Lucy in the Sky

Finished my Sweater

2012-01-22T14:08:00.000-08:00

My sweater is finished... I think that it's perfect. I am honestly amazed I had buttons for the sweater too. It's rare for me to have any sort of buttons, let alone ones that are the perfect size and color without having ever planned on my sweater and my buttons matching. I could not have been happier to find those buttons. Saved me a trip out today.

I read several of people's comments about the pattern and their sweaters turning out too small, so I knit 1 size up than what I usually would knit (and lets not lie... I have put some weight on from the holidays) so it fits perfectly. I knit the body to be a bit long, but I happen to like my shirts to extend below my waist, although it did lengthen even further after I blocked it a bit. I am beyond happy with it though. It was perfect therapy and I'm perfectly happy with it.

I had Mauricio take my photo. In his words the sweater makes me look like a bird because it flows and because of the color... Which is better than the "sparkly like a vampire" comment I received on my last scarf.

Now it's time to move onto my next project, but I've yet to decide on what exactly that will be. I'm wanting a new scarf, but I'm also horribly tempted to make another sweater. ... OR I could alway finish one of the millions of WIPs I have.

A long time coming ...

2012-01-15T17:18:00.000-08:00

I'm finally sitting down to write a blog post. I had been busy and not blogging, then I struggled to come up with a way to write a post after the holidays.

On Christmas day my family lost Nana. Nana was my grandmother, for those not in the know. She was very important to me and such a large influence on my life. It's hard to talk to about her or even think about her right now without tearing up. I miss her so very much. She was just such an amazing woman. There is so much I could say about her and yet whenever I try to start I stall and I choke on my words.

So basically I've been a quiet hermit and leaving myself alone to my own thoughts and limiting my interactions with the human world. I really detest the "fake sympathy" and the "I'm sorrys" and the "It'll get easier" crap that goes along with telling people about loss so I've avoided it. I know all of those things, and they really don't make me feel any better. So let's just skip all of that, okay?

I'm planning on creating a small garden in pots in back yard as sort of a memorial to her. I've got to do some purchasing and some thinking as to where everything will go and then I'll get going on that...

In my knitting progress I have finished a TON of hats. Most of which were gifts or for swaps or were given away. See the hats below. There are still more hats that I made too...

Before Christmas and in the earlier days of December, I was busy. I attended the Hannukah festivals/shows for Ellie's preschool and Sara's school. Both were cute. I actually surprised Sara. She didn't think anyone was going to be able to go to her show. I also had a rather painful procedure done on my foot to remove plantar warts. (It's gross. AND it hurts like HELL.) I probably got so many hats done by being mostly confined to the couch.

On top of everything in my personal life I've been SUPER busy at work. With the missed days to grieve and all the holidays and all the year end reporting that I'm still working on I haven't really had a chance to come up for air. Which is fine. I can live through that. I've been stressed though... So I put myself on a yarn therapy regimen. More specifically a malabrigo therapy regimen.

I'm knitting a Liesl sweater in Malabrigo in the "Azul Bolita" colorway. I went for the wide neck option, did three button holes, and am planning on elbow length sleeves. The pattern is just what I needed to keep my mind sane. It's looking beautiful so far.

I'm hoping to get the body done at the very minimum before I have to go back to work on Tuesday. I also know it fits because I tried it on yesterday. I'm so in love with this project. I think my "therapy" is working.

I'm wanting to do a fingering weight scarf for my next project, but I haven't decided on a pattern yet... I'm still looking. I'm also concentrating on finishing my sweater.

What Would I Do Without Ravelry?

2011-08-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

My goal for the weekend was to finish my Elektra shawl. I got pretty close to done. I was binding off and I ran out of yarn. None of the yellows in my stash matched and it isn't like I have extra skeins of wollmeise just lying around for these situations. I was debating ripping out my Bind off and re-binding off in an orange that didn't quite match my beads. That was my plan before I wised up and did a ravelry search. After a lot of swearing and freaking out I found someone destashing a partial skein of wollmeise in the same base and color. A couple PM's and a paypal transfer later and I have matching yarn on the way to finish the shawl.

If it weren't for Ravelry I would never have found someone else with this color of wollmeise up for trade/destash/etc. My orange options didn't quite match my beads. (See the picture if you don't believe me.) I REALLY did not want to rip out my bind off. That sounded like my best option of bad ideas. I was not a happy person.

Now I'm anxiously awaiting the destashed yarn to get here so that I can FINISH! I'll be stalking my mail like a crazy person this week.

Some Happy Thoughts of the Knitting Kind

2011-06-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Most of my happy thoughts are few and few in between right now but this glittery combo is singing the most cheerful songs to me.

Dream in Color Starry
Black Parade and Into the Mystic

I did quite a bit of frogging today. Not in anger, but because I realized I just was NOT getting to certain projects. So I feel more accomplished and have less UFOs just sitting around being ignored. Let's face it I have two pretty glittery yarns singing to me, why would I go back to a project that's making me grumble?

These are the projects I have progressed on. (Click the photos for a better look. Right = Laika, Left = Gwen's Scott Pilgrim-esque hat)

I've been taking my knitting and spending my lunch breaks in the library. I've gotten a few strange looks, but I think it's worth it. :) I'm getting more knit time and keeping my sanity.

It was 2 FO kind of day ...

2011-06-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

I've got two shawlettes blocking right now!

Travelling Woman
Liz Abinante
Cosmic Fibers Cassiopeia in "Gout of the Dick"
"VD Awareness"

Summer Mystery Shawlette
Wendy Knits Mystery KAL
Madtosh Merino Light in Logwood
"Mystery Solved!"

Now it's time for me to see a certain sweater about a sleeve.

Today's Goal

2011-06-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

I am going to finish the ONE SHORT sleeve on this freaking sweater! I mean seriously it's one effing sleeve. AND IT'S A SHORT SLEEVE! I should have a finished sweater right now. I'm beginning to doubt my own sanity due to the fact that this is still not finished. It's one sleeve!! ONE!!!

Single sleeved sweater modeled by Veronica's little monsters.

I went on a Trip

2011-05-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

I went on a two day trip. It was a whirlwind of a trip. ... At the SLC airport I ended up having a tweet convo with Ysolda. I'm still in literal SQUEE-SHOCK from that. I WISH WISH WISH I had checked twitter earlier I want to meet her so very bad. I even had 3 of my knit from her patterns in my bag. (Ishbel, Peaks Island Hood and Snapdragon tam). It was pretty much the trip highlight.

Anyway we went to Salt Lake City, UT, Tooele, UT, Wendover, NV, back to Salt Lake City, then to Jordan's Landing, then back to Tooele, then back to Salt Lake City again. Then finally to Tooele to sleep and then back to Salt Lake City to fly home. ... It was a busy trip. I didn't really sleep much. BUT I did do my best to take some pictures since that's been my blogging thing lately.

I packed. Rocky pouted because I kicked him out of my suitcase.

The Wendover Tree of Life

(This thing is BIZARRE. You should google it and read about it. I linked to a better pic.)

I brought knitting, but it's a secret project so all I'm showing to prove I'm knitting is my pretty little markers. :P These stitch markers are awesome though. I bought 4 sets and am so addicted to all 4 sets. Check out Crimson Orchid on Esty.

Mauricio and I gambled at the Montego Bay across from where his dad works. The place is LITERALLY all neon and mirrors. It's far out.

The High School Graduate with his brother and sister. (AWWW)

(And the reason for this trip of madness.

My purse broke, so I bought this new shiny bronze one. (Among other things.)

These are my bored and delayed at SLC shots. I love those shoes b/c they sparkle, they're comfortable and they show off my hand knit socks. :)

Airplane window shots. Before take off, and after takeoff.

I had lunch with my mom to make up for her birthday being missed, and my two favorite little girls tagged along. I love them. They're the best children in the world.

To sum it all up I bought an awesome new fishy ring today (among other things). It's one majorly awesome ring.

P.S. I totally skipped my Mimos Monday tradition today. :(

Saturday night and Today in Pictures

2011-05-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday night at Yellow brick road. My favorite local classic rock cover band.

Brody -- the lead singer. He's leaving and we are not thrilled. He's too good to leave us. :(

We know the Band!!
Only Brody is pictured but seriously we've met the whole band.

In all seriousness a friend of mine (on the left) actually knows the band. Much to my very enthusiastic amusement.

AND Today (Monday)! Minus the pictures that would prove today sucked as much as it did.

Mimosa Monday

Knitting Pictures

My sweater is Almost finished! 1 sleeve left!

My Adorable puppies.

My (yester)Day in Pictures

2011-05-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I wanted to post "My Day in Pictures" ... BUT blogger was down so I didn't get to. So without further ado here is my yesterday in pictures.

Pretty Dress Day!
This is just the pattern... Whole res picture is unavailable.

New socks!
Knit by Ronni
Pattern: Peace Socks by Wendy Johnson
Yarn: Cosmic Fibers Hercules
Colorway: Drucilla

My socks are all in my drawer, and are all clean-clean-clean
Not pictured: New Drucilla socks. (They were on my feet.)

New Wollmeise
I am a yarn HOAR :)
But I finally got PINK wollmeise
Colors from left to right:
Magnolie medium, Tutu medium, Klapperstorch, Maus alt, Maus jung, Natur

I'm going to try and get "My Day in Picture" posts up on a semi regular basis. At least it'll be something to look at. :)

HA!

2011-04-29T08:51:00.001-07:00

For the record. I still think superman is a tool.

What I've been up to ... A photo post

2011-04-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

Swapping

Stashing .... Some sock clubs, mostly yarn for sweaters

And Knitting

And a SWATCH!

Swatching

2011-04-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

I loathe to swatch. I know everyone always says "swatch. You'll be glad later. blah blah blah blah blah." It honestly never sinks in with me. I loathe to swatch. I think it's a waste of my time. I can usually figure how to get gauge on my own or whether or nat a specific yarn will work with a specific pattern. I'm smart. I do maths in my head. I measure my gauge from past projects. I'll read every ravelry forum and project note. I will do anything to avoid a swatch. Which is funny. With all the time I spend prepping and reading, it would probably just be quicker to do the swatch. But I hate swatches so I won't do them.

It's similar to my resistance of memorizing certain math formulas and instead spending HOURS programming my calculator to do the math for me. In the long run, I end up memorizing the formulas and doing the problems on the test with the program and by hand, because I wanted to double and triple check myself, but I digress.

This week I swatched. I swatched for what is probably only the second time in my whole knitting experience. I actually knit a swatch. Actually, I knit two swatches for this project.

I had it in my head that I wanted to knit $5 in Paris with my Malabrigo Rios. I wanted it to be white (Natural) with red (Ravelry Red) stripes. Then I got the most horrid vision about the red bleeding during the first wash of my new sweater resulting in a PINK and red sweater. Not what I wanted, not even close.

So I made a swatch. I balled up all the white yarn and kept one red skein on my yarn swift. I knit off the swift because then if the red was bleeding, I could easily tie it back up and soak it in vinegar with the other hanks.

I'm glad I did my swatch. Especially since that first swatch ended up immediately turning the water pink. I still had hopes that it wouldn't bleed onto the white even with the pink water, but that didn't work out either. The white part of the swatch was pinkish and dingy looking.

So, I'm rather glad I swatched this one time. After the pinky swatch, I re-hanked my red skein and soaked all three over night in cold water and vinegar. Actually, I think I swore before the re-hanking and had a mental debate on whether I could handle a pinkish and red sweater because I really wanted to start RIGHT NOW. Then when I was done being a delusional idiot, I went ahead with the vinegar bath. (My bathroom does smell like vinegar now, but that doesn't bother me. I love vinegar.)

In the morning, I pulled the hanks out of the vinegar bath and tried to wring as much water out of them as possible. I hung my loops on hangers to dry. Looks like all the wire hangers sitting around do have a use. Those things aren't allowed in my closet.This is when I'm happy to live in the arid desert. Things dry quickly.

I should add that the major motivation for me to get up on Friday morning was to pull the hanks ou of the vinegar-water and set them up to dry. It was cold, there was no coffee .... I really lacked the WANT to remove myself from the warm bed.

It was a good sign that the white yarn I used to re-tie up one of the hanks stayed white. I was excited. I really REALLY didn't want to do this whole thing a second time. Not that it was an awful experience. But it did involve TWO swatches, and A LOT of waiting. I'm not a patient person. I was ready to start my sweater and I wanted to start it right at that very moment. I haven't knit much in over a month. I was inspired and ready to knit. It's maybe crazy, but I'm happy that I even went through this process in the first place. If I hadn't I'd have ended up with a pink sweater. I think I could rock a pink sweater, but I didn't want to have to.

The second swatch was knit almost exactly like the first one and also washed. Notice how the water is not PINK. The vinegar did it's job. I was SUPER happy. The second swatch;s white was still the original color. I can now successfully knit my sweater and not fear for the white's safety.

So I guess swatching is a good idea and does pay off in the end. I still don't think I'll become a person that swears by swatching though. I'm not going to be re-wired in a way that will make me a more patient person. I may just avoid white for sweaters in the future because then I won't have to worry about other colors bleeding into it.

