A Smelly Bib

Have you seen the smelly yarn from Sugar’n Cream, oops, I mean scented.  It brought be me right back to childhood and reminded me of a strawberry shortcake doll.  Do you remember those dolls?  I didn’t even realize I had bought the smelly yarn, until my friend pointed out the balls of yarn at Michaels.  I wasn’t sure what to make with it.  The color is why I had bought it, a vibrant pink, almost red.  I have been waiting for inspiration to hit and it has.   I have transformed the smelly yarn into a smelly bib.  Using “Hot Green” as contrast with the I-cord ribbing and ties. I think the combination is adorable and can’t imagine any baby not willing to model it, well maybe a baby boy would resist but the smell might just make him give it a try.  So here is the big reveal of the adorable smelly bib.

the smelly yarn

the adorable smelly bib

Here is a link to the pattern….

http://www.lauratreadway.com/knitting/stockinette-babybib.pdf

and a link to the designers blog

http://potentialofyarn.blogspot.com/

 

In case anyone was wondering……

No, I have not done a thing with my piles of yarn.  Nope, I have not finished my baby blanket.  Yup, I still have my feet up, well, at this moment.  The yarn and knitting hasn’t been taken care of because of my running, I mean, limping, around.  I will get off this computer and knit at least one row….really, I will.  I may even catch up on some Olympics, so I can feel even worse about my inability to get around in a coordinated fashion.  As a child I was very excited about the Olympics, now I think I just feel old.  Enough already, where’s my knitting so I can kick back and feel old.

Storage Wars

I really thought I was going to organize my knitting….yesterday.  Now, it is like an itch I can’t scratch.  The weather is making my foot ache, bad enough I’m stuck propping it up.  You would think I would take this opportunity to knit, but instead I am frustrated and consumed by thoughts of clutter. I would love to be on my feet searching the aisles of Hobby Lobby, Pier 1, Target, or even out hitting the garage sales, looking for the perfect piece of furniture to store my yarn in.  Instead, here I sit drowning in skeins of yarn, lost in my knitting needles, typing on the laptop.  I wish I was more productive and not drowning in my sorrows of what cannot be.  I really just need to pick the needles and find a show.  As long as the remote doesn’t find it’s way to HGTV and confuse my thoughts even more.

Knitting Seriously

I had a pleasant surprise in the mail today, my new issue of Interweave Knitting arrived.  The patterns were not my favorites, but the last article did capture my attention.  It was a nice reminder as to why I am writing this blog.  It is a welcome feeling to read an article that is so relatable.  My hope is that someone reading will have the same pleasant experience as they read what I write.

It also made me think of why I knit and why I love that my kids have at times had interest in knitting.  Right now it’s my girls that have taken up an interest  and it is refreshing seeing the joy of a well-knit row.  My youngest Emma, likes to announce each stitch she finishes and regularly counts them to make sure she has the right number; she has the makings of a meticulous knitter.  Ruth, my older daughter, has a completely different take on knitting, shrugging off mistakes but willing to adjust her project and create something new.  Seeing how each of them as taken to knitting in their own way, makes me realize how relaxing it can be when we adopt our own style.

Now I am adopting a new style, as I explore a whole new area of knitting, as I consider selling on a regular basis and as I reconsider how much time I will give to my new adventure.   Knitting has become a great distraction and I, like my daughter Ruth and her knitting, have to take my life and adjust my outlook.  My foot prognosis was not at all what I expected and now I have to consider a more sedate life, realizing there are going to be more times when I am off my feet than I had previously expected.  Time to take my knitting more seriously, and see where this takes me.

Ruth, on the left, Emma to the right.

Even the colors they choose are like night and day, so glad knitters come in all shapes and sizes!

Baby Blanket Bliss

I couldn’t resist.  I started yet another project.  I had to….it was calling me.  It has been too long since I have knitted a baby blanket and this yarn and this lace pattern are working out beautifully.  Please bear with me, as the photo does not do justice to what I am sure the finished product will look like.  Maybe I am just a little over confident, probably from the knitting-high of starting a new project, not just any project, but a lace one.   I am sure once it is blocked it will be gorgeous, of course, I will probably have no time to post a picture of the perfect masterpiece.  (convenient, don’t you think?)  I will give a taste of my new lace baby blanket.  I am sure I will finish this one soon, unlike the 1/3 done baby blanket it my knitting basket.  Well, now that I’ve given my fingers a stretch typing, it’s time to get back to my knitting.

unstretched lace

stretched lace

No time to knit!

