Apparently I suck at this.

Either that or I am exhibiting a strange rebellion against authority.... Even though I am the one who decided to post every day! Day two and I forgot. I toyed briefly with ideas for travelling back in time or possibly setting the date back on my computer.... I decided, however to just go ahead and 'fess up instead. Indeed, I am crap at blogging consistency!

Sadly, I still have no photos. So I shall knit instead! I may be able to start the stripes on Daybreak tonight!

November: National Blog Post Month

Well, I didn't make it all the way through Blogtoberfest.... It was pretty exciting to post so much, though! And I apparently have a chance to redeem myself in November during National Blog Post Month. I didn't make that up, either.... Found it on the internets....

And I am aware that I owe another SAFF post, but I am going to TRY to finagle a way to get the yarn purchases uploaded so there will be pictures.... Give me a couple of days!

I stopped posting this past week because, honest to goodness, I have been too busy knitting. I can't believe it, but its true! I finished the Christmas present socks. Thank goodness, because they were starting to get on my last nerve. They just went on too long....

Then I started another present, the Bird in Hand Mittens. May I say, worsted weight yarn on size one needles is nothing to trifle with! My poor fingers, so sore.... They are so, so, so beautiful, though! Kate Gilbert is another genius!! I got through one with only grafting and the thumb left, so even with frequent breaks for finger resting they are going quickly!

As a reward to myself for working so hard on Christmas presents, I started some easy, mindless knitting, the Daybreak Shawl. I saw it on another blog and fell in love. The yarn for that one is one of my SAFF purchases, so there SHOULD be pictures sometime this week... :-)

Other than knitting there has been passive entertainment. I read the cutest book: Soulless by Gail Carriger. She has the best voice I have encountered in a very long time in a formerly-unknown-to-me author, and you gotta love laughing out loud in a book about a victorian miss totally missing her soul.... Loved it!! Also saw The Brothers Bloom and enjoyed it thoroughly. Matt thinks that Rachel Weiss' eyes are too far apart, but it didn't hurt my enjoyment one little bit!

Ok, gotta go! Time for Amazing Race!

Beginning of the SAFF madness....

So, on Friday The Mom and I got up at 5AM to get ready to get to SAFF as early as possible. Which turned out to be absolutely ridiculous, since we were ready to leave at 6 and had to wait anxiously until I could get into the building at work to leave... at 8! I had left my beloved Kingscot, done but for the ends, under my desk at work when I left on Thursday. Scared the crap out of me. I was ok with it, frustrated that I would have to wait to do the last little bit of finishing, but HOLY COW, not after what my mom suggested. She looked me straight in the face and said, "They won't throw it away, will they?" WHAT??? THROW IT AWAY???? NOOOOOOO!

Fortunately, it was where I had left it and I safely retrieved it. Even if it did get us a late start.

The drive took less time than expected (by me, anyway. How did I have no real memory of how long it takes to drive to Asheville), the perception of which was aided by the fact that I slept for a good solid hour of the trip. Time flies when you are sound asleep!

Ok, most importantly, what did we wear!? I sported my happy rainbow Ishbel. It truly is happy! I wore it as a shawl, pinned with one of The Mom's lovely jewelry pieces. People asked about it all day. They even reached out and touched it. (People who know me know how I LOVE to be touched unexpectedly by strangers.... Where is your sense of personal space, people??) The Mom looked FAB in her Clapotis. I blocked it Wednesday, and it came out SO beautifully... She picked the perfect yarn for it, which I now know is Brooks Farm Four Play. Because people in our class made me go ask. And took pictures of it! She was a complete hit. We were both very proud of ourselves, and of each other....

Once we arrived, we hardly had any time before our class. We made a brief raid on Miss Babs' booth, where my most major purchasing was done lickity-split. More on purchases later.

Took the lace knitting class with Elizabeth Ravenwood. She was very charming. We all received a skein of Knitpicks Gloss Lace, and were left to fight over them, picking from a pile on the floor in a most dog-eat-dog manner.... Luckily I snagged green for me and red for The Mom. Perfecto. I am sure the class was great, but honestly both of us were more advanced than what she was teaching. We immediately cast on and went to town. No new stitches, no techniques that were previously secret. Apparently there is no great secret to lace knitting, we just lacked the confidence to start on our own.... Live and learn. I wonder if we will take any classes next year? Maybe we are better knitters than we ever suspected!!

The best part was that she soaked and blocked the lace scarf we are working on in the class. I had never learned anything about blocking with wires, and I am really pleased to have seen it done. She also shared the source of the wires: welding supply stores. That is pretty exciting, cause stainless steel rod is much cheaper than blocking wires! They sell the stuff by the pound!

After the class and after we had walked around to restore feeling to our cold, numb butts, we did some recon work on the remainder of the shopping situation. I love the yarn at SAFF... The colors are luscious. I end up touching one of EVERYTHING. Ohhh, soft. Ohhh, pretty. (I am newly in love with undyed, fingering weight alpaca. It comes in the most gorgeous caramel color.... Sigh.)

