Distracted!

I've gotten about 2/3 of the way through the lace pattern on the girly caplet.  This means that I am some sort of bigger percentage done with the whole thing (since I did all the increases before I began the lace)
This was all well and good until the other night.  My original plan was to finish this and then make a Baby Surprise Jacket for one of the managers at work who recently had a baby.  The other night I found out her husband had been told that he had gotten a good job down south.  I also found out that she had announced this on facebook a week before.  Since I still don't have a good way to get to FB I didn't hear about it until a week later.
So now I have until Friday to finish the jacket.  I also have a plan to make some fingerless mitts once I finish the caplet.  I know I said I had a nice nerd scarf planned, but I think a nice quick project would be a good idea before I take on another big one.

There are only 10 kinds of people...

I have to say that I love that joke.

While I was looking around at random projects I ran into a binary scarf.  I think I want to knit one as my next charity project(once I'm done with the Girly Girl Caplet)
The only thing I can't decide on is what it should say.  It is going to be in manly colors, so I don't want it to say anything too girly or mushy.  I want it to say something about keeping the person who gets it nice and warm.

edit:
Right after posting this I actually found a good quote to use! But you will have to wait and see what it is ^.~

Now I know why it went clearance...

I've been working on my Girly Girl Caplet. I was really excited to get done with the increases and get to the lace pattern. The yarn had a but more fuz come off of it than I'm used to, but otherwise I thought it was soft and cute.
Then I ran into a thicker white spot on the yarn.  I thought that was exciting and wondered if it would happen again.  That is where it all went wrong.
I next encountered a spot where the white was sewing-thread thin.  It was then followed by a VERY thick spot.  I thought that was interesting and kept going.  It then started happening more than the yarn was normal.  I kept hoping that the thin spots would stack with the thick spots and that it would all 'come out in the wash.' (or even that is would just stop) Nope.  Of course not.  The thin spots stacked with other thin spots, and the thick spots were just white fluff areas. While this does not ruin the knitting, it is a bit annoying.
At least the two pinks stay the same thickness.
The good news is that the lace pattern I altered is looking good so far.

Also: Still no word about the needles. I think another e-mail is in order.

Out in the world!

This is what it looked like while I was waiting for my friend Annette.

The caplet and I enjoyed a hot chai latte.  It took a bit, but I got it.  I have a funny story that goes with it.
I got to Saxby's and couldn't find my credit card.  I then knew that I must have left it in my work pants when I had gone and gotten a bagel the day before.  It took me a text message to Annette and two rows before I remembered something else.  I had gone to put my pedometer in my pocket that morning, but I couldn't because I hadn't brought my work cloths in from the day before.  Sure enough, my credit card was sitting in my work pants that were sitting in the back of my car.

You have to start somewhere...

Numbers still don't like me.  I figured my final number for the bottom of the girly caplet I am designing.  I knew that the increases would add to my beginning number by 8 every increase row.  So I took my 229 (final stitch count) and subtracted 8 until I got a number in the area I wanted.
Sounds easy, right? Not for me.
I got 77 half the time and 73 the other half.  I'm not sure how I did it either.
I tried the 77, but it turns out that, while close, is not the number I need.  I've taken it out for the zillionth time and this is how it looks right now:

Time to start again (4th times a charm?)
To make it all up to me for lacking in a math skill that small children can do without thinking about it, my fiance made me this:

It is a rice bake with Italian herbed cheese cream sauce, and Argentine style chorizo.  Why yes, that is also a glass of champagne, I feel it makes dinner so much more fancy.  It also makes me feel like we are celebrating something.
I also helped him make it.  I added more milk when the cream sauce thickened too quickly.  I added the packet of cheese once it was the right consistency.  I also cut opened and crumbled the chorizo.
I did get some odd looks as I took pictures of my plate.  I told him that I didn't want to let down my blog followers!  I know he's just jealous when he continued to give me a funny look.

Another thing....I still haven't heard back about the broken needles.  They do, however, make a good hair stick.

Surprise, it's done, and also a baby jacket!

I know it was corny. Saying it would be a surprise and was a baby surprise jacket amused me.
I took a nice and artsy picture of it to show everyone.

I had fun knitting it.  I love how the Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket becomes an odd shaped blob as you make it, but then becomes a cute little jacket with a bit of folding. Knitting + origami = okay in my book.
Not sure what I am going to work on next...probably that caplet I have pictured in my head.

When Did I Get These?

Still no word about the needles(and yes, I am also checking my spam-folder).  I'm trying to decide how long I should wait before I try and resend the e-mail to them.  I looked through my other wooden needles, but the smallest I have is a size 8.  I checked my bag of straights and have nothing between a size 3 to size 8.
My next stop was my bag of old circs.  Why do I add old to the name of the bag of them?  Because most of them are made out of one solid piece of plastic.  I think they are really cool, but I fear that if I use them too much that I will snap them all in half.
As I was gently rummaging I noticed that there was a smaller zip-lock bag in there.  I pulled it out and found two pairs of addi turbos in there.  The price-tag on it told me that one of them was a size 6.  I tried to not get my hopes up too much as I pulled them out and took a look at them.  The first one was a size 8 (which I have a ton of) but the second really was a size 6!  I have no idea when I would have gotten either pair!
This made me want to drop everything and finish the project!  The voice in my head reminded me of something.
I had wanted to finish Barbara's blocks by today.  The cold had hit me so hard that I barely knew how to make the blankets on the bed work, let alone how to make a crochet hook work, so I fell behind.  Barbara told me that she was fine with this and I promised her that they would be all done by Sat.
I compromised by moving the finished stitches of the project into the new needles and finishing the row.
It felt so nice.  Wooden needles look so much fancier as you knit, but I love the smoothness that the metal ones have. You can also go so much faster with the metal ones.
I am now off to crochet like the wind so I can get back to the surprise project!

