Uli's Creative Corner

Have you ever had one of those mornings?  One of those mornings when someone steps on your toes the wrong way, gets your back way up and then just kind of puts you in a lousy mood........ That's me today.  I also made coffe this morning at home - set it on the timer last night - enjoyed the wonderfully fresh smell of coffee when I came down first thing this morning.  I left the house without even pouring one cup of coffee for myself.  I went from being asleep to 100 miles/hour in 30 seconds flat.  I'm really feeling like I'm burning the candle at both ends so I'm really hoping that my quilting course that starts tomorrow will be somewhat of an oasis - away from it all even if just for 3 hours a week.

I did a little bit of knitting last night.  A few rows on the aqua cardie between being a Mommy.  As soon as I pick up my needles, Erika comes and wants to sit on me.  She'll be playing perfectly content and I'll be sitting right next to her or at least in the same room and she won't be interested in what I do but as soon as I pick up those needles.  It's her sixth sense.....  One sleeve is almost done now.  I'm getting close to the point where I have to take some measurements.  I know I won't need to make the sleeve quite as long as the pattern calls for.

I went through some old knitting magazines last night and I started a list of projects that I really like and may want to do some day.  I noted the magazine issue and page number of the pattern on my list so that I don't forget about all these great patterns along the way.  I may never get to any of them but at least if I have a desire to do something new and don't know what, I might be able to have half of a chance to find something in these magazines.

Big problem right now............. I just want to buy, buy, buy............... more yarn, more yarn, more fabric, more thread..........  And there are so many goregeous yarns and patterns out there.  So many ideas.  So little time.  And visiting other knitting blogs and seeing what everyone else is working on is so inspiring and gives me so many ideas......  Soon I will have to put a stop on the buying or our budget will be completely shot.  I really want to do "Beach" from the Knitty magazine because I'm itching to do something that could replace my "Old Faithful".  Old Faithful is an old sweatshirt that is just falling apart.  That sweater could totally be it.  The type of thing to throw on with a pair of jeans or sweats on the weekend when you run out to do some errands or play at the playground.  I'm also itching to do something on the round.  Just knitting, knitting, knitting................ Mindless I think is the term.  That pattern has all that.

Tomorrow I'm getting back my pattern book.  I have a binder filled with those clear plastic page protectors.  In each plastic insert, I have one pattern.  Patterns I have collected over time.  Leaflets I have bought.  Patterns I have printed.  Working copies of patterns etc. etc. etc.  I love that book.  I love looking through it.  I need to file some new patterns in it.  I gave it away to my quilting teacher to look and admire my patterns as she just had a new grandbaby and many of my patterns (being a fairly new Mom) are kids patterns.  I'm really looking forward to getting it back now.  I think something new needs to make it on the needles and I think I know what it is and it's in my book.

Time to go. 

Monday.................. and may I ask where the weekend disappeared to?  I don't like to complain but this weekend was very dissatisfying.  I had a bad case of the "there is not enough time for me to get everything done" blues.  Two things that were on my list that didn't get done were the bathrooms (maybe tonight) and getting my front porch flower bed weeded and worked over for the fall.  I didn't get too much knitting done but the fun stuff is always the first to suffer. 

By the pattern, my aqua cardie sleeve is 1/2 finished but Erika's arms are short so if I make the actual length for a sleeve given in a pattern, I end up turning the cuff up 3 or 4 times and that doesn't look too great.  For the kids, I like to knit the sleeve length to turn over the sleeve cuff once so that there's room to grow.  But there's no need to give so much room that they'll grow out of the body of the sweater and the sleeves are still turned up twice.

Yesterday, I dug back into an old knitting magazine (it's from 1998) because I wanted to pull out one of the kids' standby cardigans to make with some yarn I already have.  I've made that one twice (for other kids) before and now it's time to make one of the same for Erika.  It's a great pattern.  This time I need to swatch it first just to see if it will work out with the yarn I've got.  The gauge given on the ball band and the gauge in the pattern are the same but different sized needles are used.  While I was flipping through that magazine I notice a bunch of other nice things that would be nice for me.  I need to start a list of all the things in all the magazines I like so I don't forget about them - even though I may never get to them.

