Jennifer: Shameless Knitting Nerd

The reason I can't buy yarn until October....

2012-01-31T16:40:00.003-05:00

New kitchen, some assembly required. And a lot of check-writing! :-) Can't wait!!!!

WIP

2011-12-29T19:24:00.003-05:00

Two posts, one day. Try not to die of shock...

Showing off the slightly-more-than-half-finished Lissajous from Knit.Sock.Love by Cookie A. Check out those charts!! The second one has been SOOOO much easier!

Only other knitters have even the vaguest idea of what an act of fortitude it was for me to cast on the second sock.... The first is so very lovely, but it was so hard and took so long.... I SO wanted to wind another sock yarn and start something else! Something not quite so tall!! Just started yesterday and have finished the medallion at the top already. I am motoring through it, partly as an act of sheer determination. Partly because the picture above shows what "working from home" looks like on the evening shift.

Shh, don't tell.

Look what we got!!

2011-12-29T15:46:00.004-05:00

Office!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hear angels singing. How about you, do you hear angels singing?? It is the most perfect office, ever!

Here is the view left from my desk. I work in a call center and about every other week I work the entire week from home in the evenings. If I didn't have a tv for the hours between 7PM and 10:30, I would go stark raving mad.... And see the beautiful cat bed- er, futon? IKEA, I love you.

View of my desk from the door. Soothing blue, desk lamp- the latest addition, pets and signs of pets. Happiness in my brother's former bedroom.

And, saving the best for last, the view behind me at my desk. That is right, it is YARN STORAGE. Knitter heaven. The Mom and I share, which is not any hardship at all. This is more space than we ever DREAMED we would have. Sigh. Heaven.

I love IKEA. Have I mentioned that before??

September 2009.

2011-09-26T13:24:00.002-04:00

I have finished the socks, 23 years after starting them... Tomorrow I will find time to take pictures that don't involve my toes waving in the breeze...

So here is the next ancient project. And this one is not being grossly exaggerated for your amusement. Here is the state of my Minimalist Cardigan in September 2009.
Can you guess what it looked like on Saturday, September 24, 2011? That is right, other than the sheet and the sunshine, exactly like this! I finished the socks and don't have all the yarn for the thigh-high stripy socks that are next, so I thought I would work on... A different cardigan. Couldn't find the pattern for that one, though, so here it is. The long neglected Minimalist Cardigan. I love this sweater. What made me stop working? Shiny new yarn? Who knows.... But you should see this baby now! I finished the rest of the front-on-the-needles 24 hours and now have the sleeves- both of them!- on the needles!!

By the way, any of you made this? It has a SERIOUS bias. Not like it doesn't like women or jewish people, it has a FABRIC bias. A major slant to the left (HA!). Is that just the moss stitch? Will it block out? The last time I had this many questions about a project on the needles, it ended up being so big that three of us could have worn it. Makes me nervous....

Socks, forever in progress.

2011-09-12T09:57:00.002-04:00

I may have been working on the Almondine from Sock Knitting Master Class since 1978. Horrible head cold leading to knitting ennui.... They may never be finished!

And not because they aren't beautiful! Anne Hanson and Malabrigo Sock- who could ask for anything more??

Trevi Fountain, Rome

2011-09-03T19:39:00.002-04:00

I don't remember it being this hot OR this crowded!! Of course, it is still one of my favorite places in the world...

In the beginning.... Rome Airport!

2011-08-24T12:51:00.002-04:00

I love this photo! Didn't so much love waiting on the terrazo floor for four hours before we got to see Rome! This may have been right before or right after I got a suitcase dropped on my face....

We'll come back to the Greece trip!

2011-08-01T18:54:00.004-04:00

First, here is my big brave dog. What horror has the dog cowering behind the furniture? What terror has befallen the household, requiring that the Mom save her?

There was a fly in the den. That is right, the big old barky thing is terrified of flies. All 23 pounds of her! She is a nutty dog!!

Next, fresh from a glamorous backyard photo shoot, is the felted bag whose name I can't remember. It was nice and easy and came out very, very cute! Sadly, this photo was snapped right before I delivered it to its forever-home. It became the bag I promised Brenda for a Christmas present two years ago. Sigh. I'll have to knit another one. Good thing I like knitting, huh?

Good lining, too, if I do say so myself! I am so happy with the way this came out, especially since I totally winged it. Next time, pockets! (Btw, I hate hand sewing. I am the only person I know who can manage to jam a needle under my thumbnail AFTER FINISHING sewing....)

And that brings us here, the winner of the land speed record for fastest knitted sock! I just started it on Thursday of last week, and four days later, I finished sock number one. Amazing!

I swear I am going to cast on for sock number two tonight! Despite the blasted Old Norwegian Cast-On.... If I can do it once, I can do it again!

The Mom and I got Ann Budd's Sock Knitting Master Class last week, and have made the possibly-self-destructive decision to knit every last one of the bastards! Yeah... We shall see....

Next post, vacation photos!

A Tale of Two Yarns.

2011-03-27T19:34:00.003-04:00

I have decided to take some artistic license today with the Knit and Crochet Blog Week Day one prompt.... I am making "A Tale of Two Yarns" work with my current project, the Lace Saddle Tee from Inteweave Knits. Watch, I can make it happen....

Ok, so here is the yarn I am working with, Louet Euroflax in a lovely emerald green. Seriously, it is emerald, not teal. I CANNOT take a true-to-color photo of this yarn. (Maybe it has a touch of non-photo green to it? My own personal green-screen.) I love linen. I buy lots of linen clothes, love the flow and drape, love the crumpled, casual feel.... Wouldn't you think that I loved working with linen yarn for the very first time? Sadly, as I believe many have discovered before me, linen yarn sucks. Sucks! It is like knitting with fine gauge kitchen twine! Any slub in the texture leaves a huge hole when the stitch won't even up with it's little friends. The fabric could be used to scrub pots. My fingertips are so sore that it has become a slog. I may be getting arthritis in my right index finger. Not to mention that it has absolutely no bloom, so it is working up like a mesh shirt from the Madonna Lucky Star era!

(Here is how I make it work with the two yarns theme... You have been so patient.)

HOWEVER, I am led to believe by a score of Ravelers that this yarn will undergo a magical transformation into the soft, smooth, supple fabric I so love. All I have to do is trust the kind knitters who have gone before me, trust that they will not lead me astray when they tell me to PUT IT IN THE WASHING MACHINE. AND THE DRYER. EEEEKKKK! Can I do it? Can I perform this magic trick, transforming from twine to divine?

So you see, Euroflax is not a single yarn. It is the werewolf of yarn! Two-natured!

So, imagine the below picture in its more verdant reality, and see all the progress made, what could potentially be destroyed by running it through the WASHING MACHINE.

The first lace saddle shoulder is finished. Onward, then, to pick up approximately 1000 stitches for the right arm. Me and the werewolf yarn....

Christmas in March

2011-03-21T16:41:00.003-04:00

Or Christmas present giving, anyway! Hadn't seen Meredith since August, went up to help her move to her very cute new apartment.... This blue is the color of her eyes, hope she likes it....

The pattern is Branching Out from Knitty, works up absolutely beautifully... Got VERY boring before the end, but it wasn't hard. And I have previously expressed my love for the Valley Yarns Alpaca Silk. This didn't use even a noticeable amount of a cone! It was finished well before Christmas, but I don't remember the date. Somehow I missed recording any info in Ravelry....

Back to working on the Lace Shoulder Tee!

I can't believe how easy it is....

2011-03-14T08:51:00.002-04:00

The people who are all over the internet saying, "I just couldn't believe how easy the first week was, it made me tempted to push myself harder.... I had to restrain myself and follow the program...." are either big fat liars, or they all sell hundred-dollar running shoes. Or alternatively, I am the person starting this who is in the worst shape of all time.

I would have included pictures, but how do you do a self-portrait showing that all of a sudden, each leg ways 300 lbs individually??

Week one may have a replay over the next two weeks....

Pictures from a dew covered morning....

2011-03-10T18:31:00.001-05:00

Jennifer or Weeble? You decide.

2011-03-07T17:52:00.002-05:00

It turns out to be REALLY hard to take a picture of ones-self with a zoom-lens bearing DSLR camera. Fun, huh, how it looks like I have a giant round belly that nearly eclipses my tiny, far away feet? It may be the internet's most flattering picture....

Anyway, I finished the Bondi in Berroco Origami. It is entirely too cold to be wearing a summer weight sweater, but I couldn't resist! I love it! I don't know why I put it aside.... The pieces knitted right up, all I had left to do was knit on the neck edge and sew the thing together.... But there it sat for almost a year.... I have to have something to wear on our yarn tourism outings for the warmer months!

Ohhhh, and look what came in the mail today! Shakespeare in Lace, the Venice yarn! So beautiful.... Now what was I working on again??

Still life with running shoes.

2011-03-06T15:21:00.002-05:00

They weren't so still this morning, though!! The mom and I started our version of Couchto5K, which entails WALKING in all capital letters, walking, walking, walking. We HOOFED it for twenty minutes. We are going to do this every other day for two weeks, alternating with walking the Maggie Dog, which is necessarily at a slower pace, then start the official podcast program. It is absolutely amazing how proud I am of getting off my butt....

A plague on our house....

2011-02-25T12:16:00.003-05:00

My brother has come down with the genuine article flu. He is one miserable puppy... I feel really bad for him. However, I am probably annoying the crap out of him by hovering and making him drink things....

In the meantime, I am knitting away on the Lace Saddle Tee from Interweave Knits Summer 2010. I am really excited about this. The color is more emerald than it looks here, truly, intensely green.

I can't say that the Louet Euroflax is a pleasure to knit with, but I have high hopes for how it will wear! It is stiff as kitchen twine right now, but I hear stories about miraculous transformations after machine washing and drying. Some of my favorite store-bought sweaters of all times have been linen-- can't wait!!

Working from home....

2011-02-21T12:41:00.002-05:00

What you can't see from that picture is the complete chaos of a total network outage!! There has been calling from cell phones, driving around like a chicken with the head cut off.... Anyway, what I was trying to show off is my bee-you-ti-ful new desk, freshly put together!! Almost makes up for having to work on the holiday when everyone else is off!!

Inching along....

2011-02-02T15:44:00.002-05:00

So, I opened up Ravelry today to complain about how very little progress I have made on Pea Vines by Anne Hanson. I feel like I have been slogging away on this one for AGES, surely a month.... This is as far as I have gotten. Hard to tell without context, but that is about 2 inches....

Turns out that I started it on 1/27/2011. That is right. Five days ago. Hmmm.

Can you see the peas? Can you, huh?

Never go to Ikea alone.

2011-01-31T08:25:00.002-05:00

Trust me on this. You WILL find more than you should buy, and you WILL drag it off a shelf that is at higher than eye level, even if it weighs almost your body weight. Then you WILL truly believe that you can turn into the Incredible Hulk and heave a box of furniture that weighs nearly your body weight into the back of your car. And you WILL suffer for it later.... I survived the trip, thanks to a very nice Greek stranger in the parking lot who helped me heave the heavier of the boxes into my car.... He kept saying "Is ok." I think he thought I was crazy, but he helped me nonetheless.... Perhaps to give his wife and children time to escape.....

On a happy note, however, see my new Malm-in-progress above! That was yesterday, and while it resembles more a piece of furniture rather than an angry black octopus now, it is still in progress. It came with 14.8 million pieces, and I didn't have the fortitude to finish in one sitting. Pathetic.

However, I DID finish something this week! Ariel Shawlette, finished but not blocked!

Not only do I love this shawl, I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA. I am a happy crafter. Sigh!

Oh, by the way....

2011-01-16T22:37:00.003-05:00

Finished object! I got distracted by doggie cuteness earlier, but better late than never!! Here is Damask:
I absolutely love the pattern. I absolutely love the yarn. I really like the the finished shawl.... But I have a sneaking feeling that probably I shouldn't have made this pattern in this yarn. I think that this gorgeous shawl would have shown better in a semi-solid yarn. So I bought more yarn to make it again when we went to Charleston yesterday! I do like it. I just feel like I could have loved it. Sigh.

Anyway, that was shawl 1 of 2011. Done in 11 days, amazingly enough... It is looking good for 11!!

