your knitting happy?

Monday indulgences

In truth this weekend has been indulgent.

Saturday I managed both a cardio and dance class and as a family we made a mixed seafood dinner.

Sunday more exercise and more seafood. The kid went on a play date and we used the time to walk to the Mission neighborhood and have an oyster lunch and go grocery shopping. (Easy, productive good times with The Manfriend). I also got to stop into a yarn store that was closing.

It makes me sad, but look what I got 40% off of! Sock yarn, Whoo to the hoo!

Today our school district is observing this Friday, so kids were in school, but The J. O.B. was closed, so I met with my Knit Club pal CK 

(Also a Man City fan, very important point) and we had some good chatting and good eats of course.

Did you indulge? Did you enjoy? How was your weekend?

Pip Pip

I have been inspired by The Wandering Cat not just because she designed the socks I'm trying to do, but because she talks about using her lunch time to knit.

I haven't done this in a while and I made an effort this week to insert some into the schedule. (I often use this time for errands, like the dry cleaners, birthday gift shopping, grocery shopping, and you know, eating, ha!)

Well thanks TWC! Because it was so nice to knit a little out there in the world. I'm going to make sure I block out one day every week for a little lunch knitting.

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things I love

I'm joining Carole and Kathy B. today and going with the 10 on Tuesday. Things I love. I will bypass the family and friends and you lovely lot, because it's too easy...

1. PBS mysteries + Knitting. Throw in a mug of tea, coffee or a glass of wine and I might be crying on the inside a little bit, for the sheer contentment of it all.

2. Compliments on my Kid or my cooking/baking. Can't lie. I'm a total slut for validation. Say that my child is doing well and I will beam for you. Tell me that the cake or dish was tasty and I might question you twice, because it has taken me a long time to feel comfortable in the kitchen and not worry I might kill someone.

3. Finishing a project. Work or recreation. I love to put it to bed.  I love to draw a line through it.

4. Throwing things out or donating them to a local charity. I like to move things out of the apartment. What I don't like is the process, the time. That's time I could be hanging out with the family (who are probably ignoring me) or excercising, or knitting or trying a recipe ... and this is why I live in a world of clutter.

5. I love witnessing the kindness of others (not towards me). I love to see a teenage get up for an older person on the bus. I love to see someone offer to help someone else. I love hearing someone tell someone else they appreciate them. It reaffirms my faith in humanity. It makes me feel hopeful.

6. Salty or crunchy snacks. Things that make your blood pressure go hmm ... french fries, chips, popcorn, crackers with tunafish, but not really hard pretzels - go figure. I go through phases with Cheezits and Goldfish aka the toddler life support snacks. hehe.

7. A savory breakfast. Fried rice, soup, toast with cheese and a coldcut. Sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs in herb butter or with green onions, hashbrowns. Not home fries, hash browns. Not all together, you know, just these are the things that make me swoon.

8. Exercise or is it endorphins? Because I like cardio and dance, but I like the way I feel after the run more than the run. I like hip hop class, but I really like zumba for that crazy heart rate. I have been known to go to 2 classes in a day if I have the leisure. I miss swimming. Maybe one day again? Easier on the joints.

9. Tide Sport with Febreeze yeah, I know theres a lot of licensing in that bottle but I like it. I do that stupid commercial sniff sniff when I pour it and when I put on my clothes, I like it so much. I get weird looks from the Manfriend.

10. Lip balm. I'm not a brand loyalist. If it keeps the chaps away and doesn't taste sour and stinky, I'm happy. Oh, but I don't like the pots of balm. I like it in a stick or tube. No touchy touchy greasy fingers. eww.

And that is my off the cuff list. What about you?

This weekend: Bringing in the fresh starts

Last night as I began the end of evening kitchen fussing. The dusty curtains in the kitchen blew into a nice billow over the table. It was as if the night sky decided to sigh into our little apartment, giving a little kick to the striped fabric on it's way out the living room window.

Living room. It hasn't been too lively in there. Lots of sort of woe is me lying about. Coughing, napping, sputtering, tissues strewn about. The whole household has been hit within a staggered week and a half. I think of you lovely people with multiple people, children, siblings, parents and cannot imagine how you guys handle an "outbreak" in your homes. One of us wants to be cuddled quite a bit, the other wants to be left alone like a wounded animal and might snap at you if you don't bring the tea fast enough (that would be me) and the other becomes narcoleptic, and WOW with the snoring. My relationship with my husband goes back to when we were young and dumb, but wow, we have never had to weather this kind of snoring before, tough times ;)

this is also when you know it's not just a relationship of convenience but perhaps love, ha!

I've watched the vacancies in the cubicles at work move it's way down through our department like one of those pandemic charts you find in The Economist. shudder.

But this fresh breeze has blown through. We seem over the worst of it. The rains have begun (finally) again and we're all hoping for some more renewal and rejuvenation.

Just like my knitting. Here's the report in brief:

I have been obsessive about untangling this yarn in my free healthy time. I had to cut the purple yarn and it still took me days of sorting and balling. The yarn had pilled so much it fused together in places. I used my embroidery scissors to try and clean some of the little fiber balls off, and whoops! I cut really close to the stitches on the needles. But now I have 2 balls of yarn ready for the next stage and I backed out the last row, so I have a proper tail to join and start up again. It's just waiting for some quality time :)

Fresh starts.

I think I might've fallen asleep working on my pipsqueaks so I may not have counted my rows properly, but I will pick these up again this weekend. I am not to concerned, but I would love it to be exactly the same for both socks.

And then there's this:

I wanted to knit a warm hat for Little Harrigan, so cute ... and pretty bald. Alas, as I started to get concerned about how much yarn I had left, I realize that I was knitting the TEEN size and not the Toddler. Ha! It wouldn't be such a loss if I had enough yarn to finish the teen size ... but I don't.

Back to the drawing board.

Fresh starts.

It's happening this weekend. Maybe a little baking, definitely as much exercise as I can get.  Some salad eating inspired by Karen. Maybe a weekend post. The sweater remains in time out!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Stay healthy, knit strong :)

Weekend

Things were going okay on Friday evening.

But Lo' and behold some how in my knitting bag things went ... very wrong.

It's worse than it looks. So I worked on this Saturday and Sunday. I was very Zen about it, "It's not a slew of knots, it's a puzzle of sorts."

I'm kind of over it now.

I just want to knit.