Bow-Chicka-Bow-Bow Yarn Pr0n

OK, have I got pics for you today! The first is my latest dishcloth being modeled saddle style by the lovely Morris. Doesn't it figure that the best pic is the one with his eyes closed? tsh tsk, bad model. I get to keep this one. The next is the enhancement to my stash that I brought back from NY with me. Note the wonder that is the space bag. Before: After: My space bag spilleth over. Here's a close-up of the 2 dozen (!) skeins of Lion Jiffy my mother gave me. It was at one time intended to be an afghan. I don't do afghans. So now I have to figure out what to make with all this yarn. Might be good for a practice sweater, or 4. This is the awesome yarn that came with the white cabled knitting bag my sister got me from Anthropologie. It came with a scarf pattern, but I'm not sure that's what I want to do with this. So many possibilities... And this is some of the other yarn that was magically sucked into that space bag as well. This brings it to 36 skeins in one bag! I have to say, Joann's has some really nice, yummy yarn. I wish I had a Joann's here in Charlotte rather than Michaels. The selection is so much better, even for a craft store in a bumfuck north, left of the middle of nowhere town, it's a better selection than all the Michaels here in Charlotte combined. And that wasn't all, there's the yarn for the Voodoo wristwarmers I started while home: The yarn for the Holey Moley Scarf I picked up for $2 a skein: And finally, the yarn I treated myself to last night while visiting my favorite LYS, Charlotte Yarn. The Lamb's Pride will be for a pair of Fuzzy Feet. The Anny Blatt was on sale, 40% off, so I thought it might be a good yarn for a first pair of socks after trying out the fuzzy feet. The lavendar stuff in front is cotton chenille and will be for a flower facecloth from Weekend Knitting. And then I had to add on to my double pointed needle collection. I really enjoy working with them, I thought it would be hard, but it's very satisfying. So, there we are! Please, if you have any suggestions for the Lion Jiffy, please, please, please let me know.

Space Bags Rock

I forgot my digital camera at home, so pics will be coming later. But man, lemme tell ya, space bags rock! I managed to bring home over 30 skeins of yarn in one alone. 24 of which are Lion Brand Jiffy in a variegated purple and white (and green? Can't recall off the top of my head.) My mom ordered it years ago to make an afghan, now it's mine. I have no idea what to do with it yet. But now I have all the yarn that I'm not sure what to do with, but know I won't be touching it any time soon, stuffed into space bags. I highly recommend them for storage purposes. Got a bit farther on the Holey Moley Scarf. I should finish and block it this weekend. Then I need to get going on Aihblinn. My friend's B-Day is on the 11th and I really want to get it done in time. I've got about 3 inches or so done. But I'm giving fair time to my Voodoo wristwarmers too this weekend. I want to be wearing those before too long. And heck, I deserves something for myself!

On the Road Again

Well, I'll be flying back home in a couple hours. I'm looking forward to getting back to my kitties and my own bed. Not looking forward to all the work I'll have to catch up on, but that's the way it goes, right? I went to Joann's the day after Christmas and snagged a couple skeins of their Holiday Wool-ease. I didn't even know Lion Brand came out with it. It's snow white with a silver thread running through it. I'm making the Holey Moley Scarf from the recent Creative Knitting out of it for the girl cat-sitting for me. I won't be done in time to give it to her along with the payment for the actual sitting, but who knows. If I don't get her the cash until Friday, then yeah, I'll have it ready. I'm not bringing any of those WIPs with me in my carry-on though. I just don't want to risk them not being allowed since they're on metal needles. Well, the wristwarmers aren't, they're on plastic DPNs but those seem to have metal in the center of them. So, I cast on for another dishcloth, this time one for me! It's a safe project for a plane, mindless and on plastic circs. I'll also have my portable DVD player with The 40-year Old Virgin in it to entertain me. Yay! I'll be home hugging my kitties in about 8 and a half hours!

Knitmas success!

Well, sis loved her sweater vest and "got it" as far as how much time and effort something like that takes. So that made me feel so much better! And her fiance loved his scarf too. She laughed because she had been working on a scarf for him for a while but never finished it, now she thinks she'll frog it and make something else. Cousin loved her cowl (I really wasn't sure how that would go over, it is odd looking) and her kids promptly traded scarves, then eventually traded back. Kids are so funny. Uncle loved his scarf as well and Mom loved her hat and scarf. She did mention that it was a wee bit loose, which I was afraid of. I had used the scarf yarn as a carry along yarn for the brim and since it was essentially a thin ribbon of yarn with fur, I didn't think the gauge would be so affected by it. Well, you learn. I'm going to try weaving two of the ribs together and see if that works. I was also able to get my first dishcloths done! I made them from the pattern in Creative Knitting magazine's holiday edition. They're the same yarn (Sugar 'n Cream) and pattern, one's just wet. Funny how water totally changes the character of a yarn? I had to make my mom get the first one wet. I told her it wasn't a doily, it's meant to get wet and be used. She also tried saying her scarf and hat were for "special occasions" i.e. they're staying in the box for eternity because she's afraid to wear them. I said just because it's handknit doesn't mean you shouldn't wear it. I made them to be worn so go ahead already! Funny, she's the one that taught me to knit in the first place. This is the panta I made my mother this weekend, inspired by Zibibbo's recent blog post. It turned out beautifully. It's made from Joann's Sensations Angel Hair yarn. It took me a little less than two evenings to make on size 5 needles. I'm planning on making one for me, altered to include a couple cables rather than raised ribs. Currently I have 2 WIPs. I'm working on some Voodoo Wristwarmers for me, wrestling with double pointed needles. And I frogged the beginnings of the wimple I was making for my friend. The pattern just wasn't turning out the way I envisioned so I'm using the pattern for an Aibhlinn and plan on altering the bottom of it to flare out over the shoulders like the wimple pattern I have does. So we'll see. My mom about had a heart attack when I ripped out what I had done. But it's looking much better now. My very wonderful sister who got my name for Christmas, got me this wonderful knitting bag. It's gorgeous! Love it, love it, love it. Here's a pic of the bag itself. I love the cable in the middle. It has a pair of bamboo needles inside and a bamboo crochet hook as well! I had no idea they made bamboo crochet hooks. I can't wait to start using it once I get back to Charlotte and away from all the snowy wetness. Here's hoping everyone had as great a Christmas as I did!

