In other news, um...what's wrong with this article title?
Elegant? Really? Umm...not so much. Woman's World really hasn't changed in the past 15 years. Yet, my mother continues to buy it. And hence, once in a while, I am compelled to buy it too. It's oddly comforting. But please. Elegant? Um...yeah.
The new shower curtain.
Check it out, new light fixture. The other one was older than me. It had to be. This one is so much brighter. I love it!
Pardon the spray bottles on the toilet. One has a water/conditioner mixture in it for the "day after" hair. The other is just water. I had used it for taking down the wallpaper. It still lurks in the bathroom though. I think it's emotionally attached.
This is directly across from the toilet, and the only place thus far I have found to put the stupid litterbox. I really need to potty train them. I hate the litterbox in a public area. There's just nowhere else right now.
Hi!
I think I used that post title the last time I posted about finishing fuzzy feet. Oh well. I like it. It makes me think of disco. Anyhow, I finished the second fuzzy foot last night at my knitting meetup. It's a bit smaller than the first, but I think that's because for the first, I used the smallest cord in my Boye set to knit it in the round until I couldn't fit it anymore. The second, I had went ahead and bought a 32" Addi turbo in the 10 1/2 size because I figured I'd be knitting a lot of these. Um...well...I think doing the magic loop cum sideloop technique made me knit it a bit tighter. Oh well. It's not that huge a difference and once they're felted who'll know anyway? Now, all I have to do before April 21st is find a box to wrap them in, type out some fun step-by-step felting directions that a 12 yr old could follow (with mom's help with the washer) and get them mailed to Seattle. I think my Nephew will like these. And probably the do-it-yourself part more.
So, the meetup last night was at a new location for the folks on the north end of town. Well, I got lost getting there. Thanks, MapQuest. A mall is not in the middle of the suburbs. It's a new mall, just opened at the beginning of February (I think, coulda been before that) so you'll forgive me for not knowing where it was. But damn. The Borders books in that mall where we met...amazing collection of knitting books. I found The Twisted Sisters Sock workbook (which I'd only seen online) and finally broke down and bought Socks Socks Socks. I was able to flip through it thoroughly and admitted that there were at least 4 or 5 socks patterns I wanted to make in it. The Twisted Sisters book - wow. There's so much more than just sock information in there. It'll be a great resource for me when I'm ready to dye that sock yarn I bought from knitpicks at the beginning of the year, and when I get my hands on a drop spindle to give spinning a go. It's all there! Sweet. And I got a 25% discount for the next time I buy something there. So I think I'll finally break down and buy Knitting Over the Edge. I really should get it before the weekend, because I want to finish up the pinwheel blanket. I might go ahead and get it tonight at the meetup at Books-a-Million. The blanket is big enough for it's purpose, and it's ready for an edging. I'm trying to figure out how that'll work on a round blanket. Will I have to maintain the YO every other round of the edging to keep it flat? Hmm...
In other news. My favorite Conveinience store clerk was shot and killed the other night. Rajendra Premani always greeted me by name, remembered little details about me, would have my 2 packs of Parliment Light Menthols ready for me (before I quit) and cheered me on when I told him I was quitting. For 4 years, I only went to that Circle K because of him. I lived right next door. The apartment complex that the shooter ran into after. For 3 of those years, my building was right next door to the Circle K. Then I moved further back into the complex. Raj was covering for a co-worker. He could have gone home 3 and a half hours earlier, but he stayed. He and his co-worker did everything that was asked of them, and the asshole still fired his gun. I'm so glad they caught the guy. It hurts my heart to think that this kind man is dead.
I love all his pockets and nooks. He can fit nearly everything in there that I need on my current projects. Well, he could fit it all, but I refuse to put my Adamas Shawl and stuff in there, it's gotta stay separate and at home. If I try it in public, I'll screw the pooch. I just know it. But for some reason, I put the dental floss in him. Hmm...need to move that to the Adamas bag.
I look forward to grabbing him and taking him to my Stich 'n Bitch and my Knitting Meetup groups. Isn't he the most useful bag you have ever seen? I love me some bagsmith.
As I was preparing for Flash Your Stash (how are you all planning on doing this? Lots of pr0n up close, some storage shots, what? All of it?) Ripple couldn't stay out of trouble. And I couldn't resist grabbing the camera before I rescued him.
