Slack and then slack some more...

Hi Cindy!

I've been a bad blogger and not really much to show for it. I've been doing some knitting and crocheting but nothing really to show for it, at least no pictures. I guess the uncertainty with work has me a bit on edge and I haven't really accomplished much. I started to set up an etsy store to sell some of my excess items but can't get to writing up descriptions and posting them.

We still have no news on the budget. The state legislature met in special session last month but couldn't decide anything. And they may or may not meet this month. The longer they push the decision the deeper the cuts are likely to go. I think my position will be okay since I'm the only one that does the job and I've been with the state a long time (17.5 years if you can believe it!) but the one thing I think the legislature decided on was suspending the personnel rules.

Anyways, enough downer talk. I started painting the bathroom over the weekend. My parents come out four weeks from today so I'd like to have it done by then. I've gotten the cabinet done so far, next on to the walls. We've had fish in there since we moved in, since before we moved in and it was time for a change. It was rather childish looking so it is time for a more grown-up feel. I'm going for a modern, SE Asian feel. The cabinet is a dark purple called Deep Aubergine. I didn't do a deep sanding on it so it was the stained brown to start and the purple over makes it almost a deep claret color. The inside is a bright green, quite a contrast but you only see it when the doors are open. The walls will be blue and cinnamon and the ceiling and door will be a taupe color. It sounds a little weird but it was a color grouping I picked from a layout in a paint suggestion booklet I picked up.

I'll end with a picture of the yarn I've picked out for a baby blanket for one of my friends at work. It will be a feather and fan pattern. They are expecting a girl in February and don't want to go the pink route. I'm dropping the green mix boucle and am adding a deep pink. I knit up a test swatch in the color order I'm going to use and showed it to the dad. He loved the colors and said they were exactly what they're thinking. In fact the wall color for the room is just slightly darker than the mustard color I choose. Gotta love Cascade 220 for their color choices!

Time to finish, Take Care, A

2 FOs and a challenge?

Hi Alene, (I have no idea why my text is underlined so I am choosing to ignore it) here are 2 recent FOs: a baby blanket for my niece (goddaughter #2 is expecting her first in Feb.) and a pair of fingerless mitts form spindle-spun Corriedale.

The baby blanket (whew away went the underlining) I made on my Bond machine as a big piece of stockinette and then the textured stitches are hand-manipulated (off the machine in this case). I learned about this particular technique on Ravelry, and although it looks a little wonky to me, DH says it's nice and agrees it'll be a good size for an infant car seat.

The fingerless mitts are made with the same "pattern" that I use in my Spin and Knit Fingerless Mitts class. It's not much of a pattern, garter stitch worked sideways mostly. Easy and fun. I had a 2 inch piece of yarn left when I finished!

Now for the challenge: do you want to spin a little for Spin-Off's next Your Yarn feature? It's for spindle-spun yarn. We'd need to do a 5-yard piece and get it to them sometime in Dec., I think. Will need to look up the details. What do you think?
:) Cindy

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

Hi Cindy,

Okay, I stole that title from a Fannie Flagg novel but I figured it was good for talking about a new baby. The little recipient of all my knitting over the last 6 months made her appearance on March 5. After nearly two weeks worth of on-again-off-again labor Lytifa finally had her baby Wednesday night about 9 pm. I got the picture text on my phone just after 10. Her name is Jahmia Nyoko and she was 7 pounds-13 ounces.

Here she is with her mom and dad. Older sister Juraiya was at the hospital for much of the day on Wednesday while mom was in labor but she had to go home for a breathing treatment (she had asthma really badly and needs regular treatments). She hadn't been back to the hospital since to meet her new sister when I visited at lunch yesterday.

It is pretty amazing how light her skin is right now. While I was holding her and playing with her fingers I noticed that they were pretty much the same color as mine. I'd never known it before but Lytifa explained it to me a few years ago. The dark melanin isn't at the surface of a new-born. It takes a few days or weeks for the full color to develop. As you can see from her parents she will be fairly dark-skinned eventually but not right now.I took a long lunch yesterday to go out and visit-a verrrrry long lunch. It is about 30 miles from the office out to the hospital but it would have been even farther from home. I originally planned on staying less than an hour but ended up visiting for almost an hour and a half. I ended up holding Jahmia for most of that time too. It is amazing how holding a baby can give you a rush of endorphins. I'd been feeling pretty low that morning after hearing from my mom what was up with my dad but for at least an hour after holding Jahmia, and maybe even longer, I felt peaceful and happy.

I had better finish this off. I'll let you know when I get firm dates of flying back there. It will probably be late April. My folks want to spend some of the recovery time up at the cottage so we'll probably be there a few days after Dad gets out of the hospital. More soon, A

Coming Soon: Blog Tour!

Hi Cindy,

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday. I scanned it quickly last night and hope to study it in depth over lunch today. I'm going to pick my project and will try to send it off to you on Thursday. I have a couple of books and some other stuff to send you too, including some citrus, so it's time to send it off.