Casting on...again

I made the scarf for my Uncle last night - it's identical to the Future-Bro-in-Law's. Nice and soft. I may try blocking this one when I get home tomorrow. I also cast on for the wimple (formerly referred to as a cowl) for my friend's birthday. The pattern is from the pattern-a-day calendar for 2006 she got me for Christmas. Specifically, November 18th & 19th. I did a few rows on it, realized I was doing stockinette and switched to purl. I'm going to do a few different stitch patterns throughout it. I really want this to be a unique gift. I also went ahead and started a dishcloth on some plastic size 8 circs for the plane ride home tomorrow. I know knitting needles are allowed now, but I'm not wanting to chance anything by bringing metal needles in my carry on. The circs are from my Knit-Knack Kit. and really blunt. Not something I'll cry over if they take them. I've also printed out the list from the tsa website that says they're allowed. So I'm all set. I'm doing this cool spiral dishcloth pattern from the winter Creative Knitting magazine. I think I'll give it to my Dad as a cloth for his glasses. I like the one I made earlier that was supposed to be a dishcloth, so I think he'll like it too. We shall see. I have so much to do today. I did manage to vacuum and tidy the apartment and clean out the fridge already. I still have to pack, go to Sam's after work and cash in my membership voucher from work, and hopefully find something for my Dad. He wouldn't wear anything knitted, so I didn't make him anything. Should he decide otherwise while I'm home I will most certainly make something. I also have a friend that wants to come by and see me before I leave (she's one of those people that get's premonitions or gut feelings about something and I have a feeling she's not feeling to positive about my plane travel. And she's usually right, this makes me nervous.) Oh, and I need to call and schedule a cab to pick me up at 5am (ugh) and cancel delivery of my newspaper. I failed to notify the post office so hopefully the girl that's cat-sitting for me can help me out there. I need to water all my plants, buy kitty litter, get cash for the cab...Ugh. I hope I can get out of work early today. Merry Christmahannakwanzakah to all!

My Needles are Bare.

The Christmas knitting is done! Yeah, I know, I still have my Uncle's scarf to do. But that will take me all of an hour tonight so I'm calling it done. The hat and scarf is for my mother. She picked out the fuzzy yarn (I'm trying to block it from my memory so I can't remember what brand it is) and I paired it with Wool-ease in black for the matching hat. The hat was made from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns and the scarf from a Lion Brand pattern I can't seem to find anymore on their website. It's a simple keyhole scarf done in seed stitch. I hope she likes it. The kid's scarves and the cowl for my cousin I winged. No pattern! Wee! On scarves, I mixed fun fur with homespun so it was still warm, yet fun. I tried a bell shape on the purple garter stitch one, it coulda turned out better, but I'm happy overall. The other one looks so pretty, the pic doesn't do it justice. It's just a straight garter stitch. The cowl is from Paton's Bohemian. It started out in a 4x4 rib and progressed to 3x3 then finally 2x2. It looks pretty cool. And I like the button too. It feels so soft around the neck. I hope she likes it. I know it borders on the "You Knit What?", in fact, they all do. But hey, I figure at the very least, they can use them for dress-up. The kids are young.

Bobblicious is done!

I finished it with only half an hour to spare. The seams look kinda crappy, but that's ok because I looked and looked for a good way to join reverse stockinette and couldn't find it and winged it. I got a ton of compliments on it and plenty of requests for the pattern. One lady at the party even said she'd pay $300 for it in a boutique and that I should sell them! Ha! I say, "Learn to knit". But hey, it felt great. Even the experienced knitter's there were amazed I did it in a little less than a week. I'm so glad I didn't end up meeting my friend for lunch saturday because I wouldn't have finished it if we did. Yay! I can't wait to make another one, this time I'll do the arms in the round and instead of bobbles, I'll do loops. And I only used 4 skeins instead of the 5 the pattern called for. Probably because I did the russian join to connect new skeins. But also, I think the pattern writer included an extra row of bobbles in hers that weren't written into the pattern. Oh well.

I'm gonna look festive tonight...

It's not quite 11am and I'm ready to start the bobble section to finish off Bobblicious. 5 sets pattern rows and seam it up, and I'm ready! I still haven't heard from the friend I was supposed to have lunch with, so hopefully that won't put a crimp in my knitting time. The later she calls, the less time I'll have to give myself to get it all done. Well...guess I'd better get back to it.

I'm a Ghetto Knitter, and I'm proud of it.