The little stinker. He just has to jump up on the shelf over my computer, then see where he can go from there. I'm still waiting for him to make it on top of the shelves housing my book stash (and part of my yarn stash, and my needles, *sigh*)
And now, after Sunday's shelf installing extravaganza, I have a veritable walkway around the walls of the office for him. You'll see.
Oh, and back to FYS. I have photos of my closet and shelves where I keep most of it. I have some close ups of the stash too. But, uh, how does this work? Do you have to label every photo with what it is? How many pr0n shots? Do you have to have one with the whole mountain that is your stash? I guess that'd be nice, if not a pain. This is my first time flashing, so I'd like to hear what you all have seen or done.
Heh. Managed to get cats in there some how. So, I finally get around to "F" in the ABC-Along (see sidebar for A-E). F is also for Friends and Family, which these felines certainly fill those rolls as well for me. First, we have Morris:
Morris has lived a long life. I think. You see, my sister adopted him while she was in the Marines in Jacksonville, NC. Morris was living outside her home, and visited her regularly, bringing her "presents" and whatnot. She'd let him inside every now and then, and one day - he didn't leave. He'd obviously been a part of someone else's family at some point. He was fixed, and friendly. Then she moved to Charlotte along with her 4 other cats, to a 1 bedroom apartment. And Morris, you see, likes his alone time. You can't get alone time when there are 4 other cats taking up all the good sunbeams. So he took to living in the covered litterbox. He stunk to say the least. After convincing my sister that she needed to reduce the feline population of her home, I adopted Morris. He was shy. I took him home and immediately gave him a bath. He didn't like that so much. He spent the first month or so under the bed. I put food and water under there for him. Every night my roommate and I would pull him out from under the bed and hold him, talk to him, and pet him. Eventually, he would come out to greet us and hang out with us. He and Ripple grew to become great buddies. I can't picture one without the other now. The longer Morris and Ripple were together, the more energy and spunk Morris showed. He plays and runs around like he was just a couple years old. We think he's anywhere from 13-15 years old now. He's a good Feline. (Heh, there's my F again.)
And then we have Ripple.
This is my favorite picture of Ripple. Not the best quality, but it really shows just how funny he is. When I went to graduate school in Louisville, KY - I moved into my first apartment. I was all alone. I'd never been without a cat. Well, when I lived in the college dorms, but even then there were cats around. I had a roommate that was highly allergic to cats. Being the bitch I was though, I got a cat anyway. I got Ripple at the pet shop. He was from the animal shelter and had been found in rurall Kentucky in a box on the side of the road along with his brothers and sisters. He was the last one left. He saw me and immediately crawled up the side of the cage he was in (like one of those Garfield dolls that stick to your car window with suction cups) and I knew he was mine. I brought him home with a harness and leash (I intended to walk him at the local park) and he immediately took to me. He would burrow in my hair to nap (and still does, but instead of my shoulder, he sits on the couch and burrows from behind), he join me in the shower (yup, he likes to get wet) and never objected to a pedicure. Ripple lets me pick him up and snuggle him while he purrs in my ear. He's my kid. He's 7 years old now, but you wouldn't know it. He's still as full of mischief as the day I took him home. Men may come and go in my life (though they haven't come in for several - ok - 5 - years now) but my cats are my constants. They're my friends and my family. The ones I come home to every night that greet me with a headbutt to the shin, and wait for me by the door. They sleep on the bed with me every night. Morris on the pillow by my head and Ripple at the foot. They're my boys. My little redheads.
I managed to get through the upper chart portion of the Adamas Shawl pattern. Casting on and getting through that first row was tricky. I've never used such fine yarn before. Once I got going, I took my time, I talked the pattern through (Ripple was Soooo not impressed with my ciphering) and managed not to fuck it all up too badly. I didn't have a problem until rows 17 and 19 when I had the most stitches on my needle. The repeats were regular enough, but I lost track of where I was in it because I was being so careful. Know what I mean? I kept looking from the chart to the needles after every stitch, then forget what repeat I was on. Ugh. It was ugly.