Ohhh, expensive. I know that these are artists. I seriously, absolutely value the work, skill and passion that go into producing such scrumptious fibers. No doubt. But my budget doesn't stretch very far among the land of art yarn. It became IMMEDIATELY clear that my carefully prepared shopping list is out the window. I couldn't afford even one sweater's worth of the lovelies....

Not to worry. The Mom and I held a re-strategizing session over fast food. I will share that with the report on Saturday at SAFF.... :-)

Again, sorry that there are no pictures. I sadly miss my laptop and all my ability to upload pictures. I wish my posts could be as filled with color and beauty as SAFF was!

Recovering from SAFF.

I tried, I really did. I even recruited my mom to bring her work laptop with us so I could blog from Asheville.... Unfortunately, WiFi wasn't free at our cheap motel and I never did quite pull it off.... I am not going to consider that another Blogtober failure for two reasons: 1. I was out of town doing fun knitterly things. 2. I refuse to feel bad about failing at something that NOBODY but me cares that I was trying to do. Seriously, I have enough to worry about. So, in the interest of self-esteem and blog love, I am giving myself a pass! Now I am very happy to be back.... I love my blog!

We had a very good time at SAFF. I took absolutely no pictures, way too busy shopping and learning.... It didn't seem as crowded to me this year, and there definitely seemed to be fewer animals. The only thing that I was really disappointed about was not seeing a single bunny. Quite a few grown rabbits, no babies. Wonder if there is some kind of bunny production issue? Weird, huh? Anyway, I didn't get to hold any bunnies and I was sad.

Other than that, we took it easy and had a very enjoyable vacation. Tomorrow, when I have recovered more (MAN, am I getting old!), I will detail the days, the classes and the purchases. Remind me to discuss the new strategy The Mom and I came up with for the coming year!

All stitched up!

I have sewn the Kingscot together! It is beautiful and fits very well. I wish it was slightly longer and the sleeves were slightly shorter.... But I will be wearing it soon and often! Now I have to sew the buttons on and tie in the ends. Who invented ends, anyway? I think they should be shot.... And tortured.... And then made to tie in ends!!

No time to talk....

...I am sewing my Kingscot together!! I stayed late after work today and pinned the sleeves in. Work has all these GIANT training tables. Amazingly enough, not a single person walked by the training room and contemplated having me committed for crafting in an unused room at work, after I stopped getting paid!

Anyway, mere days left until its command performance, must continue sewing.... :-)

Ok, I lied.

I did not post twice yesterday. Nothing that I would blog about really happened.... Matt and I went to see Zombieland, which was hilarious. The Mom and I watched The Amazing Race, which I love. (I evaluate everyone I know by what kind of partner they would make if I were to ever go on that show.... So far, my brother is in the lead for the most likely to be able to climb something or put something together, The Mom in ahead by a mile for the person with whom I would have the most fun, and Ian gets credit for being the most peaceful person I can imagine going with.... We aren't going to speculate what kind of partner I would make....)

See, less than scintillating.

Today I made my copies for my SAFF notebook. With my limited budget, it is much less extensive and impressive than the one I put together for Stitches.... Anyway, I have evaluated the hundreds of things that I want to knit based on a couple of criteria. First, can I afford to get the yarn for this, and would it be the ONLY thing I could get if I chose it? Second, but a very close second, how much have I been DYING to knit this? Third, though being left in the dust by the other standards, I have to consider if I am going to use the proposed project for a Christmas present. (There isn't going to be much of that this year, sadly....)

Here you have the winners from this year's festival, in no particular order:

1. Olivia by Kim Hargreaves. (Photo from her website, since I am jonsing for pictures!)I have seriously been coveting every single finished version of this sweater I see on Ravelry. I have no idea what yarn I am looking for to make it, but I think it needs a little tweedy rusticity. I don't even know what color I am looking for, but rust or eggplant are both colors that are appealing to me recently. Everything I was attracted to during the summer was blue or green. Time for a change!

2. Faber by Norah Gaughan. (Photo credit goes to Berroco.com) I sincerely believe this sweater will obtain new-favorite-sweater status immediately upon completion! I LOVE this. I have considered Yowza! What a Skein by Miss Babs for this one.... Will I like a semi-solid for it, though? We shall have to see....

3. Fish Hat, Dead or Alive from Knitty. (Their image.)Dead, of course, because I think that is way funnier! I am making this one for someone who shall remain nameless (no, not you Ian.) for Christmas. I would LOVE to whip out three or four of them before the holiday so we could all wear them for a group portrait.... But I am just weird like that!

That is it. Three projects and perhaps some sock yarn. I think I am being terribly practical.

Now I am off to yell at the tv, because I this silly baseball game is pushing House back. I can't tape it because the DVR thinks House started 24 minutes ago! I am rooting for the Angels just because they are batting in the bottom of the innings and if they score, House comes on!