Time to crunch some numbers.

About Finishing Things

Last night I was doing some stuff in my sewing room - I think it's called cleaning up.......... and I remembered a cute little cardigan I had knitted for Erika.  I must say I can't even remember when I finished it.  Probably in the winter some time.  It was meant to be bigger to fit her this summer.  I put it all together right there and then but then I only put one button on and never finished the buttons.  I came across it yesterday.  It's so cute.  I almost put it away again, thinking: "Buttons, Yuck.... I don't feel like it".  But then I brought everything downstairs and sat down.  Less than 20 minutes later, a new cardigan for Erika was born.  It didn't take long and she could have worn it all summer on those cooler days.  Ah well, it will still look good throughout the fall.  When I snap a picture, I'll post it.

I started the sleeve on the aqua cardie yesterday and I got about 1/3 of the way up the first sleeve.  I'm really enjoying this project.

Today I got up early and started cutting my fabric for my Mexican Stars quilting course.  I got a little bit done before everyone else got up and then I finished everything up this afternoon.  All the pre-class prep is done and I just have to pack my little tote with all the necessary quilting items to take to class.

I'd better get back to my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that are baking in the oven.  I thought I'd do something nice for my family today.

Busy day today so far.

Last night I got some time to work on the purple jacket. I probably got about 3 inches done on the back. I'm a very fast knitter but I find knitting on really big needles (these are 8 mm) really slows me down. Today it feels too hot to work on that project. I started the ribbing on the sleeves for the aqua cardie for Erika but I only got about 4 rows done as I was trying to do a million things at once including watching Erika and playing with her.

Really not much news today. It's my turn to finally start getting some of the housework done now that Erika is taking a nap and Evan came inside from doing stuff in the garden. I'd rather sit and knit or sew though.

Here is a picture of the progress on my Advent Calendar Quilting Project.

TGIF. I've been writing this blog for a week now and it's great. Mind you, I'm maybe a little obsessed with looking up everyone else's knitting blogs and getting right in the spirit of things. One of my closest friends is a knitter and I miss her dearly. We met in graduate school and when we finished our degrees I moved back to the west coast and after some time she decided to pursue a PhD all the way on the East Coast. We e-mail and we talk and when we see each other we go to all the local yarn stores we can find and then we sit in my living room and knit and talk about knitting, life and everything else inbetween. It's good to have those friends. Everyone else around me gets bored fast when I start talking about my latest knitting project, quilting project or any other crafty project. So this blog combines two things. I am finally keeping my journal about tracking my progess on my projects that I've been meaning to do for so many years (without ever knowing of these blogs) and it lets me chat ad nauseum about my knitting and other crafty addictions. It's all good.............

Not a lot of knitting or sewing going on last night. I often sew some patchwork seams before my husband and daughter come home. I usually have 1/2 hour of peace and quiet after I get home. Last night was the first night of peace and quiet I had this week but instead of sitting down at the sewing machine I started doing the dishes and doing stuff around the kitchen. So no sewing yesterday.

I did a little bit of knitting last night and finished the front of the aqua cardie. I couldn't find my 3.25 mm needles to start the cuff for the sleeve so I put it aside. Then I got obsessed with my purple cardigan. I needed to figure out if I picked the right size for myself when I started the pattern. I measured myself in all the right places and picked the size and then went to check that I had actually started with the right number of stitches. I had. All I did on this project before the summer was to knit a 4 row moss stitch edge and 1 row of the 2 row very simple pattern repeat. So, I sat in bed last night (never have done that before but I guess one gets creative when time is limited) and knit another two rows. I could have kept going but it was late. Now I'm hooked on that one. I knit so much for my little munchkin that I always forget about myself. It's easier and faster to knit for the little ones and you get quick satisfaction.

As I'm looking at some of the things I've made for my little girl, I'm trying to get some shots to add to my list of finished projects. Here is a colourful, big bulky sweater made with Sirdar Snowflake Magic yarn (the stripes appear as you knit) and a little cotton crochet hat that I made up in 2 nights.

Isn't she cute???