Also, I went to a new yarn shop today. It was nice enough. No Noro (!) and a poor selection of needles. But the rest of the yarn, and the set-up, was really nice! Pricier than the shop I frequent the most, but it's nice to know what they have. And I couldn't leave without picking up something special.
Isn't that the neatest little knitting basket you've ever seen? I plan on using it for my sock in progress. Once I get one going again.
I also picked up a little more Cotton Chenille for a flower washcloth (for me!) from Weekend Knitting. 
I have one more to make for my mother, and I'll have some white left over, so between that and this, I just might have enough for two! Yay!
Oh, and be patient. There'll be pics of the finished bathroom very soon. It's drying and a few more things need to be installed. And I haven't decided whether or not to paint the doors and the cabinet the darker color that I used for the glaze. I probably will.
This is the Lacy Round Cloth , March's mid-month KAL on the yahoo group. Upon suggestion on Day 2 by the moderator, I changed yarns every 20 rows. Upon getting pissed off by said mod and saying "screw it, I can find dishcloth patterns myself" I looked up the pattern and realized the mod was wacked in the head because picking only 2 colors, for a 9 section repeat, would make me start and end with the same color "petal". So, I ended one repeat early, and it's still very round. So screw it. Next time, I'm picking 3 colors, and doing all 9 repeats. I'm not going to quit the group, I thought about it, because this chick really was quite rude to an innocent e-mail I sent, but screw it. She's not the one sending out the patterns usually. She's covering for the group owner. So, I just won't be checking into the group's messages from now on. Anyway.
So. The Jaywalker bathrooms was a complete disaster. And I had fabulous help too. One of my knitterly friends from my meetup.com group offered to help me, and even brought help! All was going fine until they had to leave. Then I took over. And I screwed it up. Maybe I'm just too picky, but it just didn't come across on the wall like it did in my head. Their part turned out great.
The edges needed a touch up, but the stripes were even, and looked good. A bit wider than I was thinking in my head, and I was also thinking of more repeats in the up and down. But damn if what we did do didn't take long enough. Fuck that.
Then I took over.
Doesn't look the same does it? I was so disappointed. And every time I tried to fix it, I made it worse. It was sad. I even gave it a night and tried to fix it later. Nope. I went out first thing in the morning and bought primer and paint and glaze, and I'm doing a ragging technique now. It's looking good. The Jaywalker Bathroom lasted all of 24 hours. Not even actually. I'm still sad about it. I'm glad I'm redoing it in a much more subtler style. It will look a lot better. And it already does. But paint was everywhere. It was a complete mess. And I still have some cleanup to do. But I'll have it all fixed in a couple days. Just a few more walls to rag, and we're done. Then it's on to the Adamas Shawl from Knit Picks.
Aspiring Crazy Cat Lady and I are going to go through first time lace-knitter hell together. And remember how I said I bought the same color yarn that my sp sent me? Nah, I only thought I did. I nearly did actually. That was my second choice (apparently) and I went with the Sunset colorway. It's purty. But damn, after seeing the Jewels colorway in person, I almost wish I HAD picked it. Oh well. This will also be my very first time trying to knit something by looking at a chart. And I'm scared. I like the written directions. I'm seriously thinking of writing out the pattern. But I think that might be stupid. I'm not sure. Any advice from you lace-knitters out there? Moral support?
I can't wait to go home in a couple minutes and wind all my skeins into balls. Wound balls make even cheap acrylic look cool! My stash is going to be stylin' for Flash Your Stash! Yay!
I ordered a swift yesterday. Joann's has them for $39.99 right now. But if you use your 40% off coupon on it, you end up saving even more, you just have to pay for shipping. But you still come out ahead! Yay!
She's a budding ar-teest is she not?
And then lo, behold the knitty goodness:
What's all that in there you ask? Lemme show you. First, the non-yarn:
That's some Trader Joe's Gourmet Peanut Brittle (I haven't had peanut brittle in YEARS! And Trader Joe's Soy & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips. She says they're her favorite snacks. I'll take your word on the tortilla chips, Jo. Um, hmm. I'm in for an adventure I think. Fortunately, not like the taste adventure Domestic Overlord is about to embark on. Oh, and see that on the left? A "Limited Edition Hershey's White Chocolate Confetti" bar! Yay! Why have I not seen this anywhere? I so need to stalk the candy aisle of Harris Teeter. And those candles, to die for! One is scented "fresh cut roses" and the other "lotus blossom" and wow. Do they smell good!
