Grumbles and curses--WIP Rockefeller Sweater

So right now I'm working on Twinkle's Rockefeller Sweater, from Big City Knits. And let me tell you, even with the errata and Ravelry, I'm having a hell of a time figuring out the pattern. Most of the time I hate bottom-up sweaters but for Twinkle, I seem to be able to subdue my feelings, maybe because they're all so chunky and go quickly. And it's only been two days and I'm up to the decreases (under the arms, I think), but now, wtf? These directions are so poorly worded, so poorly written, so FAIL. I can knit a sweater. I've knit sweaters. I've knit socks. And hats, and mittens and scarves. I've knit things in Fair Isle, cables and lace. But for the life of me I cannot knit Twinkle.

I wish I had a Knitting Fairy Godmother who would come and visit while both children were miraculously, simultaneously napping, and explain to me exactly what I needed to do, because apparently I cannot comprehend it even though I have a glorified English degree.

So I'm going to sleep on it. Granted, the only reason I'm up right now is because DH woke me up tonight (possibly more on that later), and I don't know when I'll be able to fall back asleep, but I took a crappy cell phone picture so that I have a graphic to go along with the post. The bottom of the sweater is at the bottom, with the right and left pockets on stitch holders down there, and basically what you see is the back and kind of the front sides of the sweater. Afterwards, the big ribbed collar has to be picked up and knit, which I assume will render the sweater wearable and no longer child-sized.

But for now, I'm at a loss. A big stinking loss caused by lack of Twinkle comprehension. Hopefully it comes to me. And hopefully I bought enough yarn to finish.

FOs--aviatrix and buttons

Originally I was going to knit this for an expectant friend, but since I finished the ribbed baby jacket and have extra yarn, I think I'll knit another one with the matching yarn so that she'll have a matching set.
Earlier this week I made buttons for various projects, this is the one I made for Itty-Bitty's minImogen.
This is the button I made for my Imogen (assuming that I'm going to put a button on it, the jury's still out).
And this is the button I'm going to use for the matching Aviatrix hat I'm talking about. So it'll all match and be good and stuff.

Another winner

So today we tried frozen cantalope in our smoothies. It was good, we have another winner.

Previous winners:
-strawberries
-grapes
-peaches
-oranges
-bananas (in moderation)
-soy (in moderation)
-yogurt (also in moderation)

Losers:
-Soy milk/paste
-a whole banana (it's just too much)

Toss-up:
-dates (they're really hard to completely grind up so you're left with chunks)

And maybe tomorrow we'll try watermelon.

FO--Ribbed Baby Jacket (by Debbie Bliss)

Ta da! The buttons are a little higher than I thought I'd put them, so now it looks like maybe three buttons would have been better. Hopefully the recipient's mother will not mind. But she's in fashion, so. . .
Close-ups of the buttons.

Above, the right side before single crochet edging. And below, the left side after single crochet edging. Because I like to compare and stuff.
So in the pic below, you can compare the two sides. Doesn't curl as much now, eh?
And the pieces before I picked up stitches.
It's a cute FO, but I think I hate Debbie Bliss patterns. The first sweater I ever chose to knit was a DB baby sweater, before I learned what top-down was. It was knit all in pieces (and at this point, I'd really *just* learned to knit) and then I had to seam the frickin' thing. And then, because I hadn't learned that much about gauge, after I blocked it, it had widened to gargantuan proportions so it fit me. It was like a No Doubt-era midrift-baring crop top that was actually supposed to be a baby sweater. So that got ripped.

This was a little better. But I'm resentful part of the allure of this pattern was its supposed "one-piece" construction, but sheesh--you cast on for the bottom of the back, knit the back, then cast on more stitches for the arms, do short rows for the shaping, then put the stitches on a holder, then knit the skinny little sides, THEN pick up stitches for the front ribbing, and THEN you have to sew the sides and arms together? Really? Seems a little fiddly. I mean, surely a more elegant pattern could have been written, but no. So I mattress-stitched the sides and Kitchener-stitched the arms and they came out decent. Also, I thought I was running out of yarn (I'd bought four 50-gram skeins) but it turned out when I thought I was on my fourth ball, I was on my third, so I should have enough for a hat even though I single crocheted around the cuffs and bottom to prevent curling.

