All you can tell about my Clapotis from this picture is that it's a big piece of knitting, bigger than anything else I've finished this year. It doesn't look dazzling in real life, either, but it's cozy and should be useful.

My Clapotis is done!

I just finished weaving in the ends on my Clapotis and after trying it on, I finally understand why so many knitters are doing this pattern more than once. Even in the cheap garage sale acrylic I used, it's great to wrap up in. And it should be good for discreet breastfeeding in public -- a lot easier to manage than a baby blanket thrown across one shoulder.

It seemed like this thing was going to go on and on forever, but once I hit those decrease rows, it flew off the needles.

Knitting in the Rain

I had today all planned out. We were going to head for the park early, before it got too hot to move. The kids were going to burn off some energy and I was going to do enough laps around the park to make up for the workouts I missed earlier this week. Ideally, I was going to get up early and spend some time with the boxes before we left. That part didn't happen, but since I was awake most of the night with the baby I refuse to feel guilty about it. I'll play with boxes when I'm done with this.

Two seconds after we stepped out the front door, I felt the first isolated drops of moisture. Halfway through our first trip around the park, it started to come down hard enough for me to finally admit that it was raining. We finished the loop, then ducked inside to watch the volunteer carvers work on the carousel horses. And by the time we came out the crowded playground was empty, wet stuff had stopped coming down from the sky, and the baby was sound asleep. So I found a good bench, tucked the baby's blankets around his little toes, and pulled out Clapotis.

It's a good thing I hadn't started another sock. I needed four skeins worth of acrylic to drape over my legs because it it's practically cold out there. Thirty degrees cooler than yesterday. But Quinn was warm in the stroller and I had my cozy WIP, and the big kids were having too much fun to notice when it started to sprinkle and the park cleared out again. It happened three times just while we were there. A single drop would fall, and everyone would pack up and head for their cars.

For a while there, I thought I was going to run out of yarn, but the kids decided they were ready to leave first. Seven more rows, and I get to start the decreases. If I can figure out how to fix that little mistake I made when I misread the instructions.

I finally started a knitting journal. I've been putting it off forever, but it was as good a way as any to avoid spending quality time with my boxes.

We are moving! For quite a while, we've been talking about it and driving down to look at places in the area we want to move to. Most are way out of our price range. The ones that are in our price range are in worse shape than the place we live in now. The one house that was in our price range and didn't need any work and was absolutely perfect on paper just didn't do a thing for me. It had new white carpet in every room and I have three small children and that's not a combination I'd want to live with.

A couple of weeks ago, someone dh works with saw a For Sale By Owner sign and copied down the address. We drove down, called the people from their driveway and fell in love with the house. Four acres. A pond. A stream. A barn. Enough room for more kids than I can possibly give birth to. A fireplace. The kind of porch with the half-walled sides that I was vaguely hoping for. A little sunroom that divides the front door from the living room. Two bathrooms. A SEWING ROOM! A finished, insulated room that's over the garage and totally unsuitable for anything else. Darling Husband gets the barn and garage and the little mystery building behind the garage, and I get the sewing room. He called it that first, which makes it MINE. And if he somehow manages to swindle me out of my room, there's a little room in the attic that I'd have absolutely loved if there wasn't a real room available.

If we're going to be paying two mortgages until this house sells, I'm going to have to stop buying new stash and play with what I've got for a while. So last night, I dug through my fabric stash and made this:



I do realize that it's probably one of the ugliest quilts ever. But I had fun and if it falls out of the carseat and gets lost in a parking lot somewhere, I won't spend much time mourning it.

I've also finished the first Not Like Costco Sock and the heel is just as nice as the one I had to rip out.



I forgot to mention that the sellers accepted our offer. Subject to a pest and dryrot inspection and financing, that house and barn and stream and trees and sewing room are ours!

Not Like Coscto Socks

I'm knitting Bill a pair of socks, which he wants to be like the ones I got him from Costco for Christmas. I don't care if I'm supposed to put the recipients needs and desires ahead of my own, I'm absolutely not knitting a stupid pair of stockinette tube socks. He's getting ribbing and a shaped heel.

It's the nicest looking heel I've managed so far, but the foot is too long, so I'm going to have to rip it out.




Em and Emily asked about the Pixie Boots. The pattern is in 50 Baby Booties to Knit and after knitting the one, I can't get motivated enough to finish the pair. Mine isn't nearly as cute as the one in the book, and it wasn't much fun to knit. It wouldn't take long to finish the pair, but I've almost decided it would be smarter to use the leftover yarn to start a new pair of booties that are cuter and will fit my baby.

A Useful Swatch

I won't buy a skein of yarn just to make a swatch. I understand the theory that it might save me anguish and money wasted on yarn I hate, but I still won't do it. I buy blindly, cross my fingers, and hope for the best. So far, I haven't wound up with any yarn I really dislike.

This is the first time I've bought a skein of something to try it out before I order enough to make what I really have planned. I've bought a few single skeins of stuff just because it looked fun, but that was different. I didn't plan on buying more later.

So I bought a skein of KnitPicks Shine, I knit with it, I love the yarn and wish I had enough to make myself a top. And now I've got to wait until I can order more. Maybe while I'm waiting I should wash the swatch. I never do that either.

I'd planned to finish the Shine baby hat this morning, at least until Quinn messily reminded me how much we need to try diaper soakers. So I did this instead:



I need to knit the I-cord and weave in a couple of ends, but that won't take long. The important thing is that it fits! None of the free soaker patterns I found online were what I thought I wanted, so I wound up doing my own thing and was a little worried that it wouldn't fit even though I swatched and measured and measured again. If anything, it's a little loose.

I could've bought 20 skeins of KnitPicks Shine with the money we spent replacing that broken car window! And that's only because my wonderfully resourceful husband was able to get a window from the U-Pull place instead of taking the car to a glass shop. I'm glad we didn't wind up spending that much, but still bitter that we had to buy glass at all. Especially since it looks like we'll be getting rid of the car a lot sooner than we'd hoped.

My birthday book and yarn got here a few days ago, and I'm already trying to figure out how soon I'll be able to order more. I'm so in love with the yarn I can barely stand it. The Sock Landscape (Cape Cod) has such rich, wonderful colors and is so soft.



I was trying to figure out how to wind a skein into a ball in the front seat of the car until the baby woke up and put an end to that plan. Still think it'd work if I looped it over the visor. The Simple Stripes is about what I expected. And the Shine Twist is fabulous. I got one skein to play with and I love the way it's working up. Instead of a solid color for my top, I think I want more "Seaside."



Quinn may not ever wear the hat, but at least I have the feeling I'm knitting something useful instead of just swatching for no useful purpose at all.