If I can't give him a baby, I might as well knit him some socks...

I started a round of progesterone two days ago, to get myself all revved up for another round of Clomid. Therefore, all I have eaten in a day and a half is a banana and some granola, the thought of anything else makes me want to hurl. Part of me wonders how I am ever going to handle being pregnant if I can’t even take some hormones that my body produces naturally (Ok, so my body doesn’t exactly produce them naturally, which is why I am in the situation that I am in at the moment, but it is supposed to produce them). So, in a nut shell, I feel like shit. I have no idea what I am going to do if the Clomid doesn’t do the trick and I have to move on to bigger and bad’er drugs. My sister told me to take them at night, but I am already doing that. So I guess this is all part of the sacrifice. I told J that this kid had better be worth all of this trouble.

I also started knitting a pair of socks of J last night. I can’t explain it, but I just had this strong urge to create something for him. He really wants a sweater, but since I can’t even seem to make a sweater for myself, how the hell I am I going to make him one, he is way bigger than me, and any sweater for him would take years. Who knows, maybe the urge will hit me at some point. Anyway, I have dubbed these “The Husband Socks”.

I think the yarn is kind of ugly, but he said that he wanted them to be ugly. I think I got it in the SALE bin at Weaving Works a while back. I can’t pass up sock yarn on sale, even though I don’t make many socks. When I asked him how long the cuff should be, he told me that he wanted them to come up to his knees, I laughed and said no, that I wasn’t ready to put that much time into some socks, especially since I could find a pattern for knee-high men’s socks. I have a sneaking suspicion that he wanted to wear them while he played Basketball. He has a penchant for ugly sporting clothes.

Many of you may look at this picture and wonder why on earth I would knit socks on DPN. Why not Magic Loop, or those turbo needles? What about two at a time socks? Well honestly, I like DPN. I found magic loop confusing, and don't even get me started on figuring out two-at-a-time socks. But I also like knowing that this is the way people made socks for tons of years, not to mention people are always impressed when they see you juggle all of those needles.

Also, as you can tell by the picture, I am back at work this Saturday, hanging out with my old men. I have to say though, they were very impressed with my knitting and told me that they want to see a completed pair od socks next saturday. I told them not to hold their breath.

Singing the Praises of Ravelry, And Some Other Stuff

So after what seemed like years of waiting (it was actually more like a week) I got my invitation to ravelry. All I can say is WOW! I honestly don't know how I lived without it. I am so bad a picking yarns for projects, and this wonderful web page could get rid of the problem permanently.

I also got my new set of Harmony Wood interchangeable needles this week. I couldn't wait, so I immediately cast on for a feather and fan wrap. I am quickly developing a love affair with these needles. The only way I can describe them is "buttery" They are just so wonderful and smooth to work with. The connection to the cable is a little rough sometimes but so far I am totally pleased.

I even got so excited that I brought my project and new needles to work with me today, since all I am doing is sitting around, listing to a training program. The wrap is coming along nicely and I like that I can zone out watching TV and still knit it without making any major mistakes. I want to have it done for my cruise of the Greek Islands that is coming up next month. I have visions of standing on the bow of the ship with my lovely wrap snug about my shoulders, and my loving husband blowing kisses in my direction. The actual trip will no doubt be fat from that vision, but a girl can dream can't she. I picked up the yarn at the Weaving Work's discontinued yarn sale (yes I went back and braved the piles and piles of novelty yarn again) It's Dalegarn Tiur in a pretty blur green. I scavenged the entire shelf and got 7 skeins of a blur-green color, the back light of the computer screen doesn't come close to doing it justice in the picture below.

Also, as you can see on the computer screen, the Spring issue of Knitty is fresh off the presses. I am not completely inspired by any of the patterns this time around, but I always love the features.

A Big Setback!!!!

So I know this blog is supposed to be about knitting, but I have just had a big setback on the infertility front. My HR at work has finally gotten an answer for me from the inusrance company and it turns out that they do not cover ANY treatment, from diagnosis on. Ugh, i want to scream and throw things at the wall, or at my insurance company, I can't quite decide.

On a happy note, I am almost done with Foliage from Knitty.com. It looks good, but I definately messed up a while back, I am just too lazy to frog it yet again. Now I think I will just give it to someone who won't know the difference.

I also got the pattern for the Central Park Hoodie last week and am considering starting on that, but I don't have any yarn for it right this second. I did go to The Weaving Works this weekend because they were having a "discontinued" yarn sale. I thought I was going to find some AMAZING deals, but in fact they only had ugly synthetics and eyelash yarn on sale. So I splured and got some yummy hand painted yarn to make another Foliage with.

I might as well spend all my money on yarn, since I won't be spending it on a baby.

The First...

I always had the idea that bloggers were a group that had an overwhelming ego. The fact that someone would think that other people would want to read all about their lives seemed strange to me. But at the same time, I had a realization, I loved reading blogs. I loved everything about it. I loved seeing all of the projects that other knitters are working on and wanted to show off my projects for praise or jeers, whichever seems appropriate at the time.
So, after years of reading other people’s blogs about knitting, and life, and whatever else they feel like talking about, I have finally broken down and decided to write one of my own. Perhaps other people will read it, perhaps they will not. Who knows, but at least I will get my frustrations and victories out there for everyone to see.

Well, here goes…

I have been knitting forever, I can’t even remember a time in my life when I didn’t knit, kind of like I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know how to read. I was a very sickly kid, in and out of hospitals all the time, and I was bored. I read a lot, and colored a lot of pictures, but I was still absurdly bored. I remember that my grandmother taught me to knit, but I don’t remember learning. My first completed project was a scarf fit for a giant made out of a nasty, blue Read Heart yarn on giant aluminum needles (that I still have in my needle stash as a matter of fact). It was shaped basically like a ten foot long triangle. Even as a child I thought it was ugly. I hid it in my closet and refused to look at it. It didn’t match the vision I had for it in my mind. That was basically how I approached my knitting for a vast majority of my life. I didn’t read patterns, I would just get out some yarn and needles and make something. When it didn’t look like I wanted it to, I would throw it down in disgust and walk away. Therefore I knitted a lot of scarves.
When I moved to Seattle three years ago, I stumbled across The Weaving Works, a store in the University District. I had never really had nice yarn, so this store was a sensory overload for me. I finally decided on some amazing baby alpaca yarn and bought several skeins of it. But now I was faced with a problem. I didn’t want to knit just a scarf with it, I wanted to make something amazing out of this yarn. I started looking through books and magazines to find just the perfect pattern to use. Many of the people around me turned out to be closet knitters and I started asking them what they thought I should do with the yarn. I quickly began to realize that I was in over my head as far as patterns were concerned. And though I knew how to knit and purl, I was basically at square one when it came to knitting.
Ever since then I have been on a journey of self discovery with knitting. Burying myself in a new pattern has allowed me to get through many of the more difficult things life has thrown my way, including my infertility, which seems to be taking over every aspect of my life. Besides, it also gives me something to do while the Old Ball and Chain wants me to watch basketball with him.
I'll work on getting some pictures up int he next few days.