Here is a look at number 10 from last year, all blocked and pretty:

I have already worn it twice, just blocked it two days ago. Shawl love. Knitting makes me smile.

Story of a photoshoot...

2011-01-16T14:45:00.002-05:00

Ariel in progress....

Maggie loves the Shakespeare in Lace club!

10 Shawls in 2010

2011-01-03T19:13:00.004-05:00

Everyone is doing 2010 recaps, and suddenly I got jealous. I have decided to recap by gathering together images of dubious quality of my shawls crafted all within the bounds of the year just past...

Here they are! Ten shawls in various stages of completion.... I didn't get to keep them all, some went to good homes, but they are all my babies!!

Citron- soft, gossamer and wearable.

Swallowtail- Julie's wedding shawl.

Haruni- the most complicated thing I had made to date. Why haven't I worn this 100 times already??

Hanami- would have passed through a wedding ring if not for the beads. Wore it today!

Aeolian- award-winning, what more can I say?

Annis- most worn shawl of 2010, at least at my house....

Skuld- I ADORE this shawl, if only I could figure out what to wear traffic-cone orange with!! What will make it look NOT-Halloweeny?

Little Arrowhead- turned out so much better than I ever expected. Nobody deserves it more than Roberta!

Saroyan- fun construction, blocked so well.... So HEAVY here in the land of sweating in the wintertime.... (And sideways. Don't ask me, I only work here.)

Arabella- last but not least! Seriously, need to block this. I already love it and it can only get better!!

And the first of 11 in 2011 has already begun! I have broken out the luscious Malabrigo Sock in Stonechat for Damask. I hope this pattern and this great yarn work together! I love the pattern and don't want the variegation to obscure its complexity.... Or the patterns complexity to take away from the beautiful color pooling taking place in this rich color combo.... We shall see!

I am feeling pretty excited about the possibilities!

In this economy!

2011-01-03T14:53:00.002-05:00

I emailed a media/graphic design firm here in my little berg the other day to ask for a quote on some work.... Got a cupcake catering company to launch, after all. They emailed back to say that they weren't taking new customers at this time. Who is not taking new customers??? They seriously have so much money, so much work, and so much reputation that they don't need little old me?? Or was that a judgement on how valuable a client I would be for them?? I couldn't believe I got brushed off as a customer!

Anyone know of any graphic artists who AREN'T too good for me in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina?? I gotta get a logo!!!!

My, how time flies.....

2010-12-30T09:30:00.002-05:00

When you totally neglect to post anything!! It has been a crazy time, my friends. Crazy, I tell you!!

First, I have completed the 10 Shawls in 2010 Challenge!! I posted the Arabella today! I am so proud. The Arabella is so pretty, I am pleased to end with this one. I knit it in 8 days.... And ran out of yarn two rows before the end! I realized that it was coming close, tinked a row, leaving the border two rows short, and bound off early. I don't think anyone but the designer could tell! It still needs to be blocked, but I am ok with that.... Maybe this weekend.

By the way, anybody notice the snow in the background? We got THREE INCHES the day after Christmas. Three inches is enough that the news was saying that people should stay inside at all costs for their own safety.... even though it was almost 4o degrees all day. We went to the movies. (True Grit, must see!)

Buttercup, who is dressed as a Christmas elf here, helped with the tree decorating. Can you tell? By the way, surprisingly easy to dress a cat.... Whodathought??

In other BIG NEWS, The Mom and I decided to start a cupcake business. No kidding. Watching Cupcake Wars a couple of weeks ago we were both thinking the same thing, and a business was born.... Dolce Sweet Treats. Yes, I am aware of what Dolce means. I wanted to call it Dolce Cupcakes, but that was taken....

So far, the business strategy is to make free cupcakes and try to lure people into paying me for more later... Here is the first effort- I created snowman minions! Aren't they adorable? Mom and Vickie inserted the jimmies for the eyes... Bless their hearts!

The strategy seems to be working! I have two orders for January.... I have to make more snowmen for a Sunday school class for a lady at work and I have a birthday party coming up at the end of the month! What does a Hawaiian Luau cupcake look like??

Let's see.... I also bought a car! The Cupcake Mobile! I need a door magnet!!

I am sure that I am leaving out many important events, but I can't think of anything else.... Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is working up to a joy-filled New Year! Here's to hoping that cupcakes get me out of the cubicle in 2011! Love.

Super Grover would approve.

2010-11-12T14:57:00.002-05:00

Don't tell me I am the only one who remembers Super Grover and the muppet who was afraid of getting his hair cut.... And I didn't even faint when she cut off the first 7 inches in one cut!! Not the best picture, but I like the bangs. Haven't had bangs in years and years and years.... Time to revisit, I guess!

And I wore the Hanami for the first time!! I LOVE this shawl! I spent the day seriously considering making another one out of a slightly heavier yarn... I will add it to the list of millions of things I am planning to knit!

Late to the party...

2010-10-31T15:43:00.002-04:00

Here is Cirton, finished all but for the end-tying-in, my obvious favorite part.... It was knitted between the 19th and 30th of January, but just blocked last Thursday. So, this was either the first shawl for 10 in 2010 OR the 9th, depending on how you look at it! One more to go...

Belated shawl FO

2010-10-28T09:32:00.003-04:00

I finished this one on the 14th, IMMEDIATELY blocked it, wore it the next day....

Then totally neglected to take any pictures or put it online for the next two weeks.... This is shawl number 9 in the 10 Shawls in 2010 Challenge!! I am going to make it!! It is Saroyan, and I totally love it. I made it in Cascade 22o. The color here is slightly darker and less green than it should be. Love the actual color! Love making a shawl in five days out of worsted weight yarn! Love the relaxed, casual look of the finished object. Love, love, love!

The only thing that I did change was that I seamed the width of the ends to themselves so that it made a point rather than a wide, blunt end. You started with about three inches of width to the ends, and I didn't like that. It seemed awkward and sawed-off to me, so I did something about it. It made the ends rather more 3D than I would have chosen, but for me, it was a more elegant solution....

Overall, total love and TOTALLY will make this one again! I am considering one for Meredith for Christmas. It is a modular pattern, so easily customized. My vision for the Meredith version is knitting it longer in a finer weight yarn, to be worn looped around the neck with long, trailing ends.

As for the challenge, shawl number one is blocking! I made it in January and also failed to blog about or post on Ravelry. Citron will be ready to go for a post this weekend!

Driving home today...

2010-10-26T21:12:00.003-04:00

So, I picked up my "fancy work" from the fair today! (I love that it is called Fancy Work! I have a tag that says that I make fancy work!) Here is the extent of my nerdiness.... I drove back from Columbia to Florence with the air conditioner on so that I could wear my Aeolian shawl. And despite the fact that it was 82 degrees when I got to work, I wore it all day. I suffer for my art....

Embracing the Fair experience.

2010-10-25T12:20:00.002-04:00

Which is not hard considering... I WON!!

The yellow ribbon that I am pointing to in the top picture is for my Aeolian, second place overall knitting sweepstakes award!! It also won a blue ribbon for shawls. I am so proud!! And Lizard Ridge won second place afghan! I am a winner! Nerd and award winning knitter!

My mom and I went on to embrace the fair experience. Here is the Cinnamon and Sugar Fried Butter. Yum. Seriously! Tasted like a crispy, buttery doughnut!! And that is to say nothing of the fried dill pickles, the corn dog, the cotton candy....

There were animals.... I am sparing you pictures of llamas, a zebra, pig races, etc. I took LOTS of pictures. Fun, fun, fun!

All in all, we had the best day at the fair, ever! I can't believe I never went before!!

I realized earlier...

2010-10-09T22:23:00.003-04:00

That I was listening to music, reading a book on Steve (my nook), AND knitting lace from a pattern I had not memorized. All at the same time. Holy cow. I am a woman of many talents!

Look what I wore to work today!!

2010-10-06T15:36:00.002-04:00

Reading my blog is so exciting, isn't it??

Anyway, I wore a shawl for the first time today!! I am so pleased.... It felt so good to show off something I have made. And by now, people know enough about me to ask if I made it, so I strutted around like a peacock all day, saying, "Yes! I made this!" And because I love it so much, here is another picture in the bright sunshine!! You can tell it is bright from the crevice I seem to be carving between my eyebrows and the desperate tinge to the smile....

Not ONLY did I wear a shawl to work for the first time, I wore socks made by me for the first time!! Here are the Mockery Socks I worked from the toe up. Shhhh, don't tell anyone that the ends are just tucked under the cuff. Have I mentioned how I hate tying in ends??

What a fabulous picture of my foot....

The disadvantage of being first....

2010-10-05T17:12:00.002-04:00

It is done! Done!! Complete!! Finito! I have spent the last 18 hours feeling very amazed and disbelieving.... But indeed, I finished the holy grail of knitting projects (for me, anyway!) last night, the evening before I had to take it to Columbia. The icord edging, almost invisible here, was done Saturday. I have spent practically every minute since, through multiple episodes of Fringe Season 1 and this season's Amazing Race, tying in ends.

The above picture is SOME of the ends, not even all of them! I could needle-felt a cat out of the remaining ends! There are so many it seems like a shame not to make something out of them.... Who knows? Anyway, as long as you out there in knit-blog land understand what a mountain of ends I had to tie in!

This morning, I officially entered the fair! Above, find a picture of dubious quality as proof of that fact! I am so embarrassed taking blog pictures in situations that other people find, well, goofy that this is all I got! Had I been an intrepid, brave blogger, I would have asked her permission and gotten a good shot. However, I am not brave.

The disadvantage of being the very first person in my line at 7:30 this morning, an hour and a half from my home (besides the obvious wake-up time) is that you don't get to see anyone else's projects! Gotta wait for the fair, I guess.... I am so excited. What a nerd!

My dog is a drama queen....

2010-10-03T13:23:00.002-04:00

Even when she is not trying!! She feels like a princess in her sparkly collar, obviously....

As promised, here is the saga of the Tuesday night vet visit! (We have already established that when I say "tomorrow", I don't necessarily mean the very next day, so hush.) That night when I got home, Maggie was not her usual hysterical self when I got home, but I thought that it could be attributed to her being asleep when I arrived. Sometimes if you catch her truly asleep you are spared the full-on, wiggle-butted, yodeling assault of a greeting that is her usual.... But she normally goes bananas when Matt gets home, and instead she just moped over and stood next to him. When he reached down to touch her, she yelped in pain. We couldn't get her to come to a treat. And then, in the move that worried me the most, she climbed in my lap and shook all over like she was afraid.

Since she is like our child that can't talk to tell us what is wrong, we decided that it must be serious if she was acting so wrong, and we called the emergency vet number. The vet, who was very young and perky, agreed to meet us at the office. This was all around 8PM. We get there and there were two cars in the parking lot, one with the vet and her husband and one with a man and a dog. Turns out he was the husband of one of the cleaning ladies who were working inside. The very nice vet had counted on there being a key in a secret hiding place so she could let herself in, but it wasn't there.... So there we stand in the parking lot. She tried calling the cleaning lady on the number provided by her husband, but no answer. The husband said, "Just beat on the door and they will come see who is there." Instead the cleaning ladies CALLED 911. Seriously. A few minutes later, there we are with FOUR deputy sheriff cruisers, big guys in bullet-proof vests and their hands on their guns! The cleaning lady CRIED when she opened the door and found out she was safe from Maggie, the miscellaneous terrier and my mom, the only person they could see from where they were hiding. Obviously, my mom would bring her twenty pound terrier when she tried to trick the cleaning crew of a vets office into opening the door so she could kill them and steal animal tranquilizers, right??

Anyway, vet visually identified we were allowed to enter! There were exams, rectal thermometer temperatures, and x-rays.... Then the vet brings the images in to show us. Show us that our dog was absolutely full of crap. No kidding. It looked like she hadn't pooped in two weeks. We took our dog to the emergency vet and braved terrified cleaning ladies and deputy sheriffs to find out that our dog was constipated. Not embarrassing at all....

I have to say, though, that she was absolutely miserable and even if we had known what was wrong, we would have taken her to the vet anyway.... We couldn't let her just suffer. A doggie enema later, she danced back into the exam room like her old wiggle-butted self! I have never seen such immediate relief! Happy dog... However, when the vet tried to give her a treat, she wouldn't go NEAR her. Every time she got close, the woman stuck something up her butt, and she wasn't having any more of THAT! She tried to get the treat by stretching her neck as faaaarrrr as it would go, all turtle-esque..... Even butt-protecting isn't worth treat-forgoing!!

