No Knitting - Only Running :)

I have been ill and unable to breathe and I am finally feeling better. I have signed up (along with the rest of my family) to run a 5K for the Make-a-Wish foundation.

This is a cause that is very important to me for so many reasons.

First of all I need the motivation to get running again. So that I can continue to be healthy and help myself on several levels.

Second of all 10 and a half years ago I lost my younger cousin to cancer. It was her second time battling the disease. To say losing her merely affected me is an understatement. I was devastated. I loved her like a little sister and I still hold her very close to my heart. I've seen the wishes granted and the miracles that this foundation has performed. I'm running for me, and I want to raise money as well. I've made several donations to other runners and the foundation in general. I've set my personal fundraising goal at $200. If any one is willing to even spare $1.00 I'd greatly appreciate it. From the bottom of my heart.

My Donation Page

Bah F@#$ing Humbug

I'll preface my Christmas loathing on the fact that I am in fact a Jewish person with friends and family that I think I still love that are all into Christmas and I respect that. But my winter holiday has come and gone and I played dreidel and I had latkes and I lit my candles (and got lit myself)... I got a tv. I got some aweome beyond belief kitchen supplies from my bff and enjoyed my Jew-dom. My little brother even brought me cookies.

On other notes during Chanukkah I decided to participate in the BSG groups selfish sweater cowl and cast on my very own Shalom Cardigan. I'm very proud of my first ever sweater. Regardless of how easy it is.

I was flying on it too, but that other pesky winter holiday that likes to vomit tacky all over my office and neighborhood and everyone really and I realized I had Karl's scarf to finish. I'm 1/4 done.

I also realized that this stack of yarn needs to be turned into 3 hats. Knitting will be done on lunch breaks.

*sigh* Stupid "Other" holiday.


Bah ! Frakking humbug!

All I want to be knitting are (rav links):  Encompass, Stockholm Scarf, Reunion Cowl (which I started - barely) and GAP-tastic cowl

BTW -- These large circle scarf cowls are my new all time obsession

Trying to come up for air ....

Here's some hi-lights of my last couple of weeks:

• I've been sick for like 2 months. I finally found a good doctor though and she gave me some different prescriptions and I've finally been feeling better. (AND it's SUCH a flipping relief.) I have a follow-up in December and I'm getting blood work done to check up on everything. I'm so relieved to have found a doctor that I like.
• I'm so fed up with my job and work in general. Although I told my boss about it and he seemed sympathetic and has made some attempts to be less of a dick so I guess that's good.. We'll see how it progresses.
• I've decided that I want to go back to school for my PhD. This is scary as all hell. I've been spending my waking hours that aren't working studying. I also knit a little bit, when I'm in the mood. ;)
• I saw my first 3D movie (Megamind) with Ronni and her munchkins
• I take the GREs Saturday November 27th. I may be insane for picking such a close date.
• Analogies are the bane of my existence. I don't know why they exist. It's absurd. I hate them. And everyone who tells me "Really? I love analogies." can S.T.F.U.
• My grandmother is sick again. She's always sick at this time of year, but we never know how bad it's going to be. And it seems to get worse each year. :(
• I'm about as ready for the "Holiday Season" as I am for my GREs. Actually, I'm LESS ready for the holidays. I'm not ready at all. 

• Logan (and Jamie and Sophie and Mauricio -- not pictured) went to Harry Potter with me at midnight. I had A LOT (!!!) of fun. Logan wore my Gryffindor scarf and I wore my JUST FINISHED Ravenclaw scarf. Logan is the most awesome brother ever.

And here's what I've been knitting on:

My Ravenclaw Scarf
and it's finished!!!

Phoebus Apollo
I learned a lesson knitting these socks: Don't knit from a chart while you're sleepy, on cold medicine and also trying to pay attention to Dexter. Your pattern magnet has the ability to slide and mess you up so that you knit half of row 4 and repeat half of row three and not know what to do on row five. This will result in a frogging.

Other than that "small" (albeit educational) hiccup, this sock is flying off the needles. I actually cast this on because I was trying Ronni's method of dealing with stress/trauma/craziness/etc. She casts on and knits a new pair of socks. Clearly, I've not been super into this sock, but I'm getting over my I HATE KNITTING SOCKS phase. Also, its such a pretty yarn.