A day when I actually had no time to knit.  I didn’t think I would ever see it.  I am incredibly thankful that I was on my feet so much today and so busy that I could not take up one of my many projects and knit away.  I almost grabbed my yarn and needles on my way to the parade in town, but was so late I didn’t have time to get them.  I am burnt, I am tired and my feet are a good kind of sore.  We went to the parade in town.  We made sandwhiches loaded with toppings.   We cleaned up a lot of the house.  We, on a whim, headed to Lake Michigan.  A fun, busy, and oddly restful day.  I am feeling my old self returning as I am able to walk around more.  Fortunately for me, the old self includes a lot of knitting, just not today.

Restless Knitting

Is there a cure for restless knitting syndrome???  I’m in desperate need of a cure.  For some reason, unknown to me, when things get stressful, I reach for a new knitting project.  As my foot heals, and new challenges arise, (like climbing in and out of the van, I know, difficult, huh?) my painkiller of choice is new knitting projects.

I found a new book at the bookstore and immediately had to start at least one of the patterns, if only to justify the purchase.  By morning, I had to cast on a lace shawl, just to have something else to work on when the checkerboard (new book pattern) might get a  little boring. Not to mention the I-cord I had to start this morning to finish the baby hat that I had barely cast-off before beginning the so-called cast-on shawl.  As if I really have time to knit all of this, maybe I should re-injure my foot just so I can keep up with all my cast-ons.  Or I could just get one more knitting bag to carry these projects with me wherever I go, I am sure my husband would love this idea.

It is at this point, on behalf of my husband that I will put a request out there, for any known cure for this restless knitting syndrome, I am positive it is a disease that only progresses with time, that no amount of yarn stashed can cure, book buying only worsens, and time off my feet has decidedly aggravated.   This is a cry for help, or maybe just a plea for  compassion and understanding…..I will finish these projects, someday.

The start of a lace shawl

The just begun Checkerboard

The unfinished baby hat

Procrastinating???? Or maybe just lazy.

I am almost done with another baby hat, well, maybe.  I just need to measure to make sure I am ready to decrease, but that would require some sort of measuring device.  One of my many, many measuring tapes would work, if I could remember where I left one.  I did ask for my daughters help, but after one reach into one of my many bottomless knitting bags she suggested I look for it myself and offered to hand me the bag.  Something must have distracted us because the bag never landed on my lap and here I sit hours later wondering what must have happened.  I suppose I could just get up and look but here I sit writing about it instead.  I think it is time for a nap.

Flying needles

I would like to think this refers to how fast I knit but it might refer to knitting-while-medicated.  My stage 1 procedure was completed last Tuesday.  It went so well, the Dr. thinks I may not need another procedure for a long time.  I will know for sure by the end of this week or the beginning of next week.   This “4th of July” stuff is inhibiting the flow of information.  Either way, today is a better day, because so far today, I am crutch free, painfully walking, but crutch free.  Can you hear the shouts of joy???  Probably not, because as I mentioned before in an earlier post, I am not a very good cheerleader (not just an opinion, a fact, unfortunately recorded forever in yearbook memories, oh well, it coincided with braces so maybe no one will recognize me).

But I digress, back to the knitting, in my highly medicated state I did manage to bust out a bunch of knitting, 2 baby cocoons, another diaper, another couple of hats, finished the hood of the wallaby.  Maybe I should be hospitalized more often.

knitting in the admitting area, knitted my way right up to pre-op sedation, about the time, my husband and I thought it would be a good idea to put the needles down, who knows what kind of project would’ve resulted if I kept going.

A little hospital fun, and an alternate use for the baby cocoon.

The foot with the hidden pain, minor looking at first glance but if you could see inside the foot quite angry, at this point, alcohol was destroying the criminal veins causing all the pain in my foot, unfortunately, killing blood vessels is incredibly painful, hopefully they learned their lesson and won’t come back.

The result of too much tme with my feet up.