That's right. I said it. I'm a ghetto knitter. I came across this button on .Mamma's blog and it immediately called to me. I followed the button to one of it's founders,candsmom where I saw her compelling declaration. So here is my own. "I live for Lion Brand, Red Heart, Bernat, Sugar 'n Cream and Caron. I will never have a whole sweater knit out of Alpaca, Mohair or Angora or even 100% Wool. Can't afford it. I own no Addi Turbos, but have an extensive collection of Boye's. I buy my knitting books used from Amazon, when I can. Yes, I've collected a library to rival that of Borders, Barnes and Noble and Books-a-Million, but it's not paid for. Thanks to Visa. But I've not charged a single skein of yarn. Give me your Thick 'n Quick, your Wool-ease, your Boucle, Fun Fur (yeah, Fun Fur), your Homespun, Landscapes (But only as a gift, it's still a wee pricey for me), your Super-Saver, Simply Soft and your One Pounder. I will knit them all on my Boye Needles and proudly show it off. I'm not afraid, for I, am a Ghetto Knitter."

So close I can smell it...

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... When I test fit it, it's about a third of the way down my other arm. Between tonight and tomorrow, I think I'll be wearing it by 7pm for the party. I do have to meet a friend for lunch tomorrow, and it's about an hour there and an hour back so hopefully I can get a lot of it done tonight before I go to bed. The bobble section took me about 4 hours-ish so I need to give myself at least that much time tomorrow to do it. Oh, and there's my dinky little tree. It's about 2 feet tall. I've had it for about 5 years now, and last year was the first year I had to use any of the spare lights. Well, about an hour after I took this photo, the bottom half went out and I'm completely out of spare bulbs. Fabulous. And they're the little round kind too. Maybe I'll wait until after I get back from NY and buy me a new tree in the post-holiday sales.

Ze Scarf - She ees done!

Here it is in all of it's dried, blocked and fringed glory! Yay!

I scream, You scream, we all scream for...ice?

All day yesterday all you'd hear on the news is that there was ice on the way. A couple years ago we had a pretty bad ice storm that basically shut down the city for a couple days. So it's understood that they'd warn us all about the potential for another one. I didn't think much of it though, watching the news. It didn't look like my area where I live and work would be terribly affected. And when I woke up and looked out at the dark parking lot, I could see it was raining and I saw puddles on the asphalt, so I thought there was no ice. Then I walked outside to get in my car to leave. Boy was I wrong. My car was covered in a sheet of ice. It took me 20 minutes just to defrost the windshield enough to be able to scrape off the layer of ice. The drive was fine though. I don't cross any bridges or overpasses so it wasn't a problem. There were accidents all over the city though. On another note, I gave Jimmy his scarf last night (figuring he might need it today) and it ended up just the right length. He's happy, and I'm happy. Whee! I also finally put up my dinky tree last night (pics later) even though I'll only enjoy it a week before I leave for NY. But it's nice to be in the spirit and not look like a scrooge. Bobblicious is coming along nicely. I've just started the 3rd of 6 skeins of yarn. After I fringe the HP scarf tonight, I hope to get a lot more of it done. Saturday is approaching quickly! And hey, check out my new sleek blogger template. Like it?

Bobblicious is officially started

So, I managed the three-needle bind-off on the HP scarf last night. Flipping the thing inside out to weave in all the ends was tedious, but I got it done. My provisional cast-on was successful too. I managed to pick up all the stitches and finish off the last few rows and bound that off too. I washed it (boy did that red heart yarn bleed. I'm hoping, actually, that it calmed down the gold a bit) and it's blocking now. It probably won't be ready for the fringe treatment until tomorrow night, but I might go ahead and get it cut at least. I started Bobblicious last night. The bobbles were a bit time consuming. Knitting into the front and back twice and then once again was not easy with such big needles and chunky yarn. I've though about trying the YO method of bobbling, but I don't know if they'll turn out looking different, so I'll just keep trucking. I got through 1 and a 1/4 rows of the bobble pattern. Hopefully I can at least finish the first bobble section tonight and get the reverse stockinette humming along. I really want to wear this on Saturday.

Harry Potter and the Magically Finished Scarf

So last night, after finishing the scarves for the kidlets and getting halfway through the cousin's cowl, I finished up the 9th MC pattern repeat of the HP scarf and you know what? It's done! Somehow, I knitted up a couple more feet between last night and Thursday afternoon when I last tested it for length. Now all that's left is conquering the 3 needle bind-off, picking up the stitches from the provisional cast-on and knitting 3 rows and binding off. (But first weaving in the loose ends from the trapped bars) and then the fringe! I'll probably wash it before I wrap it up and send it, just to get it all soft and nice smelling, but I don't think it'll need actual blocking. Yay! As a treat to myself for doing so well with my Christmas knitting schedule, I'm casting on Bobblicious tonight and hope to finish it for a Christmas party on Saturday. Wee!

I think it's almost done. I've done 9 repeats of the trapped bar, and am nearly done the final MC repeat. It's long. It's plenty long I believe. I know others have stopped at the 9 repeat mark, and I didn't think that would be long enough, but now that I'm there. I think it's long enough. But I don't want to chance waiting for me to finish with the fringe and the blocking and finishing to ship my Nephew's gift. So this is what went in his package along with a book. On the finished object front, I got my cousin's scarves almost done! I have the two kid's scarves finished and am halfway through my cousin's. I've decided to make her a cowl. I'm winging it, but I think it'll turn out pretty cool. Pics of all three when the cowl is done. Oh, in the pic above, the bottom box says this: "It's knit in a tube so it looks the same from both sides. That's 90 stitches per row in that tube. There is supposed to be 880 rows in the pattern. I've done 603. That's 54,270 stitches out of 79,200. That's love. Don't worry, I'm not going to do all 13 repeats of the pattern. You'd be stepping on it. Even when you reach 6 feet." Heh, think he'll appreciate it?