Snapdragon Mittens
I'm going to do the thumb before the flip top. I also think I'm going to start the second mitt before the flip-top. PROCRASTINATION. The flip-tops scare me a little. (Although I did finally master backwards loop cast on, so I'm less worried.) ALSO I want the thumb to match, so I figure I'll do the thumb and save what's let of this ball for the flip top of the second mitten and use the new ball for the flip top of this mitten. That way any dye lot difference wont be too jarring.

These will be SUPER cute when I finish them. :) I'm looking forward to my matching mittens and tam set.

Reunion Cowl
I have been cowl obsessed lately. I mean REALLY OBSESSED. Especially with large oversized cowls. I've knit 2 or 3 and they've all ben for swaps or for gifts, so I finally cast on one for myself.

Getting this sucker joined in the round without twisted stitches was HARD. (430 stitches in lace weight.) It should be smooth(er) from there.

I also thought mindless knitting of stockinette in the round would be a good idea. It's lace weight though, so I've made like no progress. I also REALLY wanted my scarf done for the movie premier. So worth it. :)

Other pictures from the past couple of weeks:

My 2011 Jack-O-Lanterns

I love carving pumpkins. It's quite easily my favorite part of the holidays. This year I did two and I had a "Scott Pilgrim" theme.

My inspiration pictures:
Scott Pilgrim's Head & the Sex Bob-Omb's Logo

And my finished Pumpkins:

Scott Pilgrim's Head and the Sex Bob-Omb Logo in pumpkin form

Scott's Head

Sex Bob-omb Logo

Call Me Crazy....

But I rather love staying up until "2:00 am" when Daylight Savings Times ends... I don't know why I love seeing 1:59 am turn into 1:00 am again so much, but I do.

That being said, I think that it's time to go to sleep. :)

Swaps

I've had a trying few weeks. It's been a super busy October and I'm happy that it's November because it's finally time to STOP. No more trips. 3 paid off of work holidays. It's going to be a good month.

Luckily in October I had swap packages arrive. Swap packages bring me great joy and these 3 were no exception.

First I received 2 on the same day!!! 1 from Kesten in the BSG FPB group for th Swaptober Spooktacular:

The 2nd was my Autumn Scavenger Hunt package from MarthaG in the Stop Swap group 

Today I got my Malabrigo swap package from Chaylaura! I am in LOVE!!!

A Project Bag and lots of Knitting Notions and Goodies

A cowl. Knit For Me. And it'll match my green coat. My green coat is one of my favorite coats, and it's SO GREEN that it can be tough to accessorize. 

New books! One for knitting, One for reading. AND Mor cables for my interchangeables!

My yarns! (2 skeins of Malabrigo twist in Sunset and 1 skein of worsted in hollyhock)
My coffe mug (that was filled with VIA coffee packets
And a handmade/local-made soap

Swaps make the rough days better and they make me appreciate all my yarn and my knitting and my Ravelry. :D I'm going to get off the computer now and go pet all my yarns. :)

Socks.

I hate socks. I don't really hate socks. It's gotten colder and they've kept my tootsies warm and cozy. I really hate knitting socks. For a long while all I knit was socks. Socks were my favorite. Now? Now I am socked out. Unfortunately I got socked out with 3 pair on the needles.

I was on such a "Finish my WIPs" knitting high. I was going so fast. I was finishing so much. It was amazing. Then I hit the socks. And well... I stalled. Big time. I want those pairs of socks. (Well, not the blue ones, they're for Ronni. BUT I'm sure she wants them.) I just don't want to knit them. I'm eagerly awaiting my sock mojo to come back to me. There are other people who have asked me for socks. I'm wishing I had been smarter and knitted those earlier when I was still feeling "socky."

Sock Knitting hating aside I have received 8 skeins of sock yarn recently. (Recently meaning within the month). (Although one skein is BMFA fingering marine silk and I have NO INTENTION of socks. That'll be a pretty little shawl.)