My sweater is on the needles now. I'm hoping it's a quick knit. I want to finish it before I don't like the color RED anymore.

I cannot believe it's the middle of March...

2011-03-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

February and these couple of weeks have been crazy. They've been epically stressful with family. My grandmother was in the hospital. My uncle died. I've been SUPER busy with work. Just craziness all around. I've not knit anything. I've not read anything outside of comic books, because honestly, I don't have the patience or time for much else. I also currently only have LARGE and/or complicated projects which require too much thought process at this current time.

Comics are perfect because they're short and have a lot of pictures. It's been fun too. I used to only read a few but now, I'm addicted to the comics for the entire bat-family. Batgirl is my absolute favorite. I think it's because she reminds me of Buffy. And I miss my Buffy comics.

The batman history according to Stephanie Brown:
(I super love these drawings)

That's it for now. I super cleaned the house yesterday, maybe I'll knit on something today. :-D

New Swap!! - Favorite Colors Questionnaire

2011-03-01T13:12:00.000-08:00

For the next Stop Swap round (rav link)

Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been at your craft? Knit and I'd guess 4-5 years, but I'm not sure.
Do you spin? What type of spinning do you do? I don't. :(
Are there any other crafts that you participate in? Some beadwork,some painting/sketching, nothing really very often though. Mostly I knit when I find the time.
What are your favorite yarns/fibers? Wool, Silk, Alpaca, Anything malabrigo makes... I love Malabrigo
Are there any yarns/fibers that you don’t like? I'm not a huge fan of cottons -- but I've seen a few recently I like more and I really don't like to use acrylics unless it's an absolute need
What is your favorite color? That's an excellent question! Ummm... Right now I've really been into grey, off-white, peachy-light-pinks. I saw Black Swan and kind of fell in love with the whole "ballerina" look. So I've been wearing and using more light pinks, whites, peaches, off-whites, etc. and contrasting them with the dark charcoals and blacks. ------ I also love deep rich purples. I like almost every shade of pinks. I like cerulean blue. Kelly Green. Sunshine yellow. Coral. Turquoise. Teal.... I know. I SOOOOO answered this question well.

I was actually WAY into ballet as a kid before I got into swimming.
So I always love ballet, ballet movies, ballet-inspired clothes...
Picture is from a Swan Lake performance not Black Swan.

Are there any colors you don’t like? Poop colors. I'm not huge on yellows. I'm not a BIG pastel fan -- other than my new YAY! ballerinas thing. And I usually don't like neutrals, but I'm in love with them light now. (See above question re: ballerina + Black Swan)
Do you have a yarn winder and/or a swift? Both
Do you have a blog? You're reading it. ;)
Do you collect anything? Shot glasses, Washi tins for my teas and Starbucks cards
Do you like sweets? What are your favorites? Yes and no. I like lemon-y candies. I love thin wafer-y cookies. I like really GOOD chocolates. But I'm not really a big sweets eater. Usually when I want a snack I eat pita chips + hummus or chips + guac, but that's not even too often. My idea of a snack is just a coffee or a tea. I love coffee and tea.
What is your living situation like? Any pets? Children? I joke that I live with 4 weiners and 4 balls... My bf, my brother, and the two dogs (both are fixed -- get the joke now?)
Are you allergic to anything? Melons, I'll also say bananas, mushrooms, and coconut because I loathe them that fiercely. AND I don't eat pork! Also I mostly keep kosher.
Is there anything else that you want your pal to know? No, but I'm glad to answer questions.

Supergirl

2011-02-28T07:16:00.000-08:00

I had a rough few weeks Supergirl knitting definitely cheers me up. She probably can knit at super speed too. Wouldn't that be AWESOME?

As far as my knitting goes, I've got nothing. ;)

I do have a swap box going out today though.

Laundry Day

2011-02-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

Socks Hanging Out

I did all my handwashing this morning. I just love the look of all my hand-knit socks hanging up to dry. :) The picture was so cute I decided to blog.

When I was washing and then hanging them up I had the thought of "I really need to knit myself more socks. I love these." Then IMMEDIATELY grumbled. I still haven't gotten the "sock-knitting-mojo" back. I'm sure it'll get there. I've been trying to get myself to spend a certain amount of time each day on sock knitting. As in "okay while I watch this 45 min episode of [insert TV show here] I'll ONLY work on this/these socks. Hopefully a sock will be done soon. ;)

While I'm waiting to catch sock-knitting-itis, I've definitely been hit with start-itis. I CO My So Called Scarf in my Manos. I'm not loving it though. It's not giving me the look that I wanted for a solid scarf. I am 90% I'm going to frog this and re-start with a different pattern. When I did some pattern searching I really like all of these (ravelry links):

Prismatic Scarf
Striata
Parallel Lines

At any rate I'm sure that I'll be frogging and restarting with one of those three patterns. I've been thinking about the Prismatic and Parallel Lines as options for a while. I only discovered Striata recently. It looks a lot like the Prismatic scarf so that may be why I like it so much.

I'm off to enjoy my holiday day. We're having "Brinner" tonight as a popular request by Logan. I've also got some errands to run. YAY! Three day weekend.

A Multitude of Posts all in one

2011-02-17T23:43:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to blog about 4+ times in the past few weeks. BUT instead I've been tested by the fates and set through the gauntlet. I had some family problems. Plenty of car problems. An unexplained illness. A family tragedy/issue. Work drama and stress up to past my eyeballs.

To those of you who have sent virtual hugs either via Ravelry forums, PMs, texts, comments, tweets, etc. You are greatly appreciated. I was definitely in need of some major huggage. I love you all and I appreciate the hugs.

First up I finished my Gap-Tastic Infinty Scarf cowl. And it is AWESOME

And super versatile. That's me wearing it 5!!! ways. I've been wearing it around the house at night it's been a bit chilly. It's not really that chilly, my giant cowl is just SUPER comfy.

Second up: I have conquered, or at least won the first battle with stranded colorwork. I knit myself an Opus Spicatum. It's a wonderful pattern and it made a beautiful beret. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll have my hair cute and can get some photos of me actually wearing it. I love it. Right now it is blocking. I *MAY* have enough leftovers in these two colors to make matching herringbone mittens, but we'll have to do some weighing measuring/waiting to see on that development.
For inquiring minds I used leftovers/scrsps of Malabrigo Worsted in Jewel Blue and Marine Blue. I did follow the suggestions of other Ravelers and did 2 extra repeat of rows 16-19 for more slouch. I'm loving the slouchy hats lately. I also took A TON of WIP photos for this project so you can check those out either here via Ravelry or here via Flikr.

I actually mesed this up a little bit by reading the chart backwards, which really only resulted in one row beng SLIGHTLY screwy, but honestly you can't tell. I do have one LITTLE trick for when I get to the DPN portion of hats and my 'beginning of the round marker' doesn't stay in place. I have all these old BOYE aluminun DPNs and I always use a different color for the first one. So that's how I know to knit the next row, I'm at the blue DPN. Or at least it was blue in the case. It's not always blue, it works like a charm though. It saves me plenty of headaches. Especially on the rare occasion where I get bored and weave in ends before I'm finished.

Third up: I bought a second Namaste needle case to separate out my "sock knitting" circs from my "other circs." Then I decided to organize them to night. I'm not sure the sock sizes are in the right pockets. I REALLY need a needle gauge that can tell the difference between 2.5 mm and 2.75 mm and so on.

I took pictures though! And I'm still happy with my end result!

Messy Needles

Sock Needle Mess vs. Easily Organized Not-Sock Needles

My Sock Needles are a P.I.T.A.

All Organized
Dark Pink is US 4/3.5mm +
Light Pink is US 1/2.25mm to US 3/3.25mm
(Don't ask me about 0s I'll laugh at you. I knit to tight to ever need 0s)

These last two pictures just show off my nice labels. I love labels. <3

So now my new goal is to keep these nice and organized.

I have one more thing to blog about!

A long while ago I got this AWESOME pair of 10" wooden straight needles from Carrie/Dharmafey as part of the nefarious club. They were size 5, and I've used them every opportunity that I've had to use them; I LOVE them. Anyway, I found the seller on etsy and splurged a bit to buy myself an entire set of her 10" needles. The price included a needle roll. She was seriously the fast etsy shipper EVER. I ordered Friday afternoon. Had a delivery confirmation number Friday night and my needles were here Monday. If your looking for a a great new etsy shop to stalk I definitely recommend her: Lambsears. She will not disappoint. See how pretty my new needles are??? She also send me a sample of her Peace Fleece I intend to knit a little something with that and maybe review it to get her even more good reviews. I'm obsessed with handspun right now and she really does have some PRETTIES in her shop.

Im actually so enamored with these needles I'm thinking of pulling out my BLUE manos wool (which I have slightly less than 2 skeins of after Scarf Travels) and knitting into a pretty Prismatic Scarf. Unless someone else has a better scarf suggestion. I've also got this awesome handspun that I got in my 'Have a Cuppa' swap that I'd like to knit into something. Just as long as I can use my pretty new needles!

My new GORGEOUS handspun

So Scarf suggestions for my BLUE manos or handspun are greatly appreciated. (As log as I can use my new needles with them. AND mostly mindless is good. I've been coming home from work EX-HAUS-TED!)

I'll be off the 'net this weekend but I do check my comments/some rav/some emails through my phone when I get bored. SO COMMENT! Give me inspiration.

Currently listening to: Death Cab for Cutie
They had the 'sound' I needed this evening.

Also follow me on twitter! I mostly tweet random geeky things, comic things and some knitting. Lucyfer97

Musical Inspiration

2011-02-04T21:38:00.000-08:00

I started this post as my project for a BSG FPB ready room on Ravelry, but I sort of liked the way it sounded, so I'm blogging it too. After cleaning up the original post, anyways. I actually had formatting trouble and lost my first post. :(

I really love music. I’m not musical at all but I listen to music with everything. I listen to a lot of different music. I've been to a lot of concerts. I even used to interview bands. I obsess over music. I’m always listening to music. There are books I’ve read that in my head have albums that are basically playlists because I kept on repeat all while I read. Oddly enough, most of those seem fitting matches too.

I also became obsessed this winter with the big loopy cowl (just ask Ronni I was a crazy person). I’ve been resisting casting one on since probably October. I love them. They're just so neat looking and versatile.

I recently started following Zooey Deschanel on twitter. (Actually I just recently got on twitter, I resisted that for a long time too.) That led e to start listening to her music (band? IDK what they call it). I was kind of non-stop listening to She & Him for a long while. This song in particular got a lot of play time:

After listening to this song (and the album it’s on) about 25 times I realized that I was so obsessed with this one song in particular because within one of my yarn cubbies this long forgotten stashed yarn (Lamb's Pride Bulky in Blue Magic) and this pattern (the Gap-tastic cowl) were singing:

Why do you let me stay here All by myself?

Why don’t you come and play here? I’m just sitting on the shelf

Over and over all I could hear drawing me to the yarn and the pattern was:

I’m just sitting on the shelf

Next thing I knew I was pretty much involuntarily knitting the Gap-tastic Cowl and humming this song while I did. I’m almost through the second skein of yarn. I have 3+ skeins, but I kind of think it might be wide enough with 2 skeins.

I left my desk kind of messy so you can see my iPods, proving my music obsession… and my Stitch-Yoda…. And my other crap. LOL My desk maybe isn't the cleanest place.

... AND I'm Back

2011-01-19T22:56:00.000-08:00

Alright so I've had it in my mind to get on here and post, but life happens. I've been out on the weekends (mostly to the movies nothing fancy), feeling exhausted from work (because of taxes and year end accounting), and having sinus-allergy trouble (that's because the weeks alternate between high 40s and high 60s = annoying)....

Tonight I'm finally blogging. I should be sleeping but I cut my finger and I can't sleep with band-aides and I don't want to end up with blood on my bed covers so here I am... Bleeding on my keyboard. Not really.

So I did make some Knitting Plans for 2011. I actually "swapped" 12 yarns with Ronni this year. At the

Ronni's 11 Yarns
Waiting to Be Returned to her and turned into socks

beginning of each month she gives me one of my yarns back and a pattern to go with it. Mostly we're going to try and pick patterns out of Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up because we both love Wendy and we both have the book. That little book tidbit we didn't really discuss until December and we'd both already set on the first swap so we'll see what happens next. :) I tagged the 12 yarns I gave Ronni in my Rav stash because I kept forgetting what I had handed over to her. I'm excited to see what she pairs the yarns up with. This really was a great stash busting sock club alternative. It's also much more of a surprise factor than just setting up my own personal sock club. I mega fail at those. I end up not liking anything I picked. Ronni knows me and my style and I've already forgotten almost anything I gave to her, so it's really like a random monthly club. With no shipping costs. AND I really should be able to knit a pair of socks a month. In theory. With dedication. I am about 90% sure I can finish these. I really hope I can.

My first pair of socks (for the month of January) are Janel Laidman's Peacock socks using my yatn I actually bought on my trip to Connecticut to meet Ronni in person. It's Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets Fine Merino in Diva. I am totally in love with the colors in the yarn... The picture that shows real progress is crap for showing the colors off. But it's from my iPhone in my crappy bedroom lighting. I've made pretty good progress considering I've not really knit all that much this month. I've mostly come home from work and gone straight to bed. My "start" picture shows the colors off much better.

