"ABC's of me"

I'm not sure where this little meme originally came from, but I found it on The Humble Carnival and since I have no knitting news to share, I thought I'd share a little bit about myself. So here are the ABC's of Cecilia!

Age:  23- my birthday is about a month away 

Bed size:  Double, which is too small :(

Chores that you hate:  Dishes! We have to do them all by hand.

Dogs:  are really awesome.
Essential start to your day:  Caffeine.

Favorite color:  I like all colors but let's say turquoise.

Gold or Silver:  Silver.

Height: 5'4”
Instruments you play:  Guitar. I can also play clarinet, sorta, and a few little ditties on piano.

Job title:  Stay-at-home mom: I should be making BANK for the s*** I do but instead I make zilch.

Kids:  Uno, and his name is Vyvyan. He turns 2 on June 1^st.

Live:  in California.

Mother’s Name:  Emily

Nicknames:  Ceci, pronounced “see-see.” I stopped introducing myself as Ceci because I got sick of people hearing “Stacy."
Overnight hospital stays:  Only when I had the kid. I think I was there for 2 nights because he was born at 1 a.m.

Pet peeves:   When people misspell things. Or transpose similar words like their, there, and they're.

Quote from a movie or TV show:  “Is that the kind of man I am now? Am I rude? Rude and not ginger?”

Right or Lefty:  Right.

Siblings:  2, both older.

Time you wake up:  I wake up late compared to the rest of my family. Me and my son get up at 8:30.

Underwear:  are really great things to have.

Vegetable you hate: : Cauliflower. What is the point of cauliflower when we already have broccoli?
What makes you run late: The little person who throws a fit when I suggest it's time to put on shoes.
X-Rays You’ve Had:   Um. I don't really keep track of this, but I've broken a few bones and those probably all required X-rays and I remember having one when I was pregnant so let's say 5?

Yummy food you make:  Best chicken pot pies! My secret is to watch Sweeney Todd while I roll the dough ^_^ (Singing is required.)

Zoo Animal:  I love the tortoises at my local zoo.

Still searching...

I tried to convince myself that Tunisian crochet was my new hobby of choice. I told myself "it's not technically knitting and it's not technically crochet!!" and I said "after I do a nice little square I can learn to cross stitch on the fabric and that's not cheating at all."
Then I tried to prove my point by showing the Tunisian crochet hook to my SIL, a muggle. Her response? "Ceci, that's knitting AND crochet."

Damn.

On the brighter side, I have uploaded 172 pictures of my happy little family to be printed up into real life physical photographs. The cost was about $25 and the packet is due to arrive at my doorstep in around 5 days. I can't wait ^_^

As for my wrist, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that it feels a lot better. That's actually the bad news too, because the only reason it should feel better is because I haven't been knitting.

Oh! And thank you to Michelle from CollegeKnitting for the baking suggestion. I have always envied bloggers (and people in general) with kitchen skills. I want to try this earl grey chocolate cake or maybe this zebra bunt cake some time soon, but all of my previous baking escapades have ended pretty badly! I also don't think we have a cute pan like that. Maybe some cranberry shortbread bars instead. YUM! Please keep the suggestions coming, readers!

Not Knitting...

Today marks the 4th day of not knitting.
I find myself desperately searching for something to replace it with.
I bought 2 yards of fabric, then remembered that I have no time to plan, mark or cut the fabric. Not to mention the fact that I don't know how to use a sewing machine. Also, I am always afraid to "waste" fabric.

Then I bought a few little scrapbooking accessories and was really psyched about continuing the scrapbook I started a few weeks after my son was born. Then I realized that all my pictures are on the computer or on Facebook and that sorting through them was a job for someone with extreme patience and a ton of time. I put a bunch of them in a folder on my desktop to send to CVS and then went to the website and found that they "recommend uploading only 40 at a time." That combined with the knowledge that the 150 I put in the folder were nowhere near "all" of the photos I wanted, and that all of these prints will cost money just turned me off to the whole idea.