It's just that sock yarn is so wonderful. It's colorful. There are so many awesome indie dyers. It's easy to buy one skein and make a project with it. A shawlette, socks, hats, mitts... Double it up and you have worsted weight. I love sock yarn. It's my favorite. It's just I don't want to make socks with it. Ever. Well, maybe one day. Hopefully soon.

My family

Yesterday my dad had surgery. I spent the morning worrying and the evening in the hospital. It wasn't MAJOR surgery and he's okay and he's home now. He'll be stuck in his chair and in recovery for a while, but he'll heal and he'll be better. He's been in a lot of pain so it was something that needed to be done.

I've been thinking a lot more about my family. I'm lucky to have the parents that I have. I consider my brothers to be my best friends. There are a lot of people who can't say that. My mom can't stand her siblings. My dad claims to only have 1 brother. He's disowned his sister.

I'm blessed with a family that I can call anytime. Literally anytime. I've tested that statement. A family that doesn't care that I'm a little strange, but also has no problem poking fun at me for it. A family that loves me. They are fun. They are goofy. They find my Harry Potter obsession endearing. They really are some of the best people in this world.

I know normally we all wait for Thanksgiving to be thankful, but I'm thankful for them now. I felt like I needed to say so. :D

A couple (maybe 3 weeks ago, I don't remember) we took a family mini-trip up to the mountains.We had a picnic, brought the dogs, hiked a little bit, and played half a game of dominoes. It was a lot of fun and I took a bunch of pictures. I meant to blog about this earlier but I forgot. Well, I didn't forget. I've been sick, and I've been busy so...

Without further ado... My pictures!

Colors and My Stash

For our "get to know your fellow" swappers post for this term of HSKS (this is the 12th, the 9th that I've participated in) it was determined that I have the largest stash in our group. You can see the post with my stash pictures here. (Or you can see a couple of the pics below... My Malabrigo cubby and my Wollmeise + Sundara FMC basket.)

A lot of the comments left on my blog were about how COLORFUL my stash is. I love colors. I love pretty much every color! I cycle for favorites depending on trends, seasons, my mood, pretty much anything. I can get triggered to a FAVORITE by seeing a shirt I like, or a flower, or a picture... ANYTHING!

Right now I am in love with ORANGE! I don't know if it's a subconscious want for it to be fall. I'm not sure where it came from. Normally I don't long for fall, being as it's the END of summer which is my favorite season.

 I have been fondling and staring at all my orange sock yarns. I cannot decide what I want to do with them or what I want to make. OR where to start. All I know is I WANT to cast on something ORANGE!

I've been looking at Stephen West scarves/shawlettes. Ronni gifted me the new one Pagona that is a preview for the upcoming West Knits book. Or maybe a Daybreak with orange and contrasted with a red or a yellow... Or a Red-Orange with a Yellow-Orange. Or maybe an Annis.

Not to mention a plethora of sock patterns that would work. I think making the Gin and Tonic socks in an orange and calling them my Tequila Sunrise socks. OR Anne Hanson's Flaming Desire, I've been in love with this pattern forever. OR MAYBE Phoebus Apollo, I've been hanging onto this pattern for a while.

In the meantime I'll continue to try and get some of these WIPs done while dreaming of the ORANGE project that's to come. (I'm heavily leaning toward Pagona.)

Finish 2, Start a New One

Recently I've been overwhelmed with all of my WIPs. I made myself a deal that in order to start a new project I had to finish 2 of those wips. So I did I actually listened to myself.

First Finished WIP:

Ozymandias, 

King of Kings

(AKA the never ending shawl from hell)

Pattern: Percy by Sanne Kalkman

Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm

Yarn: Cosmic Fibers Ara Stellar

Color: Sweeney Todd

Edging Yarn: DIC Starry

Color: Midnight Derby

Beads: Size 6/0 

(replaced the nupps, and extended through the points)

Finished Dimensions:

55” across, 27” from base to tip

Modifications:

Beads added (see above), Ran out of my Sweeny Todd yarn so did a contrasting edging.

I am so very very very happy that this is done. I giggled like a madwoman when blocking it. I mean seriously this thing took me almost a year, and THEN I RAN OUT OF YARN... Well, actually now that it's done and I weighed the yarn I PROBABLY could have finished but when you have something like 20 rows to go and 6 or 7 grams or yarn, you start to worry. The end result is pretty and it makes me happy AND I'm pretty sure it makes other people jealous. Right? 