It's Done!

It's done, it's done, it's done! Hooray! I'm at a lose for any other words, I'm sure you'll understand. I've been working all day on this thing to finish off the last 16 inches. I've washed it, and it's blocking now as we speak. The cats are quite pissed off about it too. I've put it in the only place I can cat proof in this apartment. My office. Hey, it's got a door. The pic on the right is more for proof than detail. I got a detailed one for ya below. Pattern:

Irish Hiking Scarf 100%

Yarn:

Lion Brand Wool-Ease Worsted Weight

in Oxford Grey (2 1/4 skeins 443 yds) Needles: Size 8 Length: 72 inches

Talk about random...

You're Andy's wife Tracey Taylor! You've outlasted
a hand full of other Duran wives and
girlfriends over the past 20+ years.

Which Duran Duran Wife/Ex Wife Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla Heh, Andy was always my favorite.

The End is in Sight!

So, being the idiot that I am, I forgot about my Stitch 'n Bitch group meeting last night. By the time I remembered, I'd have been an hour late. So rather than waste the knitting time, I sat myself down on the couch and pulled out the Irish Hiking Scarf. I'm going to keep taking turns each night between it and the HP scarf until they're both done. I managed to put 10 more inches on it yesterday! It's going so much faster since I figured out how to hold the yarn over my right finger for both knitting and purling. Go me!

Appropriate...

Found this little quiz. Considering the "what book are you" quiz results for me was "Anne of Green Gables" I thought this was appropriate. You are Diana, Anne's "bosom" friend.
You get teased by Anne sometimes, but you're a
very good friend and you have a crush on
Gilbert.. you don't get him, though. You tend
to be shy, but you can still be stupid... (You
got drunk that one time.)

Which Anne of Green Gables Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

SweetSophie

I know many of you (heh, many - who am I kidding?) that read this blog do not frequent the HBO Deadwood Bulletin Boards. I'm a huge fan of the show, and have been a member of that online community since the show started. I learned last night that one of our members passed away after a night of enjoying W. Earl Brown's music with other members of the DW Community. She went by the name "SweetSophie" and she was just that. Sweet. She was also funny as hell, a wonderful writer and a huge fan. Words cannot say all there is to say about this wonderful woman. She will be missed.

How weird are you?

You Are 20% Weird

Not enough to scare other people... But sometimes you scare yourself.

How Weird Are You?

Hee hee, I thought I was weirder than that. This is good news.

Mixed Emotions

I had high hopes for making some good progress this weekend on my HP and Irish Hiking scarves. But alas, they were dashed. I had to drive an hour north to a freinds house for a "jewlery party" (yes, I spent too much - but I got a cool canvas tote out of it!) and right after I got home, went out to dinner and watched "Walk the Line" (fabulous, fabulous movie) and only got a chance at 10:30pm to pick up my knitting. I did manage to get the 7th trapped bar repeat finished. And today, I won't have much of a chance until the evening either. But for an even better reason - I'm going to the Panther's game against Atlanta! Yay! ETA - I was able to work on the IHS on my way to and from the game. So I've actually been able to add a good 5 or 6 inches on to it today. I need to make an official measurement, then I can update the progress bar on the right. But yay! The weekend wasn't a total loss!

*sigh* Indeed, only halfway...

So, I finally got around to testing the length of the HP scarf last night. I wrapped it around my neck and...it doesn't even reach my waist yet. So the fill 13 repeats is bang on. But you know what, that actually makes me really happy because that means that the pattern I came up with is right. It's not going to be too long, and the pattern matches up with the movie scarf. I'm happy. Daunted, but happy. I think this weekend though, I'll knock off my Cousin and her kid's scarves. I think I'll call my mom and tell her to measure her head so I can do a hat next week too. I still have to find some yarn for the main color to go with the baby puke green/yellow/orange yarn of her keyhole scarf. *sigh* As for the kitchen. It's all back in place. The new floor looks great, the exact same stuff that was in my last apartment. I'm just glad it's over with, and I think the cats are too:

Progress Sucks this Week

Ugh. My apartment is in shambles. See, ever since I moved into it in March, the back door in the kitchen has leaked everytime it rains. At first, it wasn't so bad, but a towel down and that was fine. Then, everytime I'd step near the door, the floor sunk just a bit more than the last time. I had reported this when I first moved in, but the apt. management declared "there's nothing we can do about it." Boy, do I wish I had recorded THAT statement because they sure as hell don't remember it. I finally got a maintenance guy over to fix (yet) another leak and had him look at the floor in the kitchen. "Oh yeah, we can fix that. I'll call the contractors and have them come take a look at it." Less than a week later, they had replaced the subfloor in that spot. Problem was, they didn't replace the linoleum where they ripped up the floor. They left a note saying "Please call the office to schedule replacement of the linoleum." Well, woo-hoo! I get new linoleum to replace the decades old crap that's in there. BUT - I have to take out EVERYTHING in the kitchen in order to do it. Everything but the stove and the fridge that is. So they're coming today, and my kitchen is in my living room and the cats are locked up in the bedroom. That's not even the whole of it. Yesterday I had the apartment exterminated because palmetto bugs are gross and I don't care what anyone says, they're cockroaches to me. And they creep me out. I've had problems with that since day one too. I've tried spraying myself, but it only helps temporarily. In order to have them do it, I had to have the cats out of the apt. for the day. So we took a field trip to a friends house yesterday and they camped out there. The worst part was having to thoroughly empty the kitchen cabinets though. Everything, and I mean everything, was in my living room yesterday. I was able to put back all the stuff that was in the cabinets last night, and that helps a wee bit. But man, I can't wait to get home, see that new linoleum floor, and put it all back the way it was. I've gotten very little knitting done because of it all this week. (See? Thought I wasn't going to get it related to knitting did ya?) So, I'm 5 rows into the 6th pattern repeat of the HP scarf. And I do indeed think I'll be stopping at 9 repeats, so, can I say I'm 75% done? Can I? Huh? Huh?