So then I thought about things "like" knitting. Things related to knitting. I already decided crochet is out because my right hand has been hurting as well and I don't want to exacerbate it, but there are other things I could do. Hand sewing? Embroidery? Tatting? Friendship bracelets? Hemp jewelry? Beading?

So I found an old piece of knitting I worked up years ago. I had just bound off for my son's baby blanket but the episode of Doctor Who wasn't over yet and my hands didn't want to stop. I had just cast on a few stitches and knitted a square, which I folded over and sewed up as a sort of purse. I found it yesterday and decided if I can't knit I can at least sew in a zipper, lining, and embellish it.

The two stripes are me practicing duplicate stitch: the first stripe ran right to left, the second left to right. (I'm better at right to left)
Then I made the very first lazy daisy I have ever made. I realize it is quite imperfect, but it took me more than 6 tries to get it this pretty!! Embroidery is hard!

I practiced chain stitch for the stem, which I think is a very fun little stitch! It took me a few tries to get the hang of it but I'm glad I didn't give up.
Then the leaf was done with satin stitch: I definitely need more practice with that one! And then I outlined the leaf with backstitch.
The lining is a pretty little fabric I bought from JoAnn ages ago. I don't know why I bought it; I know I don't sew.

I sewed it by hand so the stitches are horribly uneven. And on one side the fabric was sewn much closer to the edge, so it sits inside kind of wonky. Also I left some thread hanging out on one side.

Oh and also?
I didn't finish sewing in the zipper.
Basically sewing is my enemy and I poked my thumb so many times I cursed in front of my 2 year old and bled all over my bedsheets and decided to put the whole thing aside. I told myself "This way when I want to knit tomorrow I can work on it again," But you know what?
It's not knitting. At all.
The embroidery bit was OK because at least it's yarn, and the darning needle can't make you bleed, but yeah. Basically sewing is still my enemy... I wish it weren't so. I would love to have a fall-back hobby, just to switch off so I don't get carpal tunnel or something, but sewing by hand definitely isn't it!
Jewelry is out, because I don't want to have beads around my small child. Also, I know from experience that I am not a creative beader. Also I have no beads.
...
It occurred to me, as I wandered around the kitchen looking for something to eat even though I wasn't hungry because normally at this time I would be knitting, that I am a one-trick pony. And that's all there is to it.

From the beginning...

I have some things before me that have been in my possession for some time.

A book: Stitch 'n Bitch The Knitter's Handbook
Knitting needles: Blue, aluminum straights, size US 8.
A swatch: Varying from 45-52 stitches across, knit in Christmas-colored kitchen cotton in plain garter stitch. It is riddled with holes, split stitches, accidental decreases, decreases, and dropped stitches. It has not been bound off, but simply taken off the needles.

These things, with the exception of the needles which were my grandmother's, are not very old. They simply date to the beginning of my knitting career. This is the first piece of knitting my human hands created, the book that made the stitches possible, and the needles I used to create them.

This odd-shaped piece of fabric (I know now that the undulations on the right side were caused by my treating the first stitch as two stitches.) sat in a place of glory for weeks. The second I finished it- obviously neglecting the notion of "binding off"- I took four thumbtacks and pinned the whole thing to the wall right above my headboard. I was so proud of this piece of work!

And the second this was done, I went straight on ahead to my first "real" project: a ribbed hat. I never practiced the purl stitch on a swatch: I just cast on for Hot Head and told myself to figure it out when I got there. And what's great is, I did.
I made the hat, sewed it together miserably and wore it proudly to school every day for a week.

Seriously. But this was years ago, and I was a beginner, and I can look at these samples of truly atrocious knitting and appreciate how far I have come. And I can appreciate how deluded I was, to have worn the items in public. You should have seen my first sweater! Truly a disgusting specimen, I am quite glad it was cut to shreds by firemen. (Long story I promise I will one day divulge.)
So, back to today.
You can see in the first picture that my copy of Stitch n' Bitch is literally falling apart,

and that if I don't bind the swatch off soon, this memory will soon be a pile of twisted yarn.