We have Erika's 2-year old doctor's appointment today. We're meeting a new doctor for the first time. Well, my husband knows her but I don't know her yet and I'm very weary about new doctors. However, she sounds like a nice lady so I hope all will be well.

It's Thursday!!!!  Getting closer to the weekend and this week, I really feel that I need the little break.  All I "have" to do this weekend is to take Erika to her baby music class and that's fun.  We sing, laugh and dance around and all the adults can be little children, too.  Besides all my crafty hobbies, I love to sing and play my guitar.  I just don't nearly do it often enough these days but when I'm at baby music class with Erika, I can sing along to all the silly songs and have fun with it without worrying about how crazy people might think I really am.  Other than that, I'll have the usual errands and house chores but I should also get some time to at least cut my fabrics for my Mexican Stars quilting course.  Maybe I'll even get my crafty closet organized a bit.  I just bought some stackable wire cubes and I'm thinking that I'll put those together, stack them up and use them for yarn and fabric storage.  I think I'd like to have the whole lower part of the closet lined with these things.  Anyone use that type of a system to organize your yarn stash?

Here is a picture of the only knitting project I've got on the needles for myself right now.  I can't say that I've been actively working on it though.  I got the ribbing for the back done and did about a row of the pattern and then stopped for the summer as it's chunky, warm yarn.  I think I'll need to pick it back up very soon.  I wanted the yarn and pattern for this project so badly last Christmas so I arranged with my LYS that they knew what I wanted for a Christmas present so that in case my husband came in to buy something for me, they knew exactly what I wanted.  In the end, they just ended up putting the pattern and yarn in the back for me and held it until either my husband came in before Christmas (or I myself after Christmas had he not come in to buy it for me).  But he did go and get it for me.  I was at the store the other day and the ladies asked me how that project turned out and I had to admit that I didn't quite get past the ribbing on the back yet.

The aqua cardie is still at the same stage as I didn't touch my needles at all last night.  I'm on a roll with that one so I think I'll just push to finish it so I can put it aside.  I don't think Erika will wear it much before next spring.  I made it on the big side.  It was one of those "unplanned projects" anyways.

Oh and this morning I had the epiphany on what I would make with that Boucle yarn I bought.  I have a chunky kid's pattern for a really nice vest.  I've made the cardigan pattern for my nieces last year for Christmas and the same pattern has a vest pattern on it and that's what I will use for that Boucle yarn.  It will be a great fall addition to Erika's wardrobe.  Very simple, zippered, stocking stitch with pockets.  I think that will work nicely.

I'm tired just thinking about all my projects - but they are so much fun!!!!

No new pictures.........  I was planning on getting a few more pictures of my projects posted yesterday but I never made it to the computer at home and that's where all my pictures are.  By the time I had a moment to get on the computer our visitor decided to go to bed and the computer room doubles as a guest room.

What a night!!!!  Erika has another ear infection.  The little munchkin.  I think in the last year she's had at least 5 of them or even maybe 6.  This is the first time she ever told us what was wrong though.  She kept on gonig "ear, aueee, ear sore".  It came on all of a sudden.  It was 8 pm.  I knew what was wrong.  I knew she needed antibiotics.  The clinic was open to 9 pm (thank god).  Off we went in the car.  At this point, I just tell the doctor to check her ears and I've been right every time now (except the first ear infection she ever had and we had no clue and ended up in emergency in the middle of the night).  Told the doctor what she has responded to best in the past, got the prescription, went to the drug store next door, and back home we went.  After getting some medicine, she went to sleep very quickly but she woke up again just after midnight and I ended up camping out on the couche with her until about 2 am.  So as a result..... I don't know if any of my ramblings make sense today.

However, since she went to bed early, I got the front of the aqua cardie all knitted up to where I decrease for the round neck edge.  Basically, the front is done now.  Just two sleeves left.  Sleeves are my least favourite to knit but they should work up very quickly.

Went to Michael's last night, before the whole ear infection saga, while the boys went to Future Shop.  I didn't mean to buy anything, especially not any yarn but just like with the Halloween treat bag yesterday, this Boucle yarn jumped out at me.  Very pretty colours, nice and bright.  I bought a few balls.  I have no idea for what but I'm sure it will be something that will look cute on Erika.  I also picked up a neat pumpkin cookie pan to make pumpkin cookies on a stick.  Great gift idea for Thankgsgiving or Halloween.

