welcome to roswell!

i cleaned out my project pages on ravelry.  last year i divvied up my projects according to year and status.  today i took it a bit further and separated the projects that i am currently working on (my WIPs) and those that have been hanging out a bit too long (the UFOs).

welcome to ROSWELL!



this is the FROG POND (this tab has existed for a while, i just added to it)


i'm too anal retentive.

changes

i took the plunge and CHANGED MY NAME on ravelry.

now i am k1k2 (rav linky).  while i love being a mcknitster, i just don't feel like a diva one anymore.

i've been itching to change my name for a while. i wanted the same name as my blog and when i looked up knitoneknittwo or knit1knit2 they were taken (the irony is that the people who own these names appear to be inactive in ravelry.  such is life).  i have no idear how k1k2 wasn't snatched up.  lucky me that's me now!

my new ravelry moniker is short and sweet and describes my life in knitting terms to boot.

i suppose i should change my ravatar too - i confused a few people i groups - no one knew who i was.  i guess i should have re-introduced myself!



i also tweaked my blog for the summer months.  i made a new header and dropped the heavy dark background.  already i feel lighter.

enjoy!

Ravelry in this day and age

i was thinking about my recent share/not share post.  i thought about how i learned about new knitting patterns and techniques.

before ravelry, i googled "free knitting patterns" and several knitting websites popped up.  i acquired quite a few patterns from lion brand yarns.  i learned about bev's country cottage and knitting on the net from my teacher.  of course, i found lots of patterns sort of "free" by visiting my local libraries.

ravelry opened up a world of patterns to me:

i had a fabulous tool at my fingertips!  i can choose from a gazillion patterns, from baby blankets to sweaters to toys.  there are tons of dishcloth patterns out there.  best yet - just type the magic word "free" before whatever you're looking for - and there's usually a pattern for that.  i can find a pattern based on yarn weight, ability, even type or color of yarn.  excellent.  

i also do a backward search of patterns via the yarn i use.  this search method has been valuable to me for my PSOTMC.  i may not find a pattern that i fancy, but i do see a lot of beautiful FOs that way.

occasionally i'll find an interesting pattern through the "recently shared projects" block located on the main page of a group.  there are a lot of talented knitters out there!  (incidentally, those are my haggis socks in the block, until someone else's fabulous project edges it out.  :)  )

would you believe in this day and age, there are knitters who don't know what ravelry is?  none of the ladies in my knitting group are on ravelry, despite the fact that many of them are techno savvy.  my teacher is on ravelry, but she explained that she had no interest in it.

oh, there is so much to do on ravelry other than the groups!  the pattern and yarn searches, for one thing.  before i start a new pattern, i check for errata.  i stash my knitting books and magazines in the library.  my yarns are cataloged, as well as my needles.  for the first 6 months or so on ravelry, i really didn't participate in groups?  if memory serves me, i joined the knitty gritty tv show group, inquired about entrelac patterns in the entrelac group, and visited the SAI group on occasion.  it was only after i got pregnant, and lost that pregnancy, that i started participating in groups.  i belong to 58 groups currently.  i'm active in maybe half a dozen or so.  some people play farmville and computer games.  my time suckage is ravelry.

ravelry is a wonderful tool for a knitter, as valuable as a darning needle or crochet hook for picking up stitches.

the purge, ravelry edition

i belonged to 88 groups on ravelry.  now that number is 52.  wow.

half of the groups i belonged to was in name only.  i thought it wasn't fair to be a member and not participate.  so long, i love my ipod, only child and TCM.

there were a bunch of groups that i initially participated in when i first joined them, but my interests or schedule changed, and i no longer visit them.  bye bye, charity knitting, prayer shawls and babycakes.

some groups were defunct by nature.  that would be you, eastwick and the forgotten.

and quite possibly the biggest shocker of all, i left my main group, HAPL.  this was the hardest one to leave.

i joined in june 2008, after losing ani.  the group gave me comfort and support as i processed my loss, my anxiety with TTC, getting pregnant and carrying the twins, then caring for them in the months afterward.  i can't remember how many were in the group when i joined, but as of today, there were 188 women.  that's a lot of heartache and loss.

over the past few weeks, however, i felt like i didn't fit into the group anymore.  the majority of women who had losses around the time of mine now had babies of their own and were busy with their own lives.  there were a lot of new faces in recent months.  there are several women who struggle with TTC and i feel alienated from them as i will never know the pain of infertility and TTC for several years, and not months in my case.  i have no idear what it's like to have a D&C, or an overdue miscarriage, or to have multiple losses, one after another.  i felt disconnected from the new mom's thread as other moms discussed breast feeding, cloth diapering and other things attachment parents do that i just can't relate to.  i'm sure even my ravatars, which featured the twins often, probably made others uncomfortable.

so i took a deep breath, sighed and clicked on the leave this group button.  HAPL served me well during my hard time.  i pray that some of my experience helped another grieving woman.