The needles though, the needles that I learned on are doing fine. I don't knit with straights very often, so they sit safely in a vase where I admire them sometimes and think about my grandmother, and wonder what she ever knit and if her first piece of knitting looked as bad as mine did.

Tyler

Today, a memory.

When I was in high school there was a boy who sat at my lunch table and his name was Tyler. He wasn't incredibly handsome, and he wasn't extravagant or loud or incredibly self-confident, and he kept his hair in his face and his face in his lap. I can still see him- mousy brown hair, lips like the guy from aerosmith, and a rubics cube in his hands. He was a real whiz on that thing...

Anyways, I mention Tyler because I found something yesterday in an old box in a stuffy closet that made me think of him. The sight of the thing brought back memories- it took a long time before I even remembered his name, although I could see his face with clarity. I thought I had lost this item a long time ago, but there it was. Real and tangible evidence that Tyler existed, proof that he was more than just a memory: a ski style hat, with ear-flaps and pom-poms.

Front view

In 2003, or maybe 2004, definitely no later than 2006, there was a sort-of fad at my high school and Tyler started it. In fact, he started it and, indeed, enabled its continuation. Yes, for the price of $20 you could join the cool crowd. How, you ask? Buy a hat that Tyler made.

Back view

Tyler was a crocheter. He took hat orders from just about everyone in Freshman year- plenty of Sophomores, too. Give Tyler a color scheme and twenty bucks, and in a few days you had a brand spankin' new ski hat made with Red Heart held double. Of course, aside from Tyler, I was probably the only one in school who knew it was Red Heart held double.

(Batman approves)

I had already learned to knit by this time- I certainly wasn't about to start selling my items, but I felt a certain affinity with Tyler and appreciated his craft. So - after balking at the price and talking him down a bit- I, too, purchased a souvenir hand-crafted hat. He asked what colors I wanted, and I told him to pick whatever he felt like. When he handed me the hat a few days later he told me he picked the color scheme to go with my personality- "crazy."

I was a weird kid in high school, I must admit. I was actually home-schooled for all but the first half of Freshman and the last half of Senior year- by choice. I was full of hate for authority, I made very few friends, and kept even fewer. I probably hated just about everyone at that school. I told myself it was because they were racist, but really I was the racist one. I hated "white people." I try not to hate so much any more, but yesterday when I saw the hat that Tyler made it brought me back to a different time, and to a different me.

Do you want to know how much I paid for that hat? I refused to pay full price, on principle. I told him I knew how much yarn costs and I knew hats weren't that much work. I acted all high and mighty and said I wouldn't pay the same price as everyone else. And so, I paid him nineteen dollars and ninety-nine cents. One penny: I was that stubborn.

Yep. It's a funny old thing, this hat. This memory. This life.
I am proud of his handiwork. Now that I know how to crochet I look at his color change rows and nod in satisfaction. His pom-poms aren't perfect- they desire some trimming- and there are some ends improperly weaved in, but I have to wonder...
Does Tyler still crochet?
Is he on Ravelry?
Can he still solve a Rubics cube in 40 seconds?

A Week of Something Different...

Ok so here's the deal: I am quitting knitting for 7 days. (And crocheting.)
Fact is, my right wrist has been hurting for quite some time. I've tried ignoring it, tried stretching and massaging techniques, but the pain has persisted. Still, I would knit. After all, it only really hurt while I was working on something, especially small gauge items.
Well, now my left wrist is starting to hurt as well- only when I craft- and the right wrist is hurting pretty much all the time. I can't put any pressure on it (figured that out doing push-ups!) and so knitting is out of the question.