Stop me! I love these things!

Your Hair Should Be Orange

Expressive, deep, and one of a kind. You pull off "weird" well - hardly anyone notices.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Mmm....mohair

You are Mohair. You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes. What kind of yarn are you? brought to you by Quizilla

Oh God....

I mean great, I'm pretty smart, but geez. Not sure how I feel about this.

Sanity Break

I couldn't take it anymore. If I didn't work on something different I was going to go insane. So I knit something I've been wanting to do since I saw it in my "Knit Knack" kit. Moments later: Success!

Progress is Good.

OK, so I'm an idiot and the claret colored yarn I'm using for the HP Scarf has no dye lot. So my thought that I would have to cut it short due to yarn shortage is not to be. But the farther along I get, the more I think I won't be doing the full 13 trapped bar repeats. But I'm going to play it by ear. Officially I'm only 36% done with it, but it's looking more like 50%. I was busy with church this morning so I haven't had as much knitting time as I would have liked, but still, since yesterday, I've gotten halfway on the Irish Hiking Scarf and finished up the 5th trapped bar repeat on the HP scarf. I really need to measure that. Maybe I can get my sister to measure how long the scarf would need to be to fall to my Nephew's knees and wrap around his neck once. Hmm...

Twas an Irish Day

So, after finishing the 4th trapped bar pattern repeat on the HP Scarf yesterday morning, I set it aside. I had full intentions of picking it back up in the evening and making progress on the next MC 48 row repeat. I never did. I got sucked into the Irish Hiking Scarf. I've finally mastered knitting and purling holding the yarn in my right hand properly and just kept going. It's a far more interesting pattern and I was enjoying myself. Now that I'm nearly halfway done the scarf, I know I need to pick the HP scarf back up and get it done. It's going to take a while, probably 2 more weeks if I work at the same pace I did this last week. I'm managing one pattern repeat in a 24 hour period. So basically 2 knitting days. I only have 2 more skeins of the claret color, and won't be able to do the full 13 pattern repeats (unless by some miracle I come across a couple skeins in the same dye lot) and that actually pleases me. I can't wait to be done with that thing. Even though it looks great, it's hella boring. Oh well.

Knitting Marathon

In an attempt to avoid the post-Thanksgiving Day rush of shopping, I've embarked on a knitting-marathon. I've been at it since about 10am, took a break in there earlier to catch up at the Knitty Coffeeshop and eat lunch, then picked it right back up. This morning before my break, I finished the trapped bar pattern repeat on the 4th complete section of the HP scarf. After the break, I picked up the Irish Hiking Scarf and got another 5 inches done on that. So I'm up to 23 inches of 72. It's not even 3 pm yet though, so I'm hoping to get a lot more done today.

Stupid Dye Lots

So, I finally got through my first skein of yarn on the Harry Potter Scarf, and I realized I'm not going to have enough to do the 13 pattern repeats. I might be able to make it to 8 or 9. I have 2 more skeins (I freaked out because I only remembered buying 2 total) but I can't find any more in the same dye lot from where I purchased it originally. If at the end of the 3rd, I'm not happy with the length, I'm going to have to match it as best I can. At the very least, I'll have to use a different dye lot for the fringe. At least that won't be as noticable. Oh well. So far, I've done 4 pattern repeats. I went to my first Stitch 'n Bitch meeting for the Southside group of the Metrolina Stitch 'n Bitch here in Charlotte. I had so much fun! It turns out that I already know 2 of the members from several years back, so that made it so much more comfortable for me. And the other ladies there were great, so funny. I worked on the Irish Hiking Scarf there and I finally figured out how to knit AND purl with the yarn held in my right hand over my index finger. This made my knitting tighter, but not noticable on the scarf. That should speed things up for me. And it'll make my Mom proud. She was frustrated with me for not being able to hold the yarn "properly" when I was still learning. But I've got it now! I've got 18 1/2 inches done of the 72 I need to finish. Yay! One of my best friends, whom I have spent the last 5 years with on Thanksgiving (since I have no family around) gave me the best gift yesterday. It's a pattern a day calendar for 2006. I wish they didn't put the days on there. It could be a perpetual calendar if they didn't. But I found a bunch of great patterns in there. What a great early Christmas gift! Now I need to get cracking on her scarf/neck warmer thingie she wants me to make. But she knows I can't do that in time for Christmas, so hopefully by her birthday in early January.

What Knitting Needles Are You?