We have spent a couple of days here pretty obsessed with dog poop, but things seem to be back to normal... Silly mutt-mutt!

I have just eaten a whole jar of pickled beets.

2010-09-29T16:31:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the horrible quality internet picture. Not only is my camera broken, but the men in the little white coats would probably come if someone caught me taking a picture of myself eating pickled beets at my desk at work.

But let me say, ZERO WEIGHT WATCHERS points for the beets.... And I know that it is psychological, but I have been STARVING TO DEATH for the last three days that I have faithfully followed the plan. This is the first time I have felt anywhere near satiated. And on the plus side if I throw up from eating an entire jar of pickled beets, it will be such a lovely color....

Tomorrow, the story of yesterday's near arrest at the emergency vet clinic!!

Oh, and by the way.

2010-09-27T21:25:00.002-04:00

Today is the last day that I am going to be this fat. Seriously. It might not be MUCH of a difference tomorrow, but tomorrow, one salad and two more buckets of water later, there WILL be a difference. And the day after that, one more minuscule step on the road to being able to fasten my jeans!!

Cold front.

2010-09-27T11:39:00.002-04:00

We are under a massive cold front. Get this- our high today is only going to reach.... 85 degrees. That is right, everyone on the news was all a-flutter with the massive change in the weather, when, oh when will this massive cold front move out... 85 degrees. Sigh. Back to normal tomorrow, however. Ah, Fall....

In other news, my camera died a horrible death over the weekend. Pushed off the desk by cats one too many times, I suppose. It will come on, but only produces streaky white pictures. If not for that, I would show you a picture of the Lizard Ridge, looking exactly like it did last time I took its picture! I have like three inches of icord to go. Perhaps I have some kind of bizarre sentimental attachment to leaving it undone? I think I need psychiatric help!! I think I am going to go get a 25$ cheapo replacement for now and hopefully will be able to upload once again....

Not-quite-finished object....

2010-09-19T17:28:00.002-04:00

Here it is, almost done! Thirty squares knitted, blocked, sewn together! I didn't do a very good job capturing the details in the above photo, but it is fantastic! And so warm... here in the 99 degree weather... while I have the whole thing in my lap trying to put on the i-cord edging! The good news is that the i-cord edging is going MUCH faster than I ever believed possible:

And it's pretty, too!! I chose a colorway online to do the edging, and I am not entirely loving it. Above is one of the brightest sections, but much of it is grey and dark green. Not bad, just not exactly what I hoped for. Though, if it had been bright, would I be here talking about how obnoxiously it stood out on its own? Who knows. What it all boils down to is that I don't hate the colors and that I am seriously glad that I chose to make the effort for the attached i-cord edging!!

Next installment: DEATH BY ENDS TO TIE IN! Cue the horror movie creepy music....

Busy little beaver.

2010-09-05T13:38:00.003-04:00

Now THAT title should get me some hits! Imagine the disappointment.... :-)

What I mean to refer to is the progress going on here at the nerd household! Last weekend the Maggie-dog helped block the rest of the Lizard Ridge squares! It is so handy to have her around to help blot the moisture from my knitting. Seriously, something about these squares REALLY attracted the dog. I have no idea what it was, but she is in loooove!

And here is the Valentine-kitty showing off the progress I have made for the completed work!
What you see there before you is the entire blanket, one strip sewn together already and the rest stacked in the order that they are to be put together.... It is Saturday afternoon of a long weekend and I have decided to dedicate myself to sewing the rest of this thing together. I need to get moving if it is going to be ready for the fair, since I will still have the edging to knit before it is done, and I am going to have to decide how to pretty up the back. I am considering single crocheting over the seams in black to neaten it up. I know it won't make them disappear, but maybe it will look more finished. We shall see.

And here is what I have had to put aside to be dedicated to the Lizard Ridge:

Artichaut in progress. I am LOVING this project!! Anne Hansen is a genius and combine that with my favorite color in the world and the sublime Malabrigo laceweight.... Heaven! The yarn is so very lofty and soft. I am curious about how it will block. It seems so delicate, which makes me worry about pulling too hard or soaking too long. Oh, well, that concern is a long way off! I have to go sew, sew, sew so I can get back to the knitting!

Hope everyone is having a great long weekend!

STEVE IS BROKEN!!!

2010-09-01T14:27:00.002-04:00

AAAHHHHH! Whatever shall I do?? Now Steve pinches my finger when I try to use my right had to turn a page. More than a love bite, too, let me tell you!! The casing broke clean through right where you press to go forward a page, and now, if I forget that I can't use my dominant hand to advance, which happens more than I would like to admit, I stand the chance of being pinched all to heck and back by the plastic edges. I have come to consider them to be teeth!

Fortunately for Steve, and for Barnes and Noble's customer service, they are sending a replacement Steve. My wonderful mother has guaranteed old Steve's return with her credit card so I will not go Steveless.

And just for that, you wonderful customer service man at B&N, I will continue to give you my money. (Apparently this is a known problem. Hopefully new Steve will have had this bug worked out....)

Steve is dead, long live Steve.

The carrot and the stick.

2010-08-28T11:04:00.003-04:00

Nothing like a little motivation to jump start a two-year-old languishing work in progress. Ten more squares after these dry. I remember now why I stopped working on this.... I loved knitting these squares, but I hate blocking them! At least now I don't have to do them one at a time! I love these mats as blocking boards!!

I just entered the State Fair!

2010-08-27T20:53:00.003-04:00

I can't believe I did it!! I will have to take time off to get my entries there and pick them up, but by gosh, I did it! Heck, I have never even BEEN to the state fair! I betcha I go this year!!

So, I entered Fancy Work> Knitting> Shawl, and I think I will choose the Aeolian. I still have some time to get that decision made, but I can't imagine anything prettier than this one.... Though I have Artichaut on the needles, so we shall see!
The REALLY crazy part was this: I entered the Afghan> Squares division. And THIS is the current state of the afghan made of squares.... I have to finish the Lizard Ridge before OCTOBER FIFTH. Five weeks from now. Nothing like a deadline to get ME moving, huh??? I think I need to go block a square....

Sad, sad shawl.

2010-08-25T09:56:00.002-04:00

Not the shawl itself.... the occasion. I love the shawl! It is the Little Arrowhead by Pam Allen (love Pam Allen!) and I think it turned out beautifully. When I started working on it, I thought that it was coming out looking like that 70's wicker lattice print. You know the one I mean, the one on every kitchen chair cover produced in the years 1974-1980? Anyway, it seemed dated to me, and not worthy of its recipient.

But blocking performed its usual miracle.... Look at that! It is made in Rowan Cashsoft 4 Ply, which is much heavier yarn than called for, but so, so soft. Cashmere totally lives up to its reputation! (Imagine that, the proverbial "they" got it right!!)

No, the sadness comes from the occasion. Roberta, my beloved boss at work, is retiring. I am happy for her, but my mean, selfish little heart is grieving! I am a bad person, truely.

I hope this is a good gift for her, that it is enough to say everything I want to say about what she has meant to me. I wonder sometimes if non-knitters understand the love that gets knitted in? I hope so in this case....

So....

2010-08-23T21:30:00.000-04:00

How do they get the skins off the mandarin orange sections??

Cranking 'em out!

2010-08-08T10:18:00.003-04:00

I love this pattern! Not only did it take a mere 10 days start to finish, CHECK OUT this detail:

I don't know WHY I love that point so much.... Something about the way that it curls around itself. It is just such a neat, perfect motif!!
This is number six for 10 Shawls in 2010. I didn't really think I could do it, but it is beginning to look pretty good! Numbers seven and eight are on the needles, (though I believe Brandywine is not long for this world. Poor little Brandywine.) and I am already trying to decide what number nine will be. Number nine needs to be a Christmas present.... It is already past that time!! And I still need to get another one over 500 yards done before the end of the year.... Maplewing? Artichaut? Trevi? I so love Anne Hansen's patterns, I feel like it needs to be one of hers next, and Trevi is probably perfect for one of the Alpaca Silk cones I haven't cracked open yet.

I just love being in the position of having yarn and patterns to match! The best decisions in the world!!!

Can you be SAD backwards?

2010-08-04T13:35:00.001-04:00

Is there any such thing as Seasonal Affective Disorder in reverse? It is close to 100 degrees here again today, the latest of many such days, and the perceived temp is 105. It is weighing me down, seriously. I can barely function!! How did anyone do this in hoop skirts and corsets??

Brandywine avoidance.

2010-07-31T20:18:00.004-04:00

Instead, we have Skuld! I have managed to make my way about 70% of the way through this one with only one glaring error.... I am not going to tell about it here, in hopes that no one will ever notice! But me. I know it is there.... I love the pattern, though it requires serious counting attention. Soon, I will have to move onto something with a memor-izable repeat....This is almost the true color. Orange love!! The picture here is a little more traffic cone than reality. It is Malabrigo Sock in the colorway Terracotta. I could not RESIST the color when I saw it in The Salty Sheep on vacation!! I am on some kind of orange kick, I think....

Proof that I got something done during my vacation.

2010-07-25T16:43:00.003-04:00

I knitted the entire Annis Shawl by Susanna IC (from Knitty. I love Knitty!) between Tuesday and today. Please take a moment to marvel at the fact that I jumped up from finishing the bind off and blocked it on the same day! Alas, tomorrow I have to go back to work. Sigh. More vacation pictures tomorrow, so I can prolong the experience!!

Beach and Brandywine

2010-07-20T10:36:00.001-04:00

Enough said! :-)

Aeolian, before blocking!

2010-07-16T07:55:00.002-04:00

I thought it would never happen, but the time has arrived.... The knitting is done for the long-awaited Aeolian shawl!
Cat for scale.... Or because you just can't stop a cat that wants to be somewhere, I won't say which. Actually, the only thing I don't totally LOVE about this finished object is the size. I knitted the largest size with the needles called for. I usually have to go down in needle size to adjust for gauge. And yet this is FAR from being the huge, drapey, elegant thing from the pattern. It is little. Shawlette sized.
Next comes the blocking. Cross your fingers for a physics-defying doubling in size.

The view from here...

2010-07-10T21:17:00.002-04:00

July 5th at the Beach! These are not the greatest photos, but they show the view from where I sat in the heat and sunshine and just enjoyed the peace of the beach. And The Mom and I spent a LOT of time feeling smug about how much easier OUR canopy was to put up than everyone elses' poor canopy choices!

Don't you agree we have the best shade going?? We are cool like that! (Man, though, is that sucker heavy when you have to heave it from the car!! Good thing that we will be right on the ocean when we go on vacation, huh??)

And here is the view of the bizarre DMZ that has developed while The Mom is away, right down the middle of our couch:

Since most of you don't live at my house, you wouldn't know that the cat has muscled her way into the dog's spot. Don't let her name fool you, Buttercup is one tough wildcat sometimes! It is like a little game she plays, sit in the dog's seat and growl like a mountain lion if anyone ventures too near! Yesterday, I caught her not only laying in the dog's seat, but on the dog's rawhide, as well. Doesn't the Maggie-Dog look terrorized? Everyone here knows who rules this roost!!

Right now, I think scary cat is in Maggie-dog's perch in the front window. She lives dangerously!

I like to imagine....

2010-07-09T08:54:00.003-04:00

...while I am sitting here having my coffee and apple fritter, working in the cubicle, that my mom is in a cafe in Paris, having a demitasse of coffee and a croissant. Sigh.

Today is her day of meetings where she learns about the tour company, but with the time difference, she has probably moved on to "free evening in Paris...." She is planning to go to the Sacre Cour and recreate a picture of her father from WWII. It has great sentimental value in our family, so it will probably cause tears all around.

I am very, very excited for her. Not at all seething with jealousy that I am in a cubicle and have a dog that likes her so much better she waits in the window for The Mom to come home the entire week while SOMEONE is seeing the sights.... Not at all.

Mom, hope you are having the time of your life and can't wait to have you home! Love!

Things to look forward to....