Second Finished WIP:

Knives Chau: 17 Years Old

My very first Scott Pilgrim Fandom knit. :D The scarf is just twisted rib, 17 stripes, each stripe is 5" long, so the total scarf is 85" long. I maybe could have gone longer but I was really stuck n wanting 17 stripes.

Details are as follows:

PATTERN:

• Cast on 24 stitches
• Using twisted rib create stripes
• Each stripe is 5” (or 27 rows)
• Bind Off after 17 stripes are finished

(NOTE: I did the math later on, and if I wanted the 10 foot long scarf, I'd need to make each row about 7" for 17 stripes, or have  23 stripes and be 5" short of 10 feet, or 25 stripes and be 5" over 10 feet. I debated doing 25 for a little bit.. Because then it'd be Lucy: 25 Years Old, but I just didn't like that as much.)

Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm
Yarn: Cascade 220
Colors: 4002 (JET) & 8505 (WHITE)

AND FOR MY NEW PROJECT:

I cast on the Snapdragon Tam by Ysolda.

For some reason my brain wasn't functioning when I first cast this on Tuesday night. It took me 5 attempts:

• Attempt one: CO too few stitches
• Attempt two: Started knitting WITHOUT STITCH MARKERS and lost the beginning of my round
• ATTEMPT 3: too MANY stitches… I need enough for 5 repeats, and I CO for 5 1/2
• Attempt 4: I Twisted the G.D. stitches
• Attempt 5: FRAKKING finally

Luckily I persevered and managed to get going. I'm looking forward to having a very pretty hat and flip-top mitten set. Which reminds me... I'll need to buy buttons soon.

Scavenger Hunt - Q&A (Stop Swap Group)

Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been at your craft?

Knit. I've been knitting for 4-5?? years. I'm going to try and teach myself crochet with the help of a friend.

Do you spin? What type of spinning do you do?

No. It scares me, although I have been given a couple of drop spindles.

Are there any other crafts that you participate in?

Beading, Ceramics, Wire working, Charcoals, Pastels, Painting ... But they've more or less taken a backseat in my life since I'm always working knitting or reading. There's just not enough time.

What are your favorite yarns/fibers?

Fibers: merino, silk, cashmere, MCN, alpaca

Yarns: Malabrigo, Madeline Tosh, Wollmeise, Dream in Color, Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs (creator of GothSocks), Cosmic Fibers, String Theory, Sanguine Gryphon

What are your LEAST favorite yarns/fibers?

Acrylics and acrylic blends, most cottons (Not all though. I recently was at an LYS and started to realize not all cotton is as miserable to work with.)

I've banned myself from lace weight. I have like 4 or 5 skeins and I've yet to use them. I tried once and it was too thin. If I try again and get into it I'll revisit lace weight.

I also don't like scratchy wools. I'm not a Noro fan (love the colors but it's so scratchy). Also do not like Araucania

Are there any types/brands of yarn that you are dying to work with but haven’t gotten a chance?
Ummm... I'm not sure. I'm sure there are things I've not tried but I don't know them yet. I'm willing to find out and try them though! :)

What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet?
Socks, Shawlettes, and I've been on a scarf kick, but that'll be short lived and result in a lot of UFOs that get ripped out in a month or two

What are you currently working on? Anything you plan to start this autumn?
Currently: Finishing WIPs and about to start a Ravenclaw scarf for the new HP movie

Plans: some Christmas gifts (stuffed dogs for 2 girls, hats for my brothers, pillows for my mom), a Snapdragon tam and mitts set for myself in Malabrigo twist

Are their any knitting/crochet techniques that you would like to learn?

I'm really wanting to learn to crochet. Ronni started to teach me. Hettie has sent me links to youtube tutorials to get me (re)started. I have the SnB Happy Hooker book, but I need to have hands on experience before that will ever help me

Do you have a yarn winder and/or a swift?

Yes to both!

Where/how to you keep you needles/hooks?
I just re-organized my "Room of Requirement" ... So all my needles are together: in the basket I have my interchangeables in a case, my sock DPNs in a roll, and a namaste cozy with my few crochet hooks and 2 dpn sets. I also have the tumbler from the Loopy Ewe anniversay kit holding my straights and a namaste circs case for my circs.