So far this has been a really simple sock. The heel construction is something that I've never done before so I'll see how that goes. Hopefully it goes swimmingly. AND hopefully I finish in 11 days.

I've tagged the projects I'm making for our "sock club" with the same tag as the yarns. Or at least I plan too. I've only got one project up so far.

My first sweater is almost finished! All I have left to do for the Shalom Cardigan is the bottom edging. Weaving in ends and finding a button. I had hoped I'd finish Monday ... But that got pushed to Tuesday night. Then that got pushed to tonight. Then I decided I was tired and cut my finger and decided that tomorrow was definitely the finishing day.

The sweater looks a little tiny when I lay it on the bed like that. But it's pretty on par with my other shirts, and it fits when I try it on, so my conclusion is that I'm a tiny person. :) I'm very excited about finishing a sweater. Even if it's all one piece and a really easy cardigan. I've got plans for at least 2 more sweaters that I hope to do this year as well.

I'm off now. My finger has quit bleeding and I am very tired.

No Knitting - Only Running :)

2010-12-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-14T20:11:00.000-08:00

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 ....

2010-11-20T12:09:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

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....

2010-11-07T01:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-10-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

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)

2010-08-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

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...)

2010-08-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-24T19:03:00.003-07:00

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.

I'm Leaving Town!!!

2010-08-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

But before I go!

I finished my Clapotis and it's so pretty!

Conteur de Fortune

Pattern: Clapotis (link goes to knitty.com)

Yarn: Fresh from the Cauldron Silk Sock

Colorway: Alice Cullen

Needles: US 6/4.0mm

Mods: Done to accomodate fingering weight yarn rather than worsted. I followed the "rule" of 1/5s, 1/5 for increases, 1/5 for decreases, and 3/5s for the straight section. I ended up doing 8 repeats for increases and decreases and 19 (!) repeats for the center.

Okay now I'm running off to pack. I'll be back next week with news and pictures of the trip. AND NEW YArNS! Whoooo!

Metric - Black Sheep

2010-08-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

So... I'm a very passionate person. I will be totally obsessed for a thing for a while and then I move on. That's why I occasionally gather so many WIPs. Really... It's just part of who I am. I'm either all in or not at all. This is especially present with songs.

See, a "long" time ago, before the knitting and before getting older made me lame (J/K I'll NEVER be lame... or old) I was quite the music lover an music buff. I had friends that had a punk music website. I used to review cds before they were released, I used to interview members of bands I loved it was AWESOME.

PROOF me and Dave King of Flogging Molly

(I'm 16, sunburnt and tired as all get out.. BUT still one of the best days of my life):

Music is still a big BIG part of me as a person, although I've broadened my tastes to include more than the my original genre (punk). So I find myself becoming completely and TOTALLY obsessed with a single song. I talk about it to likt 3 or 4 people non-stop, and well I've decided to start blogging my song obsessions in addition to my knitting escapades.

SO MY CURRENT SONG OBSESSION IS:

Black Sheep by Metric

It's in the new Scott Pilgrim Movie. (In cas you didn't know I'm SCOTT PILGRIM CRAZED!!!) The movie is supposed to be more or less centered around this song. I kid you not I've listened to it about 17 time TODAY! I love this song!! I really LOVE this song.

In Knitting News:

I finished my Scylla Socks.

I'm also VERY VERY close to finishing my clapotis!!!!

My Birthday (and more)

2010-07-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

I am not blogging about my own knitting today... Not that I'm in a fight with it or anything, I just wanted to brag a little bit about how awesome my best friend is and how awesome of a birthday gift she got me.

I love Mad Men. It is very easily one of my personal top five shows. I love it. I rewatch every episode abotu 30 times on the DVR I have blue rays for all three seasons and they've all been watched multiple times. I LOVE THIS SHOW.

With my love of this show there are a few facts:

I'm in love with Don Draper
I really really dislike his wife (though I find her hilarious)
My conclusion is I want to be (one of) Mr. Draper's mistress.

So having said my conclusion to Ronni SEVERAL times, she created my birthday gift themed around the mistresses of Don Draper.

Clockwise:

Allen Ginesburg's complete works (Midge, the pot-smoking, beatnik illustrator)
Peaks Island Hood - which we need to put buttons on (Rachel Menken, the Jewish business woman)
Crystals and Shell Charms (Bobbie Barrett, wife of Jimmie Barrett insult comment -- they go to the beach at Stony Brook and end up wrecking the car)
A Knitted Apple (Susan Farrell, Sally's former teacher)

Supposedly spoilers say Don is going to have trouble with his love life next season... I'm around though. ;)

=================

WIPs Updates: (I KNOW they need pictures, I'll work on it):

I am more than half way done with my clapotis. Officially. I have a goal of doing at least 1/2 a repeat (6 rows) EVERY night, sometimes I do more. Sometimes it's the weekend and I marathon Mad Men and knit 5 repeats. It all works out
My Malabrigo Rios blanket. I'm thinking seriously about ripping out and restarting with a different needle size. I'm not totally in love with i as is.
Scylla Socks -- at the heel. Should really just suck it up and finish
Traveling Woman - has seen some progress! I'm sleepy, my clapotis is getting a bit to big to carry around and so I work on this at Ronni's. I'm still in the stockinette section.
MARCH RSC socks... I have two toes. I'm debating ripping out and doing slip jig instead of secret garden.
My Cheshire cat socks... About 2 or 3 repeats into the foot pattern. Haven't given them much attention. BUT oh man do I love color. (Malabrigo Sock in Light of Love)
Ronni's BFF socks - Still only one sock finished HAHAHA
Percy - Let's not talk about it. I'm actually really thinking I'd like to farm this out and find someone to finish it for me. They'd get paid in yarn.

===================

I'm not going to bother with my newly instituted "BEST LAID PLANS AND ALL THAT" section this time. I've got very few plans. Other than to finish WIPs and knit with yarn I own. (Meaning I'm on a 'stash diet,' with the understanding that all good diets need a break or two occasionally.)

Neglected Blog Needs a Post!

2010-06-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

BUT I've not finished anything! AAAAAAH! (I've been this crazy all day, just so you know.)

So I'm putting up a WIP and planning post... I know it's not as exciting as when I post about how I messed up on my socks and finished them anyways, but you know... I haven't been all that successfully motivated with the knitting. WELL, that's not true, I've just been tackling bigger projects.

Big Project #1:

Remember how I won the Malabrigo Rios in the naming contest? No? Oh yea, blog has been neglected. Sigh. Well I didn't get the winning name, but I won 10 skein of the yarn in a beautiful color.

Then the question became, well I won awesome, What am I going to do with 10 skein of yarn? Solution = make myself a blanket. I decided on upsizing the Honey Baby Blanket by Anne Hanson. It was written for fingering weigh yarn to make it baby sized. I'm using worsted and thicker needles and making it for me, the big baby.

So far I've finished 1/2 a repeat of 3 full repeats of section A. I love it so far. See Baby You're a Rich Man on Ravelry for individual pictures. (I named it that b/c that was the only song with Baby in the title that made me smile and not gag.)

BIG PROJECT #2:

My clapotis!!!! I've gotten through 5 complete strait section repeats. (5 of between 15 and 18 with my estimations and weight measurements. That'll also depend on how long it is at a point.) I'm loving it so far.

Ravelry project link: Conteur de Fortune (Answer to why it's named that is this: The clapotis is French and it's in Alice Cullen yarn... She sees the future! Get it now? I know I'm lame...)

NOT A BIG PROJECT #3:

My scylla socks. I'm half way through the gusset on both. If I'd sit down and just work on them they'd probably be finished. But I've been workin gon my blanket and my clapotis. :D

Please ignore the grossness that is my foot in this picture. My feet took a beating running around barefoot this weekend.

UP NEXT is a section I'm calling:

BEST LAID PLANS AND ALL THAT

In this section I ntend to talk about my great ideas for these great massive knitting projects that I'll probably never finish. OR that I'll stop and get stracted by mid-way. OR that I'll never get around to because something else will come along... Those types of things.

The above pile of yarn is a collection of yarn that I fully intend to create my own personal 'Alice in Wonderland' themed socks out of. I'm really excited to start, but I'm also trying to get some things off the needles before diving in. Stay tuned. That's plans for 6 pair so far. Lets see what happens...

Socks Done!

2010-04-17T13:47:00.001-07:00

(behold) the MIGHTY MONARCH
Pattern: Butterfly Socks by Wendy Johnson
(from Socks from the Toe Up)
Needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm
Yarn: Knit it Up! Silky
Colorway: Sunflower
Mods: Well, funny you should ask about that, because clearly my socks look nothing like the picture in the books....
SEE:
Wendy's Socks (pink) vs My Socks (yellow)

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN????

Well, back in January the Yarn Harlot had a post about her self imposed sock club, where she talked about the error she had made in her January socks by not reading... She says something about how we do a thing a certain amount of times and then we quit paying attention and we don't READ the instructions. Well, that is exactly what I did! I decided that once I read "start the lace pattern from the chart," that I no longer needed to read instructions. THEN after one repeat of the lace pattern, I found it so intuitive that I closed the book and didn't open it until last week to double check the gusset & heel directions. At that point, I looked at the photos in the book, though "huh, mine looks different" and forged ahead. I was in pain and on meds from my wisdom tooth extraction so I couldn't be bothered to investigate. The next day Veronica came over and I showed her. She looked at the book pointed at the instructions where they CLEARLY state "Row 9: knit 6 ... then the lace pattern from the chart..." (I paraphrased) rather than the previous instructions of KNIT 1 then the lace chart. That would have staggered the "butterflies" and my socks would then have matched the book socks. Oh, well. I'll call it a "modification." They look nice the way they are.

My original plans for photoing these socks were going to involve black tights and a fuchsia background like The Cocoon, but then it was such a nice spring day (well, spring for me, other places would probably cal it a hot summer day. :P) and I am in a good mood because I've eaten my first solid foods in over a week, and I've moved and I have a pretty pool and I wanted to show off a bit. :D Can you blame me? I mean really, it is BEAUTIFUL out! BEAUTIFUL! So I went outside with the socks and the camera and Rocky followed me watched me for about 30 seconds, got bored with me and he rolled around in the grass. I think I need to video him rolling in the grass. It's got to be one of the cutest things EVER.

AND now I can knit a second pair of the same pattern correctly, and they'll actually look totally different! I mean Dr. Mrs. the Monarch need sock too right?

I mean, it's not like I've already decided on how to proceed with that... Not at all, I don't have a yarn picked out or anything.

In Love

2010-04-08T08:04:00.001-07:00

Have you ever seen ANYTHING so pretty?

And it's so soft and beautiful and I'm in love... I did have 4 skeins but I shared and handed one over to Ronni. She's currently knitting the most beautiful, most soft socks ever... (AND doing it two-at-a-time).

**sigh**

Today is the surgery day. I'll be out and down for a bit. Hopefully a SHORT bit.

Cheers

The Ronni & Lucy Sock Club

2010-04-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Every year I see a lot of people post about their "self-imposed sock clubs" using stash yarns and patterns they haven't gotten around to knitting. It's a great idea, in theory, you have a sock club that costs nothing and you use up you stash yarn. For me, it didn't work. I tried to randomize the hell out of that thing and it still didn't work, like AT ALL. I ended up with abandoned projects, frogged projects, and never bothered with projects.

So I had this even better idea.That I'd pick a yarn and pattern for Ronni and she'd do one for me each month and we'd use that as our sock club. That didn't work so much either. Because we're both too much of "at this very moment I want..." people. So I sat and I though about how to make this work and decided we needed to do it as a trade each month. I'll give her a skein from my stash, a pattern, and $10 worth of extras to match the theme, and she'll give me the a skein form her stash, a pattern, and $10 worth of extras. So we have a swap club that costs us next to nothing and is super fun!

Why will this work better than the previous attempts? Firstly, it's not "my" yarn, so it's brand new and exciting. Secondly, because it's not "my" yarn it's a complete surprise. I have no idea what will inspire her "kit" to me, and she has no idea what will inspire mine to hers. The only hints we'll have are to stare at each others stashes and speculate. Thirdly, we're both awesome and we will have a marriage of yarn and pattern that is new and themed and just awesome. Fourthly, in case thirdly didn't cover this, we're awesome, the idea is awesome and awesome is my word of the day. :D

So we were going to start in May, BUT we got too excited and ahead of ourselves. The first "swap" will take place 2 weeks from today. I've got mine for her planned, pretty much to completion (no details to be told here, it needs to be a surprise!). Every following "swap" will also occur on the third Tuesday of each month.

I'm treating this like a true sock club. I'll have a special binder for all the "sock club" patterns she gives me. Ronni said she's making us special project bags for these sock projects... It'll be awesome. (HA! I used it again!)

We just need to name our club... I'm leaning toward calling it "AWESOME!" and leaving it at that. BUT tomorrow is another day, and I'm sure by then I'll have a new favorite descriptor.

