How did I forget?

Remembering things I never should have forgotten was the theme of my weekend...

First, I FINALLY got the software to download the contents of my iPod to my iTunes so that I could synch them up.... About four years ago, I had a catastrophic hard drive crash which necessitated a new computer, ergo new iTunes. If I had synched the iPod with the new computer, it would have wiped out all the music on the iPod in favor of the shiny new (read: empty) iTunes library. It has been sheer laziness that has kept me from doing anything about it since I did some research a while back and found out which program to use.... It took WAY longer than I expected, but I am synched once again!! I feel so... together.

During the process of weeding out the duplicates (3G worth!) after the hours long download from the iPod, I remembered how much I love music. I do occasionally forget that, strange as it may seem.... The radio stations around here SUCK, seriously, so I don't get excited day to day by the car trip to work.... And I fall out of the habit of listening to my own favorites sometimes. Shameful, really, since the music is at my fingertips daily. But, as I was deleting three copies of things like Girlfriend in a Coma by The Smiths, I had that falling-in-love-again feeling with music. Sigh.

All brought on, in a round-about fashion, by the Indigo Girls. You see, when I heard they were coming, I thought, Ohh, I have to get their new album. If only there was some way to put it on my iPod. Gee, I guess I will have to finally spend the ENTIRE weekend getting that darned thing downloaded.... See how that works?? Now I have the new album (I don't care. I know it is a CD. I still call it an album. Deal with it.) just waiting to be imported. I am overcome with music anticipation! I guess I am drawing out the experience, since I bought it yesterday and didn't get it done....

And in the midst of all that brouhaha, I finished the Mockery Socks and went back to my lost love, the Kingscot Cardigan. How did I forget how much I love the sproingy yarn? How did I forget how well it is turning out, despite my mis-turned cable? How did I forget what size I am making?? Anyway, I am back in love again with that knitted piece of lusciousness.... And motoring away to have it completed in time for SAFF. I finished the back, which was almost done when it was callously cast aside in favor of sock knitting, and started the front yesterday. Matt and I watched Cloverfield, which was so intense that I positively FLEW through three inches of ribbing for the left front! I was so wound up when it was over that I did three more inches before going to bed!! (I may rue that decision, being here at work at the crack of dawn, however.)

I love knitting. I didn't forget that!

They are coming!

Indigo Girls are coming!!! I was at Starbucks this morning, knitting and inadvertently eavesdropping, and heard someone say that they would be in Charleston in September. (It was inadvertent. Seriously. Who can knit quietly alone and not hear the conversations going on around them?? It is not like I actually like that kind of thing.... really.) I politely asked her where they were going to be and what the date were.... I am so excited, I love the Indigo Girls!! And when I googled, I found that they will be in Cary on Sept 27th, which is even better! I can't wait!!

Strange days.

If it tells you anything about this week, I had to ask someone yesterday if it was Tuesday.... because I couldn't remember having lived through Monday. Is that pathetic??

Good things about Wednesday:

1. I could win one hundred and eighty-six million dollars today in the lottery. Don't laugh. It could happen.

2. There are only two more days left in the week to get up and get dressed for work. Getting dressed and actually going are the hard part... Once I am there, it is all down hill!

Sorry, that is all I could think of. I thought there were going to be more.

I have started the mental countdown for SAFF, which I am pretty excited about. T-minus twelve weeks and counting! I have some decisions to make, quickly. First, what will I wear? Everyone was wearing lovely handknit items last year, and I felt very left out! I have the Beachcomber Tunic, whose bloom has not worn off, so that will definitely be making the trip. Tunic love! I also have the Kingscot cardigan on the needles, which I am now feeling a desperate urge to finish. I think socks may take the back burner for a few weeks.... Though I am still lovin' me some socks! And I have all that great new sock yarn to use..... See Jennifer get distracted that easily by shiny new yarn.

Second, what will I be wanting to buy at that point? And what will I have the budget for? Fingers crossed for that winning Wednesday lottery ticket!! This weekend, I seriously need to sit down with a spreadsheet and figure out what I ALREADY have the yarn for and get some thinking done as to what is a yarn want and what is a yarn need. Don't be silly. There ARE yarn needs! Seriously!

To the end of determining immediate yarn needs, I have made an essential purchase. I finally broke down and bought Kim Hargreaves' Breeze. I love every pattern in the book except for the one on the cover. And the hats. For some reason I have no interest in hats.... I finally couldn't resist. The new Classic Elite books and the Non-Norah Berroco books will just have to wait, 'cause I can't afford any more books, but I HAD to have Breeze. With a passionate longing. And now it will be mine! When it is finally shipped from Webs.