2010-07-02T12:50:00.003-04:00

Sometimes when I am depressed, I will feel like I have nothing to look forward to at all. We are raised on a schedule of deadlines that we are working for. You remember, every week, working toward the weekend. Every school term, working toward either Christmas or Summer. Every year, working toward the next. Working for Junior High, High School, College.... Being a grown up sucks for lack of those short term kinds of goals. Now I work for each paycheck, but that is about it. Same cubicle, same kinds of phone calls. Same. That is what I think, anyway....

Recently, I have realized, though, that right now I have a lot of things to look forward to:

1. July 4th long weekend. This is particularly nice, because I have worked all but one of the "floating" holidays that we get since Thanksgiving of last year. Why do I keep volunteering for this stuff??

2. Aveda facial tomorrow. I can't describe how much I am looking forward to this! Meredith is having a hard time recently, so I am driving up so we can have a girly day. It is the most relaxing thing on the entire planet, I am convinced. Last time I did this, I actually snored while I was awake. I get so relaxed that I can't feel my fingers. Ahhhh....

3. Vacation coming up. We are renting a house at Topsail Island for an entire week, and I am so happy. It is very nice and peaceful there, and this is the first time that the doggie has gotten to go.... The whole family will be together and I look forward to a week of nothing but ocean breezes and knitting!

4. SAFF. My beloved friend Courtney is coming (if I have to go get her myself!) and we are going to have a knitters holiday to end all knitters holidays! I love SAFF anyway and can't wait to see Courtney!! And the yarn, all the pretty yarn....

5. Italy and Greece in 2011. I am beside myself with joy that I am going to be a chaperon for The Mom's school trip next summer. It is a long way off but CERTAINLY worth a whole year of anticipation! It will include Rome and Athens, then a four day cruise in the Greek Islands. Short of winning the lottery, I can't imagine that I will come up with a better way of spending a holiday!! Calamari by the sea, here I come! (Is it weird that I am already considering knits to get done for the trip??)

That is all I have right now, but I feel better when focusing on the positive, so I will keep the list going in my head if not on the blog. Happy days are in front of me!

WIP Pictures!

2010-06-19T14:39:00.006-04:00

Or, Why Jennifer should not cast on anything new for the rest of 2010! I promised a picture heavy post of works in progress, and here it is. In no particular order, because I CANNOT figure out how to drag pictures in f&%$#ing Windows 7!!!!

First, the most recently begun project, Bondi from Berroco Origami. I am powering along on this one with the added motivation of the Mom working on hers across the room.... I love the yarn (though I use that loosely, since it feels more like twine....). The lack of wool content bodes well for actually wearing this one. It works up much smoother than it feels like it would, and the variegated colors are broken up enough to not pool horribly. It is a combination of teal, yellow, tan, white, etc. It blends to an overall cool turquoise that calls to mind swimming pools and sunshine. With any dedication at all, I will be done with this one to be worn THIS summer....

Next up, a strangely pink picture of Aeolian in progress. You can't see anything useful or impressive from these photos, but it is well neigh impossible to take a picture of a shawl on circular needles that looks like anything less than an amorphous blob. At least (other than the weird pink band at the top), it is pretty true to the real color and you can see the sparkle of the four kazillion beads that I have strung onto it in the last hundred years that I have been knitting this. I have high hopes that it will be transformed by blocking. I saw one on Ravelry that grew to the size of the Shawl That Ate Chicago, and mine looks puny in comparison! I will take more pictures, with Reece's Cups for scale.

Then I give you Passiflora. Looking here, I can't remember why I gave this up. It was going fast, and look how pretty it is!! Maybe it was the giant pile of wool in my lap when it was over ninety degrees in the house.... I believe this is going to end up being a transitional piece here in the armpit of hell. Perhaps I will pick this up sometime after the dog days of August....

Now, the beloved and yet neglected Peasy Cardigan. All done but the sleeves, and only 3/4 sleeves at that! It fits a little snugly right now, but I made it from Silky Wool, and I remember how the Beachcomber Tunic stretched like mad.... I feel that a moderate blocking will make this the absolutely most perfect cardigan ever knitted. Seriously! Finally, a decent picture of the color, too (again with that bizarre pink band... don't TELL me that the camera is going bad!!) though still very slightly more purple than reality. I am pleased that you can see some of the detail of the sweet lace at the neck, too....

And, oh, my poor Minimalist Cardigan. Another one that I believe will be a wardrobe staple when I finally get around to finishing it. This one is a definite no-go for summer knitting, as it is a slightly hairy alpaca and peruvian highland wool blend. It is a lot more green than it appears here, but definitely a blue-green. This project is the one that taught me that I don't hate moss stitch. But take a look at the biased fabric that it creates! Never seen anything like it!! (Blocking to the rescue, once again....) I have coveted this sweater for a long time, and my only excuse for putting it aside is a rampaging case of startitis.... Bad Jennifer, bad!

Here is the project that has brought the most knitting humiliation, the Cosima. Yep, this is the one that I knit two of the same front panel for. Could it be more embarrassing?? And I didn't even notice until I had the sleeves sewed to the back and tried to sew on the front panels. Wow. It has been in a time out for a while. It may soon be the time for frogging and more careful following of directions. How can I let this one languish? It is made from a fabulous yarn, Berroco Cuzco, soft and nubby. The texture is great, the un-frilly lace pattern is graphic and neat, and it is my favorite color in the entire world! Must finish!!

Last but definitely not least, we have the project that has taken me the most time.... the beloved Lizard Ridge afghan! Below is a random arrangement of blocked and unblocked squares. Then more pictures for sheer prettiness...! Honestly, blocking is the only hold up on this one. When I was working with my single homemade blocking board, I could only do one a day, letting it dry overnight. Now I have the modular ones, I need to get my butt in gear and do big batches of them. I have invested a lot of work and a lot of money in this one, and eventually I will overcome the inertia holding me back from the final steps!

That is it. My photographic parade of shame, lack of willpower, and self-indulgence! Hopefully, I will now be embarrassed into finishing something!! We shall see how the summer progresses!

I don't trust meteorologists.

2010-06-14T12:17:00.003-04:00

This is how hot they SAY it is going to be today.... But it is how hot that it said it was going to to be yesterday, too. The heat index at 6PM yesterday was 108. that is right, ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT DEGREES. That is evil hot. It turns out that I now live on the surface of Mercury and nobody told me. It is so hard to knit under these circumstances....

Which explains the fact that I don't seem to be on track to finish ANYTHING ever again. I am apparently in a spot where I would rather start things than finish them.... Passiflora is passe. I have gotten to the confusing part of the neck and don't wanna work on it anymore.... Aeolian has fallen by the wayside. In the middle of a row, no less. It is exhausting to work rows so very, very long, and I don't have the patience for it! This one will probably bite me in the butt later, halfway through that row, and so close to being done.... Sigh.

No, instead, I cast on Scylla socks in my beautiful rainbow Mini Mochi. They are so cute, and true to the color changing nature of the yarn, I can't stop knitting on them until the next color is here, then the next, and the next.... Except that we got the incredible Origami yarn from Berroco on Saturday in a completely financially ill-advised trip to the beach, and I could not resist casting on the cutest t-shirt in it. Something about the colors really appeals to me today. I am like a magpie, flitting from color to color, apparently!

Begin the justification:
1. I needed a portable project for the car trip to the beach. What is better for that than socks??
2. The Mom is working on her Origami t-shirt like a speed demon, getting it ready for her July 7th trip to Paris. I can't go to Paris, but I can't let her get ahead of me on the t-shirt, right?
3. Passiflora is made out of thick, fluffy wool and silk. Very pretty, but HOLY COW is it hot here! Who could stand to have that in their lap right now?
4. You are talking to a woman who today deleted her network card on her work computer, by accident. Is that the woman you want working the rocket science charts of the Aeolian shawl?

For the next post, I am going to call myself to accountability. I am going to drag out and photograph all the works in progress that I have going and decide what to do with them. I probably won't take action until after this t-shirt craze dies down, but it is always good to know where you stand, right? Now if only I would apply the same logic to my personal finances!

I don't like Mondays.

2010-06-07T10:51:00.002-04:00

You know the day is going to go just FANTASTICALLY when you spill coffee in your lap on your way to work. Raspberry Mocha, so that the stains will be strangely pink all day. Perfect!

Not what I was planning on posting. First I wanted to send love and thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday last week! It was a positive outpouring, and it absolutely made my day!!

Knitting wise, I have finished nothing, and at this rate, may never finish anything again! Do you remember the scene in Ferris Beuler's Day Off where the kid saw the clock tick BACKWARDS while waiting for the day to be over? That is what my knitting feels like after this weekend.... How could the Passiflora POSSIBLY not be done after the power knitting I did all last week???

Happy Birthday to me!

2010-06-01T11:34:00.002-04:00

And here is what I bought myself as a present! This is Miss Babs Yet Lace yarn in Smooch. I decided I needed something cheerful as a present to me!! Isn't it pretty?? (I only bought one, but since I just ordered it today, I had to borrow the picture from the Miss Babs site. Everyone go there and buy her fantastic yarn!!) This is for the Knitty Surprise pattern, Annis. It is a happy little crescent shaped shawl, whose nupps I will not be knitting! (Bead store, here I come!)

I will spare you any lament about aging and childlessness.... Not to mention dying alone. That can wait for tomorrow! Mostly, I am not feeling that way.... Everyone has been so nice today, got lots of wishes! Big smiles to the world!!

Bye-bye to the Bye-Bye Socks!

2010-05-26T07:29:00.003-04:00

Nobody would believe the marathon session of knitting that went into finishing these things!! I have knit at least 8 hours two days in a row.... Finished just in time, too. It is 7:30 and I have my last doctor's appointment with the recipient at 9AM! Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Now I have to go put ice on my hand!!

Maggie's Day Out.

2010-05-23T16:43:00.003-04:00

Maggie got to go on a field trip yesterday! I think we may have been more excited than she.... She went to Petsmart for a bath and nail clipping. And because it is true, I am a dork, here is a pictorial record of my dog's field trip.

Here is the disloyal little bitch pining desperately for The Mom when she left us in the car for five minutes. You would have thought she had been left to fend for herself with the dog catcher the way she whined and stared at the door, just waiting for the person she REALLY likes to come out!!

This is her trying to go with the groomer the minute that we walked in. She is so friendly it is hard to hold her back. This photo, by the way, got me a what-the-hell-is-that-nut-taking-pictures-of stare from the groomer...

And that terrible, blurry snapshot is the best I could do for an after shot. She was SO wound up that she didn't hold still for a second..... Nothing to see really, since she didn't LOOK stinky. Doggie love!

All the Knitting News that's fit to print.

2010-05-19T09:11:00.003-04:00

1. Gave away the Swallowtail Shawl. It was for my friend Julie's wedding. I hope that she liked it.... I have the terrible feeling that it wasn't enough for a wedding present now that it has gone to its forever home. I sincerely hope that is silly talk, since I know it was very beautiful! I am probably just sad to have to send it away.... Like a puppy fostered and now in its new home. Happy and sad at the same time!

2. Blocked Haruni.

Monday on my day off... I had worried that this wasn't going to be big enough, but now that I have stretched the CRAP out of it on the blocking wires, I think it is beautiful! I renew my vow of love for the yarn, and am glad for having ripped it out to prevent the hard line. Now it is nearly perfect. I left out some of the last chart as my only intentional modification, because I think that the cherry blossoms get to be too grid like towards the end. I wish it was a tiny bit longer, but over all, I think editing helped more than hurting! Now I just need a new outfit to wear it with!!

3. Made steady progress on Aeolian. This may take the rest of my life. There are approximately 4549 stitches in every row now. That is just a guess, but it has GOT to be close to that!! No pictures, because on the needles it still looks like an amorphous purple blob.

4. Plugging away at sock number two.
To get in the spirit, I have painted my toenails the same color. :-)

P.S.
I published this on 5-23-10. I think that since I started the post on 5-19, it is going to show that as the date....

Really terrible yarn pictures.