Anyway, lookee what else:
Yes, I'm sitting in front of the door because I couldn't wait to open it. Like the carpet? Heh. That's 3 skeins of Berroco Cotton Twist in my favorite Fall Foliage colors. Jochibi suggested perhaps a new Odessa, for me (!), out of it. I see she's been paying attention since I mused that perhaps I need to try cotton to combat the itchiness. You bet I will! The next step is to figure out how to make the colors swirl. And the other skein, this shows how psychic my SP is, is Knitpicks Shadow in the color Jewels - THAT I BOUGHT 2 HANKS OF TODAY to knit an Adamas Shawl! That's some psychic powers that is. The same color? How the? What? Wow. I bow to you, Jochibi, for you are far more gifted than me in psychic powers. Wow.
And that wasn't all. She sent me a wonderful housewarming gift too. Before I opened it, I read her note, stating that her sister had gotten her one of these, and she uses it all the time.
I laughed my ass off when I opened it. Because of course I see that it's a shotglass when I opened it. Then I saw the detail. My, I bet that is useful. Now I'll know just how many tablespoons of Jagermeister is in a shot. Heh. But seriously, I do see how useful it'll be when I 
Simple Summer Dishcloth
Yeah, I'm addicted. They're such fun, small projects though! And I love giving them as gifts! Yeah, the only ones I've gifted have been to my mom, but still. I have a plan to have one in my purse ready to give away when needed. Another Knit-a-long starts tomorrow, and I'm ready!
So, last night, I thought I'd make all sorts of progress on the Pinwheel baby blanket, but it's kinda hard to knit when you're drunk. heh. I had a day from hell at work, and even had work to bring home. So, while I filled out 121 meal vouchers, I sipped a glass of wine. Then when I was done, I kept sipping. I forgot the "eating" part of the evening until about 9pm. But I still managed to get 4 repeats done. I'm not sure how big I'm going to make it, but we'll see. I really hate the idea of transferring the live stitches to waste yarn just to see how big it is. Seems like a lot more trouble than I need to go through. I figure if I can measure from the center to an edge, that'll give me just as good an idea anyway. Right? *sigh* I see waste yarn in my future.
I got that chair at a dumpster, painted it, and reupholstered it with a tapestry from my college days. I love it. I have no room for it inside, but it fits on the porch.
Anywho, I worked on the pinwheel baby blanket, and here's the progress:
For reference, it's on a 32" circular. I know because it's knit from the center out, it'll grow fast, but I'm almost to the point where visible progress is about to stop. I'll be knitting forever and only make it grow by a 1/4" - just you wait and see. I'd love to get this done for the weekend. Cross your fingers. Oh, and see those stitch markers? We'll call that a hint should my SP actually view my blog. Hee hee.
1 (finally) down, 1 (ugh) to go. But it's finally done! Took long enough. I've been so busy though, I really haven't had time to devote to any one project that was more complicated than a dishcloth. But I'm getting back to a normal groove. I got farther on my Pinwheel Baby Blanket too. When I first blogged about it, someone (evil they must be) asked if I wasn't telling you all something. No! I'm not pregnant! It's for my friend's baby that inherited the Odessa. She won't sleep without it. She has to cuddle it at all times, so I've been asked to please make something without beads that she could snuggle in her crib. So I'm working on that, and hopefully will finish within the next two weeks. But in the meantime, a new dishcloth knit-a-long starts on Wednesday, and I have Jaywalker #2 to work on. But as I look at my calendar, I think that second Jaywalker will have to wait until I finish a pair of fuzzy feet for my Nephew's birthday in April. I'll have to get them knit up beforethe first week of April is finished so I can mail them out. He's proven to be knit-worthy, so I'm excited to make these for him. Plus he'll have fun felting them.
Oh, and that's my car in the background there. I love my CRV.
I nearly forgot about "E". Last June, I helped my sister move cross-country with her 3 cats. My only request, is that we stop at Graceland on the way. I mean, what's a road trip across the US if you aren't gonna stop at Graceland?