The silver lining of my sick week... YARN

2010-03-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

So I had a rough week that consisted of having a fever and a head cold from hell. My entire office took turns being out for the most part. I did get a new nefarious yarn (Hillside Stranglers) in the mail this week and that cheered me considerably. :)

I'm supposed to be packing for next weeks move and I've not been doing a very job of helping or staying on task, so I don't want to waste MORE time blogging, but I do have some mosaics of my current WIPs... and recent stashes for you viewing pleasure.

I started my clapotis. I love it so far. It's a very easy project, now that I've gotten the hang of alternating with two skeins.

Here are the WIPs:
(heavily featuring my new clapotis because I am in love with it)

Here are my pretties:

X-Posting to "Dobby is my Hero" since there's a new term starting... Go Hufflepuff!

End of March goals

2010-03-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

So I'm forgoing two weeks right now and instead giving myself 2 1/2 weeks and until the end of March to finish/start/accomplish the following:

Percy shawl - I've got beads and hooks and no more excuses
The second Cascadia sock (or at least most of the sock completed)
Through the gusset and heel of Monarch socks
Through the stockinette portion of VD Awareness .... (It's a travelling woman shawl in my cosmic fibers gout of the dick... he he he he)

So we'll see if I can accomplish those. It's a bigger list than usual.

I *DID* finish the first of Ronni's socks in time. I've not photoed the sock yet though ... It is very very pretty though. ;)

My Week in Knitting, and Morning of Photos

2010-03-13T10:59:00.000-08:00

The "2 weeks" plan has moved along swimmingly with only very minor setbacks. I'll tackle the 2 weeks plan 1 project at a time though.

For this current two weeks (which ends tomorrow night) I had "challenged" myself to two projects:

Finish the first of Ronni's BFF socks
Finish Percy

The first of the goals will be met with ease. I have no pictures of the new sock progress, because honestly it looks the same as the LAST picture except that the sock is just a bit longer in the leg. Not even kidding. LOL Ronni prefers shorter socks so I'll be binding off the first one soon and moving on.

Now for Percy (or as I call him Ozymandias), I WILL NOT finish. I have been knitting on the shawl that doesn't end, and I've even renewed my interest in the shawl! Here's how I managed to be re-inspired where Ozymandias was concerned.

Firstly, I am sort of thrilled with the idea of actually finishing and so that made me a little giddy and more inspired in my knitting of it.

Secondly, I have decided to add BEADS to the shawl instead of doing nupps. I am SUPER excited about my first beaded project. At first, I had decided that I'd use my silver beads that I already had, but it turned out that they were too small and I felt that the silver beads coupled with the silver in the yarn was too much silver. Plus, since I consider Ozymandias to be a villian (I love Watchmen.) and the yarn being inspired by Sweeney Todd, I wanted a more nefarious feel to the beads. I got this great idea that I should find black or dark blue beads that had the aurora finish so that they'd look sort of like oil or gasoline shimmering on asphalt. AND after searching I found the perfect beads and they arrived in the mail yesterday! ... The reason that I'm not finishing and that there is a itsch in this plan is that my crochet hook is apparently is too large even with the correct size of beads. :( SO I am waiting for Ronni to come home because she may have one. If she doesn't I'll have to go buy one. ... I have amended this section of the 2 week goal to be: KNIT ALL ROWS PRIOR TO THE FIRST ROW REQUIRING BEADS. I'm confident that I'll get there.

Here are some WIP pictures and some pictures with the beads. I'm not sure that the exact color and sheen of the beads is captured in the pictures, but it's as close as I could get.

Here is Ozymandias sans beads

And with beads

In Case We've Forgotten
PATTERN: Percy Shawl by Sanne Kalkman
PATTERN SOURCE: On-line, via Ravelry
YARN: Cosmic Fibers Ara Stellar in Sweeney Todd
NEEDLES: US 7 / 4.5 mm
SIZE: As written, with 1 A, 2 B, and 1 C repeat
MODS: Adding beads instead of Nupps

And for fun... Here's a shot of all of my new beads. I have some fun projects in mind for these.

In addition to work on my "2 weeks goal" projects I started work on a NEW project. This is a project I've been planning on FOREVER and finally ad a bad enough day where I decided to go ahead, cast on and bring myself joy in the form of Venture Brother villain themed yellow socks. ... That's right the MIGHTY MONARCH socks are finally on the needles, going two at a time successfully and they bring me such joy when I knit on them.

I feel as though I'll need either Fuschia or black tights to wear underneath the socks when they are done. Tight wearing probably last for the entirty of a FINSIHED SOCKS YAY! photo shoot and that's it, but you know, it'll look awesome. ;)

PATTERN: Butterfly Socks by Wendy Johnson
PATTERN SOURCE: Socks from the Toe Up
YARN: Knit it Up Silky in Sunflower
NEEDLES: US 1 / 2.25 mm
SIZE: Medium

(there's no small, hence the smaller than usual needles)

In other news I had a lot of FUN mail. Really! I got my new beads, my Sundara Napa Valley collection, yarnissma kits, and a loopy ewe order. Here are some pictures (minus the beads, since they were already shown that should make you a little green with envy. ;)

Sundara Napa Valley Collection
From Left to Right:
Grape Vine, Turning Leaves, Cabernet Grape, Aged Oak Barrel

(I'm so in love with all these colors, but given my recent GREEN loving mood, Grape Vine is my favorite)

Yarnissima Kits

I bought 4 in total; 2 for me and 2 for Ronni.
My two are Zur Lederhos'n and I ordered 1 kit with the Handu Flaming Sideburns and the Empoisonnée pattern. For Ronni I ordered Spina Di Pesce (which she's lucky I didn't open at the house, I'd have stolen it. LOVE that BLUE) and her own Zur Lederhos'n.

I love the kits! I love the presentation of them, the color coding, the little extras, the way it's packaged. SERIOUSLY I LOVE EVERYTHING about these kits. I now want ALL the kits, so I'll be working towards that.

My Loopy Ewe Package

I'm not going to say what teh pretties are. Just show them off. ;)

Also since I was being quite the shutterbug this morning I decided to photo my Sundara and Wollmeise "rainbows" since I've gotten a few new skeins today. They're very pretty.

Wollmeise

Sundara

The new "2 Weeks" Plan

2010-03-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

Alright... Ravelympics has came and went. I did rather well, but didn't accomplish nearly as much as I wanted to because of an illness and the usual time suck which is my job. I did manage to finish Mauricio's socks though. He even wore them to work that Monday and showed them off. =D I'll post more about those later though. No need to distract myself from my topic.

Ravelympics did however make me realize that I tend to work better on a deadline. These deadlines also make me FINISH things rather than continuously cast on projets only to frog them a year later. So I am instituting my own "2 Week Goals." Every two weeks I'll have a certain amount of knitting that I want to accomplish and I'll go for it. I'm hoping this will tame the cast-on-itis and the amount of WIPs that pile up, but we'll see. ;)

For this current period of two weeks (from Monday March 1 to Sunday March 14) I plan to finish Percy (freaking finally!) and the first of Ronni's BFF socks. I hope in the future sets of my 2 week plans to accomplish more than 1 1/2 WIPs, but I have a big project in progress for work that is sucking up this weeks time and the need to FOCUS on that stupid Percy shawl and get it done.

I'll have a status update this weekend into the Percy knitting to keep myself on task.

Ravelympics 2010 ... More Medals for ME!

2010-02-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

Project updates from Sunday night and Monday morning.

First, I have another Aerial Unwind: Hatmione the III

And 2nd, I made myself a hat just in time for the 70 degree Farenheit weather! Whoo! This wonderful little hat, did medal in THREE events though.

Okay, I'm tired, and I feel a bit under the weather so I'm off to eat a small dinner, shower, maybe knit some and go to bed. I'm beginning to worry that I maybe put to much on my plate for Ravelympics...

For the stuff that I have actually worked on, but not finished I have the following updates:

The Darth Vader Socks - I managed to finish a full pattern repeat last night; from my memory I couldn't tell you how much closer that puts me to the heel or a finishing deadline.
Percy Shawl - I have about 50 rows until I'm finished! YAY! Probably won't be working on this tonight. But I'm confident that I'll finish it at least. I think it won't look as pretty as it should, but it'll be finished.
Cascadia - I need to do the cuff on my first sock. While that is extremely exciting to be nearly finished that quickly I've stalled because I just want a ribbed cuff, not the pattern's cuff and I want to make the ribbing sort or flow into the pattern... So I've stalled until I figure that out. Maybe tonight??

Ravelympics 2010 Progress

2010-02-14T13:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've only finished two events. They were aerial unwinds though, so not the hardest of my projects. I've got one sock from one pair (one Cascadia sock, that is) I planned nearly finished, and I'm going to tackle Percy and try to finish it today. That's all I've got for updates right now, but I'll have more later this week I'm sure. Go team S.P.E.W.!!!

IN PROGRESS EVENTS:

Sock Hockey:

From the RSC 2010 January shipment

Pattern: Cascadia by Sivia Harding

Yarn: BMFA STR lightweight - Happy Go Lucky

Needles: Size 2.5mm / US 1.5

Size: Small

New Projects!

2010-02-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

So, I had this great plan that I would blog more and set my goal at a measly once a week. Did you see that awesome blog post last week? Yea, me neither. I totally missed it. (I post that in some form the beginning of every week, and probably will continue until I actually start posting more.)

Anyways, I'm trying to blog more, so I'm writing this quick and probably pointless little blurp to say that I have been knitting, albeit very little because I've not been home at all and had a horrible week of work last week. (Really it was horrible... Everything broke; I had an employee refusing to listen; So many messes and I was drowning in them.) So very little progress has been made. However, I did finish my herbivore shawl, and it's beautiful. :)

Stegosaurus Rex
PATTERN: Herbivore by Stephen West
YARN: Malabrigo Sock
COLORWAY: Persia
NEEDLES: US 6

I loved this pattern, and this yarn. The marriage of them together is now one of my favorite shawl/scarves/etc. I've won it two or three times in the week (?) it's been finished. So pretty! I really want to buy more Mal Sock in Persia, also. I feel like that color was MADE for me. MUST have more. Anyhow, I plan on knitting this pattern again in the not so distant future, just you know, with a different yarn or color. ;)

I've recently been bothered by cast-on-itis. I've got multiple projects ready to go. The yarn is balled... I'm "patiently" waiting for ravelympics... When I'll cast on everything, finish nothing, and completely forget my WIPs. ... So, I'm making a list now to hopefully help me actually finish some things and prioritize. The list is mainly for me to try and wrap my head around my own goals.

Things I'd like to finish during Ravelympics:
(Note a '0' as a number means I'm undecided on it for the Ravelympics but the ambitious person in me that apparently thinks I don't sleep says "DO THEM ALL")

WIP0: Ronni's Socks (BFFs in Ronni's Jewel Box) - don't qualify for ravelympics, but I'm adding them anyways
WIP1: Mauricio's Socks (Boyfriend Socks in Darth Vader) - 1 sock done, 2nd sock 2/3 of the way to the heel
WIP2: Percy Shawl in Sweeny Todd - I've done two rows of the second 'B' repeat ... really almost done
New Project 0a: Cascadia Socks in Happy Go Lucky - my first RSC project
New Project 0b: Afternoon Delight (knee highs) in Wollmeise 100% Sonne w/ gold beads - I'm a little scared of this one actually. I keep waivering on whether or not I'll do it. I WANT to do this b/c I made a personal knitting goal this year to try new techniques and the beads are definitely new.
New Project 0c: Matter & Void (fingering wt Clapotis) in FFTC Alice - Stalling b/c I'll need to alternate 2 skeins every few rows and I'm just not wanting to and being lazy. Seriously the balls are wound and my needle is sitting with them and stitch markers!
New Project 1: Butterfly Socks in Knit it Up! Silky, Sunflower - for the Monarch
New Project 2: An Unoriginal Hat for myslelf - I've given nearly all my hats away.. This one is black/pink and white so it'd "match" my clapotis if I'd just do it
New Project 3: Traveling Woman Shawl in Gout of the Dick - I'm so in love with the matching of this project that it has killed me to wait

Other projects I'm looking forward to:
A lot of which I've got yarns picked out for because, well that's how I do things. And I've got enough yarn to knit nearly any one skein project I can think of. That won't stop me from buying more though. ;)

Action Junkie Socks (Poppy by Cookie A. in my HH Holmes Yarn)
Ro-Boy Socks (Pyroclastic in Knit it Up! SeaWool)
A 2nd Ishbel in one of my Ella Rae Lace yarns
Socks for Aynsley (I'm thinking Trilobite)
Sleepy Hallow socks, Yarn Harlot sold me on these with her post last week... I'm itching to knit these socks
Felted Tessellating Fish Mat
Baudelaire by Cookie A
Maelstrom by Cookie A (in DIC Starry, Midnight Derby)

I apologize for bad project and yarn referencing/linking. I'm at work, and not nearly as knitting efficient here. I've got the accounts payable and all the personnel files in PERFECT order though.

Excellent ...