this has been a rather shitty week.  i'm working on week 4 of bronchitis/cold, the boy is working on week 6 of his respiratory infection, petunia has a runny nose and is fussy (i pray it's teething and not a cold), fredster has a cough and hubby is teetering on the brink of getting sick.  we're exhausted, i feel depressed and cold, and i really wish we were moving into march and not february.  the good thing is, we are heading into february, it is a quick month, and hopefully soon it will be spring and we can be outdoors more.



ravelympics starts in 2 weeks.  i need to get my yarn at the ready, the patterns sorted, the projects planned.  i'm making preemie caps for the NICU at GMC, sort of a thank you for taking care of my little ones when they were born.  if i'm lucky, i can also finish petunia's sock monkey (a WIP) and maybe even the baby monkey, which was to be a gift for nudge, but maybe intended for someone else.

my swirl shawl goes slowly.  it's a tricky process.

Thanks AKFrog!

I got my second stitch marker giftie from Abby, AKA AKFrog.

i got 10 beautiful beaded silver markers. they remind me of icicles, these clear and purple beaded markers. they are light as air. i can't wait to use them, since i knit a lot of dark things, they will show and sparkle against the knitting.

i got 2 balls of patons silk bamboo yarn, an icy blue. soft as can be. i can't wait to try bamboo yarn. i have some of vickie howell's bamboo yarn but never knitted with it. i'm thinking of making a small scarf with it, maybe an ascot? that would look so pretty, spesh for spring.

i also got a chocolate bar, i love me my chocolate! i'll eat chocolate cos i don't like to drink!

i also got a kind note.

thank you so much abby, for the beautiful gift. i hope you and your family are blessed doubly for your kindness.

i have mentioned this before, the HAPL group on ravelry has been an absolute godsend to me over the past 7 months. i have gotten so much support and kind words from the ladies of this group. losing a child sucks, and it's a group no one should ever have to join, but it is a blessing to know that there are other women out there who know what i'm going through, how i feel, and how to move on.

showin' off my babies

i got my account up and running at ravelry and am showing off pics of my recent projects. i finished the shawl and the cap but still have my socks, another hat and odds and ends left.

here's my profile:

http://www.ravelry.com/people/divamcknitster

blogspot's being a dick about me posting websites (see previous post) so i guess if i want anyone to see something, i have to include the address in the body of the post. sorry if you can't click it.

here's a pic that can't make ravelry - i took a picture of my stash, all color-coded in individual sweater bags. i didn't know that i have far less stash than i thought.



all these bags are crammed in a target cedar chest about the size of a toy box. of course this doesn't include the 2 (envelope sized) boxes of sock yarn, nor the plastic garbage bin of peaches and cream cotton, nor the basket of fun fur/novelty yarns, nor the odd baskets with leftovers.

i also had a milk crate full of dreaded acrylic, and 2 shopping bags full of it up in the attic (leftover from hubby's dalliance with the loom weaver) and since i was sick of looking at it, i donated it to my knitting group at church. i have enough yarn there to make a few lap throws. i even threw in some yarn that i bought at ames when it was going out of business. pale green baby yarn and seafoam boucle that i was going to use in baby blankets. i felt bad giving that up but seriously, i'm not going to use it. my "baby" is 4 years old, and if we have another one, i'll make a blanket out of superwash wool. i'm such a yarn snob. i used to think the seafoam yarn was beautiful. compared to the yarn i like to work with, it looks like matted green yak hair. it will be put to better use making the church afghans. and my chi feels better for it too.

i should take a picture of my stash book. it's a moleskein book where i paste the yarn labels, which notes on where i bought the yarn, when i bought it, and for whom it's for. the book's bursting at the seams, yet it's not full yet. i also have another moleskein book, waiting to become volume 2.

after reading this post, i look so ANAL RETENTIVE.

poor hubby. last night he took the boy xmas shopping. hubby wanted to surprise me by getting me something that i wasn't expecting (yeah, those hints on the carnivale dvds were real subtle). so hubby went to hot topics and got me a ramones shirt. however, it was white, with the presidential logo in black. WRONG WRONG WRONG. SO WRONG. so he has to return it tonight. the only other ramone's shirt was black but with a picture of the band over the presidential logo. ALSO SO WRONG. i don't NEED a ramone's shirt. like where am i gonna wear it? yeah, like i don't get enough raised eyebrows when i pick up my kid at school in yoga clothes. wear a ramone's shirt and i might as well banish the boy to the realms with the punkers. not that there's anything wrong with that.

how bloody cool is this...

i got an invite to ravelry. i was waitlisted and didn't think i'd get in very soon. this is a very cool thing indeed.

more dash to the stash. i started a cap for BIL. and i want to knit either fingerless gloves or wristlets for my letter carriers. the hat's on the way. the gloves/wristies - not so much.


and then not...

my kid picks his nose and eats it. he also scratches his crotch and smells it. he also pushed a little girl in school and got timed out for it.

yeah, i think i should be worried too.