How I managed my nerves during World Series Game 7

I finished Turn a Square last night as my blood pressure and muttering willed the The SF Giants to their 3rd World Series win in 5 years.

It was pretty amazing. Our city was a bit bonkers the rest of the evening. I fell asleep to the sound of the choppers between our neighborhood and the Civic Center.

Well, baseball allows one to keep your hands busy, and apparently series clinching games ups my knit pace.

I knit this with some scrap yarn from the EXACT same hat from a few years ago, but my son lost it, 'cause he liked it. Just like he lost my favorite handwarmers (The Kid is cut off this season of any handknits, especially mine!) I was worried about having enough yarn and did not add an extra inch like I thought I would, but it seems to fit my enormous noggin. Hats don't look that great on me, but that's okay, it's toasty and it may be the new security blanket for my head.

But I think I need to cast on another. I love this pattern.

Another post where I whine about sock knitting.

If you could see my inner-self now, there would be a teenage girl in a raggedy maybe at one time it was black cardigan on, flopping around on her bed upside down with her semi greasy but all natural dark colored hair collecting dust on a shag carpet, whining, whinging, sighing, and flopping her arms.

The Dental Anxiety Ankle socks are ... no more.

I frogged them because despite the fact there probably was someone, somewhere that would enjoy them, I simply would not enjoy continuing to knit them, and really friends .. why the heck should we be bothered with that?

Knit with joy, I tell ya'.

And thus my Non pareils were born. I bought this yarn impulsively when going in for something else, something practical, like buttons, replacement dpns or gift yarn. Anyhow, it was layed out on a table with different swatches of the various colorways knit together.

It is so soft.

KFI Luxury Collection. Indulgence Cashmere.

But because I can't just leave things well enough alone, instead of doing my standard sock pattern, but wanting to do stockinette, I am trying  US1 needle. I know, from US 3 to US 1. It's the exterme reaction of the above moody teenager.

Also my US2s are otherwise engaged with my Pumpkin socks or can be used for kindling since I keep snapping them.

The colors make me happy. Chocolate candy happy.

I was tappy, typing my new "sweet" project into Ravelry when I noticed, this is not sock yarn.(please, don't tell me this should be obvious, because if it's anything you should know about me and knitting, nothing, absolutely nothing is obvious to me, until I'm in so far, I practically need a legal team and military specialist team to extract me from my situation)

It's dk weight yarn.

Okay, so it's not the end of the world. Plenty of people knit socks with dk weight yarn. Theyll be comfy, cozy, house, camping what the heck ever rustic socks.

Meh.

I actually think size wise it might work. It's early days, they seem very stretchy,  but the US 1s are a lot of work. I do find some joy in them. Will I continue to?

Do I stay the course? Do I rip that out?

The thing is, I really like this yarn for socks. I even knit on them at lunch. I don't want a shawl, a cowl or mitts. I want socks out of this damn dk impulse bought yarn.

Tonight I return to the pumpkins. I need a little less drama in my sock knitting for a hot minute.

Let me know if you have an opinion, but don't be surprised if I frog these too.

Another gigantic argument for getting gauge

Yesterday The Kid had 4 teeth pulled as part of his ortho-plan. My sweet boy had the cutest teeth when he was tiny but his adult teeth have come in a little too large and crowded for his little mouth.

His dental hygiene leaves much to be desired so since we are in a position to do this, I'm hoping it will provide some better long term dental health. 

The week was already rough on his mouth, a gum scrape when he got accidentally whacked with a marker in class by a seat mate, and he chipped a tiny bit of tooth on Quinn's head at practice Thursday night. Sigh.

Well you all know my level of dental anxiety but through a lot of anxious chatter, venting and support by some friends I readied myself as best as I could.

And naturally, I knit. I decided to try an ankle sock pattern from Purlbee.

I was trucking along and then I held it up. Hmm perhaps you need scale?

Does the potato help??

Maybe a pear? 

No? I never said I was a photographer. This thing is baggy. Ugh.

I used some leftover Zauberball which is thinner than a lot of my other sock yarn. The pattern called for US3s.

So why am I surprised? I'm not now that I'm not in the throes of parental anxiety. 

In the end I held it together for the boy. And now I'm a short order soft foods cook ;)

Thanks for tolerating the bad photos, weak mother stories and baggy socks. I'll try for more quality in the next post :)

Winner Winner and Weekend Notes

Numero THREE was selected by the random number generator, making Steph of Woolythyme happy place our Uniform Cardigan pattern giveaway winner. If you're not already a regular visitor, be sure to go over and take a scroll around her neighborhood. She always has something fun knitting going on and lots of beautiful photos of her world.

Steph are you on ravelry? I'm elns and if you ping me I can gift you that pattern. It's worsted weight  yarn  I hope that is OK -- I believe you are a fan of the fingering :)

Weekend Highlights
Special request baking, chocolate crinkle cookies and for curiosity and scientific purposes I attempted gluten-free molasses cookies.  The flavor was alright, the texture, was still too cake and crumbly.

Saturday was another soccer loss for our boys. It was just like the Swansea vs. Stoke City match this weekend. Swansea started off strong, but then when Stoke City picked up the pace the 2nd half, the swans couldn't complete or finish it. Painful, but I love it.

