Can you find the stuffed animal?

It might be tough. Here are your subjects:












Here is a hint. Two of these animals are trying to shed on our couch. (I don't care, because our new couch is microfiber! Boom, animals, in your face!) The other is our baby's first teddy.

Are you my ball winder?

I'm working on this:



and I'm finished with the first skein. I go up to the yarn closet to grab my ball winder, and...hmmmmmmm. Where is my ball winder? Do I have pregnancy brain? I could swear that I just saw the thing. My hubby was nice enough to go all Little House on the Prarie style and hold his hands out while I wound a ball with my hands. But STILL. Where in the world is my ball winder?

While this little...ahem...misplacement...can be seen as a glitch to this project, I cannot be deterred. Our little baby needs a teddy. I realize that there is not any reason to have this teddy ready before the baby gets here, but I must be nesting.

Hubby had a tradition in his family that kids got their teddy at their first Christmas. I think that is adorable. It is quite possible that I have jumped the gun on this project.

So proud.

I just checked out ludistitch and I am now officially impressed with ludistitcher's taste in purses. I mean project bags. That happen to be awesome purses. If you chose to use said bag as a purse. I'm just sayin'.

As for me, my knitting has suffered due to the following:
1. Sock Wars took it out of me
2. It's really hot out, so I enjoy non-wool related activities

I think I am ready to get back into it. A lazy few weeks has made my hands a little twitchy. I have just been checking the same blogs over and over again. I guess I have had enough of non-knitting time.

Consider me back in the game. As for WIP, I have ludistitcher's socks and maui wauis. It's on.

Misplaced Excitement

Between work and fun in the next few weeks, I have quite a bit of travel coming up. This week, I'm heading to NYC for a conference for work. I was very excited to get the invitation from my company (a bit flattering), and while I do look forward to seeing what the event is all about the most exciting bit is...the knit kit! I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Based on my prior posts about the knit knack drama I am prone to because of my general clumsiness on airplanes, you will understand that this will be good for me.

It always seems like if I'm told to remain seated for a couple hours (ie - the Detroit to NYC leg of the trip) that I should take advantage of the time to use something pattern-centric. But by the time I get the pattern, stitch counter, stitch markers, etc. out things get a little crowded. I think the knit kit is going to change that for me.

The question then becomes...what shall I work on? The socks that I meant to be for ludistitcher have turned out to be, as xandermommy put it "huge" (slouchy on me, I have bigger feet than ludistitcher). So, I am thinking that I could start additional socks in her size and then let her have the not-yet-on-the-needles pair (which presumably fits) and she could also have the big ones for around the house socks. This opens up the opportunity for something pattern-ish. I'm going to browse ravelry tonight to seek inspiration. I would like to finish both pairs before the Sock Wars battle begins. Feel free to insert laughter or comments of "oh, sariebeth, you will never finish two pairs of socks in two weeks!" here. Optimism, people!

Lesson learned.

I'm sitting at work (7pm) in between conference calls. Got another one starting in an hour. Realizing that I really should have brought my other sock with me. The toe on sock number one got stitched up last night while I had a glass of wine and the Amazing Race. Ready for the cast on of number two.

I have to stay at work tonight because I have this other call till 9:30 and then back at it at 7 am tomorrow. Which is fine but I forgot the knitting! It's official, my hands do not know what to do without some needles.

Glee.

It's the only word for the emotion.

I do love them. I'm absurdly proud of them. Not because they are fancy or anything, but because these just took some personal grit to finish.
























Aaaaaaaaand...I have a little something else to show you.

A very sariebeth sock, if I do say so myself. They are really fun to knit and I am loving how they feel. They fit like a glove. I need to do the toe and then I get to make one more.
























Now, I have an issue where I need help. It has to do with gauge for Sock Wars. After doing a gauge swatch, I think I am getting 8 stitches to the inch but 11 rows per inch. Gauge said 8 spi and 10 rpi. How do I solve this issue?

Also, I'm way excited about the yarn for my Sock Wars socks. Hope I can figure out how to get gauge. Should I try with a thicker yarn?