You are bamboo. Warm, cozy, and thoughtful, you take your time and enjoy how things feel, smell, and taste. You love the craft and beauty of traditional things, and you value the comfort and experience of knitting as much as the results. But while you are reveling in your warm cozies, don't get stuck. Warm is wonderful, but so is the whole wide world! What kind of knitting needles are you? brought to you by Quizilla

Kill me now...

I sat from 7 to 11:30 last night and got 44 rows done. That's it??? Argh! I think I'm picking up speed though, I got 11 rows done at the doctor's office while I was waiting this morning. Geez.

Add one more to the tally...

I started AND finished the scarf for my sister's fiance last night. Ok, so it was made with the WoolEase Thick n Quick on size US 50 needles, but hey, it counts. Don't look at me like that. I also finally took a pic of the keyhole scarf I made for my mom (notice the little helper in the bottom left.) The HP scarf is coming along nicely now that I've got the pattern worked out. 48 rows in the MC 4 rows CC, 8 rows MC, 4 rows CC and repeat. I'm now just over 9% done. Got through the first trapped bar repeat and halfway through the next section of MC. Only got a bit done of the Irish Hiking Scarf, but Harry Potter was posing a more intimidating challenge.

Harry Potter - stupid scarf

I went and saw Goblet of Fire last night, and was able to count the repeat rows of the CC color. The pattern I have is wrong. It calls for 3 rows, I clearly counted 4. Over and over and over again. Now, since I'm still only on row 12, I'm thinking of changing the pattern. By my count (with the super sophisticated ruler technique) when printing out a full page pic with the scarf in it, I think the pattern may be more like this: Either 52 or 60 rows Main Color (a bigger printout of the pic gave me a different ratio) 4 rows CC Color 10 or 12 rows MC 4 rows CC Rinse, wash, repeat. Fabulous. I just made this project even longer. I still counted 14 sets of bars.

My Inner Child

My inner child is ten years old!

The adult world is pretty irrelevant to me. Whether
I'm off on my bicycle (or pony) exploring, lost
in a good book, or giggling with my best
friend, I live in a world apart, one full of
adventure and wonder and other stuff adults
don't understand.

How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

Harry Potter and the Cast on of Confusion

Well, I finally did it. I started the HP Prisoner of Azkaban scarf for my nephew. I had to go to my LYS to have Vanessa show me the provisional cast-on, as that was the only thing holding me back. Turns out, the directions in "Knitting Without Tears" just plain suck. Why not just say it's just like the long-tail cast-on but with two different yarns and hold the waste yarn over your thumb? Geez, I felt like an idiot once we figured out what Ms. Zimmerman was trying to get at. But it's started. I'm on the 12th row. Only what, 509 to go? Yay. It's going much faster than I thought it would, what with it being 90 stitches in the round, on top of being my first project on circular needles. But it's started! And yay for Charlotte Yarn being open until 7pm on a Thursday! And double yay for being located next to my favorite pub. I popped over there after 26 cast on loops and finished up the remaining 64 whilst quaffing my favorite beer right at the bar. Heh. Yup, KIP at a bar. I'm so cool.

What book are you?

You're Anne of Green Gables!
by L.M. Montgomery
Bright, chipper, vivid, but with the emotional fortitude of cottage cheese, you make quite an impression on everyone you meet. You're impulsive, rash, honest, and probably don't have a great relationship with your parents. People hurt your feelings constantly, but your brazen honestly doesn't exactly treat others with kid gloves. Ultimately, though, you win the hearts and minds of everyone that matters. You spell your name with an E and you want everyone to know about it.
Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

Hmm...Keyhole Scarf Pattern

I was trying to make sure I had a link to each pattern I was using that I had got from the internet. I actually got the keyhole scarf pattern from the knitting group at work. I know it's a lion brand pattern and it was from the internet, but for all my searching I can't find it. All the patterns I've found were done in garter stitch and the one I have is all done in seed stitch. Hmm. I'll have to look at the pattern when I get back home and see where it came from because it looks quite nice. The one I did for my mom wasn't made with the fun fur, instead I substituted a neat yarn from Red Heart (I think) that my mom sent along. I had her pick it out because it needs to match her coat, that I've never seen. Great.

Finally! Pics of Finished Objects!

I finally got a friend to help me out and take a pic of me wearing my very first "fitted" project. This will be for my sister this Christmas. I'm so very proud of it. It's really only the 3rd thing I've made (if you count the fun fur scarf and large, oddly shaped shawl I made) and it turned out great. I used a variegated acrylic yarn (I was afraid to invest in more expensive yarn for a project this big. If I had it to do over again, I'd use a blend. But I knew nothing about gauge and whatnot when I started it.) The finished entralac scarf. My 4th project of all time. You can imagine how very proud of it I am. And finally, my current project. The Irish Hiking Scarf. Cabling is so much easier than it looks.

Only 3 repeats done...

Well, I ended up meeting some of the girls from work last night for drinks, so when I got home, I didn't get much progress done on the Irish Hiking Scarf. But it's shaping up! One of the cables looks a bit wonky, but I didn't do anything different at that point than I had anywhere else, so I dunno. But really, you can't tell. Just me. And it's not so wonky that I need to frog it and start over. Nope. No way. Uh-uh, no how.

Irish Hiking Scarf 11/14/05 - ?