2010-01-31T00:10:00.000-08:00

I did have this fabulous plan of how I was going to blog more and how that was going to show off my knitting that I had been accomplishing and how I ha gotten so much done... and well, that worked out not so well. Not well at all. I haven't finished anything. I haven't even accomplished much, really. Seriously.

Here's how the week pretty much went: I knit pretty furiously and exclusively on herbivore (Which I decided to title segosaurus rex... get it? they were herbivore dinos... ROFL) for Sunday and Monday... THEN tuesday I was sick... REALLY sick. Then Wednesday Mauricio was kind of sick, and he was home from work and I knit much less when he's home with me at night. Thursday I spent out with Mauricio's mother ... Then Friday I was so tired from a week of diseases and being out and the nerves and drama involved in the planned termination of an employee for Friday morning that I pretty much was useless at night. Today I ran errands and went to Maddy's birthday party. :D

Anyways, I'm REALLY hoping to finish up my herbivore tomorrow and have an FO. Then I'll go back to socks... Boy, do I need to use this ever growing sock yarn stash. Mauricio just now realized that the majority of my yarn was sock yarn... All I could say was, "Yea, but I don't have to use ALL of it for just socks, I could make more stuff" ...

To close this out here's a picture (I hate blogging without a picture) of my newest yarn. It's the benefit of being some of the only people in town that a 6 year old knows, we get party favors. AND I got Eleanor Rigby Sock yarn. It's pretty and Beatles named and MCN. I love it! :D

Please Don't Leave Me Blog

2010-01-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog,

I am very sorry that I have neglected to write you in what feels like ages. I've been a bit busy, and a bit crazy, and a bit obsessed with other things on the internet. I know this is sort of beginning to sound like a "Dear John" letter, but trust me it s not. ;)

There have been a few rather serious things complicating my writing. I've not had any amazed finished object or awesome knitting to proudly show off. I've gotten new yarns (A LOT of new yarns, in fact) but those pictures go straight to ravelry's stash page. In addition to that I've just not been on the computer at all when I get home form work.

Blog, I am deeply sorry. I know what neglect can do to an entity. I never meant to hurt you in that way.

Love,

Lucy

P.S. In closing, I leave you with this photo of 6 skeins of Wollmeise (I told you I've been stashing) to show you my love. <3

--------------------

In all seriousness. I've not been on the computer much. I'm starting to get ready for some ravelympics so I've got 2 current WIPs on hold until that starts (Mauricio's socks and Percy). And I'm planning on some sock hockey knitting. I will have my new "MIGHTY MONARCH" socks when that happens.

I do have 2 NEW (and EXCITING!) projects: the BFF socks for my BFF Ronni in Ronni's Jewel Box. (She's making some for me in Lucy in the Sky. Why, yes, we are that awesome, try not to die from the jealousy that you're BFF isn't as AWESOME as my BFF.)

The 2nd project, which mostly just further showcases the awesomenes of Ronni some more is a ''Herbivore.' I had a really bad day and she gifted me the pattern. :D I'm doing that one in Mal Sock in Persia.

Sole Food Swap Q&A

2009-12-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

What weight of sock yarn do you generally prefer (fingering, sport, or DK?) Fingering

What is your favorite type of yarn to knit with? For socks, superwash (or not) merino mostly. Most animal fibers.

Are there any brands of sock yarn that you have wanted to work with but have not had the chance? Sure! I want to knit all the sockyarns!!! LOL

What colors do you like? Bright and bold and dark colors, of all sorts. Current favorites are charcoal grey, turquoise, kelly green, and wine colored red/purples

What colors do you not like? any of the muted or "fall" colors like olive green or mustard. I also don't like pastels

What type of recipes do you usually cook with? Mexican food, Quick recipes, Recipes with Potatoes ... I like things that are easier and make good leftovers

What type of recipes do you usually bake with? I'm not actually a big baker... My boyfriend will bake though.. LOL I do meals, he handles dessert

What is your favorite food? Chicken Enchiladas, Papa Rellena, Tortilla Soup, Guacamole

Are you a tea or coffee drinker? Yes to both! Coffees I like are the stronger, bolder, latin american ones and teas I usually drink at night so the more soothing ones.

What type of sweets do you like? Chocolates, Salt water taffy

Does your kitchen have a theme? No, not really. It's mostly all stainless steel and blues/greens/tans. Although I keep all of the large cooking spoons and other utensils in a Spiderman bucket, so I'm open to a lot of things.

Do you have any allergies (to food, fibers, pets, etc) or diet restrictions? Foods: melons make my throat swell up, and I loathe bananas & coconut so I'll claim allergy to avoid having them appear on something to eat. All other allergies I have are to pollens and grasses so don't send those. ;)

Is there anything else you would like your pal to know? Umm... not that I can thing of.... I don't eat pork. Or cook with pork, or any of that. That's the only thing I didn't have before.

Thankful

2009-11-28T19:49:00.000-08:00

I have been buried at work. Literally buried. I come home after, knit for a bit and tend to fall asleep on the couch until Mauricio comes home. Then I'll wake up and go to bed. LOL Hopefully it will start slowing down now. =D The good news is that hard work pays off. I was granted a raise of $2 more and hour before the holiday. w00t! Celebrating was done.

During this time of working too much I didn't do any posting. I was too tired to form words. :( But I can manage to do some word forming now, thanks to a 4 day weekend. YAY!

In my knitting newsI have finished my black heart socks. II've had to fix a few snags already, but I love those socks more than anything. I wore them for Thanksgiving. =D They're really very perfect. Veronica and I have a list of Venture Brother themed sock ideas that we'll be using now.

Black Hearts Socks

Pattern: True Love Socks by Thayer Preece

Yarn: Sundara Sock - Black over Violet (Limited Edition color)

Needles: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm

I am a true toe-up convert now. I don't even want to look at top down socks. These ones took me 18 days to finish! =D I was really excited to discover how much faster I can finish a pair toe-up vs. top down.

I've picked my Percy Shawl back up and gotten it through the first repeat of the B chart. I don't know if I'll get it done anytime soon, but it's nice to have reached a certain point. I have the second round of chart B, then chart C and then bind off. Listing it out makes it seem so much easier than the actual knitting of those charts. LOL I have this nightmare where I'll finish it block it, and either it's going to unravel or completely just look WRONG. (PLEASE PLEASE DON'T HAPPEN.)

I have finally started on Mauricio's socks. My goal is to finish by Christmas Eve. He won't be her for Christmas so if they're done by Christmas Eve he can wear them while visiting his

parents on Christmas. =D Well, that's sort of the plan. It also give me a deadline so that I don't pick up a different yarn and start myself a new pair of socks. ;D

The Empire Strikes First

Pattern: Boyfriend Socks by Alice Bell

Yarn: Cosmic Fibers Andromeda - Darth Vader (nefarious club)

Needles: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm

I'm doing the size medium from the pattern. I've tried it on his foot and it fits perfectly. (HOORAY, no frogging and restarting!)

And yes, we do have an entire bookshelf dedicated to graphic novels. We also think it's worth it to spend the big bucks on the special edition fancy graphic novels. ;) Although we also have an entire shelf of Harry Potter books with some fancy special edition books too. =D

A knit update :D

2009-11-08T22:56:00.000-08:00

It seems I haven't had one in a while... Or I have, but I was SUPER successful with knitting time this weekend since I'm now on crutches and sick of limping around with them, so I stayed home all weekend. I have Veteran's Day on Wednesday to do the same thing. Work has thrown a monkey wrench in my weekend knitting though by deciding to have stupid company cocktail party. :P

I've finished Elanor's knitted items. FINISHED... Knit, Wove in ends, Blocked ... DONE! I really like them too. As does everyone who has seen them either finished or in progress. :D Hopefully Elanor will too! Now, I just need to assemble the rest of the kit and get the EXTRAS all in order. :D

I've picked Percy back up. I managed to get 5 rows done yesterday night before I got too tired. LOL If I stick to my planned "schedule" I should be able to get the majority of my Christmas gifts and Percy, and my new socks done by December. YAY!

Pictures of my newest socks, the Black Hearts. Perfect for any member of the Molotov's murderous girl group. :D I maybe watch this cartoon WAY too much, but I do love Molotov. And the Black Hearts. So what better way to use my new almost black Sundara. :D

Look What I can Do!

2009-10-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

TOE UP SOCKS!!!!

My Lucy socks are done... Lucy yarn, Lucy pattern... for me!

These are the quickest socks that I have ever knit! I did the second sock in a total of 2 days and a few hours for the cuff and bind off! Really I am so excited by these. I wore them to work today... No one coud see them b/c they were in my shoes but it made me damn giddy all day knowing they were on my feet. :D I think I'm a toe-up convert now.. I don't even want to lookat a top-down sock pattern anymore.

My Toe Up Adventure

2009-10-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

I have started on my second shawl, "Percy." It was part of a KAL with some fellow HSKSers. I'm using my Sweeney Todd yarn from the Nefarious club. The project got named "Ozymandias, King of Kings" from Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias. It's really VERY VERY pretty so far. The charts are in tiny print and one is patterned on both the RS and the WS so I'm moving a lot slower through that chart than I normally would, but I have really flew through most of it and, I think, that it's looking beautiful. In addition to starting another shawl, (I am now a lace and shawl addict!) I decided to attempt my first pair of toe up socks, encouraged by Ronni. This is my progress since Monday night. I am pretty thrilled with the socks. And I was surprisingly shocked at how amazingly easy toe-up is! WOW! Thankfully Ronni was able to give me some tips and links to help me get started. Where would I be with out my best friend? (((Awwwwww....)))

Yarn balled, Pattern Printed

Cast-on and the first few rows

Progressing up the foot

Pattern: Sprucey Lucy by Wendy Johnson
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR
Colorway: Lucy
I named them "Pork and Beans" after one of my favorite Weezer songs... I promise if you read or just know the lyrics you'll see why. Also the song has been stuck in my head ALL WEEK. ;)

Dry Ishbel Pictures, Titania Progress, and What's Next

2009-09-13T19:20:00.001-07:00

Here is my finished, dry and blocked Ishbel... It's beautiful and I LOVE it!!! :D I am still not over the EVIL EVIL pins but I like my finished result. And I have ordered wires and better pins for my blocking future.

Here are the pictures of my Titania's Revenge progress. In the pictures they are about 3 1/2 repeats of the leg pattern done. I've now finished 4. The flash on the camera really caught all of the colors really well. When there isn't direct light the yarn looks like a tonal dark maroon/purple. The colors are really beautiful though. :)

Up next (now that I'm lace and shawl obsessed) is Percy. I'm going to use some Malabrigo lace in indigo that I just ordered from the Loopy Ewe this weekend. It'll be a KAL with Ronni and Sarah. :) I'm excited to get started. That'll be my first lace project with lace weight yarn. My first lace weight yarn at all!

Finished Ishbel!!!

2009-09-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

Right now it's blocking... And I'm buying wires on payday. Because pins are evil... They are evil time consuming tedious evil little bastards. I'm happy for my shawl though!!! :)

BTW: This was a 16 day project from start to finish, I amaze myself sometimes. I've never knit so fast ever.

Ishbel progress Day 1

2009-08-23T21:30:00.001-07:00

I've got 123 stitches on the needle and no mistakes. :) I SHOULD finish the stockinette portion this week. It's very pretty so far. Plus this yarn is so soft and so pretty. I need my new addi turbos to get here soon though because I'm pretty much at the end of space on my 16" circular... They should be here tuesday. If not I've got some scarves (actually 1 scarf, and my own starter that I'm re-starting) from scarf travels to work on.

It's a Miracle!!!!

2009-08-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

I finished a scarf in less than 2 months! That's a record for me. Usually I get bored and the project gets too redundant and I quit. I actually probably knit most of this in about a months time, but there were about 3 weeks after I came back from vacation that I never touched it because I was either tired or busy or sick or wallowing in my own misery because I hated my job so much. (Have I mentioned that I quit, and got a new job and I'm THRILLED!) .... Moving On ... Rosalie Bay is completed! I LOVE this scarf! It's so soft and so pretty and really very beautiful in person. I love the colors. I love the yarn. It's just beautiful.

The next project that I'm going to attempt is my very own Ishbel. I'm going to cast-on tomorrow because this is my first time doing a shawl and I'm too tired to attemt it at the moment. Plus, all of my late night cast ons are generally disasters. So I'll wait until I'm refreshed tomorrow. LOL I'm using my Cosmic Fiber Aquila in Other Mother from the nefarious club. The plan is to do the stockinette portion for the small shawl and the lace portion for the large shawl and get sort of a medium size. Ronni is going to KAL with me. She'll probably kick my @$ at it, but it's not a contest. I'm hoping to be able to use her to help me. ;) I've ordered some new Addi Lace needles that shoud be here soon, but I'm impatient so I'm starting on a 16" circular. I already added all the details to ravelry because I'm THAT excited and ready to go. (This also motivated me to finish the scarf much quicker.)

Crazy Times

2009-08-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances involving work, family, Mauricio, Rocky and internet usage I've not been able to blog much.

