Tadpoles

IMG_4534
Originally uploaded by jjs_37

turn into frogs. And that is what is happening to this sweater! Both the front and the back will be frogged during some opportune television viewing time. Not the election results, since I will have to be at a board meeting!!!
This is just not the right sweater for me or for this yarn. I got the pattern with the yarn and it was designed on this yarn but I think the fit of the sweater and the shape of it and the fact that it does have shaping, requires a halo around the yarn. So it needs to be made with something different. And I am making Versatility
I can't wait. But I am of course making changes. I have a different gauge of course, and I am not making bobbles. The bobbles are just begging to bother me by digging into my back and by catching on things. So a little 2x2 cable instead and some extra stitches here and there and hope it works.

Sketching shore birds

111708-2
Originally uploaded by jjs_37

While both girls were at school at the same time, and I was in neither school working, I went for a cup of coffee, a bagel and decided to find some birds. I had found a list of good birding spots on the national association of ornithologists annual meeting website. They apparently went for a field trip to this location, and it is incredibly close to my house.
I found lots of birds and they weren't super close, but they weren't far either. I used a non-photo blue pencil to draw quickly and then used pen to finalize the drawings later. It really worked for me this time and I worked on several birds at the same time though I focused on one kind of bird at a time. In the actual pond they were mixed up.

Knitting dillemma

I have been knitting a "lace panel pullover" for a couple of months now and the truth is I just don't love it. I love the yarn- Shokay Shambala in Orchid. So that is fiery pink and as soft as the underbelly of a Yak in the Himalaya's. Well that is where the yarn comes from.
But this yarn shows every stitch and I am not in love with this pattern. The increases and decreases show up and I don't think they look nice. Of course I made the required number of right leaning increases and left leaning increases but not necessarily in the right places.
Today I found another pattern which looks like a lot of fun. And this will be so soft and warm and very very pink. I will have yarn leftover but whatever! I can make super warm, very soft (is there any better kind) and very pink hats for years to come.
I think this yarn will substitute well, it will be easier to knit, even if I have to take out the bobbles which I am not particularly fond of, and as such will have to make a mental pattern adjustment as I knit this. I am too lazy to rewrite the pattern to adjust for this and it is mostly in chart form so I am doomed to rip this out a couple of times at least.
This shawl/cardigan/wrap will work well with my plans to keep the house cold this winter to save energy/the planet/money. It will be easier and yet still fun to knit.
But seriously, do I rip out the whole back and the three quarters of the front I have finished (for the third time) to start on something new? It will still not be mindless parent education class knitting, but I may be able to knit it during DWTS.
I need to find a good mindless knitting project for class, board meetings and fall television.
I really have serious dillema's which prevent me from getting much work done.

Respecting the hat!

Respecting the hat!
Originally uploaded by jjs_37

Naomi has claimed this hat for herself. I did not really make it for her, though I can't say I made it for myslef really either. I just made it out of Koigu as an exersize in fair isle. I will admit that I am not a fair isle knitter. I had to adapt this pattern from one published in Knitty to account for the finer yarn and so I had to carry the yarn for many stitches in the back. It was hard to keep the tension constant and it was hard to keep track of the pattern for me (who likes to knit while watching TV or sitting for some other reason). In retrospect I would have doubled up the yarn and used it that way.
So Naomi claimed the hat for herself. And I must say that I like seeing the hat and she does look very good in it. Well, this is what she does with my hard work! Actually she has been wearing it a lot and people were amazed to hear I had made it myself.

Gymnastics and Fencing

Gymnastics and Fencing
Originally uploaded by jjs_37

Some things that were drawable while waiting. See previous post about what I do when I tire of that.

Waiting

purse contents
Originally uploaded by jjs_37

While waiting for fencing, guitar or gymnastics to happen there is only so much to draw. So having drawn various aspects of each location (really, fencing is done in a nearly empty gym) and not being particularly keep on drawing children who are constantly moving during above mentioned activities, I pulled some stuff out of my purse and drew that. Now hopefully I will have something different in there next time. Or I could always draw my shoes I guess.

Sierra sketches

Sierra sketches 5
Originally uploaded by jjs_37

It has been a long and busy summer. The girls had several camps and I had a dance recital in August for which I had to rehearse many times. We had swimming every day and outings besides. And running two kids around is not conducive to sketching anyway. So I have been quiet in the blogosphere. Not that I am generally prolific, and being quiet is not in character for me in real life. Well, I am back!
For our family vacation we went to camp Montecito in the Sierra's. I would like to keep this place a secret because it was so great but I don't think that many people are reading this anyway. And those that do deserve to find out about it. It was family camp. My goal for vacation this year was to go someplace where I would not have to decide what was for dinner, I would not have to shop for it and fix it and I would not have to clean up after it. I also wanted a place where everyone could have some fun which did not require my organizational skills. OK, so I wanted a vacation for ME and I didn't really care about anyone else.
Well, we all had a great time. The girls did lots of activities with their camp groups. Naomi loves to play with kids her own age and lots of the activities were right up her alley. Julia was adored by the young women in charge of her age group and she did not want to leave their sides. The area was gorgeous and fishing in the lake proved to be the favorite activity of the kids. Adam even wrote a song about fishing in the lake which he performed at the variety show.
Adam and I went on several hikes which would have been too long and steep for the girls and I got to draw and sketch to my hearts content. Well, nearly... I am not sure I ever get enough drawing and sketching and I would have preferred to sit in the lodge in the evenings coloring in my sketches, but every evening there were social activities and other organized fun things to do. The upside is that I had great coloring pages to finish after we left and so I was able to enjoy camp for a few more days.
I also really got into Archery which is more relaxing than you would think. And having to call a ceasefire outside the archery range so you can hike out of camp is very exciting. The sketches above are from a hike we took right outside of camp. If you click on the picture you can see more sketches with commentary at Flikr.