Because the cats were in the car, we couldn't stop for long. So we parked, ran across the street, and got a few pics to prove we were there:
6 times I started the Pinwheel Baby Blanket before I finally figured out I could have had it right from the start, but I was just overthinking. The instructions do tell you to *K1 YO* around to the marker, but do you think I was YOing at the marker? No. I was K1 and then never could figure out how I was coming up short. It just didn't make sense to me that you'd YO before a marker like that. Duh. but I've got it figured out, and once I get moving on it, I'll switch out those boring plastic rings for some of my fab beaded stitch markers.
I managed to finish painting the ceiling of the Jaywalker bathroom tonight. Yup. Jaywalker. You'll see.
This is the first time I've really been able to sit down at my computer in my office since I had internet installed on Tuesday. I turned on my camera to download that pic, and saw Ripple on the futon. He did this right when I held up the camera to take a pic.
Aww, such a show off.
I really need to post progress pics of that damn Jaywalker. I'm nearly finished the first one, I swear! I just, it, well, it's not for me. Dammit. It was, then I discovered it was too tight, and I'm too stubborn, so it's for someone else, and I don't care about getting it done too soon. So there.
Now, a preview for "Flash Your Stash 2006" coming up on April 1st. One of the first things I arranged was my stash. Duh. Doesn't everyone?
That's the closet in my 
Nice huh? And I went out and bought a nice basket to put next to my living room couch. I put all my cotton in it for my dishcloths. Nice, simple project yarn, within reach at any time I'm found sitting on my ass watching TV. Gotta keep those hands busy! And you know what? That's still not all, I have two spacebags full of yarn stuffed under the futon to the left of that bookshelf. Oy. When I get the shelves installed, I'll put all that on them. Then will I ever have a stash to flash!
Directly across from that bookshelf, we have my desk with the uber cool shelf I created above it.
Somehow, even though that room is super small, I managed to not show the wall with the window and the futon. But they're there.
Let's see, what else is not in complete disarray that I can show you? Ah. The bedroom, to the left is the closet and all the stuff I took out of the bathroom while I'm re-decorating, so you don't need to see that. But here's the bed:
Yes, that is a Giant Spathyphylum (aka Giant Peace Lily) and yes, it blooms. It's a happy plant. It used to live in my living room, but as you will see, no room for it there. But boy, does it look good in my bedroom. The headboard is a set of folding louvered closet doors that I hinged together and spray painted. It is standing up behind the bed with a small gap so that it doesn't bang against the wall every time...a cat jumps up on the pillows. (Sicko, thought I was gonna talk about my love life huh? Well, it's non-existant at the moment)
Here's the living room:
It still needs work. The plant in front of the mirror above the mantel is going on the wall (it's one of those half-circle deals) and I have yet to put up decorative shelves and what not. But you get the idea. I have a lot of plants. See now why there was no room for the spath?
Well, I do believe that's all for today. I have my internet getting installed tonight, then I'm off to another knitting club meeting! I went last night to my Stitch 'n Bitch (screw you SFSE) and had a great time. I missed the meetings. I was only absent for a week's worth, but still. I missed it. And tonight I'm actually having to miss the one at work so I can rush home for the internet install. Oh, and I'm missing the local guild meeting of the TKGA. Oh well, I still haven't made it to one of those. Dunno, I suppose because it's only once a month at best, I prefer the ones that meet more often.
Hopefully I'll have some pictures of my painted bathroom to show you in about a week. I hope to get to it this weekend. Let's just say, the color scheme is inspired by my "It Felt Random" bag (minus the pink) and the Jaywalker sock. heh.
Once you're done, stick it in the bottom of the bag, and ta da! Look at her posture!
“It Felt Random Bag”
Supplies:
Size 10.5 Circular Needles
3 or 4 hanks Cascade 220 (all different colors)
Stitch Marker
8 Large Grommets and Grommet tool
Hammer
1 - Size 19 Knitting Needle
6 Peg Knitting Spool or Size 10.5 Double Pointed Needle
Gauge: Not terribly important. Loose enough you can see light through, but not pretend your Zorro.