2010-05-13T16:43:00.003-04:00

Or, multiple reasons that I should be glad that I am not going to drive to Kentucky for the Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend. (Not seeing Courtney= sad.)Reason number 1: Emerald Green Louet Euroflax. Got this one at Charlotte Yarn when we went on the previously unblogged-about trip to see Wendy of Wendy Knits. Fun was had by all! In reality, it is neither blurry nor dark as night. I am going to make the Lace Saddle Tee from the new Interweave Knits out of this one. It feels like kitchen twine right now, but I am hopeful that it will turn out like my very favorite linen sweater, all flow-y and drape-y. Fingers crossed!Reason number 2: (No particular order to the show and tell, btw.) Here is a Mini Mochi rainbow that I just got for me, for fun. I am picturing some seriously funky rainbow socks, toe-up Jaywalkers or something. Everyone deserves rainbow socks, right?
Reason number 3: Expensive and irresistible, bought on complete impulse on the same trip to Charlotte Yarn. I have no earthly idea what I will do with 900 yards of teal laceweight, but MAN should you feel this stuff! Soft like bunnies. Dreamy and even. Sigh. Complete yarn lust!
Reason number 4: Pile of pink prettiness.... Berroco Weekend. Pink as a baby's butt. Got THIS one a couple of weeks ago at Island Knits to make Romi from one of their leaflets from this season. As much as I hate to do the predictable, Kingscot taught me that I should listen when the designer recommends a yarn. Especially a Berroco yarn! I am always iffy about working with cotton for the usual reasons, lack of elasticity, heaviness, etc., but this one has quite a bit of acrylic content which seems to lighten it up. We shall see, I guess.
And last but CERTAINLY not least, reason number 5: Cue the angels singing. Bring on the beams of celestial light. I present to you, dear readers, the most sublimely perfect-for-me yarn ever manufactured- Ta-duh! Dream in Color Starry in (wait for it!) Flamingo Pie!! I picked it up before I knew that this beautiful skein was made just for me.... Serendipity!

Anyway, for those of you doing mental math, you have probably figured out that the enormous amount of money I have spent on yarn recently makes a trip from SC to KY financially foolish right now. And lets face it, do I REALLY need more yarn this summer???

Yarn love.

The dog and the shawl, a story in pictures.

2010-05-13T10:00:00.002-04:00

Bye-bye socks....

2010-05-12T18:48:00.003-04:00

Not bye-bye like I won't be making any more socks, but bye-bye like they are going to be a going away present. (Note to self- must find picture of the brother in the bye-bye hat!) I was very sad to learn that my doctor, the only doctor I have ever had who took the time to listen to me and didn't make me feel like I had done something wrong to end up needing a doctor, is quitting her practice. She is a year younger than me, which makes me feel old, and I told her that I hope now we can become buddies since she won't be my doctor. And thereby I officially became a weird stalker patient, I am sure. Nevertheless, above you see the Catnip Sock by Wendy of Wendy Knits. I love this pattern and this yarn (Lisa Souza Sock!) that I will surely be making more for me....

I took the picture as an homage to the Yarn Harlot, who does that to show her sock in the context of something or someone interesting. Yep, that is the view from the chair where I am knitting them. Exciting, I know. I don't know how you will stand it.

Ode to my Mommy.

2010-05-10T11:15:00.004-04:00

Day late, hopefully not a dollar short..... It really isn't that I forgot Mother's Day. Ask her, she will tell you! It is that words fail me when I try to talk about how important she is to me, how important our relationship is.

Remember the mnemonic poem about red skies in the morning meaning bad weather? You know, "Red skies at morning, sailors take warning....?" I used to think my mom came up with that all on her own. I thought she was a genius! (Now, I know she really is.) She is my hero, the person that taught me that it is never too late to try to get what you want. Not too long ago, I found myself lamenting the lack of "best friend" status in my life, but I realized that we both have that. She was my Mommy when I was a child, but she is my best friend as an adult.

I do reserve the right, however, for occasional access to my Mommy.

So, how did we celebrate Mother's Day? Talked the Mom into seeing Pulp Fiction for the first time. We are all so sentimental. (She loved it. We knew she would!)

Where not to knit?

2010-04-30T11:22:00.006-04:00

Location, Location, Location
Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you liek to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub? TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo5

I would knit it here or there. I would knit it in a house, I would knit it with a mouse. I would knit it in a box, I would knit it with a fox. Oh, wait that is not knitting, that is green eggs and ham....

Actually, I feel naked without a project. My projects are weirdly well-travelled, since I often take them places and never take them out of the bag... Like knitting project security blankets. Work has seen many a project come and go, despite the fact that they won't let me knit at my desk.... Silly people! Right now I would have to say that it depends on what project has my attention at the moment where it is going for knitting. Remember this setup? (Don't FANTASTIC pictures deserve a second showing??)The Aeolian, for example, is ONLY being knit in the recliner in the den. Too stinking complicated to pack up and go, not to mention what a disaster I could make of this pattern if I got even slightly distracted! I am making terrific progress on this one since this is my week to be tethered to the laptop to work from home in the evenings....

Also on the needles, to cover all whims and locations, I have Passiflora which is just easy and chunky enough that I can work on it anywhere. I think I could walk and knit this at the same time, which comes as a blessed break from the teeny-tiny bead-laden lace work.... Not that it has seen any travel time yet, but I WOULD take this one to Barnes and Noble or Starbucks for coffee, knit anywhere that I might sit and chat.....

Additionally, I have a ziplock bag full of sock just waiting to go to the beach tomorrow. (See, I am a dreamer, I hold on to the dream! I WILL go to the beach....) I figure that the yarn is not all thick and sweaty and I don't care overmuch if I get sand in it.

So, I guess the question is more Where WON'T I knit????

Learn something new?

2010-04-29T11:21:00.004-04:00

A New Skill
Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colourwork. TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo4

Yes to all of the above....! I have always been a girl to jump in with both feet. Rarely do I let anyone tell me what order the learning should come in.... One of the first things I ever learned to cook, after all, was crepes. If there are directions, I figure I can muddle through!

Actually, The Mom and I took a class in Fair Isle a couple of years ago at SAFF, and I am really glad that I did. The stuff with the left hand was something I did not have the confidence to try on my own.... But I believe that is what it all comes down to, confidence. (I think it is actually the secret of life, confidence, but don't get me started!) Once I was empowered by that brief but useful lesson, I was off!

The next year, The Mom and I took lace knitting, also at SAFF. Nothing against the quality of the class or the instruction, but it was a complete waste of time and money for us... We were already at a skill level where we easily could have done it ourselves. We just hadn't been CONFIDENT enough to trust ourselves to do it. Talk about empowered. Realizing THAT has completely set me free!! I know that there are still things to learn. Goodness knows that I have never knit continental, entrelac, backwards.... But I believe that I can find out how to do it. I can figure out from books and the ever-helpful internet. Last resort, I shall avail myself of the wonderful community of experts at my fingertips on Ravelry! I am a knitter. I am a GOOD knitter! I can do ANYTHING! :-)

Sigh. I love knitting.

Great Knitters of Inspiration and Intimidation!

2010-04-28T11:22:00.008-04:00

One Great Knitter
Write about a knitter whose work (whether because of project choice, photography, styling, scale of projects, stash, etc) you enjoy. If they have an enjoyable blog, you might find it a good opportunity to send a smile their way. TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo3

Wow, this one is harder than the others! Always easier to talk about myself than someone else, I guess.... I have also tried not to read too many of the other posts for this topic before hand, because everyone that I read I say, "Oh, I love that person, too!!" I think I have it narrowed down to two Great Knitters... I just hope that I can do them justice!!

1. I love Norah Gaughan. Everything she does, whether I could wear it or not, is fantastic! The only thing I have managed to finish of hers is the Kingscot Cardigan from Twist Collective. It is my favorite thing I have ever made! She just manages to create such a sense of avant gard cool without making anything stuffy or unwearable.... It is a delicate balance, and I love her for it! I have seriously considered doing a year-long Norah Gaughan fest a la Julia and Julia, where I pick six Norah sweaters and just knit my heart out.... Caberet Raglan, here I come!

2. Anne Hansen of Knitspot is a constant source of awe and inspiration for me.... And intimidation! Her blog is so lovely, happy, serene. She creates such loveliness! I bought the Maplewing Shawl pattern, seen here, at SAFF last year. At that point, the pattern seemed well neigh impossible for me to accomplish.... I have gotten some lace behind me now, so I feel like it is somewhere within the realm of possibility.... someday!
All of her patterns are something to aspire to in my mastery of knitting. Wing of the Moth, Bee Fields, Trevi.... Artichaut is next in my queue! All so lovely! I am seriously considering another year knit along for stunning, complicated lace shawls. Why are there so many wonderful designs and so few days in the year??

The intimidation factor comes in with how easy she makes it all seem. Garden that would feed 20 all season long? Just a beautiful day with soil and sunshine! Lace shawl that I have to turn the tv off to have any hope of working without mistakes? Travel knitting! Whip up a sock pattern? Filler between other projects! I would pull my hair out.... But that is part of the appeal of the blog, the joyful sense of serenity with which she accomplishes such a creative, love-filled life. Anne, you are my hero!!

I think some of the reason I love knitting is all the creative people.... We are so lucky to live in a time when technology provides access to a great community of people, designers, blogs, and awesome patterns. It is the perfect knitting storm!!

My Knitting Holy Grail.

2010-04-27T08:45:00.006-04:00

An Inspirational Pattern

Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to. Whether it happens to be because the skills needed are ones which you have not yet acquired, or just because it seems like a huge undertaking of time and dedication, most people feel they still have something to aspire to in their craft. If you don’t feel like you have any left of the mountain of learning yet to climb, say so! TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo2

So, in the saga I laid out yesterday, I mentioned watching the girl knit at the Starbucks in Charlotte, how magical and peaceful it seemed. Here is what I am just sure that she was working on:

If she wasn't knitting Lady Eleanor, I am pretty sure that I don't actually care! In my mind, she was knitting away on what I consider to be the most beautiful and inspiring piece of knitwear out there.... I bought the book Scarf Style by Interweave Press before I even had HOPE that I could learn to knit. I justified it by telling myself that it had crochet in it, too. (I think there are two crochet patterns in the whole book.... Don't mess with my self-delusion!) Everything in the book is so, so beautiful, but Lady Eleanor is special. I think this one represents to me more than just a project that I would love to knit someday.... First, it is entrelac which seems to me to be the penultimate of knitting difficulty. Second, I think I just want to BE the girl in that image. I want to be so lovely. I want to be the kind of girl who can pull off wearing such a dramatic wrap.... This shawl is a lifestyle, an idea of what I want my life to look like, to be like.

So, you see why I can't make it yet, right? It is as if it would mix the knitting matter and anti-matter and end the knitting the universe! If I master entrelac, would knitting become passe? Boring? Would I have been-there-done-that? And if I dreamed all this time about this shawl then looked stupid or fat, would I lose the will to live, to dream about ideal lives?? Can I face taking this from perfect ideal to possibly flawed reality??

Now you all think I am a little crazy, right? Here I am, exposing my deepest, darkest knitting neuroses to the light, showing my furry underbelly. (Metaphorically. I swear, my underbelly is actually not furry.) Be kind to me, will you??

In less dramatic knitting news, here are the promised pictures of WIPs. This is the Aeolian, represented in a picture that shows no beads, but darned if that isn't almost the actual color of the yarn.... I never thought it would get to this point, but I am in a weird place with this shawl. I know it is going to be so very lovely, and I LOVE the yarn, but the pattern has gotten a little tedious here on the 11th repeat. I am trying to muscle my way through.... No matter how long the rows are, there are after all only 12 repeats of this pattern to complete. I think I can, I think I can....

And here is the beginning of the Passiflora, take two. The first time I somehow misread the instructions and omitted all the Sand Stitch from the beginning of the knitting.... It looked mighty funky, so FROG. I am really enjoying working on this in contrast to the much more complicated, attention hogging lace knitting on the shawl. It gives me a little mindless, meditative time when lace is too much. And it goes so fast! After I took this picture yesterday afternoon, I doubled it in size and then moved back to Aeolian! I just hope wearing a sweater made out of an aran weight wool blend does not cause me to actually melt in my car one day this summer.....

I used to tell people I could learn to do anything but knit....