Sock Wars

Did we confirm that ludistitcher joined Sock Wars? What is your name in the game if so? I went with plain old sariebeth.

Oh no, she didn't!

Yes, I used an exclamation point. These are used to convey loudness. As was my shriek when I saw ravelry tonight. Allow me to set the scene (dreamy waves flash across the screen):

sitting here at the computer, basking in the glow that we here at the sariebeth house have finished our taxes (really, Mr. sariebeth's doing, but good on him) and I thought "I could go update the status on my projects! Tra la la!" In my "tra la la" mindset, I update my project progress (boom!) and go to check on my darling friends. That's when I notice this:

Stash Count
xandermommy 36
sariebeth 39
ludistitcher 27

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?! Am I losing it?! Is it time to up the meds?! Do I have more yarn than xandermommy?! How did it come to this?!

And then I start thinking...is my yarn just dense? Really dense? Like black hole dense? Because I know how big MY yarn storage is, and I know how big xandermommy's yarn storage is...

It's like trying to divide a big number by 13 in your head. Puzzling.

Theory vs. Practice

I open the question up for debate...how many projects on the needles at once is too many? I currently have:

1. M.O. socks
2. Jitterbug socks
3. Undulating waves scarf
4. Alpaca blanket

I really want some sport weight socks on the needles. But I think I have come up against my mental threshold for too much. If I finish M.O. socks, then I get jitterbug. The scarf, I only work on with Amy...so that's different.

Sooooooooooooooo...is another pair of socks acceptable? I bring it to a vote.

Serendipity

So the first pair of socks that I'm making for a friend is mostly due to serendipity...or what some would call laziness. The Michelle Obama socks are turning out a little...um, what's the word...smaller...than I expected. Now, these are some really lovely socks. I think they're knit up pretty well, mostly because it's dental floss on size 0 needles. The colorway has a very cool spiral to it. And I love them. I really hope that the recipient (with her really tiny feet) loves them as well.

I should probably have finished them this week as I was on a tear after knit night. The distraction came in the form of the last book in the Twilight series. It was a seven day loan from the library, so I had to finish it up before it was due. And may I just say, so worth it.

Back to the socks. I'm on the heel flap of the second one. Very close.

They just went on and on, my friend.

This was the sock that would not end. It just went on and on my friend. This lady started knitting it not knowing what it was...








Ah yes, the flat feet socks. The eight row repeat of the pattern makes a lovely, lacy sock in the pictures and that's how they got me in the first place. I encourage those of you who are smarter than me (all of you) to try it. What got me was row five (damn you, row five) where I would get into the rhythm and forget to switch. Now I'm frogging out yo's which never ends well. You flat feet socks made me mad (in the crazy way). You have been a formidable foe, and there were times that we did not know how our collective story would end. But now we do - I kicked your ass!


















Boo-yah! Now keep my feet warm, bee-yatchs...I mean, you darlings (we're making up now). I find them adorable. And also nice and toasty. Almost easy to forget that these were the socks that would not end. They just went on and on, my friend. Some lady started knitting them, not knowing...

Now for my trip to Las Vegas tomorrow, I think I'll take the Michelle Obama socks with me. She was on the cover of the Vogue I received today, and I think it's a sign.

...and she'll continue knitting it forever just because...

All I want for Christmas...

And now my birthday. Look at the present I got from my parents. It's YARN! Gorgeous yarn that I think I will turn into some sort of mitten or potentially a hat. I printed out a hat pattern from ravelry (Banana Republic knockoff - I'll see if I can find it and post link). That has just been waiting for the right yarn. I think maybe the green with a funky cool button. My only issue is that with the sock hat type format, my hair will get squished before work and it can only handle so much. Maybe I can make it a little slouchier or something so it's not so smushy. Needs a little research, but now I have the inspiration.


As I have a little coffee (in my Edna Mode mug - which I love so much). I decided to take pictures of everything that is on my needles right now. When you start looking for things that you forgot about, you remember how much you like all of them.