Tonight is a "meet the other parents" party at daycare so I hope that Erika will be well during the day and that it will be a fun evening.  I don't think I'll get any knitting done.

Signing of for now................

I have to add to today that I just spent my lunch hour at the quilting shop. Fortunately or unfortunately there is a store in the vicinity of my office..... it's a great place to visit at lunch time when I need to escape.

I ended up with some necessities for my upcoming courses - a mechanical marking pencil, some thread and a piece of a Christmas Bali Batik that I will use for the wings of my Angel of Light. Then I was ready to walk out of the store after having adored and touched many pieces of fabric. On my way out, all of a sudden this sample Halloween treat bag jumps out in front of me. I mean it literally attacked me.    It's the cutest Halloween treat bag I ever saw and I forgot all about the fact that we already bought a little bag for Erika for her first time trick or treating. I had to have it. It's a panel so it will come together very quickly and easily I hope. After my shopping excursion, my headache didn't go away but I do feel a lot happier.

Another day, another dollar!!! 

The left front of the aqua cardigan is about 25% done.  I managed to get about 45 minutes of knitting done last night - all in very interrupted segments of 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there.  I think it will be really cute when it's finished.  Have you ever thought that it seems that two front pieces of a cardigan combined seem to work up faster than if it was the front of a sweater.  I love the shorter rows on cardigans.

I ordered the 2 new projects I was talking about.  One is a cute Sandnes pattern intended for Erika but I ordered it for a size 4 because I know I won't be making it for a while to come.  The other one is a Sirdar pattern intended for a Christmas present for Evan but it's done on a DK yarn on 4mm needles - no idea whether I'll manage to finish it (or even get it started for that matter).

The guys framed the most part of the basement yesterday.  Pretty cool.  The first step in finishing our unfinished basement is almost done and we got it done for fairly cheap so that's even better.  We definitely owe Ian dinner tonight.

While the guys were out getting more lumber last night I went for a walk with Erika.  She insisted on walking and she insisted on carrying her ladybug backpack on her back with baby and bear in the bag.  It was very funny until our minds crossed about what direction to take.  I won in the end but it wasn't pretty.  I almost had her kicking and screaming in the middle of the street.  You know those toddler tantrums when they just fling themselves on the ground......

I just realized last night that it is only one week from tonight that my first quilting course of the fall starts and I have all the cutting to do yet.  I've got my fabrics all prepared but I always hate making that first cut.  I'm really looking forward to escaping for a night a week though.

Other than that............... it's just another ordinary day.  I did bring my knitting hoping I might get a few rows in at lunch time.

Morning........ yaaawn.  This was a busy weekend and now it's back to work.  Every Monday morning I have a Manager's meeting at 8 am.  With taking Erika to daycare, I usually just get to work at 8 am so Mondays always seem like a struggle.  We're all just a bit more grumpy on Mondays.

I got a few rows done last night on the aqua cardigan but nothing spectacular.  I just barely finished the ruffle and got the first row of the lace pattern done on the right front piece.  Once I sat on the couch, Erika didn't take long before she wanted to sit and cuddle with me and that takes precedence over any of the knitting or sewing projects in the world.

Evan is off work today and him and his friend are working to frame our unfinished basement.  I know they'll be working very hard, probably harder than while sitting at his office desk all day but he did promise me some time to myself in front of the sewing machine tonight.  I actually need to rotary cut my fabrics for my first quilting course this fall.  It's called Mexican stars.  Very, very pretty wall hanging.

Of all things, I picked up a copy of Quiltmaker's favourite magazine editions yesterday and it's full of kids' quilts.  Well, given that we will be blessed with a second baby one day (just not quite yet :-)))) I have already found the quilt and therefore wall decor for the new baby's room.  I saw it and I knew that was it.  It's colourful elephants parading across the quilt.  Erika's baby room and quilt and wall hanging and bumper pads and wallpaper border were all of brightly coloured animals as well.  Now, we're looking at changing her new room into a little girl's room with flowers and lady bugs and butterflies.....

Back to work.