In the area concerning my knitting, I've not got much to show, or talk about for that matter. The only thing I've really worked on is my Rosalie Bay. It's coming along rather well. I'm in love with it. :) It's pretty mindless so I can work on it while I watch tv or am talking to someone or am so tired I can't really concentrate much.

I had to re-cast-on Titania. She was going to end up much much too small if I kept on the way that I was. I've not gotten past the ribbing yet on the new sock, but hopefully this on will fit.

For scarf travels (which is what I've been spending most of what free time I've had for knitting to work on) I've done 3 sections for each group, since I've last updated with any photos. I've also completed the entire round of sending and receiving for group 5. YAY!

Here are pictures of my newest knitted sections:

(Ones for group 3 are in the top row, ones for group 5 are in the bottom row0

For more information on whose is whose or patterns see: Group 3 Spoiler Photos and Group 5 Spoiler Photos

This is a mosaic of my scarf that has come back to me and all of the individual sections of it:

(For more see Scarf Travels - Group 5)

Here is a mosaic of all (minus on I didn't snap a picture of) the sections of scarves that I knit for group 5. (For more information see Group 5 Spoiler Photos)

I've also gotten some (more) new sock yarns. Claudine (black/teal/green/purple) and Pam (pinks) came for the August shipment of the VSC. I also bought some new handdyed yarn at Knit Las Vegas when I went there with Aynsley. I love how bright that one is! :) I need to get to the sock knitting!

In HSKS8 news:
Last week I received an awesome WWW! It really made me laugh, which was greatly appreciated in a stressful time. :) Thanks! Cassie C. :)
(See below, you can click on it to get a better look)
The day that it arrived in the mail Luke happened to be over. Mauricio came home and brought the mail with him and said, "Who's Fluer Sweeting?" And when I answered, "Me. That's my Harry Potter name." Both he and my brother cracked up. Apparently it's that funny. :) LOL I put on my new curse free ring on a certain finger and showed it to them both. ;)

(I almost think I'd rather have the diamond and 100 years of sleep, especially if I don't have to age in that sleep... and Maybe I'll just make Rocky sleep too, that way when i wake up I won't be lonely. LOL)

That's it for now. I should be blogging more regularly with any luck.

5 skeins of yarn in my mail today! 5!!!!

2009-07-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

Seriously! I ad 5 skeins of sock yarn in my teeny tiny mailbox... I've been skipping around ever since. :)

First we have my cosmic fibers shipment. (They came together.) I had received roving for my nefarious shipment and decided I wanted the yarn too. :) So I now have the beautiful Alpaca/Silk other mother sock yarn. The other 3 were my "BuffyVerse" yarns. Buffy was my FAVORITE tv show when I was younger. And Angel was my first love... (not really, maybe) So I ordered Buffy on cashmere sock, Angel on silver silk sock and Fred on merino/tencel.

The 5th skein of yarn was the 2nd half of my birthday gift from Ronni. It's Woolen Mill St yarn by Christina Marie Potter in the Zoe colorway. Another yarn based on a Whedon fandom. LOL It's so so soft and so pretty. My other present was the super cute turtle sock blockers in the picture. ;) I have the best best friend in the whole world.

While I was in my giddy sock yarn picture taking bliss, I also snapped a couple of photos of my 2 most recent WIPs. My Montego Bay in my Rosalie yarn from the VSC... I've called it Rosalie Bay on Ravelry. Coincidently enough, there is an actual Rosalie Bay in the Carribean. The other is my titania socks, which I've named "She's a Knockout" after a Social D song. (For those who didn't know or notice, I name all my socks after songs.)

I finished my Monkeys... (and finally uploaded other photos)

2009-06-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

I finished my Monkeys!I love them. They aren't perfect, but they are mine and I love them. :)

Feed the Monkey, Drown the Worm
PATTERN: Monkey
NEEDLES: US 2 / 2.75 mm
YARN: Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel Sock (Jungle)

And for some old-ish scarf travels updates: These are my most recent finished sections. :)

GROUP 5
For ladydinc’s scarf
PATTERN: Scrunchable Scarf
NEEDLES: US 9/5.5 mm
YARN: Malabrigo Merino - emerald blue

GROUP 3
For knitwitty26’s scarf
PATTERN: Feather and Fan scarf (with mods)
YARN: Cascade 220 - 9476 (butter)
NEEDLES: Size US 8 / 5.0 mm

Project Updates and New Yarns (with Pictures!)

2009-05-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

First of all we'll start with my projects and the very little progress that I have made on them... ;) Moving takes a lot of time so... yea, not much knitting has gotten done.

SCARF TRAVELS!

Here is a picture of my latest knitted section on the latest scarf that I had for group 5. I should say here's a a small picture of the section that I have knitted. Twin256 has a vertically knit scarf. it's turning out to be very beautiful.

For twin256’s scarf
PATTERN: lace pattern of my own,
only added 4 rows since the scarf is knit the long way.
NEEDLES: whatever was provided
YARN: Lion Brand Wool Ease - Peacock

Right now I am working on knitwitty26's yellow scarf. Since yellow doesn't rank in my top 10 favorite colors, I'm really happy that I had some buttery yellow Cascade 220 to use for this scarf. I will have that section in the mail on Friday so I'll get a picture up sometime near the end of this week. :)

I have finished my first Monkey!

I am so excited for these socks to be finished. I took pictures this morning and have done 2+ repeats since. I also frequently walk around with only one sock on just because it's so so so pretty. Even my mom said it was pretty, and she rarely compliments my knitting. She would rather I cross stitch or make hook rugs so that she could use them to decorate. Mostly she gives me a hard time, but she really liked my sock(s). :)

Feed the Monkey, Drown the Worm

RIP glynis
She's gone to the frog pond. :(

They weren't done for the KAL. That is actually as far as I ever got... Between Mom's birthday and moving and officiating and work and the millions of other things going on I never got very far. I am a little glad that I didn't though because they were too tight and too small for even my tiny feet... *SIGH*

The next sock project that I'm casting on for June is going to be Titania's Revenge with my diva yarn. I am insanely excited about this. I've been wanting to do these socks with this yarn for forever. I'll be casting on by tomorrow, and have more progress pictures at the end of the week. :) I should hopefully get these done this month. I signed up with them as a June project for the BSG group that I joined, I'm also doing the "June Jumble" with the cookie-a-long group, and kind of KAL-ing with Ronni... So those are a TON of motivational factors.

Also for the previoulsy mentioned BSG group I'd like to submit a lacy stole/scarf project for the Raider training (I signed up as a cylon, naturally). I'm torn between two of these at the moment and I really need to make up my damn mind. Which, is practically impossible on a good day, but there you go....

I either want to do the Three Sisters Scarves # Two with my seasilk that Ronni gave me or the Red Skies at Night scarf with my newly obtained volturi yarn. (I made screen shots for pictures for the visual aids.)

I really REALLY REALLY like both projects. The biggest pros for the seasilk scarf are that it's a pattern designed for 1 skein of EXACT yarn that I want to use. So I wouldn't have to worry about yardage or trouble in that area. Plus, I'd get to use my super super pretty soft seasilk... The pros for red skies are that I'd get to use some of my VSC yarn. I REALLY like this patteren, and I think that it would be beautiful with the volturi colorway. The problem with it is I will need to swatch and adjust the pattern to use all the yarn. The pattern as is only uses 200 yards of sock weight yarn, and I really have no use to have 240 yards left over. Plus I want the measurement to be both wider and longer. Either way it'll be a big undertaking and I'll have to make myself knit a certain amout every week so that I actually finish. I will probably ponder and mull this over for a couple more days and then make my decision. If anyone else wants to weigh in, I'd be more than happy for the opinions.

AND HERE ARE THE LATEST SHIPMENTS FOR MY YARN CLUBS!
(Which is my personal favorite part of the post.)

For this month's (May) nefarious:

Xenia Onatopp
on the Lyra (100% superwash merino) base
SWAG: wooden knitting needles from Russia, and a mini yarn skein (Also a piece of chocolate, but that was a melty gross mess that never got opened. What can I say it's 100 degrees outside here...)

The June VSC shipment...
Shipped out early because Jen is so awesome.
(Though this most likely means I have to wait over a month for my next shipment.)
I apologize for the ack of natural light in these pictures, the photos do the colors no justice at all. But the sun is down and I didn't want to wait until tomorrow.

This month I have Volturi and Jasper Hale on Silk Sock base.
(Listed as pictured from Left to Right.)
The pattern this time was "Volturi Sock" pattern, I've not gotten a good look at it yet. The shipment went to my mom's house and I barely got home from there. I also got swag this month, a little stitch marker from "bananamigraine," a horror movie soap with Bella and Edward from the twilight movie poster (I just wonder what Mauricio will say if I leave that in the shower. hahaha), and a pen that says "I <3>

Scarf Travels updates

2009-05-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures of the last two scarf sections that I knitted and sent off. I'm going to need to get to work on the next rounds.. but I haven't brought ALL of my yarns to the new place yet...

"WEST" GROUP (Group Number5)

For Kaloula’s Scarf

PATTERN: Diagonal Knot Stitch Scarf

YARN: Berrocco Peruvia Colors (7229)

NEEDLES: Size 9 (US) - provided with scarf

INTERNATIONAL GROUP (Group Number 3)

For kimmikat’s scarf
PATTERN: Provided by Kimmikat
YARN: Malabrigo Merino (Cactus Flower)
NEEDLES: Size US 8 / 5.0 mm

Today I'm going to go pack up the rest of my stuff and clean out my old room. Then I can get to knitting more. I did some work on both my Glynis and my Monkey socks this week, but not much and not enough to post about... PLUS, I do not have my camera yet, or if I do I don't know where it is. LOL Moving is a real pain in the ass.

I'm Moved in

2009-05-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not totally settled yet, but I've moved almost everything in.

I've not gotten any knitting done. I'm planning on changing that now that I have actually moved in though. I'm going to work on and finish up my socks that are OTN.

I've also got some Scarf Travels pictures and updates to do. I updated my Ravelry page with the pictures under the "spoilers" project, but that's it for now.

Hopefully I'll get more posted and sorted out tonight.

I'm Moving

2009-05-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am moving. I am packing up all of my things and moving. I hate moving. I hate packing. I'm going to be without internet until Monday afternoon. I really am not wanting to move at all now that it's down to the part where I HAVE TO PACK....

Scarf Travels updates, WIP progress, and yarn pr0n

2009-05-09T09:50:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted about my scarf travels group in a while, so I'm going to do that first. Here's a picture of the latest on that I've added to and sent out. It's Tesso1's scarf for the "West" group. I used some of my Manos and the pattern was "the Prismatic Scarf." I REALLY like this pattern. I'm considering making a scarf using it and some malabrigo. I'm incredibly reluctant to though because I have sever finish-itis when it comes to scarves.

(All pattern links go to the ravelry page for that pattern.)

PATTERN: The Prismatic Scarf
NEEDLES: US 8 / 5.0 mm
YARN: Manos del Uruguay (Q or Calypso)

I've got the next round of scarves already. They both need to be sent off Friday May 15th so I'll be working on those. I already have yarn picked out for Kimmikat's it's just a matter of sitting down and doing the knitting. It'll go quick though. I think I've picked my yarn for the other one, but I'm looking for patterns to go with it still. I'll add pictures and update more when I have some progress.

I've been knitting on Cookie A socks like crazy. I've got monkeys and glyniss OTN. Monkeys are because I'd never done them and started them on my San Diego vacation, only to have to frog. And the Glynis are part of a KAL on Ravelry.

Here's my monkeys: (AKA "Feed the Monky, Drown the Worm")
I'm on the foot now, but this morning when I took the picture I was in the middle of the gusset. I really love the way these are turning out. They aren't perfect, but I think I love them more for that.

PATTERN: Monkey
NEEDLES: US 2 / 2.75 mm
YARN: Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel Sock (Jungle)

They were named after a song by the Falcon, "Feed the Monky, Drown the Worm (or Goin' Home)" I picked this song because it mentioned "Money, and the "drown the worm" made me think of tequila which is defnitely something drank on the vacation for which these socks were started.

Here's Glynis (AKA "Queen of Pain")
I've not progressed uch on these. I tried to work on them last night but I was too tired to not mess up and of the lace or keep track of what I was doing. More than likely, they won't be finished in May. But I'm trying. :)

PATTERN: Glynis
NEEDLES: US 2 / 2.75 mm
YARN: Cosmic Fibers Yarn Andromeda (CoS)

Named "Queen of Pain" after the Alakline Trio song. Why?? Because sssk's and k3tog's are not only PITAs they hurt my hands.

And for my favorite part of the post. :)

I got quite a bit of yarn this week in the mail... It was a good week. :) (Yarn-wise anyways)

The first portion being the first shipment of the VSC 2009 from Fresh from the Cauldron:

I got 2 "weres" (Despite it being a vamp club LOL)
Jacob Black & Sam Merlotte
I also got a lovely pattern for a cowl.
I'm not sure that I'd ever actually use a cowl, but the pattern is absolutely gorgeous.

