Thursday, July 20, 2006

Is it the weekend yet?

Is it the weekend yet?

This week seems to be dragging on forever, and for no good reason. I should be making plans for the upcoming birthday season, but the thought of throwing three birthday parties in a row has me well, piqued. Any suggestions on how to entertain a yardful of 8-9 yo's? Boys. A yardful of 8-9 yo boys?

And right in the midst of birthday party season, we have back to school and end of contract. Yep, I'll be unemployed again, for at least 100 days. The team I am working with has already expressed interest in me coming back, although there are no promises. I plan to spend the 100 days reducing the fiber stash and bonding with my kids. I am actually looking forward to the break.

DH will be starting a new job soon. You can stop holding your breath, we are staying here! WooHoo! The new job is supposed to keep DH closer to home, but instead it seems to have given him the time to spend here and here and here doing this. OK, so not all of the pictures were not taken locally, but some of them were. I'm ok with all of this, because when he retires and is a scuba instructor, I'm gonna open a fiber studio. I just hope he retires to someplace cold where people actually wear wool. A girl has to have a dream, right?

Speaking of dreams, pretty soon a new baby will be able to have sweet dreams under this:

I sailed past the halfway point and am starting the decreasing side of the blanket. It looks like it will be big enough to fit an almost 4yo comfortably.

The original concept of the DFBB was to knit the DFS edging, with a garter stitch middle. Sivia has made a few, and she knit two triangles and then seamed them together. At knitting night a while back, spinner extraordinaire suggested out loud that I should just be able to double-decrease the way back, and knit the piece all in one instead of two triangles that would later need seamed. I took her advice and am doing the following:

right side: yo, slip 2 as if to knit, knit, pass 2 slipped stitches over (for a left leaning double decrease)

left side: k2tog, slip this stitch back to left needle, pass next stitch over, slip stitch back to right needle, yo (for a right leaning double decrease)

Here's a close up of the corner. You can see I have started the decrease rows.


Source of inspiration for double decreases? The Mystery Stole 2:

I'm on row 37, first side, of the 100 "released" pattern rows so far. This is my first project with laceweight yarn, and I am taking it slow. I should probably put in a lifeline soon. Knock wood, I hope I have not jinxed myself.

7 comments:

Kim said...

Suggestion for the boys. Give them water balloons and let them have at it. Set it up as an obstacle course. You've got the great backyard for it. Keep them running as long as possible. That's all I have to say.

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I wanted to make this baby blanket, but couldn't bring myself to face the seaming/weaving in the middle.

Ugh.... good luck with the boys. Outside is good, really good. I'll be crossing my fingers for nice weather for you.

CatonsvilleCats said...

Hm, I think scuba instructor jobs tend to be in WARM places... you might have incompatible retirement goals...

Kim's suggestion for water balloons is a great idea. Emmy's birthday is right up against the 4th of July so we rarely have a big group - I put them in the back yard and they just play. This year we fingerpainted.

Joanne said...

The knitting is gorgeous. The spider poem was funny...and I hear you about the weekend. Now that it is here, I just want to lay down--but I still have things to do. Why? ! I'm glad you're going to have some time off of work. Maybe not ideal circumstances, but a break is always nice. :)

e's knitting and spinning blog said...

Oh my dear! Do you dive too? My hubbuy and I got our certification a few years ago. It is so amazing. I don't have very good ears so it makes it hard to dive but I just love it! We have birthday season too all of mine were born within a month or so(different years thankfully!)

vanessa said...

you are cranking out the knitting!

Sheila E said...

Jen, that baby blanket is just awesome. Lucky baby indeed!!
How fun a group of rowdy boys all over the place. It seems to me that whatever you do they will have a blast.
Congrats on your 100 days. Can't wait to hear how much fun you are having with the kids, your knitting, spinning and yourself!