2010-04-25T08:44:00.004-04:00

Today is day one of Eskimimi's Knit and Crochet Blog Week, or as it is has come to be known, KniCroBlo, which I personally enjoy much more! I have never stopped being 14 years old, have I?? (Then how did I get so old??? I guess that is a question for another day...) Anyway, Eskimimi has thoughtfully provided prompts for blogging for the whole week, to light the proverbial fire under our patooties, and I have decided that this will be a good way to get moving on the blog posting and maybe make new imaginary blog friends! So the prompt for today, day one, is this:

Starting Out

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda? TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo1

True story, I used to actually say in job interviews that I could learn to do anything except for knit. I think it got me a job as a bookkeeper once, which it turns out is something that I CANNOT actually learn to do.... (Seriously, you need a bookkeeper so you turn to an art historian??? What were we thinking??) Now, I have turned that clever hook for job interviews into a terrible lie....

We were always big crocheters in our family. My grandma was rarely without a project, my mom dabbled occasionally, and I was always crocheting something... My grandma could knit, though, and knitting had taken on magical proportions in my imagination. She had this cardboard tube of aluminum knitting needles, all the shiny round ends were at the top when you opened the tube like a futuristic silvery bouquet. I opened that tube probably a thousand times when I was a kid. Many times, armed with K-Mart acrylic yarn my grandmother tried to teach me to knit. I was impossible. I have never seen such horrific lumps turned off a knitting needle in my life.... Pathetic. And my threshold for that kind of frustration was very, very low. I have always picked up new crafts easily and this seemed like the worst kind of mockery of my skills. If I was that terrible and frustrated, it must actually be impossible!!

This only added to the mystical appeal of the craft. Magically, OTHERS were able to do it and I couldn't.... To this day, whenever I cast on a summer weight sweater, I think of my Aunt Billie who knitted away in the eighties at our house on the cutest North-Carolina-summer weight sweaters. (Those of you in the South know what I mean by North-Carolina-summer!!) I couldn't look away! So perfect, so beautiful, so impossible for me to understand. I was so jealous! My mom and I both remember being amazed that she was KNITTING SOMEPLACE OTHER THAN ON HER OWN COUCH. Foolish, foolish non-knitters! We have come to understand now.

Fast forward through many years of such incidents: jealousy, trying to learn from my left handed mother, blobs of yarn, crying, throwing knitting needles.... See our heroine in graduate school, stressed to the eyebrows, feeling like class going, test taking and paper writing comprise the entire universe. I had seen a girl in Starbucks a couple of months past knitting away on what I now know to be the Lady Elanore Stole, an object of great desire to this day. I probably creeped her out staring at her, the way her fingers flew, the peace she seemed to be working in.... I was already foolishly buying Interweave Knits and wallowing in impotent envy of people who could produce such beautiful work. I found out that the Carrboro Arts Center hosted classes and a new session of Beginning Knitting was about to start. It was a steep fee for a student without a full time job, 180$, but what are student loans for, right?

There I ended up, at the police station in tiny little Carrboro, whose arts center was too small to accommodate the class! Our teacher was this amazing Scottish woman, whose name I sadly cannot remember, who had a MASTER'S DEGREE IN KNITTING. What a concept! A Master's Degree in something I wanted to do for fun! She was incredible. Worked some kind of magic on me, and somehow I picked up every new stitch and concept like I had been doing it my whole life. I feel as if my brain had learned to knit over and over but my hands had been stubborn. It was like that class was the final "CLICK" that it took for my HANDS to learn to knit. Duck to water. Made a mockery of all the tears and throwing things of the past. I have never looked back.

I enjoyed it so much and became so obsessed with the activity that The Mom picked the needles back up when I learned. She hadn't knitted since the 70s. The rest is history. Here we are today, never without a project or two at hand, unable to visit a coffee shop or friend's house without yarn. Fiber fairs, multiple notebooks of patterns, online shopping, Ravelry, knit-alongs.... Knitting bliss!

I can honestly say that nothing has ever made me happier than the magical transformation of string into something beautiful. The magic has never been lost. Look at this! I made string into a SOCK! Wow, that is pretty and I can wear it! To say nothing of the pure alchemy of creating lace out of nothing!! I shrug aside any suggestion that my life is unbalanced, that this has become an addiction.... If this is unhealthy, I don't want to get better.

So, there is my story. When I get home for the evening I will share fresh pictures of Aeolian, which is marching along, and Passiflora that I have shamefully not been able to restrain myself from casting on! (See, obsessed!)

I wanna go to the beach. Whine.

2010-04-22T14:47:00.002-04:00

The Mom and I bought this:

So that I will not look like this after a day in the sun:

Now I want to go to the beach on Saturday. It is supposed to be 89 degrees on Saturday, which means everyone in the state of South Carolina will probably be at the beach. But I am having trouble caring. I want to take Steve (the ebook reader, my boyfriend) and go lay on the sand, in the shade, and feel the breeze blowing. This week, however, will actually never be over. It is like one of those old Twilight Zone horror short stories... It will just keep going and going. By now it should surely be Friday of next week!

The only downside I can see for a short road-trip to the beach this weekend is that I am NOT foolish enough to think I can knit alpaca into beaded lace under a canopy on the sand.... I have been making such happy progress on the Aeolian that I have the conflicting urge to sit in the lazyboy with a shawl and a teeny-tiny crochet hook this entire weekend.... Decisions, decisions!

What not to do with a crochet hook.

2010-04-20T08:42:00.004-04:00

You may have noticed that yesterday's post included yarn wound into a big old ball by hand.... I'll wait while you look. That is a result of the strangest knitting disaster I have ever perpetrated, and for some embarrassing reason, I have decided to share that with you here. Sit back and enjoy a laugh at the sequence of events that let to the existence of that hand-wound ball of lovely:

1. Found a very tiny crochet hook in the floor of my car while cleaning it out to drive The Mom to the bead store on Saturday.
2. Didn't read the size on the hook, just stuck it in the little well on my dashboard for the trip there and back, around three hours total.
3. Got the crap annoyed out of me by a VERY shiny metal crochet hook rolling around on my dashboard. In the sun. Flash, roll, fall off, put back, repeat.
4. Came up with a brilliant solution. Pulled the cone of laceweight yarn out of the bag in the back. Stuck the hook in the middle of a tightly wound cone of alpaca silk yarn. Hook down. I am obviously a genius.
5. Thought that I had solved the problem and dismissed the whole thing from my mind until I got home and got ready to cast on.
6. Tried to pull the hook out, the one that I was convinced that I was going to need to bead the shawl I was starting with this yarn. What happens when you try to pull a crochet hook BACKWARDS out of a tightly wound cone of alpaca silk yarn? NOTHING. Doesn't even wiggle.
7. Tried to push it through forwards. Guess what happens when you push a crochet hook forward into a cone of laceweight yarn that is taller than the hook is long?
8. You guessed it. It disappears completely. No amount of poking it with your fingers or with other long implements like, say, three different sizes of knitting needles does anything but make you worry you are chopping your yarn up.

That is right, in eight easy steps, I managed to FEED A CROCHET HOOK (that I needed to use with the yarn) TO A CONE OF LACEWEIGHT YARN. Now, THAT is talent!

Thus we arrive at the place where I spent two entire hours on Saturday night winding a ball by hand, like a treasure hunt, trying to uncover my crochet hook. All's well that ends well, right? And hey, I got to pay very careful attention to the new Dr. Who! (Who, geek?? Me??)

Beady goodness.

2010-04-19T20:23:00.002-04:00

I finished the Haruni, will show more when I get it blocked. Took a trip to the bead store in Surfside Beach on Saturday so I could start my Aeolian shawl.... I got beads (four boxes of them!) that match the yarn PERFECTLY. It is such a perfect match that they are almost invisible.... I struggled with that, couldn't decide if I wanted to go for the blend or the contrast. I guess it remains to be seen if I end up liking the low contrast, huh? What I am telling myself is that it is like water at night, with a subtle glitter of moonlight through clouds. I can spin such a fantasy about yarn, can't I? See above my new beading workstation, complete with this magic velvety mat that keeps the beads from rolling.... Amazing stuff! I am starting to get into the rhythm of putting beads on every few stitches, too. (Now that I said that, there will be a terrible beading disaster, won't there??)

Now I am sick and will go to bed shamefully early. I hate being sick.

My cat liked to hide in boxes.

2010-04-14T16:46:00.001-04:00

Rest in peace, Nicky, 1998-2010. Wherever you are, I hope you are not suffering anymore.

Prom Night.

2010-04-12T14:48:00.002-04:00

Behold The Mom, crowning the Wilson High School 2010 Prom Queen! This is my fourth prom all together, and my second with my mom.... Silly, I know, but we had a great time... And a great day shopping for prom dresses! I thought as I approached 40 in a childless state that I might have moved past any potential prom dress shopping, but NO! I got a great dress. So great, in fact, that I am going to have to start inventing cocktail dress occasions so that I can wear it again. That and the being-swallowed-by-a-boa-constrictor underwear.... Not that I am looking for excuses to wear that again....
Here are the obligatory before-prom photos. Nicky got in on the action, and we couldn't resist, even though it meant showing fish-belly white legs to the internet. :-)

The Mom and I partied the night away.

Continuing knitting disasters....

2010-04-12T14:35:00.002-04:00

Remember this? Beautiful, huh? I took this picture in the vain hope that I could convince myself that I hadn't allowed the color changing yarn to ruin the project. Don't think that is possible? Check this out:

Yep, nothing soft or subtle about that change. I didn't even have to do anything to accomplish it.... It wasn't because I broke the yarn when the dog spilled malt on it. It was just the way the color change worked out. Whose bright idea was that?? So when I got to about three inches of unadulterated sand color after that hard line transition, I finally gave up and admitted that it looked terrible, and that I would never love this shawl again if I didn't do it. That's right- frog. No life line. Just plain ole' pull-the-needle-out frogging. It still makes me light headed to think about it.
Here is the scene at my house last night. Not for the faint of heart. I ended up frogging to about three rows above the hard line, which was an entire day's worth of progress, an entire chart worth. THEN, in the most difficult knitting maneuver of my entire life, I put (hopefully!) 96 stitches of cobweb weight yarn knitted into a random pattern of yarn overs back on the needle. And tinked back three more rows.

Today, on my Good Friday holiday that I took today since I actually worked on Good Friday, I have put about ten rows back on it. That was before I cleaned the kitchen and took a long hot bath. I am still not 1oo% convinced that it was a successful move, since there is still a color difference where I picked up the yarn. Not nearly so bold, true. We shall see how it goes as time and charted rows pass.... I may never get over the trauma!

My dog is seriously in the dog house.

2010-04-03T16:58:00.002-04:00

This is my beautiful Jojoland Harmony yarn, soaking. The dog spilled chocolate malt on the skein where it was resting while I napped this afternoon. She looks very ashamed. I may forgive her if the yarn dries ok. Maybe.

Once and Future Socks.

2010-04-02T17:18:00.002-04:00

I know I love this yarn. Wanna know how I know I love this yarn? I have, in the last 24 hours, started this sock three times. I got all the way through the first repeat of the lace pattern for the Swan Socks by Wendy Knits at least once. I am telling you, though, a grizzly bear could have gotten a big old paw even in the second attempt. The Miss Babs Yummy is holding up nicely to the frogging, I have to say!

This, contrary to my usual history with photos, is a pretty decent representation of the color. This is my Miss Babs club yarn, Oriental Poppy in honor of Georgia O'Keefe. I madly, madly, madly love the color, which is only slightly more orange than I am showing here. The pattern that came with it was cuff down, though it was lovely, so I have decided to deviate and do the Wendy KAL sock for this month. Birds, stones, you know!

Not that I have fallen out of love with the shawls... Don't get me wrong. I am still motoring along on the Hanami shawl. I have gotten through the sixth repeat of seven basketweave repeats.... I can't explain why I needed something else to knit. Somehow the pattern is both too complex and, after the SIXTH time I have done the exact same thing, too tedious to work on uninterrupted. Hopefully, knitters will understand what I mean by that.... I have to concentrate hard to get it right, but on the seventh repeat, there is nothing new happening.... I needed me some variety!!

I think I may be spending too much time thinking about this stuff....

Working from home.

2010-03-31T18:18:00.001-04:00

At least one of us enjoys it very much! (I am wearing pants. I swear.)

Now THAT is more like it!

2010-03-29T21:23:00.003-04:00

Now blocking, the long awaited Haruni!

Ignore the bizarrely off-center loops in the center detail. I have mostly fixed that.... Since I saw in the pictures how bad it looked! And this is still a LITTLE more mulberry than reality, but SO much better. I can't WAIT until it is dry!!!