Then I did some ebay browsing/bidding/shopping and won 7 new skeins of sock yarn. WHOOO!
I love ebay sometimes. LOL

I got 2 skeins of STR lightweight in "henpecked" and "rose quartz"

1 skein of STR seduction in Covelite

AND 2 skeins each of Araucania Ranco Solid in 115 (Periwinkle) and 106 (Denim)

A Very Picture Heavy Post!!!

2009-04-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

It was really nice outside this Sunday. And I was puppy-sitting. So I took the dogs outside and took some pictures.

These are pretty flowers. Technically they're desert weed flowers, but since I have a "black thumb" and would kill anything that I tried to grow, I appreciate what will grow on it's own. The orange ones are some of my favorites. :) When my Nana's garden is in full bloom in a couple of weeks I'll take pictures of it. It is gorgeous. :)

Here's the three boys playing outside.
(The pug is Rocky. The brown/grey lab is Bravo. The Black lab is Luke's dog Apollo, who should have been name Sirius.)

And here's what I have been up to lately with knitting:

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret in Berroco Peruvia Colors #7226
This was made for a swap package with a Freaks and Geeks theme. The package has been recieved so I feel safe posting the pictures now. This was fun to make, I think I might have to make myself one now. :)

The second section for my Scarf Travels group 5... Done with leftovers from the Beret.
It's the "holding hands feeding ducks" scarf pattern which is a star stitch.
I think it turned out really nice looking. :) I hope that Denise likes it too. :)

I'm working on the scarf section for group 3 still. I didn't get that one until right before my trip. I'm doing it in some red cascade 220. :)

This is what progress I've made on my Hedwig socks... Which I know isn't much, but this is my "in between projects project" and so it's going to move slowly. BUT they will get done eventually.

I'm also working on some Monkeys in my Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel in the jungle colorway, but there isn't much of those to justify a picture yet... There was at one point, but I had to frog and so now I've only got a little of the cuff.

And some old-ish updates and pictures. :)

From Easter:

Sara was over at my house for Easter dinner. I came back home from San Diego literally just in time for dinner. Sara is wearing one of the dresses that I bought her for her 7th birthday. :) After dinner Sara wanted to play with me and she decided to try on pretty much every single pai of shoes that I owned, minus some of the flip flops. I have over 50 pairs of shoes so that kept her entertained for quit some time. Then she wanted me to teach her how to knit. So I let her pick some yarn and worked with her for a little while. These are pictures of her with her WIP. LOL She's a goofball and I love her. :)

A story about my VERY VERY best friend...

My very best friend Veronica (known as Rowena Bladvak at Hogwarts) send me goodies with her husband when he came for his interview. Among these goodies were HandMaiden sea silk in a colorway that I love and have found impossible to find. She also bought me a Beatles project bag and DPN roll. I love the Beatles. I'm a little crazed about them. I have every single one of their songs on my iTunes. (I even have multiple versions of a lot of their songs.) There was more to the gifts to. Some mix cds, some pattern marker magnets (or whatever their called), and some oreos (a favorite treat of mine). I really love her. I seriously think that she may be the greatest person in the world. I have the greatest best friend in the entire world. (And I have HSKS swaps and Ravelry to thank for that.) I admire her for her strength and her survival skills. And when she's having a rough time it kills me not to be able to just give her a hug and make her feel better. :(

In other news: I also got my HSKS7 swap package today! :) It's awesome! (I'm linking to the blog I use for HSKS, because, I'm done with uploading pictures now. LOL)

Look at my new yarns!

2009-04-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's "Lucy in the Sky" and "Lucy"
(Do you see the theme there? :) LOL)

I'm headed to San Diego for the weekend! For some rain and rain and more rain. HA! It always rains on my vacations, I swear. I really hope that the weather forecast is wrong.

I'm taking some knitting with me and probably both of my traveling scarves. So this leg of the scarf travels group is extra travel-y for me. :) I'm supe excited to get going. Maybe I should pack... haha

Scarf Travels

2009-04-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

This is late since they were sent out already, but here are my first two knitted sections (each for a different group) for Scarf Travels. I think that they are both really pretty. And I seriously hope that they come back to me pretty when they're done traveling. :)

For Group 3 - International

(On it's way to Tennessee now)

PATTERN: Modern Mermaid Scarf

YARN: Malabrigo Merino in Emerald Blue

NEEDLES: US 6 (4.0 mm)

CO: 41 sts

Group 3 - West scarf

(On it's way to Colorado now)

PATTERN: Besotted Scarf

YARN: Malabrigo Merino in Cactus Flower

NEEDLES: US 6 (4.o mm)

CO: 44 sts

My Day

2009-03-24T23:36:00.001-07:00

I had one of those very horrible, no good, very bad sort of days... It started full of optimism and was crushed by a car accident, waiting on highway patrol, spilling coffee on myself, and work being le suck... but in the end it worked out okay. I got my new doggie. I love him and he is super cute and super smart...

Here's a picture of him. It's not the best because it's from my iPhone, but I'll get more. :)

He and Rocky are a little skittish with each other, but they'll adapt. :) Bravo is used to a little bit wilder play and Rocky has gotten used to being on his own... They're getting along though... Rocky isn't hiding behind me like he does with Sirius.

Also I know that this isn't the promised knitting post, but I'll get around to that. :)

I'm being a "growd up" LOL

2009-03-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Or at least that's what Ronni called it. hahaha

She started a new "scarf travels group on Ravelry and I'm helping her moderate it and keep it organized. I'm excited about the group it should be pretty fun. She hasn't need too much help yet though. :) We've got 42 of 50 available spots filled up so we'll see how much longer that stays open. :)

EDIT: Also I haven't gotten Bravo yet... The woman I'm adopting from was sick, and then I was sick... So I'll be calling he again to arrange everything. I'm excited. Lukey brought puppy Sirius over last night and I played with him. I love doggies. :)

EDIT part deux: I promise a more knitting=oriented post will be coming soon. With PICTURES!

I'm getting another doggie!!!!

2009-03-05T22:21:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited. I'm going to be adopting a 1 1/2 year old silver lab named Bravo. I can't wait to get him! I literally cannot contain this excitement. :) I don't think Rocky is quite as excited to be getting a baby brother bigger than him, but I am bouncing off the walls over it. :-D

Some "top 5s"

2009-01-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Favorite Movies:

1. Knocked Up
2. Pineapple Express
3. Roman Holiday
4. the Departed
5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Favorite Disney Movies:

1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Monsters, INC
4. Mary Poppins
5. Wall-E

Favorite TV Shows (still on tv):

1. Dexter
2. Scrubs
3. Mad Men
4. True Blood
5. Grey's Anatomy

Favorite TV Shows (no longer on tv):

1. Freaks & Geeks
2. Buffy/Angel
3. Pushing Daisies (technically, still on... but on it's way out :( )
4. 6 Feet Under
5. Veronica Mars

Favorite Bands:

1. The Beatles
2. Flogging Molly
3. Bad Religion
4. the Offspring
5. the Lawrence Arms

Favorite Songs:
(should be current 5 most played songs LOL)

1. RL Burnouts Inc. - the Falcon
2. Love Love, Kiss Kiss - Alkaline Trio
3. Mean Streak - American Steel
4. Lilly - Pink Martini
5. Bruises - Chairlift

Favorite Candies/Sweets:

1. Snickers
2. Hershey's Kisses
3. Mike & Ikes
4. Oreos
5. Golden Spoon frozen yogurt, especially the raspberry and boysenberry flavors

Favorites Foods:
(you'll notice two themes: mexican/latin food and potatoes)

1. Chicken Enchiladas
2. Guacamole
3. French Fries
4. Potato Soup
5. Papa Rellena

Favorite Books:

1. The Great Gatsby
2. Thnigs Fall Apart
3. The House of God
4. The Once and Future King
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

5 Favorite Book Series:

1. Harry Potter (of course)
2. Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries
3. Twilight
4. Stephanie Plum
5. Dexter

5 Favorites from Harry Potter

1. Favorite Book: Order of the Phoenix
2. Favorite Movie (so far): Order of the Phoenix
3. Favorite Character: Dobby
4. Favorite HUMAN Character: Sirius
5. Favorite Class: Transfiguration

Cross-Listed to HSKS "character" blog

My 2009 De-Stash "PROJECT"

2008-12-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

I have too much yarn, and I keep buying more so my 2009 goal is to knit more of what I already have. I'm picking out projects that I want to do and that I already have the yarns for and I'm devising random ways to pick 1 or 2 at the start of each month. Hopefully my end result will be a lot of stash de-stashed and not a bunch of UFOs. So far I've decided on 6 sock patterns, one for every other month. I'm not ambitious enough to take on 12. I've also got 3 hats picked out so far, but I'll probably pick more. I'm also going to FINALLY do my hermione mitten and fuzzy felted slippers....

So here are my lists, for anyone who is curious, and also for myself to help keep track:

Socks

(since there are 6, I'm going to roll a die to randomly select one every other month, or sooner if I work quick enough)

EDIT: I switched out the Flutter-by Socks for Zombie instead. ;) I'm still iffy on Mme. Defarge for the Anastacia socks, but not so much that I can up with an alternative... If I maneage to get all 6 done early then I'll go back to the flutter-by's...

I'd also like to do Jaywalkers with my Ravenclaw 2nd Year yarn.... I had a lot of trouble narrowing this down last night. LOL Now I'm thinking of changing it all around... Oy Vey!

Hats:

This is a short list. I haven't picked all of then yet... I also haven't decided how many I should do, or how to pick them.

Foliage in Malabrigo Chunky, Sapphire Magenta
Hermione's Cable and Eyelet Hat in Wool-Ease, Grey heather
Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret in Malabrigo, undecided on colorway (I'm thinking Jewel Blue or Roanoke)

Other Projects:

Also a short list right now

Hermione's Cable and Bobble Mittens in Cascade 220, 9404 (ruby)
Felted Furry Foot Warmers (Plain Version) in Lambs pride bulky, blue magic & Fun fur, fiji

I'll do more updating once I pick out some more projects... I have a lot of yarn to de-stash so I definitely need more projects. :)

Scarves:
I'm iffy on including these. I HIGHLY doubt that they will ever get done in one year with the other socks and hats and mittens and other things that I want to do

Clapotis in my Noro Silk Garden --> I'm scared of it, and it'll be a big undertaking.
longish skinny scarf (Possibly Omo) in Cosmic Fibers, Sweeny Todd
Finish my Lace Ribbon Scarf in Lorna's Laces, Hawaii
Sara's Scrunchable scarf in Bernat Chunky Twist, Denim Rag

Merry Christmas! (from 3 days ago)

2008-12-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone. I gave away all my presents. My 2 favorite reactions to them being Aynsley who loved her hat and fingerless gloves so much that she let me take multiple pictures and put them on immediately, and Veronica (of course)... Veronica started a ravelry thread to show off the Cullen charm bracelet that I made her. :-D I am a very proud gift giver.

My Christmas highlights.... These are all going to be points of laughter:

My dad trying to fit the hat that I made Shannon on his head. I laughed really hard. And I took a picture of it! I think he had been drinking to allow this! :)
Me singing for "Rock Band." I laughed at myself a lot! I got a 100% on Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" and a "flawless rating." My mom's response to this "yea, you sounded flawless." LOL I should note that I cannot sing. AT ALL. :)
My mother spilling hot chocolate everywhere. I'm not sure whay this was really funny to me, but it was... After I realized that my iPhone wasn't hit. Also one of my Bella Mittens smells a little like hot cocoa. It'll need to be washed.
Aynsley taking a picture of Bella's fingerless gloves with an apple in hand. And when anyone asked what we were doing we replied, "you don't want to know!" LOL They would just roll their eyes at us anyways...
Mauricio surprised me with a Pink iPod nano! YAY!

I think that's about it. Here are pictures of my Christmas knitted gifts... and my Christmas project. There's Aynsley's green unoriginal hat, Aynsley's Bella Fingerless Gloves, and Shannon's pink hat. I cast on my Bella mittens of Christmas Eve, so I'm including those. :)

Snow in the desert!

2008-12-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

It has snowed all day here! Normally, that's impossible, and I'd agree with anyone who thought that I was lying... but I have picture proof! That's the desert behind my house covered in snow! :)

I took Rocky outside to play in it... He didn't like it so much... He kept hiding under anything that didn't have snow on it... LOL He is so cute!

****

And for fun because I'm bored :)

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times: Roman Holiday, the Little Mermaid, Knocked Up, Old School ... many, many more

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in a theatre: Harry Potter (all 5), Batman (both), Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Pineapple Express... And Old School holds the record... 9 times in the theatres!

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie: Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Caine

4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie: Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie

5. Name a movie that you can quote from: Wedding Crashers, Old School, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Juno, any of the Harry Potter movies ... Just about any movie I've ever seen LOL

6. Name a movie musical that you know all the lyrics to all the songs: Grease :)

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with: Any and all disney movies :)

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see: Old School (hahaha)

9. Name a movie that you own: Old School (LOLZ, this movie could ALMOST answer every question) .... I have WAY too many movies to list out

10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops: I think Mandy Moore is a better actress than a singer

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?: Yes. :)

12. Ever made out in a movie?: no... gross.

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't gotten around to it: ??? I can't think of one right now. Which would probably be why I haven't seen it... I forgot.

