Might As Well Face It, You’re Addicted To Runs

Long color runs, that is.  Noro, to be specific.
 
I’m probably majorly dating myself by referencing this song, but I’m not ashamed to say that I totally dug it back in the day.    Just as I am digging Noro right now.
 
I wasn’t born a Noro lover.  At least not at first.  I thought the colors were always a bit wacky.  I mean, who really looks at a skein of yarn filled with lime green, turquoise and purple, and then says:  Wow, this could really use some peach!  You are either a color genius or higher than a kite if that combo immediately strikes you as gorgeous.  But somehow, that one color that just doesn’t seem to belong, almost always finds a way to work.  The other thing I didn’t love about Noro at first, was that it is positively infested with twigs and veg.  For such expensive stuff, you’d expect that your fiber wouldn’t come with extra hitchhikers you didn’t count on.  But after my first project with Noro Kureyon, I got over it.  You just pick it out and move on (or leave it if you prefer).  I expected that first hat to be scratchy and rough, but instead I was rewarded with a soft and totally non-scratchy fabric; completely unexpected considering the dead twig weight hitching a ride.  And the color transitions were fantastic.  I was hooked.
 
There are two things I still don’t love about Noro, but I forgive them because they are a small price to pay for the beauty of the finished objects and the thrill I get as each new color is unearthed from the skein.  The first would be the ungodly number of knots I find in every ball I’ve ever purchased.  Sometimes upwards of four knots in a 100g skein of sock yarn.  Ridiculous.  Not so bad if the colors are similar on either side of the knot.  In that case you do a quick spit splice (Noro splices beautifully!) and you’re off again.  But there have been times where the transition has been drastic and I’ve had to do some quick frogging and/or refiguring.  That always stinks.  The second thing I don’t love is the inconsistent thickness.    You can go from practically laceweight up to DK all within one ball of sock yarn.  It usually doesn’t affect the overall look of the project, but it still sort of bugs me.
 
But I’m addicted, well and truly.  Whenever I start a project with Noro I cannot stop myself from knitting color to color, feverishly, not wanting to stop until I see what the next transition will be.  It’s a blessing and a curse really.  A blessing for the joy and beauty I experience while knitting, but a curse because I cannot stop myself until the fever has burned through and the yarn is gone.  Take this for example:
 

 
It was supposed to be merely a pillow top.  But as I crocheted I wanted to keep going; no HAD to keep going.  I was completely and totally knitstoned. With twitchy fingers I scrabbled through all my leftover sock yarn partials and added them in.  More! I needed more!! Then I decided this needed to be a 40th birthday gift for my closest college friend and it would no longer be a pillow, but a blanket. Then I decided I wanted one.  And after that I decided there was at least one more person on my list who deserved one.  When that one’s finished I’m sure I will try to find another worthy recipient.  I pretty much want everyone to have one because I want to knit as many as humanly possible.  Sick I tell you.    
 
But what a ride it will be…..

You Say It’s Your Birthday…..

Today I entered the …gulp… final year of my 30’s.
 
Thirty-nine.  I’m freakin’ thirty-nine today.  Which is funny because I feel about twenty inside (o.k. maybe eleven when someone tells a really good bathroom joke, hee hee).
 
But it’s been a beautiful day.  The start to a year that I hope will be more amazing than I have the right to wish for.

Today I woke up to this:

 

Dahlias, my favorite!

 

And a few pieces of this:

 

Mmmm…. Cake for breakfast!

 

And a day filled with this:

 

Knittymunchkin signing “I Love You”

 

This birthday girl couldn’t have asked for more!

What Condition My Condition Is In

Just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in….
~ Mickey Newbury

 
I remember my Mom singing this unabashedly tunelessly around the house when I was a kid.  Figures it would be about the LSD experience.  But it’s running through my mind on a loop as I get the urge to blog again.  I attribute this itch to the whole autumn back-to-school vibe that’s floating around.  I get it every autumn with the arrival of tumbling leaves and rumbling school buses.  And this year I have a preschooler on my hands (!).  How and when did that happen?
 
But I’m feeling a bit better, slightly less overwhelmed, and I think it might be time to get back our (somewhat) regularly scheduled dosage of Knittymuggins nonsense.  In keeping with the back-to-school experience I bring you:
 
What I Did On My Summer Vacation

 
• In June we took our first real family vacation!  We didn’t stray far, just 3 hours to Whistler, B.C., but it was almost like being a world away.  My BFF from college and her whole family were here from Kentucky and we stayed at their time-share with them.  The weather was gloomy (but we’re used to that!) so we just spent a lot of time swimming in the pool, playing on the playground in the village, and catching up.  I hadn’t seen Michele since R. Darling and I got married in 2004, and of her 4 children I had only met the oldest (when he was a mere 6 months old!) so it had definitely been too long.  The amazing thing is how easily we picked up where we had left off, as if I’d seen her only yesterday.  I wish they lived closer!!

 

 
• I quit Facebook.  I was wasting WAY too much time on it and found myself feeling truly depressed whenever I logged out.  Easy solution: give it up.  I feel guilty that I don’t know what’s happening with many of the people I care about (since everyone uses FB and people don’t seem inclined to communicate any other way anymore), but I also love not feeling bummed out every day.  Besides, I saw “The Social Network” and that Mark Zuckerberg seems like a total a-hole. Just sayin’. I’ve actually been pretty unplugged all summer and I feel much happier and more productive on a lot of levels.

 

• I participated in my first ever Ravellenic Games!  Well, not “officially”, but in spirit for sure.  My friends Jess, Troy, and I had our own personal knitalong conducted mostly via text, and it was so much fun I want to do it again :)  Each of us knit Leftie and though I was sure I wouldn’t finish it in 17 days, I totally did.  That was a huge eye-opener for me and has changed how I feel about my knitting.  It proved that if I stay monogamous with a project (and by now we all know I have a problem with that), it can be finished quickly.  On top of that this was the first project, probably since I was a beginner in 2006, where I picked out specific yarn and colors for this exact project.  Usually I sort of shop my enormous stash and try to fit project to yarn like a puzzle, with sometimes less than stellar results.  But I adore my Leftie and actually plan to wear it a lot this fall.

 

Leftie: In Progress July 2012

 
• I started Body For Life again about 7 weeks ago and have lost 7 lbs!  I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight and had the utter joy of being able to put my diamond wedding ring back on after not wearing it since about November 2009.  I almost feel like a newlywed because I cannot stop admiring that sparkling chunk of white gold and diamond adorning my left ring finger.  Knittymunchkin was shocked when he caught sight of  it replacing my plain old white gold band that I’ve been wearing since he was in my tummy.  I can’t explain how wonderful it feels to have it back (and a little of my “old” body too!).  I’d ideally like to lose another 5-7 lbs to get back to my pre-pre-pregnancy weight, but the progress I’ve made so far still thrills me on its own.

 

• I have a potty-trained toddler who is also going to preschool in a couple weeks!  I am just stunned he is this big already.  It’s going to be sad, exciting, and so much more, to watch him go off to school.  We weren’t planning on it just yet, but there was a last minute opening in a local co-op preschool that everyone raves about so we jumped on it.  I’m going to miss him like crazy, much as I will appreciate the break and the joy I get from watching him make new friends.  Wish me luck on this new venture!

 
I’m sure there’s much much more that I’m forgetting.  But I’ll be back with more before too long.  I hope you had a wonderful summer as well & look forward to catching up with each and everyone of you just as soon as I can.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Happy almost-Autumn!