Tree of Life Aran

As everyone who has seen me knitting since November knows I decided to knit my mom an aran for christmas. I chose the Tree of Life Aran from the first american publication of Classic British Knits by Madeline Weston. (librarian rant starts here: She published three books and they are either variants of the same book or a book consisting of most of the same patterns, a cataloging nightmare end rant)

I knit the pattern like a crazy woman and still wasn't finished before I started my christmas vacation. I had to redo half of the front left because the arm holes did not match. I knit for eight hours a day for the four days that led up to christmas and busted the entire thing out including blocking and sewing on christmas eve before the party.

The knit is challenging and looks like dog food before blocking but when it blocks oh wow. It looks awesome. Mom loved the sweater, I loved the sweater and her sister's were jealous. A job well done. I avoided my knitting bag for three days and then started three new small projects. I also take a small pride in being the only person on Ravelry crazy enough to knit this cardigan! The first photo is mom the second is me trying on the sweate and contemplating the idea of saying that is was ruined and keeping it for myself.

Recycling is not trashpicking!

I have been recycling like crazy this week. I took our old computers to the recycling center along with some old wires, video cameras and assorted computer pieces that we no longer needed. I found a great place in Philly called Elemental that does recycling of computers. I also started saving our papers for the fundraiser at N8's old elementary school. They use a service called the Paper Retriever to raise money and recycle. I even have Jazzy looking around for paper. She was so excited when she realized she could recycle her movie ticket from Bolt!

Work continues half heartedly on the Tree of Life Aran for mom. It just takes so long to make progress. I did do a naughty and take on two side projects. I did a scarf for my cousin and a replacement We call them Pirates hat for my baby. Other than that completely monogamous I swear.

I also finished the christmas shopping and spent an enormous amount of time watching the holiday movies on Hallmark Channel. Oh how addicting. Back to work on monday and to bus knitting the Tree of Life.

nakniswemo08!

Today is the day! I had to rip back my left front of the Tree of Life Aran. I had some issues with the pattern. I was too sloppy and loose. Also being lazy and believed Lion Brand I decided not to ball up the center pull skein. I had a huge yarn barf and ended up with a huge tangle of yarn. I had to ravel out inches to finish the rows which fucked up my tension so this morning I decided to rip it.

Did you ever have a moment where you you were thinking I should rip and then miliseconds later the needles were out and the ball was rolling? I was ripping out my knitting standing up on the el during rush hour! I couldn't stand it one more minute. I realized afterwards that I didn't have my size 5s for the ribbing so the entire day was wasted. However I feel like it was a good knitting day. Ripping is a release.

Day Off!

Today I had a day off from work. I had a parent teacher meeting at noon so I took a full day. This morning I went grocery shopping with the boss. I got caramels! Then I went to my meeting had wendy's for lunch and watched Walk Hard. I think those types of movies are funny. Then I made some pumpkin bread for my sister and brushed the doggie. After some much needed internet time I am going to start mom's tree of life aran. I got some nice wool ease in a gray heather. She didn't want a wool sweater but I wanted to make her something really nice and somehow RHSS seemed too cheap. I know that is shocking coming from a classy bitch as myself.

We went to the pumpkin patch slash apple orchard on Sunday and had a great time. Here are some snaps from the patch and the market!