The buttons have suns on them, which I suppose is ironic since the expectant mother lives in Seattle. I still have a helmet head (aka Aviatrix) to knit them, but I may take a break from the baby stuff. I feel like I have all of these little projects to do and I'm so behind--I owe Bub a sweater, Itty Bitty a baby blanket, and I'd wanted to knit my brother socks for Christmas. (Unfortunately, he has extra-wide size 11 feet. Yes, I know.) And it's almost the end of October. And Hubby and I started a gym membership and we go about five times a week (which severely cuts into knitting time). And we are supposed to be repainting our bedroom. But more on that later.

I hated knitting this sweater (again, inelegantly-written pattern) so I am *thrilled* that it's over! I'm not even sure why I did it. I'm not sure the mother is the type that would appreciate it. But when I first got pregnant, I wanted to knit so that the baby would have nice hand knits. Hopefully she can appreciate the sentiment.

Oh, to fly international first class

This one was from China Airlines. It was filled with little Hermes scented (Eau D'Orange Verte) toiletries. The bag would have been perfect to me, if they hadn't been so cheap with the handle and actually had well, a whole handle on each side of the bag.
And this one was from Singapore Airlines. It obviously had Ferragamo stuff, including an entire BOTTLE of Tuscan Soul eau de toilette, nevermind the travel sized body lotion, face cream and lip balm (yes, all of the same scent). I'm not crazy for the scent, but I love the little bags. I acquired these through a family member who recently came back from abroad. And now I don't know what I'm going to do with them.

A miss

Yesterday I tried making soy milk with the Vitamix. It didn't go so well, it ended up more like soy paste. So I strained it through some muslin and ended up with about one cup of soy milk. From a cup and a half of soy beans and three and a half cups of water. Yeah, I don't know what happened either. The only good part: I saved some of the unstrained paste and froze it in ice cube trays, put it in smoothies today, and it was pretty good, so I can use up what I didn't strain at least. And some of the plants outside got extra special soy paste compost. . .

Love at first mix

I have to say I love my Vitamix. I know it's just a glorified, super strong blender (two horsepower!), and all I've used it for has been to make smoothies so far, but wow. I love it. I just love it. It's so fast and easy to use (most of the smoothie recipes just seem to be a combination of fruit with the softest stuff at the bottom and the hardest/ice at the top, then blend up to high for a minute or the consistency you want). The results are delicious. And it's so much easier to get in all of the fruit I'm trying to get myself and the kids to eat this way.

A new toy

After lusting for one for three years (or, as Hubby put it "for as long as (Bubby) has been alive), I've got one! Didn't have time to take it out and read the manual until today, but I whipped up some juice (or was it a smoothie?) from almost frozen grapes (couldn't wait), peaches, oranges and strawberries. It was pretty good. But what I'm dying to do is try and whip my own butter. I love good butter. Can you imagine your own, freshly whipped butter? If only cream were on sale right now (maybe soon, since Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up).

When generic doesn't work

I often buy generic analgesics because they seem to work the same and I don't have to deal with recall notices, so I thought I'd try generic popcorn from my favorite local supermarket (opposed to my local supermarket that I'm boycotting). And look at this, there was barely any popped popcorn in there even after the maximum amount of time! A very sorry state of affairs. Next time I will splurge on brand name microwave popcorn (actually, I already did).

Not a winner (on the right)

I found this thin, watery and sour. Very Budweiser-ish (and when I say that, I mean it in a negative connotation). I thought it might be delicious. I was wrong. So we'll just move on. Hubby was just gifted with a 12-year Glenfiddich.

FO-Crayola Baktus

It took more than a year, but I finally finished! Unfortunately, it's too itchy for me. My mother has claimed ownership and I hope she is happy with it, I will have to buy myself another skein to knit socks out of it. I think it would look wonderful as Spiraling Coriolis socks, don't you?