However after there were hot dogs, video games, board games, home made videos and lots of snacks. Family and friends of different team mates. I did overcook the tritip roast a bit. shh.

Sunday we slowed the pace and it was exercise and I took a nap!! Very exciting. I also holed up in my room and finished the leg on my pumpkin sock #1 and whipped up the 1st wristwarmers of a pair I'm working on. I am making Mediums, but I'm already thinking I might have to make a pair in Smalls for myself if there is enough yarn left :) 

And that my friends is our winner and my weekend in one post.

F O for reals!

I don't care it's Wednesday. There is a new FO in town.

Buttons? Check.

Weaved in ends? Check.

Whoo hoo.

Maybe it needs a hat...

Pumpkins are back on the needle, proper cuff and all. And yes I even managed some green cast on for another little person. 

Ah knitting season.

October Giveaway: The Uniform (Cardigan) Pattern

Image from Ravelry (c) Carrie Bostick Hoge

It's October and I'm totally, completely in love with my fellow internet knitters. I have just been really grateful for the joy you bring me, when I read your blogs and your comments, either here or on other people's blogs.

However I did notice after I posted earlier this week my intentions to knit up The Uniform this winter, that many of you commented on it and seemed to like it. What's not to love, it allows you to mix and match elements of a cardigan without you trying to do the Maths, hello!

Andi was kind enough to gift it to me, so I thought, why not gift it to someone else who wants it? Let's keep this good stuff going.

And here we go my lovelies. Leave your ravelry handle ('cause that's how I'll get it to you) by next week Friday October 17th and we'll see if the random generator picks you.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend filled with whatever you want. Knit some good times.

Ellen

I swear, it's a good excuse!

The button bands are still not finished on the baby cardigan. But the excuse is good, I promise!

Saturday started with another migraine and puking for The Kid. I'm secretly beginning to dread Saturday mornings around my apartment. The Kid managed it the best ever and he even made it to the second half of his match that morning. They lost, again. It's going to be a rough soccer season.

I cracked a tooth. I go in on Wednesday to find out the extent of the damage and additional pain I must endure. I don't know if I've expressed it here, but I am without a doubt the biggest DDS wussy ever. I'm sorry, I have an irrational fear. How does one handle this? Well this morning I had a Reese's peanut butter "pumpkin" cup for breakfast. Breakfast of Champions, hey, it's better than chronic anxiety at work.

The rest of Saturday was chores, baseball and chores. It really is lame when you haven't done any housework all week, because it takes so much time doing basic things like, laundry, bathroom cleaning, sweeping etc.  Baseball made me nervous, so it was good that I could channel the nervous energy in cleaning ... but no knitting. It was ridiculously warm that evening and we ended up hanging out with some friends on their deck while our kids threw things off it onto the lawn below.

Sunday I ran a 12k. The Bridge to Bridge Run benefiting The Special Olympics. A pretty run for a good cause. From the Ferry Building near the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge and back to the edge of the Marina Green.

And now, my body is still just a mush. This was my 3rd one this year, but my first that I ran all the way through. Honestly, I'm more of a 5k kind of gal. I slept so well last night. More so than Sunday. It was the sleep of recovery, it was sound. My son laughed at my snoring.

Yes, I snore now.

I have an early appointment after work today, but then I'm going home back to my boys and the couch. Reading and knitting -- that's on the agenda. My legs said I should do it for a bit and leave them alone.

Winter and Fall Knits: More Hopes and Dreams

Flowers, because.

I'm on target to finish that baby cardigan this week and hopefully work on my pumpkin socks. I won't make the My Sister's Knitter KAL deadline, but honestly, that's OK. I never make the KAL deadlines anyways, ha!

So as always I have a knit list blooming as I anticipate an FO:

1. Child Sophisticate -- yes, yes, I know again, another small people knit AND another pattern repeat, but what can I say? Someone has asked/requested and you know, I've never done one in green or a bigger toddler size.

2. Finish a cardigan I have had on the needles since January or so. I stopped knitting it because the weather out here was so warm. Yes, it is still warm. Hellooooo drought. I have completed the body, so now it's just the rest. 

3. Need to knit a hat. Just need to. Probably a Turn A Square, Jared Flood because its a fun/simple knit. Oh, and there is DEFINITELY yarn in the stash for a hat ... or two. ahem ahem.

4. Another cardigan. I've been in love with Uniform for a while. It speaks to the simplicity I truly am (stylistically), but allows me flexibility in pattern which I always crave -- I have not decided which components I'm going to use for my Uniform, yet. However, that's part of the excitement of this project. I have some stash yarn options for this one too. The pattern was a birthday gift from a very kind and generous Andi.

5. Handwarmers. Simple ones. I just want to knit some for myself stockinette with some pretty worsted  yarn that does all the "work" for me.

And with those 5 (well 6 if we rope in the pumpkin socks), I think I've sealed my fall/winter line-up. There will be some other small knits mixed up in there, but I feel good about this.

The undercover secret list of distractions

• A little girl cardigan for the girl with the curls, CL.
• Coffee sleeves for a school fundraiser in school colors black and yellow! (though uniforms are black & white, thank goodness)
• Socks, delicious, easy traveling, best yarn ever socks.
• Maybe a shawl. Maybe a husband scarf, maybe a cousin cowl ... oh so distracted already.