Stuck for now.

The first project is still sitting next to me on its temporary needles.  I sent an e-mail to the company that made the broken needles(I don't want to say bad things about them until they have had a chance to make it better)
I've been working on Barbara's blocks in the mean-time.  If I still haven't heard back from the needle people or it isn't fixed once I'm done with them, I'm going to dig around for a pair of straights in the right size.  Hopefully I will have a pair in the same size made out of the same stuff so I don't have to worry about my gauge becoming too different.

I'm also fighting a bad cold that is really kicking me in the head.  I'm brewing some more medicene even as I type this.
My magic cold cure is a pot of tea containing:

• 1 bag Throat Coat 
• 1 bag Breathe Easy 
• 1 packet Air Borne -lemonade (I like the lemon with the tea)

I know both teas tell you to drink 3 cups worth for one day and that would mean using 3 tea bags, but I find a big pot made with one tea bag works well for me.  You can also adjust as needed.  Don't have a sore/raw throat?  Don't use the Throat Coat.  Not too stuffy?  You can leave out the Breathe Easy.  You can also change the flavor of the Air Borne.

Disaster!

I was knitting along my marry way, excited to see how close I was getting to the end.  I was thinking about how wonderful it was going to be to finish and post my first finished item.  The item would look so wonderful since the sun is out today.  I also thought it was funny how I was quickly trying to knit this while watching my recorded episode of Project Runway All-Stars.
I noticed that my stitches felt a bit odd, but I ignored that and kept going.  I went to go and push more stitches onto the needle when I noticed this:

Why yes, that shiny bit on the right is the non-working end of my needle, and that bit to the left/middle is the end of the cable.  I was very confused to why these two things are no longer connected.
After absorbing this I ran downstairs and got my size 5 circs and transferred all the stitches.  So now I'm stuck in the middle of a row with only 5 full rows and a bind-off until I am done.
True there is also that little matter of seaming and buttons, but that won't take long.

I think the universe is trying to tell me to work on Barbara's squares.  She is a very nice lady who is paying me to crochet.
Here is a little back-story.  She made a crochet block blanket for her daughter one Christmas.  Her grand-daughter saw this and wanted one for herself.  Barbara has a degenerative disk disease, so this was not easy.  She had been working as much as she could for 4 months, but had only gotten 2 squares done.
I was at work when she called to see if the crochet class that was scheduled for a few days then was still going to happen.  Turns out she was the only one enrolled, so it was not.  She then asked if anyone in the store knew how to crochet.  I told her that I knew how.  She explained the situation and asked if I would crochet the blocks for her.  I told her that I would.
She then called back a few days ago and asked if I could do a few more.  I told her I would, and I was going to start them after I finished the surprise project.  Seems the universe wants me to start on them now.

Surprise, I don't know numbers!

So I needed to cast-on 160 stitches for my first project for the blog.  I like using stitch markers to mark chunks of stitches so I don't have to keep counting the same ones over and over again.
I cast on 100 stitches and put a marker, I cast on another 100 and put a marker, I then cast on 60 stitches.  I then read the pattern and got confused.  The pattern tells me to knit 34 stitches, do a decrease, knit 86, do another decrease, then knit the last 34 stitches.
I knit the first 34 stitches, then wondered how this would work.  I didn't even reach the first marker (the one before the 60 was cast on) and there were another 100 between the two markers.  I then added all the numbers on the pattern and found-out that they did, indeed, come out to 160.
It was then that I realized where I had gone wrong.  To cast-on 160 stitches, I only need one stitch marker.
Yes, it did take me until I was almost half-way through the first row to realize that I had cast-on an extra 100 stitches.  I then took out everything I had knit, cast on another 20 and had the real number I needed.  It all magically made sense (I bet you saw the flaw from the beginning)

I was going post an annoyingly unhelpful picture of the surprise project....buuuttt....I'm not sure how.  I know how to add pictures to the blog posts, I even know how to (usually) get pictures off of a camera onto a computer.  So you are probably wondering what the problem is.  Well, my computer got a bad case of something and is now laying on the floor with its innards exposed.
How am I posting?  I have an old laptop and an iPod Touch that I can use.  Neither of these are able to connect to my camera.  The last-time I really had to post a picture I took the micro SD card out of my phone, put it in an adaptor, took the picture with my camera, put the micro SD card back into my phone, and then texted it to photobucket.
While that was fun and all, not something I can do all the time.  Hopefully my computer can be saved (and soon) so I can blog in style!

A little more about the things I make

Here is a little more information about where all the items I make go.

I don't personally bring my knitted and crocheted items to the various shelters and other donation places.  I work with Knitters and Crocheters Care.  They have a BlogSpot blog and a Ravelry group.  This is also where I get most of my yarn for my projects, but I do also buy some on clearance when I can find it, or when I have really good coupons.
I try and use mostly arcylic yarn because it doesn't need any special care.  I would hate to spend so much time on something that someone will only get to love for a short time because they lost the washing instructions and felted it by accident(aka washed a hand-wash item only item in the washing machine).

Right now I don't do any sewing, but I hope to change that with this project.  I will have to figure-out places to send those to.  I will try and keep and updated list.

The first one is going to be a surprise!

For most of my projects I will (probably) give you progress pictures as I go for bigger things than baby hats.  Baby hats are so quick you are almost done before you start.
This one, however, is going to be a surprise.  I thought it would be fun for my first project.  I will tell you one thing about it, it is baby sized, so you won't have to wait too long ^.~