Here are my two MUST knit patterns, Frankie and Devon:

Frankie is a boyfriend sweater. Look beyond the silly styling for a moment. (I mean, seriously! Is there anyone out there that can picture me dressed like a French spy from WWII??) This is a sweater that calls out to all my hermit, nesting ways. Anything that I can throw on with my (momentarily ailing) overalls wins in my book, and this may be the quintessential overall cardigan. (All of which says a GREAT deal about my sense of style!)

And, as a child of the eighties, I am powerless in the face of Devon. I shamefacedly admit that I considered if it would be possible to make it fall off the shoulder even more.... Do I really want the stripes, though? Will I look like a blue whale in horizontal eighties stripes? Thoughts for future yarn-shopping-list days.... Happy daydreams of future knitting!!

Now I am off to plot strategies for saving money until October! I love SAFF!

If you comment....

and don't hear from me, it is because Yahoo is doing something MAJORLY WACKY when I try to go to my email..... Plus, I don't know if anyone ever gets my replies, anyway. I have never, ever gotten an answer back to a reply..... That could be a coincidence, but I dunno. Anyway, I love all you commentors, and I do TRY to reply.... :-)

Note to self-

Self, you know better. Never stop taking Zoloft without talking to the doctor. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER abruptly start taking Zoloft again after four days. You know that you will taste metal in your mouth for three days. You know that you will spend three days feeling like at any second you will throw up. You know that you will spend a week eating everything in sight, just trying to find something that tastes good.... Why do you do this to yourself, Self?? Knock it off!!

I am a makin' fool!

Ok, distraction over.... Torchwood is gone for the rest of the year, and after all that, do we even want it to come back?? Only if Jack comes back, is all I can say!!

Roughly in the order that I completed/worked on them, here are some recent projects. First, the finished, in-action shot of the Amy Butler Patchwork bag that I made for Vickie's birthday. She uses it all the time, which makes me happy! I think it came out so well, despite my lack of skill with the digital camera. I haven't made any progress on mom's bag since the piecing, but it is at the top of the sewing queue!

Next, finished Nanners. I was sad not to win anything in the Ravelry KAL, but it was a fun pattern, and I am pleased with the finished object.Learning to get the fit right is ongoing.... At this rate, though, I think everyone is getting socks for Christmas!

This past weekend, I made my first project from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross... The Everything Tote. Have I mentioned how I love my sewing machine?? It is made out of lightweight denim and polka-dotted quilting cotton for the lining. I failed to discover, however, that the yardage requirements in the book are wrong until AFTER I got back from the fabric store. It required more sewing ingenuity than I though I had to get this bag out of roughly half of the material called for....

I didn't have enough fabric left after cutting out the main pieces to cut whole handle pieces in either the main fabric or the lining.... I didn't even have enough of the lining fabric to get two whole handles OR the pocket piece cut. I cut four half handles out of the denim and two half handles out of the polka-dots. Then I used some green quilting cotton that I had on hand for another project to get the pocket and the remainder of the handle linings cut out. You can see the green lining peeking out from under the binding, which is an effect that I ended up really liking!

I really wanted the polka dots to show on the underside of the part of the handle that shows, so I cut the green handle pieces into four pieces and sewed them to either end of the half-handles of polka-dotted fabric. If that makes any sense.... The green shows up like the binding under the sewn-down edge of the handles and the dots show under the un-sewn.

All this courtesy of the fact that I didn't follow the directions for the binding. On purpose. I read blogs where people complained that if you fold the binding twice and then try to sew through two separate pieces of it for the spot, it is nearly impossible. Not to mention that you get tiny, skinny handles that are goofy thick. So, following the advice of sewers more talented than I, I only folded it once.... I will repeat the modification when I sew my next one!

This one is for Thia's Bat Mitzvah.... I love it so much that I am having trouble giving it up, so I know that I will be making another one! As a matter of fact, I went and got the fabric for another one, ENOUGH fabric this time, today after work!!

By the way, it is well neigh impossible to buy a Bat Mitzvah card in Florence, SC. Seriously. I have looked extensively. Found two Bar Mitzvah cards, but not a single one for the ladies.... Frustrating!

Here is a very dim picture with a sleeping Maggie and the sock-in-progress: She is obviously indifferent to the beautiousness! These are the Mockery Socks, found on Ravelry, which I am making an attempt at modifying to toe-up. So far, successful. It is an easy, subtle pattern, and the yarn is great. It is Trekking XXL in the loveliest pastels..... Fingers crossed, this one seems to fit so far, too!! I am rushing them off the needles so I can work on my August KAL socks..... It is true, it is an obsession!

To close, here are more pictures of my lovely bag, which I have to give up all too soon. Sigh.