Obviously, I'm freaking out inside: the prospect of a single day without knitting a stitch gives me the heebie jeebies, let alone an entire week. I think in shock upon the essay What Her Hands Won't Do from The Yarn Harlot- in which Lene's rheumatoid arthritis finally advances to the point where she gives away all her yarn, an admission that this is "the end of making things." Thinking upon this humbles me- I only have to stop knitting for a short time; I just need to rest my wrists.

But still, it is scary- Not Knitting.

I have decided that if I can't knit or crochet, I can at least think about knitting and crocheting. I can still look at Ravelry and plan projects (though that's dangerous business- I caught myself winding a ball to cast on earlier today) and at least I can finally do some blog posts I've been meaning to write. And maybe, just maybe, I can do some things that aren't knitting-related.

I played guitar today. (Not much came of it)
I read a few more chapters of Great Expectations (I never mentioned it here but I do, in fact, enjoy reading.)
I did day 6 of the 30 day shred (I also work out: see? I totally can make it 7 days without knitting. I totally have other hobbies! *hyperventilates a bit*)
and...
I pined and pined for yarn and needles.

April in Review

April Finished Objects
Links to Rav project pages
1.) Easter Sweater
2.) Roadkill Frog
3.) Red Cabled Pullover
4.) Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth
5.) Magic Treetop Bag
6.) Mara Shawl (finally)
7.) K2, P2 socks

Only 7 projects, but 3 of them were pretty big objects, so I think it balances out...

My proudest accomplishment this month... it's a tie between the Easter Sweater and the Red Cabled Pullover. I can't believe I have finally reached the point in my knitting career where I can leave fear behind me and knit without a pattern! I find myself saying things like, "It's just a sweater- how many times have I made a sweater before?" and "If it goes wrong then I'll just fix it" and "I know what my body is shaped like- all I have to do is make something that fits it!"
I've always thought of myself as a follower rather than a leader (even now, I "designed" patterns by copying other designers' work) but maybe soon I'll work my way towards being a leader and designing something completely original!

I still have 3 projects carrying over from last year: The Hexipuffs (I haven't made a hexipuff all month!), The Ski Sweater (I fixed the sewing machine so I might finish this up soon, if we get another cold patch), and my Calcetines Azules (I should really finish those...). But I finished the Mara Shawl and I am so happy about that!

Techniques Learned
Um....
I'm a slacker. So what?

Last Month's April Goals:
1) Don't buy any yarn online
2) Finish the Mara Shawl
3) TOK Knit: Magic Treetop Bag
4) Sock Knit: Love socks (I worked the K2 P2's instead)
5) Finish Crochet blanket

And while I am not crossing off the crochet blanket because I want to add some cute surface crochet to it, it is "technically" done. Like, it's a blanket all right. And it did take up a lot of crafting time, so maybe that's why I didn't get a whole lot done this month?
As for the socks, I worked on a different pair and finished them late at night on the 30th just so they'd count for April! No pics yet, though...

Goals for May:
1) Finish Crochet blanket for realz
2) Sock knit: Love Socks
3) Tok knit: gnome home
4) Pookie- make one or two and tuck away for Christmas
5) No online yarn purchases (Maybe we can keep this one for all year, except birthday, yeah?)

As for my IRL yarn purchases?
I bought: 
6 skeins gala brown- knit into the Easter Swetaer
5 skeins green ribon gala- squirreled away indecently
5 skeins black gala sock yarn- squirreled away indecently
5 skeins white gala sock yarn- squirreled away indecently
and 3 skeins of Premier Serenity Garden Sock yarn in rainbow color from Jo-Ann. I couldn't resist it's rainbow charm.... Also it's really soft and made of microfiber so it's nice and cool.
All the Gala yarn was only a buck a ball, but apparently that actually adds up. The problem is that the Big Lots near my house sells yarn now. I walk to Big Lots daily for a bit of exercise and variety in my days and well... sometimes I succumb. Luckily I bought up everything they had that was any good, and so they shall not tempt me any longer. I can go back to buying expired snacks and cheap energy drinks there...