These Michelle Obama socks are distracting me from the other stuff on my needles. The yarn is fingering weight and it's on size 0 needles and I just keep going around and around and around and around...















Here is sock one of the flat feet (it's really cute, the other one has the heel turned, almost done).





But then I forgot about THESE, which I LOVE. This jitterbug yarn should be renamed "Sarah" because it was made for me. I love the way it feels. I love the way it looks. It's right up my alley.

















So that is full disclosure of everything that is on my needles. I think I want to finish the flat feet and the Michelle Obamas so I can be alone with the jitterbug.

An ode to Michelle Obama...as told by sock yarn

This yarn (adorable)can become these


I find them charming. I find them also to be soothing as the stockinette stitch makes me happy. Suiting for the charming and soothing namesake of the colorway - Michelle Obama.

I suspect you ladies will see alot of them on our trip this weekend.

Knitting - the airplane edition

Scene - on the way to Vegas via Cinci. Sitting on the airplane, trying to finish pink flat feet socks. In order to do so, I need my row counter, my pattern, yarn and needles. This is not an easy feat without the tray down, and that's OK - I was willing to give it a go anyhow. During my delicate balancing act, I dropped something. It was my row counter. I couldn't find it right away and got a little nervous. The nice people around me tried to help me out. They couldn't find it either. Weird. How in the world are my socks going to be the same length without the row counter? Smarter knitters than I could make it work, but experience has proven that I am not that kind of knitter. Thankfully, right before we got off the plane the flight attendant found it.

I know now that I have to wear my counter around my neck. Suggestions?

You're in the right place!

I just changed the template of the blog so the header would show up better. It was getting lost in dots and HELLO...it's important that you know you have ARRIVED at ludistitch.


Google "ludistitch". Right now. It's a rush.

Happiness to share with my friends.

#1. Dan and I went to Baby's R Us and bought a baby gift for the Smith-Bartz clan.

I won't tell you on the blog what it is in case a chain of unlikely events occurs where:
a. Ludistitch.com gains national publicity
b. Jen takes up knitting
c. Jen hears said national publicity about Ludistitch and checks it out
AND
d. The secret about the gift is out

#2. Today, I got this:


which has an SD card slot. Now, you may wonder why you would care about this. Well, yesterday, I took pictures of my stash and am now uploading pictures to ravelry. As my friends, you know that you can raid my stash, so this may be a bit like online shopping for you.

Don't even THINK about coming after my red and purple Flat Feet, though. That one is all me.

If at first you don't succeed...

Take the advice of your friends and make something even cuter.

Also, I love ludistitcher's definition of ludistitch and I think we should put that in the header of the blog. Yeah...um...how would we do that, exactly?!

Somewhere over the (intense) rainbow.

Look at these colors! Colorway - intense rainbow. I was just doing a little searching on Jimmy Bean's and found this. It is right up xandermommy's alley, but as we can all see from the previous post --- girlfriend does not need more sock yarn. If ludistitcher and I are nice, we will get some and make some socks for xandermommy out of it. (What say you, ludistitcher?) Superwash. Merino. Yum. CPY Mini Mochi

Mini-Mochi is a self-striping fine, single ply yarn. Perfect for socks and any fine knit projects. It's super soft, and superwash--80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon. In eight beautiful colorways for the spring!

For your voting pleasure

I submit these potential logos for ludistitch. Please comment.

I like them both. You can also feel free to say "why sariebeth, we are not marketing people. Only YOU are a marketing person. We do not care."

Then I will say "but what about branding?!"

And you will no longer be listening.

Cuteness makes me do crazy things

Like knit a scarf with "pink, orange, and red hearts"...at this little one's request. This was harder than I thought. I mean, the girl is asking for some intarsia here (...right, that would be intarsia, yes?) So, resourceful Aunt sariebeth decided to knit big chunks of color and iron on some pink hearts afterwards.

This young lady liked it quite well. But, I was told later that she commented "sariebeth got it wrong. She was supposed to put on ORANGE and RED and PINK hearts."

I've been caught. By a five year old.