I started the Irish Hiking Scarf last night. I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease yarn in a charcoal color. It really shows the cables nicely. Now, let's see how long this sucker takes me to finish. Obviously my goal is Christmas, but with all the other stuff I want to do, and need to do before I fly home on December 22nd, I'm not sure if I'll make it. Conner's HP scarf is going to take a long time, once I figure out how to do that looped cast-on on technique, it's all knit stitches in the round from then on out but it's a long-ass scarf. Even for a kid. Of course, Conner is pretty much taller than my by now, even at 12, but still. *sigh* Thank God he's in Seattle where even if I don't finish it until February, it'll still come in handy for a little while. Better think of a back-up gift.

Productive Weekend

Well, this weekend I managed to finish the entralac scarf off and add a knotted fringe. (Pics coming) I also made a keyhole scarf for my mother and taught myself how to cable! It was a lot easier than I thought, and actually makes the cheap acrylic, I'm using to learn on, bearable. I think I may actually keep going on the practice piece. I have a pound of the cheap stuff so why the heck not? I may make it a sampler scarf. Everytime I teach myself a new pattern, I'll do a few rows of seed stitch or something, then start in on the new pattern. By the time it's long enough for a scarf it should look pretty cool. heh. Onto the Irish Hiking Scarf for my friend Jimmy next. I'll save the other keyhole scarves I want to make for Cousin Vickie and her 2 little girls (some "Mommy and Me" scarves if you will) for Sundays while I'm watching football. And speaking of the keyhole scarf, I have a bone to pick with the idiot at Lion Brand Yarn that decided fun fur keyhole scarves should be knit in a seed stitch. Why? Why oh why? It's called "A big fat pain in the ass" is what it is. Though I don't doubt it serves it's purpose by making it lay nice and flat, I honestly think it'd be fine in a garter stitch or something. Oh well, I'll just spend the 4 hours it takes to do it by the directions and deal with it. *sigh*

Entralac and a Lonely Ball of Yarn

As promised, I've got some more pictures today. (Not the sweater yet, sorry) But I do have some pics to show off my entralac scarf I'm working on. The yarn is Inca Alpaca (100% Alpaca, color 1194) and this is my very first go at entralac! I found out last night that I was doing my M1's wrong. I wasn't lifting the bar up onto the left needle and knitting it, I was just going through the bar and adding a stitch. So as a result, my left side triangles aren't as smooth as my right hand ones. But I really don't care! I love the way this looks! Here's a pic of the pattern up close: Pretty cool huh? And alas, my lonely ball of yarn. This is a 94yd ball of Classic Elite Yarns "Gatsby" in color #2132. I saved it from my LYS as it was the last one left and had been discontinued. So now I have to figure out what to do with it? A scarf seems to be the easy answer, but I think this yarn has something more special than a scarf in it. Suggestions?

OK, that's it.

Well, I've failed miserably in keeping this blog up to date, so I've come up with a solution. Post what I love to talk about! Duh, right? But I've only recently picked my knitting needles back up, and have been endeavoring to finish all my Christmas presents by hand. I love talking about knitting, what I've learned, where I've shopped, what I've done, what I'm working on, etc. The problem is, I don't know that many knitters or people that actually care to hear about this stuff. So, I'm gonna talk about it here. So far, I've completed 3 projects and have 2 in the works. My first project, done after my mother taught me how to knit last Christmas, was a shawl-type thing. Really, it's a really wide scarf. I made it out of the Lion Brand Homespun yarn. It feels yummy, but since it was a first project, it's a bit wonky around the edges. I added stitches, decreased stitches, but thankfully, never dropped a stitch. I even used 2 different dye lots of yarn on it. Whoops. I'll provide a pic of this later. My second project was a fun fur scarf, to get my knitting juices flowing again after taking the spring and summer off. I made it from one of the patterns hanging from the shelves at Michaels. You know the one, the super long striped scarf? This sucker was supposed to be like 104 inches. Mine turned out more like 120. I have to double it to make it look normal when I wear it. Again, pics coming. My third project was a Christmas gift for my sister. It's a sleeveless sweater-jacket. It hangs to mid-calf and is made of variegated acrylic yarn. Being my first "fitted" project, I didn't want to use expensive yarn on it, so I gauged it appropriately and adjusted the pattern for the different yarn. It turned out great. All the edges are ribbed, but the inside edging along the front still curls in. The armholes need to be reinforced a bit at the seam, but all in all, the thing is actually wearable! I'm so proud! Again, pics coming. As I was finishing the edging on that project, I discovered that there was a knitting group where I work, and attended my first meeting with them. It was great! One of the ladies taught us how to make an intralac scarf. I wasn't prepared to learn anything that night, but had brought my WIP and used the acrylic yarn and size 11 needles to work along on it. I screwed it up when I got home, but her directions were so well done, I was able to start all over again with yarn I love, in a smaller, tighter gauge with size 8 needles. I just started the second ball of yarn last night. Pics to come. Since I have a hard time doing the intralac and watching football, I decided to start a set of dishcloths for my sister out in Arizona who has just re-done her kitchen. Well...I ran into problems with this uber-simple project. In the end, I've decided to frog it and start over with 2 strands held together. I'll just paste in my post at the Knitty Coffeeshop message boards: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got this pattern (yeah I know, a pattern for a dishcloth?) from the Knit Knack kit. I had trouble finding a 100% cotton yarn at Michaels so I went to my LYS and showed them the pattern card and asked for help finding an appropriate yarn. The pattern calls for 100% cotton worsted weight yarn (but didn't provide a gauge). The sales clerk picked out an Elizabeth Lavold Cotton Patine 100% combed cotton. It doesn't say what weight of yarn it is. (Well, other than that it's a 50g ball) It's a simple garter stitch, 32 stitches by 72 rows using US 8 needles. The picture definitely looks like a square to me. I'm on row 48, and if I go all the way to row 72, it will definitely be a rectangle. I love the yarn, and love the way it knits up. It seems appropriate for the purpose. But since the pattern provided no gauge, and now I'm most certain this chick did NOT give me a worsted weight yarn, I don't know what to do. For $6 a ball, do I really want to end up with a rectangular dishcloth? It's looking about square right now, so I'm thinking of binding off and calling it a lens cleaner. It's nice yarn though, so, though it's taken me several hours already to get where I am, I'm thinking of frogging it and using it for something else.