Ohhh, la-la!

2010-03-27T18:56:00.002-04:00

If I do say so myself, that is one pretty shawl in progress!! I am madly in love, despite the fact that this is one of the hardest patterns I have ever tried to keep track of. The yarn is absolutely luscious. I have been trying to come up with some clever way to express how truly fine, even minuscule, this yarn really is.... But dammit, my thunder has been stolen by the fact that they already named it cobweb lace! But may I say, no more accurate name has been come up with for a kind of yarn. It is barely there, it is so fine. And the fabric!! I feel like I could pass the whole thing through the eye of a needle, if not for the beads! And LOOK at the beads- they really DO look like rain drops about to fall.... I can't wait to block it and see that transformation! Knitting love.

Picture of a project in a WAY earlier state of completion....

2010-03-23T22:48:00.003-04:00

See! Above is my Haruni, which I finished knitting on Sunday.... I am a little behind on blogging. And this is the WORST representation of the color I have ever managed. I tried everything I could think of to capture the real color, which is a creamy terra-cotta. Cherry Tree Hill called it Ginger Snap, but it is more like the roof tiles in Sienna, Italy to me. Less orange than the name Ginger Snap calls to mind. But WAY, WAY less purple than the above image. Anyway, BEST pattern ever! (Check out the Rav link to The Mom's version!) I am dying to block it and see it in all its glory.... But feeling a little too lazy and butt-kicked this week to put actions to words. Maybe this weekend. That is still time to enter it in the 10 Shawls in 2010 monthly drawing, after all.
Speaking of bad color pictures, here is my Lisa Souza laceweight yarn. Does that look familiar, or is the picture that bad. Let me end the suspense for you: it is EXACTLY, UNCANNILY the same color as the Butter Peeps that I used to make the Swallowtail. Not the ivory, rust and blue that the website made it look. (Though who can blame a website when I take such pathetic pictures of color??) Not to say that it is not lovely, Lisa Souza's yarns always are in my limited experience.... It is just not what I wanted. Now I have to decide what pattern I should make out of yellow yarn. Baby yellow. Which is Julie's favorite color. Not mine. Sigh.

It is no consolation that The Mom is equally disappointed with her color. She was hoping for pale, pale grey. She got pale, pale mint green. I think she has decided what to make with hers, but I can't remember what she told me. It will be a surprise all over again!

In brighter knitting news, I found the perfect project for the Jojoland Harmony that I bought a year ago at Stitches South. This is majorly cobweb laceweight. I have started a couple of shawls with it and given up. I have taken courage from the Blocking: Before and After thread on Ravelry and decided finally that it is just not possible to knit with cobweb laceweight and have it look like anything other than a hairball hocked up by a soft green/blue cat until it is blocked. Now Hanami is on the needles!! (Is there a theme to these shawl names?)

When I manage a picture of this one and the finished Haruni, I will detail the saga of bead knitting for the very first time!

Number moron. That's me.

2010-03-04T10:56:00.002-05:00

I am not being hard on myself. It is a simple truth. No one should ever count on my ability to read, remember or interpret numbers. Let's take the Peasy Sweater for example. You may remember my difficulty in keeping in my head that the unit I was working with was centimeters. Not inches. Centimeters. I worked so hard at hammering which side of the measuring tape that I should be using into my head that I skipped an entire direction. I have been motoring along, knitting and knitting and knitting to get to 22cm. Turns out, 22cm was the spot to increase the SECOND time. I skipped an increase at 12cm. Skipped. Entirely omitted.

NOW what do I do?? I was all proud to have gotten to 22cm, my shining goal. I thought I was going to faint when I read the pattern to see what to do next. I have just about decided, since there are ONLY two increases of four stitches per row, that I am going to increase, knit four more rows and increase again. I can't see that it will make that huge of a difference. Or that I care that much if it does after all that stockinette!!

You switch needles for the bind off at 30cm. I am almost there. And the second set of needles is on its way so I can do a seamless sleeve on two circs.... Or set that aside and start a shawl.... We shall see!

Where the bleep is Spring??

2010-03-02T11:06:00.003-05:00

It is cold and rainy and crappy here. And my mood is reflecting the weather right now! I know that in the north, talk of Spring waits until around May to start, but MAN it should be here in Hell's armpit NOW. NOW NOW NOW!!!! Instead, we are expecting snow. Ick.

Aren't you glad that I posted today??

I would show another picture of Peasy, but it looks much the same as it did last time. I swear I am measuring centimeters this time.... How could this possibly be taking so long? I have discovered that 22cm isn't even 9". And STILL I am not done! Last measure I had gotten to about 16cm. I thought I would have this done this past weekend!

In much more exciting news, the Mom and I have delved deeper into lace knitting obsession! She finished her Haruni (I blocked it) and it is a stunning masterpiece. Ohh, la la! I am DYING to start this one with some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Ginger Snap that I bought just for the purpose.... If only my size fours weren't currently caught in a metric measurement nightmare.....

We also have made a great discovery. Lisa Souza Lace Weight yarn. Her skeins come in a great yardage of 2520! That is MORE than enough to knit a large shawl and probably a small one.... Great bargain for the 32$ price tag. So what we did was this: The Mom ordered this color- And I ordered this one- She will make the Aeolian Shawl from hers with silvery beads, and I will make (probably) Bitterroot with iridescent beads. Then we will switch leftovers. Aren't we clever??

Yes, I do too know what the word tomorrow means...

2010-02-26T15:41:00.004-05:00

And I know it has been since before yesterday that I have been promising Peasy pictures.... But there it is! I don't know how far I have gotten, but I am pretty sure it is not 22cm. CM. Not inches.... And that is still more purple than it really is. I don't know what I am doing wrong with the photos. I am motoring along as fast as I can, because I really want to get this off the needles!! I am DYING to start something else lacy.

Especially since I got this in the mail on Wednesday:

It is four skeins (despite the fact that there are only three visible, just take my word for it) of Alpaca Cloud from Knitpicks. The color, dill, is discontinued. I loved it, though, so I took advantage of the fact that I could get an entire large shawls worth of yarn for only 15$. And so far, it totally lives up to my expectations! It is soft as a, well, cloud. It is the perfect oliv-y color. It is dreamy. And I am going to need it.

Because I have joined 10 Shawls in 2010 on Ravelry! I had already done the Citron, sadly unphotographed, and the Swallowtail. Next, Haruni! I love that pattern and can't wait to wear it!! Wish me luck.

Centimeters, Jennifer, not inches.

2010-02-23T10:14:00.002-05:00

So, I am working on the Peasy sweater. Over the weekend I got to the spot in the pattern where I was to divide the stitches for the sleeves and the body, which normally would not cause me a lot of stress.... But I stopped cold Saturday evening, frozen in fear and indecision. Mostly because I CANNOT keep in my head that this pattern is measured in centimeters. Not inches, centimeters. (Maybe if I say it a lot, I will remember...)

The schematic at the end has a chart to correspond to the measurements. It says plain as day what the unit of measure is, but did I comprehend? Nope. I saw the statistic that I should have a measurement of 22 from the neckline to the division for the sleeves and body, and reading "22 inches" because I am a ding dong, I freaked out. Nevermind the VAST difference between 22" and 22cm. I was convinced I had come up that short! I put it aside, because as everyone knows, if you completely ignore a knitting disaster, it is right three weeks later when you pick it up again. And that is kind of what happened. When I picked it up last night, suddenly the fact that inches and centimeters are different measurements made perfect sense to me. Its a miracle!! I have 21cm lightly stretched, which tells me if I block it right I will be ok. Pshew!

And then I made a radical decision. I have departed from the pattern. I am such a rebel. This one had you working the sleeves first and working them flat. I have decided to go with my instincts. It made so much more sense to me to put the sleeves on waste yarn and knit the body first.... That way there is no seaming for the sleeves and I can try it on before then, too. I am all for no seaming.... Wish me luck!

By the way, let me tell you: NOTHING that causes such horrible symptoms when you stop drinking it could POSSIBLY be good for you. I have stopped with the Pepsi, but I may be a rare case that actually dies from a caffeine withdrawal headache. Seriously.

Tomorrow, Peasy pictures!!

My dog is camera shy.

2010-02-22T09:20:00.002-05:00

You wouldn't think she was, considering what an attention hog she can be, but she cannot sit for a photo. This is the best I could do to show her feeling better. This is begging for a bacon treat after performing all the tricks she knows! I love that if you get the treats out, she just starts doing tricks. "What do you want me to do??? Just gimme!!!" She seems to be feeling much better, though she still has a little trouble jumping up on the couch. At least now she is willing to do it. The vet said that she shouldn't have any ongoing problems. I think she is still looking for that bone, though!

The Swallowtail is done but for the ends that need to be tied in. I know myself. That will happen with the gift box open in front of me on the day I give it to her.... It came out so pretty, though!!!

And here is a way-more-purple-than-reality shot of the Peasy in progress:No doubt this will be beautiful, and I love my sweater I made out of Silky Wool previously, but in my lust for lace, I am having a hard time enjoying this one! I am doggedly determined to get it finished, though, so stay tuned for updates!

New and creative ways to kill our dog.

2010-02-18T11:09:00.005-05:00

Does that not look like the saddest, sickest doggie in the whole world? In our ignorance as dog owners, we are going to accidentally kill our poor, beloved little money pit! We didn't know that you shouldn't give dogs bones of any kind! We thought she was getting a treat!! Now she has a bone shard lodged in her stomach. The vet thinks that it will naturally break down, and we have been, um, bulking up her diet to help it along.... But in the meantime, she doesn't feel good. And can't figure out why we took away the yummy steak bone that got her in trouble in the first place!

Look what I did last night, as promised!It blocked out to 54" wide, which isn't as large as I had envisioned, but quite substantial nonetheless.... I have it unpinned now, and it drapes nicely around the shoulders, and all the way to the tailbone in back, but can't be wrapped back around. Next time, I will add ten repeats!

Note to self, though, use blocking wires for the top edge of lace shawls. It held those points nicely.... which I didn't want it to. I am trying to decide now if I need to reblock the top with wires....

In the meantime, here is a dark, blurry lace detail:

MUST KNIT MORE LACE! The Peasy Sweater, which will no doubt be stunning, is boring the heck out of me!!

Lenten fasting.

2010-02-17T12:22:00.003-05:00

Anyone who knows me at all will know how very ironic it is that I am giving up Pepsi for Lent. That I am giving up ANYTHING for Lent!! But, there you go. I have been trying to give it up gradually for a while now for the calories, but I am such a slave to caffeine that I have failed miserably. Now Sherrie at work said that this is what she is giving up, so I have decided to quit today. People who know me, you know that I will now act like a bear who is not ready to come out of hibernation, and you may want to give me a wide berth. Grr.

In knitting news, today I shall block the Swallowtail shawl. You can't rush these things. Yesterday, I undertook the monumental task of bringing the blocking mats in from the shed, after which I had to take a rest. :-) (Now that I have put it on the blog, I HAVE to finish it, right??)

Swallowtail the second. Stage, that is. Not the second shawl.

2010-02-14T19:46:00.004-05:00

But first, above find my car on Friday night. This is after a harrowing trip north to Charlotte, NC. I thought I was going to be killed on I-77, going 25 MPH, trying to get to a friend of mine with fingers crossed for a chance at love. Let me say, in case you were wondering how THAT went, that Valentine's Day sucks big ones. Draw your own conclusions....

Other than a drama-filled conversation of catharsis that was probably long overdue (and a strangely fascinating trip to the NC Aviation Museum), I did manage to finish the Swallowtail Shawl. I love this thing! It looks really tiny to me right now, but I am a believer in the power of blocking. The Reese's Cup is for scale. Not that I won't eat it later.

Here is a detail shot. I have conquered the legendary nupp. They aren't so bad if you use a tiny little crochet hook to do the P5 maneuver.... I don't see how anyone could pull a loop of laceweight yarn through five entire stitches with a stick with no hook on the end. Apparently, they have superpowers that I do not possess.
Though, seriously, right now I wouldn't be surprised to hear someone has superpowers that I don't possess. I am feeling extremely deficient in the realm of personal superpowers right at this moment.