14. Ever walked out of a movie?: No

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater: Promise not to laugh? I can't really say I've cried at a movie.... Maybe Serenity and I almost cried in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

16. Popcorn?: Nope

17. How often do you go to the movies?: It depends on the time of year

18. What's the last movie you saw in the theater?: Role Models

19. What is your favorite/preferred genre of movie?: Comedy, Suspense-Thrillers, Superhero action movies

20. What was the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?:

The Little Mermaid, or All Dogs Go to Heaven

21. What movie(s) has/have changed your life?: none?

I've been stuck at home unable to walk for 3 days

2008-12-14T10:14:00.000-08:00

And since that has been the case I've been a very large knitting kick. I can't believe how much I've got done this week. :) And I'll be working on some more as well. First of all, I finished Luke's Slytherin scarf. It's just shy of 10 feet long. It's a dark green and a dark grey/silver so it's not exactly the same as the movie scarf, but I think Luke doesn't care about accuracy. ;) I'm so proud of myself for finally finishing it. When I did finish it, last Sunday night, I did a happy dance around my room out of pure joy. :) It's long and thick and warm and I hope he loves it... Even if lately he is a real jerk about 90% of the time.

I have also knitted and finished a hat for Aynsley. (She requested it, and saw the yarn before hand, and saw the ravelry post and pictures... So it's not a surprise, but it is a gift.) I did the Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Which I have been wanting to do for a while, but hadn't got around to it. I used to different green Caron Simply Soft strands held together to get a bulkier knit and create some variegation in color. It's kelly green and lime green. (Which the picture doesn't show very well, but my camera is MIA and my iPhone is the best I have right now.) She saw the pictures and says she really likes it.

I also knit Aynsley a surprise present. Which I'm not talking about or posting about because it's a surprise! :) Let's hope I actually manage to keep this surprise a surprise. I'm not so good about it usually. ;)

I'm going to do some more knitting today, and maybe finish up some WIPs that have been sitting around and/or start work on my mom's knitted pillows. :) Probably the latter, because I'm not really feeling like finishing anything I've already started...

******

In other non-knitting business, my Christmas shopping (and knitting) is pretty much done. There are a couple of things I'd like to pick up still, but there's no rush on that. :) Except for 1 thing I want to get before I can send off Veronica's present. :)

We had a bunch of our mail stolen a couple of weeks ago. So we've been dealing with changing cc numbers and figuring out if packages have gone missing. It's such a hassel...

I went in for treatment on my foot again. Which is why I can't walk. It's a more aggressive treatment this time and therefore much more painful. I've watched a lot of tv and done a lot of knitting. Not too much walking though... I'm not looking forward to work tomorrow, because my foot is still really hurting. Hopefully I can manage to get a shoe on it...

For the rest of the week... Thursday is the holiday luncheon for work... I'm not really looking forward to it, because I don't really like most of the people I work with. But it's also payday so I have a paycheck to look forward to. :) Friday I'm going to go to Sara's dance recital and the Nutcracker... Well, I'm going to be cutting it close but I am DETERMINED to make it to both. I don't want to disappoint Sara, but I also don't want to give up the Nutcracker tickets because they are expensive. (Plus, I know a little girl dancing in the nutcracker too.) Saturday I'm babysitting Sara and Ellie. So I'll be busy at the end of this week, nothing going on in the beginning though. :)

Excuses... Excuses...

2008-09-06T23:03:00.000-07:00

Apparently, despite my new resolve and my constant thinking of only knitting, the only knitting that I got done this entire week was done on Sunday, while I marathon watched season 2 of Dexter... and not much progress was made on any one thing because I was way too A.D.D. seriously switched between all three of my WIPs constantly... Plus, I was paying A LOT of attention to Dexter. New season starts the 28th!! Then I finally joined the masters team this week, so I've been getting up around 4:30am to go swim, and then go to work from there... Then I come home and pass out... Today I cleaned out my room, and baby sat. ... Basically this post served to make several lame excuses for not knitting... Tomorrow is breakfast at Nana's, I'm not sure if I'm going yet though... I'll see if I feel up to facing my stupid aunts and uncles when I wake up. Right now I'm leaning towards the NO. Then Mauricio and I are meeting up with some friends at a bar to kick of football season. Should be fun! But it's unlikely I'll get any knitting done tomorrow either. lol...

... sigh ... MONDAY :(

2008-08-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

No knitting for me today. :( Although, I did some this weekend.... I'm feeling pretty craptastic at the moment so I decided to skip out on most activities tonight. I started a pair (yes, a PAIR! 2 at a time!) of socks... It's my first time trying it this way so hopefully that works out and I start finishing quicker. I also worked on Luke's scarf quite a bit this weekend. There's still a ways to go, but I'm thinking I might actually finish it in time for Christmas. HA! I'm going to bed now. I don't care if it is 8:30 and that's considered lame by some people. I'm exhausted

Quick Post

2008-08-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

I've been working slowly towards completion of my 2 scarves. Which are now currently my only WIPs.... I had to either frog the others or put them into a deep hibernation. I am determined to get both my lacy ribbon scarf and Luke's slytherin scarf done before Christmas. More than likely, I'll keep my lacy ribbon scarf for myself but decided that it needed a deadline too. BUT Luke's scarf HAS to be finished in time for this Christmas, sooner if I can help it. It's been OTN for far too long. However, I did order new needles, and as soon as those get here I'm starting on some new socks! wii! We'll see how that interferes with my new "must finish scarf" resolve. lol

That's it for now... I'll upload pictures of my WIPs eventually.

Finished!

2008-07-20T16:50:00.001-07:00

I finished my banana republic knockoff hat.... I'm now calling it the "cute as a button hat." I LOVE it. It is so cute, it fits perfectly. The colors are wonderful. It *almost* makes me excited for cold weather so that I can wear my hat... Or maybe I'll just crank up the AC and wear it around the house. I'm not in that big of a hurry for winter.

I improvised the original hat pattern a little bit... I switched needle sizes because last time I tried to knit this yarn on 10.5s (the suggested size) the fabric that resulted was way to stiff. And I only knit the brim to be slightly larger than the button.

My 2 latest knitting projects

2008-07-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in a long time.... (I just recently added some posts from my other blog to this one, to make up for it.) BUT my new goal is to at the very least blog once a month. So here it goes.

I've got 2 projects that are currently OTN that I am actively (or actively-ish in one case) knitting.

The first is a banana republic knock-off hat. (Link goes to the ravelry page) I saw the pattern and thought that it was absolutely beautiful and that I had to have it. (I also saw the extremely over priced hat at banana republic and decided I was happy to be a knitter.) I did some slight modifications to it... For one I used size 13 needles, last time I tried to knit lion brand thick and quick with 10.5s it was way way way too tight. I also only made the brim as wide as the button so that my button would look neither too large or too small. I've yet to actually take a picture of it and it has been more or less held up by me. I just need to finish decreases and close up the top, but I've yet to do it. My goal is to finish today! (I'm setting a lot of goals in this post. haahaha)

The second project is Veronik Avery's Lace Ribbon Scarf from the spring knitty. I fell in love with this scarf when I first saw it and cast-on yesterday/friday/i don't really know when my weekend has blurred together. I had some trouble at first and had to frog it and rip out rows and switch needle sizes.... Now I'm halfway through the first repeat and some of the earlier rows look a little goofy, but it's coming along. And looking pretty good. I'm using Lorna's Laces in hawaii. (Link to my ravelry to show off the colors.) The colors are just so pretty and so perfect. If I don't mess this up too bad it'll probably be my favorite scarf ever.

My birthday present

2008-07-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

My spoilee (Ronnica) from HSKS5 sent me a birthday present in the mail. She is just about the best spoilee ever! (It's early, my birthday is on Friday, but I'm not going to complain about that.)

She is also my long lost twin... So this year at Hogwarts has been a little like the parent trap. It has definitely been my favorite of all the swaps I've done. And I've definitely gotten myself a great new friend out of it.

My Swap Package!

2008-07-11T19:29:00.000-07:00

I got y swap package for HSKS5 in the mail yesterday, but didn't have a chance to blog or take pictures until right now. Let me add that I am thrilled that it is FINALLY the weekend... Even though monsoon season may or may not ruin my weekend plans. But that's neither here nor there... My package came at a great time. I just found out one of best and oldest friends is planning on moving to Montana in a few weeks. I'm horribly depressed about it... Hence being at a movie at 10pm, I was hanging out with her. :( Anyway, my package cheered me up and here are some pictures.

This is the bag, which is beautiful, and everything inside of it.

2 patterns: a shawl one and a sock one

and instructions for spinning!

My hand dyed yarn!

I love love love these colors.

Fluff and a spindle, for me too learn to spin

I'll be honest and admit I look at this and see something that Rocky would like to shred and throw all over the room and a stick. It's odd too me that it will (with luck) turn in to yarn. I'm very excited to teach myself though...

A little yellow bag with my other goodies

a note from chrysta, a shawl stick (love this, and needed one), a bracelet, stitch markers... and of course some of my favorite needles!

for funsies

2008-07-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

1. I Love Lucy, 2. Chicken Enchiladas, 3. sin city, 4. Shades Of Sunshine Yellow, 5. David Beckham, 6. Margarita, 7. Maui Wowie!, 8. Frozen yogurt with fruit on top, 9. Blood smear. Extreme macro, 10. rocky, 11. Sassy, 12. Dobby

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favourite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favourite colour?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favourite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favourite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Choose 1 image from the FIRST page of results, remember the image you choose doesn’t have to be exactly what you were looking for - just the image you like best from the first page.

Copy your URLs to the Mosaic Maker here and publish your mosaic to your blog.

Updates: A new yarn, a new swap, and an old hobby makes a comeback

2008-05-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

I've graduated college, FINALLY. I have been the busiest I think I ever was in the last few weeks. It was not my best semester grades-wise, but I'm done. I'm finished and I passed everything, and that is what really counts in the long run.

A LONG time ago during all of my craziness of graduating and having a grad party and finals and .... so on and so forth I got the second installment of the Nefarious club. It's Mme. Defarge, who is a character in a Charles Dickens book. (I can't remember which, a Tale of Two Cities maybe. I've never read Dickens, and I've never really wanted too.) Despite that I've never read the book, and I don't care for Charles Dickens the yarn is absolutely beautiful, as always.

I joined HSKS5, which I wasn't sure I was going to do. Mainly because I was so busy I couldn't see myself having the time, but then I realized, DUH, most of the swap takes place after school is finished. So I can totally do it. I switched houses and went down the dark side (but not really). I'm slytherin this time instead of Ravenclaw. I like my partners they both seem rather nice. My spoilee in particular is awesome. I've sent her a large amount of emails. She's actually my age, which is pretty cool. (So for the duration of HSKS5, if I haven't blogged a lot it's because I'm using my "character blog" dobbysmyhero.)

The last thing I've started doing is making row counter bracelets. When I was younger I loved beading, so I have TONS of supplies for and I kept seeing the bracelets and thinking they were cute, so I decided to make some of my own. I have a slytherin colored one, which I believe is rather large and a ravenclaw one that I made, but put one too many "1" beads. I'll probably do something to fix the two of them, but I am rather impressed with the results.

I think that I'll be trying to make some more too. Although I need more elastic for the little beaded rings, I'm out of the tinier clear kind and the white that I have is just too bulky. I had to use it for the slytherin bracelet and I can't say that I liked it. It works and it's functional, but not nearly as pretty as I would like. I also made a gorgeous Gryffindor colored one for my spoilee, but I'm not posting it so that she gets to be surprised. (There are pictures on y Flikr account though... if anyone is clever enough to get there to see the pictures I won't care.)

I also finished my pink scrunchable scarf about a month ago. Not in time for my trip to San Francisco, like I wanted, but it's done it time for the 90+ degree heat. (I'm joking, obviously.) I'll have to wait until next winter to wear the scarf. It's very beautiful though... Pictures are on my raverly account. I'm having some uploading issues today.

Happy Happy Yarn Day

2008-04-09T19:10:00.001-07:00

Okay, so it isn't actually "yarn day." I just got 4 skeins in the mail, so I am calling it "yarn day." I had ordered 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces in the Hawaii colorway and a skien of Cherry Tree Hill, and those came today. I have been wanting these colorways for FOREVER and despite my "no buying new yarn until you've knit you're other yarn" rule that I've inflicted upon myself, I bought them anyways. Last week was a really bad week and I need cheering up.

Here's a couple of pictures to show off the pretty colors:

I also got my first installment of the "Nefarious" sock club today. It's so awesome. I love it. It's a silky sock kettle dyed yarn in the colors of one of my all time favorite bad guys, Hannibul Lecter. It's really beautiful. (Although, I suppose it's weird to call something associated with Hannibal "beautiful." I really love silk yarn though...
In other knitting news, my current WIPs (the pink scarf, luke's scarf, and the hedwig socks) have all had progress made on them... I have a couple of photos of the scarves, but those are even a little old as I've made even more progress on them.

In non-knitting news, my contacts came today and now I don't have to wear my glasses all the time or swim blindly anymore. HOORAY!