Do you collect anything?

Shot Glasses, Starbucks cards (I have a future art-type project planned for them), Books (I guess)

What is your favorite type of music? Are you MP3 ready?

Ummm... I have a pretty diverse taste in music. I like punk. I guess. I really love the nerd-punk-rock genre (Descendants and Weezer). Ummm my favorite bands are the Offspring, Bad Religion, Flogging Molly, The Thermals... I also like a lot of more "indie" bands (Florence and the Machine was non-stop playing for a while.) I love that indie-punk-raw sound... Currently I'm obssesed with Metric. (Thank you Scott Pilgrim soundtrack). The ENTIRE Scott Pilgrim soundtrack pretty much rocks. I like that sound. ;)

My LastFM profile (it's probably a better way to explain my music)

I own (honestly) like 6 different iPods. I'm an apple junkie.

Do you like sweets? What are your favorites?

YES! Chocolates - especially dark chocolates or chocolates from Netherlands and/or Belgium (but only when it's not so hot they melt in my mail), Lemon (cookies, martinis, hard candies, etc), coffee! (that's a sweet right?), gummies

What is your living situation like? Any pets? Children?

House with Boyfriend and my Pug, the spoiled diva. (He won't drink tap water anymore, and wants ICE CUBES in his bowl). No kids, Rocky would be sooooo jealous.

Are you allergic to anything?

Grasses, some pollens, melons, bananas

Do you have an online wish list (Amazon, Etsy, Loopy Ewe, etc.)?

I do! Links are in the side bar over there ----->

(don't exactly follow that arrow it's up a ways too.)

Is there anything else that you would like your pal to know?

I'm a lot of fun! I swear!

Blech. (or not...)

So I hate Monday... I know that's a cliche, but I do. I also have been dealing with my brother and my boyfriend's angry-depressedish-bad moods, and when I add that to my general state of mind and the fact that I REALLY enjoyed my vacation and time with my friends, I can honestly say that now I'm in an angry-depressedish-bad mood and I pretty much hate the whole world.

BUT THEN I FEEL BETTER! Because I had good mail today. Swap package mail. :)

This came to me from Rubyringz in Texas for the Stop Swap group's "Summer Reading Swap." I am so happy and I love every bit of it. Especially that she sent me salsa. I LOVE LOVE LOVE salsas. LOVE them!

I also got:

• 1 skein of handyed sport weight yarn in blues from Lizzie at the Upstairs Studio
• A handmade soap... This is the best smelling bar of soap I've ever gotten. I may never use it. I may just sniff it.
• Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood (Being the obsessive person I am, I read Oryx and Crake earlier this summer and found myself wanting MORE. Good news is, there is more! YAY!)

In other swappy news I'm planned to sign up for the next Malabrigo Swap, the next term of HSKS is starting soon AAAAANNNNDD... New missions are kicking of for BSG FPB (not a swap -- but I'm determined to get a lot accomplished during this.)

I think I should have a WIP-update post in my near future. Although that would involve some extra time and space for photos. Hmmm.....

That's all for now. I'm going to go and debate whether reading or knitting is a better use of my time.

Souvenirs

I'm not really a big souvenir person, but I do love to go yarn shopping when I travel. Look at my new pretties:

AND LANTERN MOON NEEDLES! The woman at the shop called them "The Cadillac of Knitting Needles" I do love them. So much. I'm working on creating a collection of 10" Straights that are wood. Then I'll get rid of all the 14" long aluminum ones. I never use them anyway.

We spent a lot of time with people that I already miss. My HSKS family is very very dear to me. We ate a lot of good foods, and we did plenty of yarn shopping and there was plenty of all around Harry Potter love and geekiness. Especially at Whimsic Alley. Really it was great fun!

Our guest of honor (the Birthday girl and my bfffl) had a blast too!
(Can't you just tell! She got a Medianoche Sandwich because it's what Dexter eats. )

We also had the waiter take a group shot after dinner. BUT he cut out our newest friend Amanda. :(

Also this is me:

Typical. My best pictures are always the ones where I look funny.