Currently on the Needles

When I was home in Germany over the summer I was able to pick up some of my knitting stuff.  I am very happy to say that I am again working on my Six'es blanket.  That thing has been a working in progress since I live in The Netherlands, I think I started it like 4 years ago.  (I checked and I started it almost exactly 4 years ago, on August 11th.)  To be fair, I did restart with only washable yarns about 2 years ago.  I know that seems like a no brainer now, but when I started I was just getting back into knitting and just starting to branch out from  acrylic yarns. One thing I have started doing on this pattern, to relieve some of the end seeing marathon, is to continue on with the next hexagon instead of binding off.   On the bind off row I knit across and then I'm back to the right side and I start with a new color.  Less sewing at the end.  Fun little chain of hexes.

Fortunately & Unfortunately

So, the only thing I worked on in May and June was the baby blanket for my new half-sister (M).  It turned out really cute.  Unfortunately (in terms of blanket making), she is part of a pair, M is a complete set with my half-brother P.   Fortunately, I'm on summer vacation. Unfortunately, the first comment out of their mom's mouth was about the cat hair on the blanket.  (I knew this, but my dryer wasn't working when I left home, I brought it to my dad's place to wash and dry it. It's cotton, much nicer when machine-dried).  Fortunately, I've already fallen in love with P and he needs a blanket from his big sister. Unfortunately, I haven't got much umph to do it when I know how it will be received. Fortunately, I've already bought the yarn. Unfortunately, I've already bought the yarn.

How Lauren got her groove back,or tried anyway.

I've been trying to get my groove back. I know it has been such a long time.  I have just really been in a knitting funk.  How appropriate, start writing on a knitting blog and the inspiration/desire to knit runs out faster than you can say, "Knit 1, purl 2".

Well, I have 3 projects that I have to make.  Or it is just 1 really big project, because the are all related, but then that seems overwhelming and not so fun. So 3 projects.
1. Baby blanket for P
2. Baby blanket for M
3. Matching 2 set of cubes for the babies

P and M are my half-siblings that were born near the end of March.  There are already a couple weeks old, and I love them to death.  I was waiting to see what the gender of the babes would be because Dad and Tammy didn't want to find out.  I think they might have know, but weren't telling anybody.  So now that I know there is one boy and one girl, I decided on the colors, got the yarn, and am waffling on the pattern(s).  I don't know if I will make the blankets the same with different colors, or make completely different blankets.  It is hard to know. I haven't met the babies yet, the whole working in Kuwait thing and them being born in Thailand where Dad and Tammy live at the moment.

The yarn I got here at a store called Crafty.  I really like the yarn I got. It is Alize Cotton Gold, in black, white, teal, and orange.  I really wanted purple instead of orange, but I didn't like their purple; it was a dusty purple which didn't tonally match with the teal.  That's important because on the blocks there will be 2 black sides, 2 white sides, and 1 of each of the colors.  Tammy really likes black stuff, and I think she wanted black blankets, but I can't bring myself to make black baby blankets.  Even here in Kuwait with all the sunshine to see, I just can't. So I went with contrasting colors that are nice and gender neutral.  I know some people who don't think teal is gender neutral and then I point out it is my favorite color.

Projects that just want to be FINISHED!

So, I thought it would be a good idea to look at all the projects that I have going.  I guess I have to guilt myself into finishing.
1.  I have been working on Vijante since last Spring Break.  It isn't a hard pattern, I'm in ball 3 of 3 for the lace weigtht stockinette stitch portion.  Lord, let it be DONE.
2. Socks for Poppy, in, get this, sport weight. What's wrong with me?
3. Lovely blue striped socks.
4. Baby blanket for Malik. This one just needs to be frogged back 10 rows and the decreasing started again. It's garter stitch for carp sakes.
It might be that my creative juices aren't flowing from these patterns.  So far they are easy stockinette or garter projects. Hm.. maybe that's the problem. Too easy, but the Vijante will get a lacey pattern after this ball...
And I can't blame it on the cats, they are pretty good when I knit, sometimes they want to bite it, but that's just because I haven't knit around them much.

Knitting Mojo

Dearest Knitting Mojo,
Where did you go? Why do you think I can carry on without you? I tried to tempt you back by starting a new project in November.  Two at a time socks, toe up, magic loop, one of you favorites.  I barely made it through the toes before the had to be abandoned.  They sit dejectedly in their bag.  I tried again, unsuccessfully, to get you back to my heart with a baby blanket with new, bright yellow, cotton yarn for a wonderful friend. Half way through, we were going strong, I could feel us coming back together, then I made a gigantic mistake in the decreasing.  But I take responsibility for the mistake, I will follow a pattern next time and not just go at it willy-nilly, if that's what you want.
Just please come home.
Lost without you,
Lauren

Kuwait

So, I've been in Kuwait 2 days short of a month.  How much have I done you ask?  Um well, not much.  I think I've lost a bit of my knitting groove.  What happened?
Maybe it was the moving, or the realization of how little yarn I have with me here in Kuwait,  or feeling dissatisfied with my progress on my never-ending project and the project I really want to work on I left in NM because my friend was/is planning on coming in the fall to visit.

I has a sad.

Anyway, if you are looking for yarn in Kuwait.... go no further than Bakarat in Salmiya.  They have cotton, wool, acrylics, and blends thereof. They also have supplies for needle point, cross-stitch, embroidery (which I am teaching myself), sewing, wood-working, jewlery making, and the list goes on and on.  It is an honest to goodness craft store.

I went there with another new teacher a coupe of weeks ago to get ribbon for my jellyfish which hangs so proudly in my classroom, and right below the shop, because Barakat's is on the Mezzanine level and when you're trying to find the entrance you end up walking around the place the first time, we say Lambourginis and Jags and Porsches being cleaned.  Apparently that's where some of the Kuwaiti elite take their cars to be cleaned.  We also saw this sign.

Part of me thinks this is hysterical, part of me thinks it is so sad that this is what someone is reduced to in order to find a kidney for themselves or a loved one.  

We also went to the Salmiya co-op where we found this fantastic aisle sign.

I didn't know there was a need for obesity. 

Unplanned Yarn Acquisition

I mean, honestly, I didn't go to Spain with the plan to get more yarn.  I didn't even actually go to a yarn store. Shocking, I know. But I still ended up with 3 bags of yarn.

Okay, so the story is that when we go to Spain we always rent a house for a week or two.  This time we rented a house owned by a Belgian couple who relocated to Spain about 20 years ago. They were both very sweet.  Turns out the lady, Mieke,  used to be a knitter.  She showed me just a few of the sweaters she had made over the years... holy crap. She was a prolific knitter and her seaming was invisible, amazing.  *Swoon* And for every sweater she had a matching shawl/scarf. They looked a bit like scarves but much larger.  For you who caught the usage of past tense, yes she WAS a knitter.  I didn't know that there was a way back once we entered this life. But she had to stop knitting because of a racing heart and apparently she would stress herself out when knitting and go very quickly.  (This was gathered from the English/Dutch mix that we were using, so I'm almost sure that's what she meant.) She is now back into painting, and again is a prolific painter.

So, she gave me a whole bunch of yarn that she had just sitting in Spain.  About 40 balls of yarn. And a cone of yarn, I've always wanted one of these.  The coned yarn (which she had a whole bunch more of in Belgium) she got when a factory (I think it was clothing, but again... language barriers and all that) in  Brugge closed.

I'm still going through the yarn. So much yarn. Mostly lace and fingering weights.