Here's what it looks like:

Halloween Horror: Crappy Candy

So, this is the first year of my living in apartments that I can expect to probably get some trick or treaters. Now, I've never been big on decorating, so no pumpkins on the front porch or cheesy paper decorations or fake cobwebs, but I did get some stuff to hand out. Since I work in a snack food factory, I thought "Hell, I can get out of this cheap." So I got a couple of 12 packs of some crackers and a box of suckers. Well, I opened the box of suckers and I don't know what I was expecting, but I saw the craptacular cheap sucker that the doctor would give a cranky child at the end of a visit. So now I feel the need to boost the quality of the candy swag I'll be giving out. But, I have an eye appt at the end of the day and I don't know what time that will get me home tonight, so I might miss out on the bulk of the candy-grubbing kids walking about. Why I feel obligated to do this for the kids that drive me insane 99% of the time, I'll never know. These are the kids that mill about the parking lots, no parental supervision, standing right in the middle of road and looking at you like you're a friggin' idiot for expecting them to GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!. *Sigh* What to do. Or not do.

Fun, fun, fun

So, some of you that know me may know that I love playing the online game 'Kingdom of Loathing . It's become somewhat of an obsession. Especially since the creator implemented 'ascension' (in other words, he finally finished the game. Although changes and additions are constantly being made, finally something happens when you 'get to the end' and you can sort of start over. Well, my main account has ascended 11 times now. Something I'm very proud of. My runs are getting quicker and more efficient and I'm acquiring useful skills left and right. Right now I'm working on a trophy whereby if you acquire all the skills from this one area (5) you get to show it off with a trophy in your 'display case'. This is a bunch of gobbledeegook to those of you that don't play, but hey, it makes me happy. Check out the game, it's humorous.

Katrina

Let's play word association. Before last week, if you'd have said "Katrina" I would have thought of my friend in grade school who was missing her pinky finger. She said she lost it shucking corn. Well, as a 6 year old you believe those kind of stories. Now, you say "Katrina" and I think of a storm that single handedly shut down one of our nations most well-known cities. Sure it was a shit hole and probably the slate being wiped clean will end up being better for the city. But when you see all those poor souls being evacuated to a destination unknown, having to leave behind their pets, you think - why? I've said, naively I'm sure, that if it were me, I would walk with my cats until I found a save haven or a good samaritan to take me and my cats away to a safe place. I still feel that way. But I can't believe more isn't being done to make sure these people can leave their pet with a shelter of some sort, tagged and identified, so that when they can, they can be reunited with their pet. It makes me so sad to think of having to part with Morris or Ripple under even the most extreme circumstances. What would you do?

The Historian

Wow - finally finished this book last night. I'd been reading a chapter or two at a time before bed, then the gas crunch hit and I spent the weekend reading on the patio. Besides, I think the choice of reading it before bedtime probably isn't the way to go. At least not once you get further into it. I have to say, for a first time novel, this really gets high marks. It's well written and intriguing. Girl did her homework. The Dracula legend is one that I think everyone, in some way, has heard and been either creeped out by or fascinated by. This gives something to each camp. I look forward to the next novel by this author. Next on the list - "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini, child prodigy who wrote "Eragon." I hope to finish it by the time my Nephew does. I'm not sure if he's even started it yet, but hey, if we finish at the same time, it's that much more of an actual conversation on the phone. You try and talk to an 11 year old.

The Whole Fam-Damnly

Well, I haven't posted in over a week because life took a busy turn for a week. My sister, nephew, and parents came to visit me for the week of my birthday. (Yeah, I'm 29 now, so stop asking me how old I am from here on. I'm not aging anymore.) The first few days were fun, yet stressful because Mom was, well, mom. Once we got her to let me drive my car around and give up on her driving her van with the GPS system, all went well on that front. I mean, here I am, trying to give simple, direct driving directions, and my parents opt to listen to "polly the parrot" on their GPS system. This procedes to get them all sorts of screwed up because they don't react quick enough to her directions for them to work. Oh well. But we had fun. I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

Can one really have too many plants?

My family is visiting this week and my mom seems to think I have too many plants. You should see her patio. Geez. So I like plants. BFD right? I'm happy with the population of plants in my apartment, dammit.

Umm...

So, after nearly an hour on the phone with my Mom last night, I might have made some progress in convincing her and Dad to go back to their second original plan to stay through Sunday. My Dad really wants to be back to work for Monday, which I can understand, but I sincerely hope they decide otherwise. Mostly because I'm just freakin' tired of all the changes to their travel plans. Can we just get this figured out for good already? Anywho. How about a fun picture today? This is my baby Ripple. Isn't he cute?