As I emailed you the other day we're first up on the 25th. I'll write my entry the night before and post it first thing that morning so it's up all day. If you get a chance to post something that's great but if you're too busy with the kids and real life I've got us covered. The rest of the schedule (with links) is located at Donna's Blog.

The brief listing is:

February
25 Alene & Cindy @ Knit-N-Spinnin' Kitten blog
26 Carol Metzger @ Carol's Experiments in Textiles
27 Carol Sulcoski @ Go Knit In Your Hat
28 Prudence @ KnitMe
29 Karen & Pearl @ Pearl the Diabetic Cat: A Journey in Patience

March
1 Deborah Robson @ The Independent Stitch
2 Bella Turek @ Knitsabella Knits
3 Eileen Dobek @ Purling Kitty: A day in the life of a wannabe knitter.
4 Laiane @ It's Furious Balancing
5 Kozy Kitty @ Crazy Cat Lady's Musings
6 Rebecca @ Wanderings
7 Michelle @ Turtle Lover Knits
8 Leanne Dyck @ Designer's Note
9 Mitchypoo @ Knitting and Losing
10 Stacy Elmer @ this that and the other
11 Jadielady @ Jadielady's Thoughts
12 Denise B. @ Nana and the Cats
13 Tracy Philpot @ tracylovesdevons
14 HRH Dani @ Queen of Socks
15 Ladylungdoc @ Purl This!
16 Kim @ Knit-Tea Kitty
17 Theresa Walunas @ The Keyboard Biologist Knits
18 Turtlegirl76 @ Turtlegirl's Bloggy Thing

The baby shower for Lytifa was on Sunday. Today she hits 36 weeks and she's really ready to have the baby. Here she is opening my box of knitted goodies. The pink furry booties were a big hit. I don't have a close-up picture handy here but you can see them on my finished projects page over at Ravelry. Below is the bib and burp cloth set from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. I love the patterns and I really love the yarn. It is a super soft and smooshy cotton. The washcloth is an increase miter and I used the ends of both balls held together. I love how it turned out.

I also did the cake for the shower. I don't do cakes very often but this one turned out great. I had one of the girls there ask me to do a cake for her sister-inlaw's shower. It's very flattering but I'm not interested in doing cakes all the time.

I'd best close this. I'm taking off on Thursday. My cousin is moving to AZ this weekend and I want to have the house clean before they get here. Maybe I'll be able to write more then. In the meantime, stay warm and don't get buried by snow. And wish your DS a Happy Birthday from us because the card probably won't get there on time. Take Care, Love, A

A Couple of FO's and Pink Knitting

Hi Cindy!

The weather that has brought all the fires to Southern CA has brought us some lovely weather. Yesterday reached a high of about 80, maybe even a degree or two lower, and lots of wind. And just in time I finished off a hat. Actually it was a really quick knit. I used about half of the one ball I bought while visiting you in April and knit it up on 15's. I don't have any dpn's that size but I do have 2 circs. I'm pretty happy with it. This is actually the first hat I've made for myself, all the others have been gifts.

The color for much of my upcoming knitting is Pink! My friend L found out last week that she's having a girl so I dug out my stash box of pink and red related yarns. I'm definitely thinking of a sweater made out of a mix of items from this box although I haven't hunted down a pattern yet. The cotton yarns have also come out and it is likely that a M-D kimono will come out of those. Or maybe a hooded bath towel. I have 5 balls of a white-yellow-blue mix that I'm thinking about over-dying with a pink to give a more girly color pattern to.

Last spring I bought a ball of cotton in this pretty pink variegated mix. I had intended to make a few dishcloths out of it for my friend J's birthday but got enough others done that I hadn't cracked this one open yet. It is brighter than your typical baby-pink but I think L will like it. Her favorite color is red and the dark parts of this head that way. As you can see I've finished the M-D bib and am working on a matching burp cloth. We're all having lunch this Saturday so I'd like to have it all done by then. I still need to get a cute button to finish off the bib. I'm debating a cute flower or a bit of bling with a giant rhinestone. Maybe I'll go by Joanne Fabrics tomorrow night to see what I can find.

Here are a few of my current reading items. I could no longer resist and had to buy Crazy Aunt Purl's book last week. The two books in the back I got on our last trip to Bookman's a couple of weeks ago. Occasionally I drop by Stitchy McYarnpants blog. It's always good for a chuckle and the book is no different. It's amazing what passed for knitting fashion. And what still does. I went through knitting magazines over the weekend and have picked out a whole pile to take to Bookman's next time we go. In that scrounging I also found the Knitting for Babies booklet that I bought when my other friends were expecting last year. I'm sure I'll pick something out of it.

Guess it's time to head off to bed. I stayed home sick to day so no telecommuting this week. More soon, maybe even a mandolin pattern!

Take Care, A