Pattern: Go to the Random Stripe Generator and check off the colors you’ve chosen for your bag. I recommend at least 3 colors. For the bag shown, you’ll want to check off 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 for the allowed stripe widths. Key in 96 for the number of rows you want generated. (I won’t tell if you leave it at 100, it’s not that important) Click “Generate My Stripes” and keep refreshing your screen until you see a stripe pattern that you fall in love with. Print it out. (The picture of the stripe pattern will not print, if you really want to have it for reference, right click, do a “Save Picture As” and put it somewhere on your hard drive. Print separately.)
With the 4 yarn colors you’ve chosen tossed into a bag, close your eyes and grab a ball. (This is a random bag remember, just do it.) Take that color, and cast on 50 stitches. Knit every row for 50 rows. When done, start picking up stitches. On the short sides, you will pick up one stitch for every ridge, so 24 stitches. All told, you’ll have 148 stitches on your needles when you get all the way around.
Starting from the bottom of your generated stripe pattern, work your way up. If the first stripe is the same as the base of your bag – happy day! You don’t have to change yarns! But please, do place the stitch marker at the point of joining.
Tip: When changing colors, knit one round with the new color, and when you get to the beginning of the 2nd round, knit into the stitch below the first stitch of your new color. This reduces the jog, and yeah, I know you’re going to felt it, but it doesn’t hurt to practice and it looks oh so nice as you’re knitting along.
If you run out of one of your colors near the end of your bag, don’t sweat it. Grab one of the other colors and move along. This is a randomly striped bag remember? No buying another hank if you run out of one color! You have more than enough yarn in front of you to finish. Save your money for another color for a future bag.
When you finish your stripe sequence, weave in all the ends (you'll thank yourself if you do this every so often as you're knitting along instead of saving it all for last) bind it off and put your remaining yarn back in that bag (but only the colors that you have a fist full of). Close your eyes, or have a friend close their eyes and reach into the bag and grab a ball of yarn. This will be your strap color. If you happen to have a cool 6 peg knitting spool like I do (thanks, Mom!) then make an i-cord with it as long as you are tall. If you don’t, make a 6-stitch i-cord with that 10.5 double pointed needle you have. Unless you’re the height of an oompa-loompa – then make it as long as your averagely heighted friend is (I’m 5’5”).
Throw it all into a zippered pillowcase, toss it in a washing machine set to “Hot” with some towels or jeans and some wool wash, walk away for a bit. Don’t check it every 5 seconds, it’ll get you nowhere. Give it at least 10 minutes before you peek for the first time. When you can’t see the stitches anymore, it’s done. Take an appropriately sized shoe-box (if you don’t have one, go shop for shoes that come in a box that’s the right size.) Put the box in a plastic bag so it doesn’t get all cardboardy-wet-like, and put your wet, smelly, felted purse over it upside-down and let it dry. Hang the felted i-cord up somewhere and let it dry as well. When it’s just about dry, or when it’s completely dry (depending on your patience) take that big-ass size 19 needle, your grommets, hammer, and purse, outside to some pavement or concrete. Don’t do it on a second-floor condo patio. It’s too loud. And don’t do it on a kitchen floor either, you won’t hit it hard enough. Go to concrete I say!
Once outside, you’ll want to fold the sides of the bag in like a sandwich bag, decide where you’d like your strap holes to be, and poke away. I go with a spot right on the edge of two stripes, to make it easier to line them all up. You CAN poke 4 holes at once so that they all line up the way you want. I did it, and I’m not exactly She-Ra, Princess of Power. Just slip one hole off the needle at a time (reading that, it makes no sense, but you know what I’m talking about.). Place the part of the grommet that DOESN’T have the sharp pointy things on the OUTSIDE of the purse, then take that part of the grommet that DOES have the pointy bits and put that on the inside of the purse. Take the base of your grommet tool, put it on the concrete, and put the grommet on the outside of the purse on it. Take the grommet tool and place it on the interior grommet, grab that hammer, and give it a few good whacks (being careful not to hit your fingers – trust me, it’ll throb for minutes!). Whack that grommet until the join is nice and smooth. Slip the next hole off the big-ass needle, and repeat. When you’re all done, slide your felted i-cord through so that the ends are on the side, knot them together. Ta-Da! You have your random bag!
But, wait, does it flop? Well, fix it!
