Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Life in Fast Forward

Holy cow- I am a horrible blogger.  And as of late, a horrible crafter as well.  Well, not horrible as much as infrequent.

So here's an overall update and I'll try to cover all the bases that need covering.

1.  I've taken on a really big knitting project that's not really my style, but I really felt compelled to help.  A woman at my nursery job is currently engaged to a widower.  His late wife was a knitter, and left behind a tub of yarn.  (I'm amazed that it's only one frankly) It's a collection of partial hanks and a couple projects' worth of sock yarn.  There's a few projects already started- a couple baby bibs that are 90% done and include the pattern with them, one fingerless mitt, and there was also the first bit of a sock started.  The woman at work asked around (we have loads of knitters at work- it's a little weird) and several of them pointed her in my direction as the person to help.  She would like to make her fiancĂ©'s children something out of their mother's yarn so they have something finished instead of a tub of oddballs.  When she said "children" I automatically assumed you know- children and I agreed immediately.  Then I found out those "children" are 24 and 27 and those projects became a little bigger.  I'm still on board.  And I'm about halfway through the first one...

This was what I found in the knitting bag...
And here it is now.  The original knitter was clearly making a sock- she was partially into an eye of partridge heel flap.  I talked the new Stepmom out of socks though- especially as this is supposed to be a surprise and I'm afraid that I'd spend hours and hours making socks that won't fit.  So I pulled out an old faithful pattern- the Zetor Scarf.  I know.  This is my fourth but I'm thrilled with the results each time.  I love how the colorway is working up- I know it doesn't look like much all scrunched on the needles.
2.  I had knee surgery last Tuesday.  Considering how much resting/laying around I've been doing, I really haven't been knitting that much- just sleeping, which is frustrating. I bought a couple baby blankets' worth of big fat yarn for the baby blankets I sell at craft fairs in the Fall, and finally managed to finish one. 
(In case you were wondering, I had a cyst inside a tendon that was pushing on both discs in my knee, causing them to both slip as well as having a giant cyst that meant my knee didn't fit together very well. I'm doing fine now, still really stiff.  Stitches come out tomorrow.)
3.  Tall/Dark&Handsome.  We chatted online for a couple weeks and met in early August and have been attached at the hip since then.  The past few weeks have been like a Nicolas Sparks novel on speed, and it's kind of amazing.  He's been taking good care of me since my knee surgery (How's your knee?  Do you need to sit down?  Why are you carrying that? I don't care if you say you're fine, I'm getting you ice) and we went to his family reunion this past weekend in KY. He's a fellow Boilermaker and small business owner.  He's also a hockey player and cyclist, which means I've been knitting a lot at hockey games, and will be knitting on road trips to mountain biking tournaments.  
4.  The garden is a little insane right now.  Do you need tomatoes?  How about peppers?  Well tough- you're getting some.  Seriously- Indy area peeps- free produce.  Just holler. Today I'm drying some of the hot peppers to make my own crushed red (and orange) pepper. 
5.  I'm in a swap and putting together a package, including a small hand knitted item but I can't post that quite yet...

6.  I'm not cross stitching as much as I'd like.  And I have 2 audiobooks waiting for me.  I should work on that, but I have a ton of Good For Ewe stuff that needs to happen first- you know.  Real work. Tall/Dark&Handsome is going to be hiking and mountain biking (very manly stuff) in Colorado for Labor Day (my knee is not quite there yet) so I might take some time and work on it...between craft fair knitting, Good For Ewe project design, and the late knitter's stash elimination, I think it's a lost cause by this Halloween.  
But I'd like to hang it up next Halloween in my own house.  And that's a way bigger project than anything on fabric.