To console myself, I am now going to watch Amazing Race. And not have Valentine's Day sex.

I'm sorry, did you say something?

2010-02-08T09:28:00.001-05:00

Say it again. Steve and I were reading and didn't hear you!

The only kind of Nook-e I have gotten recently!

2010-02-04T13:22:00.002-05:00

The Nook E-reader, that is. (That name seems well-thought-out, don't you think?) My Nook came! I have decided to call him Steve. (Over the Hedge. Anyone? Anyone?) Anyway, I madly love him, and he has become my constant companion. I read the latest Sookie Stackhouse in less than 24 hours! You just can't stop turning the pages!! Gadget love.

Now I just need to figure out how to upload a PDF to the thing and I will be in gadget heaven!

Here is what knitting at my house looks like recently:This is Buttercup, perched in her very favorite spot in the entire world, my left boob. I love her. She is the sweetest cat you would ever want as a knitting companion, but I swear, that boob is sitting a little lower since she took up residence.... She is absolutely relentless when she wants to be someplace, too, and she can make biscuits (as I have heard the kneading called) for two straight hours without a break. There are times when I think she has fallen asleep and sheer momentum has kept her going! I just hope that Julie doesn't mind knitted-in Buttercup hair in her wedding shawl!!

Take a moment to admire my restraint....

2010-02-03T17:14:00.003-05:00

... and take a gander at what I am working on rather than a new sweater for me! (Jennifer thinks longingly of the Peasy sweater from a recent post....)
It is the Swallowtail Shawl in the previously blogged Butter Peeps. I LOVE IT! So far the pattern is very easy to understand and keep track of, thank you very much for a legible chart. The yarn is softer and less contrast-y than it looks in photos. The orange and other colors are definitely there, it is just an overall softer, yellow-er impression than I can capture. I am feeling good about my choice here!

Except, MAN is this a heavy laceweight.... Much more like fingering. That doesn't bother me, per se, I am just worried that it will affect the required yardage.... We shall see!

Yarn Paralysis, a new epidemic.

2010-02-02T15:53:00.002-05:00

Today I am featuring a guest post of a sort from one of my favorite people on the planet. Her name is Courtney and she is a new knitter and a new mom. Words can't convey just how awesome she is, but HER words might just convince you. Visit her blog when you get the chance at Simple in'Stead. The following is an email I got from her, reproduced with her kind permission:

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... i have yarn paralysis!
(i'm also not going to capitalize anything in this email, since it's
easier to skip it when you're typing one-handed while nursing...)
what, you might ask, is yarn paralysis?

yarn pa⋅ral⋅y⋅sis /j'ɑːʳn pər'æləsɪs/: (n) the state that results
when one who is accustomed to being poor suddenly has money to spend
on yarn, but not enough money to shop indiscriminately, which, coupled
with the rarity of this occurence, leads to the inability to make any
decision whatsoever concerning yarn purchases; often accompanied by
sweating, palpitations, insomnia and excessive consumption of gin and
tonic.

i have some money i got for xmas and a gift certificate from a local
yarn shop, and there is so much that i want that i can't decide what
to buy - at all. i'm so obsessed with spending it wisely that i'm
having trouble spending it at all. ack. i already spent part of my
gift certificate last weekend on some malabrigo, and i braved slick
roads and shin-deep snow today to go back and spend the rest of it. i
had an hour, while robert and harper were running other errands, and i
about had a nervous breakdown. the easy part was grabbing a set of
dpns to finish the hat i've got going on a set of circs... but then,
the yarn. oh, the yarn. they had some cascade pastaza in teal that
was swoon-worthy, but i didn't want to buy it because i'm thinking of
ordering some berroco ultra alpaca light in essentially the same color
that i found a good price on. i want to make a lacy scarf with it,
and the cascade is too thick, and do i really need two teal yarns
right now? i could get a lot of bang for my buck with cascade 220 or
lamb's pride, but i keep gravitating towards the sexier stuff. like
noro silk garden sock weight. i l-o-v-e noro - that stuff is so
gorgeous, but one skein would pretty much gobble up my remaining gift
cert value, and what in heck would i do with one stinkin' skein
(besides pet it)? i could, of course, get more and pay the difference
with cash, but $20 a pop seems too outrageous to spend "real" money
on... they had a baby surprise jacket knitted up in the silk garden
sock and it was too beautiful... i've been wanting to make a bsj for
harper, but... *sigh* so then i get sucked into the zitron sock
yarns... trekking xxl? zomg... gorgeous. and also $20/skein. (i
have developed a fixation with sock yarn lately, but oddly i want to
make things other than socks with it. hmmmmmm.) lorna's laces
shepherd sock? zauberball? does any of this stuff NOT cost a small
fortune? i think it was about this point that i started
hyperventilating - only 15 minutes left until robert was set to pick
me up... i tried 5 minutes in the book section with my head between
my knees to recover since books always calm me down, but one step back
into the yarn and the twitching returned. then, robert called to say
he was waiting in the parking lot... so i grabbed 3 skeins of noro
kureyon and bolted. i'm sitting here now staring at it and thinking
that while it is undoubtedly breathtaking, it a) is pretty (too?)
similar to the malabrigo in color and texture and b) it isn't sock
yarn. i can exchange it, so it's not a done deal, but geez. i feel
like such a putz to be agonizing so much over... yarn? hello? one
word - haiti. this is yarn. yarn. *sigh.* thank goodness they
don't carry koigu - that might have pushed me over the edge.

Isn't that funny? I love it, and I know I have felt it before!! I have only one bit of advice for my friend: Yarn shopping list. Project shopping only!!

Love you, Courtney! Thanks for letting me share your way with words with my tens of readers!

Oh, and by the way...

2010-02-01T18:49:00.001-05:00

When I told my mom this morning that I had decided to grow soybeans this summer, she snorted milk out of her nose. I take that kind of personally.

Brought to you today by the color green.

2010-02-01T12:25:00.002-05:00

So, I bought a new pattern last night. I am apparently giddy with my new computing power! I just fell madly in love with the below sweater, which is Peasy by Heidi Kirrmaier. When I read it was worked all in one piece, I was in love.Then I read the magic words "DK weight," and I knew I had to have it!! I have a bag of Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool just waiting to be this sweater.... It is navy blue, which does not break my heart! I can barely wait to get started.

Let's see, tonight I will finish Citron (two rows to go!).... I am still waiting on needles from Webs to work on the wedding present shawl (backorder).... I can finish the front of Cosima in like a day (as you can see from the progress made so far, right?).... I should be able to get started this weekend! Whoopie!!!!

And now, to further green up your day, I have decided to grow soybeans this summer in the back yard.I was completely sold on the idea, which I thought was a good one to begin with, when I heard that they only have to be watered once a week. Sounds like an ideal plant. Tomatoes have to be watered every stinking day! Now I just have to find someplace that will sell me less than one whole pound of seeds... That is around 1700 of the little buggers! I have a YARD, not a FIELD!!

Maybe this will be the solution....

2010-01-31T13:02:00.002-05:00

Uploading one image at a time... If I have more than one thing to show in a day, that would-of course- mean more than one post.... Much like this.

Above, find the weather here today. We had somewhat of an ice storm yesterday. I knew when I saw the sun behind the trees this morning that it wasn't going to last very long, so I ran outside in my pjs and snapped some images. I love the sunlight sparkling through the branches.... Now we are hearing the steady drip and plunk of melting....

Snag number one- with knitting photos!

2010-01-31T11:32:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I have hit a snag with the new computer, and I can sum it up in one question: What the F*&$ is DEP???? I tried to upload photos to Flickr this morning and my computer is saving me from that malicious program by sending Data Execution Prevention into action. There are instructions for disabling that for a given application that sound oh-so-easy. Lies!! Nobody can tell me what program to choose from the list to disable this diabolical security feature for. So, back to the elaborate schemes for getting photos uploaded!

Step one- import the photos to the computer.

Step two- email them to mom.

Step three- look in mom's email only to find that the email didn't go through on her computer because they were attachments. (Goodness knows we have to be saved from ourselves.)

Step four- Open MY email and find the attachments in my sent email.

Step five- open the attachments and discover that Nero, the only photo viewer on my mom's computer, doesn't allow you to SAVE the stupid photos.

Step six- choose save instead of open.

Step seven- search in vain for the photos in any of the folders on my mom's stupid vista machine.

Step eight- discover if you right click on the download screen, it will let you "open the destination folder."

Step nine- drag the photos to her desktop.

Step ten- FINALLY upload to Flickr.

Seriously, ten steps just to get these photos to Flickr. I am already exhausted.

Here is my sequence of photos from this morning's finished Rivulet photo-shoot. (And I just discovered that this stupid new thingie won't let me REARANGE photos that I upload. WHY did they have to "improve" windows???? I tried Firefox, too, and still can't drag the photos beyond what I can see on the screen, which means that I can only re-arrange them in the TINY window that I can see. AHHHHHHH!!!!!)

Anyway, enjoy the steps of the doggie filled photo-shoot that started this whole thing today!

I got my computer, I got my computer....!

2010-01-30T21:40:00.002-05:00

I am so happy!! Right now I am recovering backed-up computer STUFF to my new, shiny HP..... It is so fast, I can't believe it!! It is zipping through MP3 files like they were nothing.... I can't wait! Tomorrow, the photo uploading begins! Whoopie!!

In short:

2010-01-25T11:39:00.003-05:00

1. I am wearing my finished Rivulet Socks right now. That is the first time I have ever worn a pair of socks that I have made. (I don't know what I was knitting them for before I wore them....)

2. Instead of picking up a WIP when I finished the Rivulets, I started Citron in a pretty green laceweight (sans tag) that I got at Stitches South last year. It is not lacy, but I am quite proud to be knitting laceweight yarn successfully for the first time.

3. I ordered some Dream in Color Baby in Butter Peeps for a gift-knit for a friend who may or may not read this blog. More details later, but I am very excited for it to get here!!

Is that not the best color name ever? To your left you can see a sample of the variegation.... If it is too varied or too bright for this purpose, I am sure that I can find something else in time to knit a present for June.... And it won't kill me to have yummy Butter Peeps laceweight laying around!

4. I am ready for February. Nothing in January (except the aforementioned socks) has worked out like I want it to in January. Here's your hat, what's your hurry?

Knitting Content- Please don't die of shock.

2010-01-17T21:17:00.005-05:00

Remember these, the Wendy Knits Rivulets socks? On the left is Wendy's own version, and below is a less-than-photography-degree snapshot of mine in progress. I know, it surprises me, too, to see a picture that I actually contributed to the blog myself!! The Mom and I came up with a roundabout solution to the whole "Jennifer doesn't have a computer and therefore can't upload photos" issue.... I have seriously enjoyed this pattern and this yarn. It is Knit Witch Celestial Bounce, and the stripes are way less dramatic than they appear in the picture. And the pooling less obvious, too! I got this one at SAFF with no plans for it, on sale at the Knit Witch booth.... Who could resist a name like Celestial Bounce??

I have to say, however, that I am ready to move on to new knitting. One of the upsides of this pattern is that I have completely memorized the chart, off center though the motif appears to be in the large size..... The downside to completely memorizing the chart is that I am now feeling pretty bored with the actual knitting and have begun to long for something that I HAVEN'T memorized!! I know, I am so fickle....

Listen to the lengths I had to go to to get the picture on there, and you will be mighty impressed that I pulled it off at all! First, I had to use The Mom's snazzy little camera to get the picture made. Then we uploaded it to her computer. Then we uploaded the picture to my Flikr account. Then moved it over to my Ravelry project page. Then I called it up on my work laptop. Then I saved it to the local memory here. THEN I was able to upload it from there to blogger. I am impressed, anyway! Sometimes I am so clever I can't stand myself....

I am off tomorrow and Sunday. I was supposed to have plans with a boy, but fate intervened and the plans fell through. I am very disappointed, but decided not to cancel the days off since I really needed a break from the nuttiness that was going on at work! Hopefully, the boy will reschedule and I can get over being sad....

Anyway, that leaves me with lots of time to contemplate getting some knitting done.... I have been developing some serious lace-lust recently, but I am trying to be a good little girl and focus on what I have on the needles.... (It is very hard, and another thing you should be impressed by is my fortitude in the face of Victorian Lace Today and A Gathering of Lace, recent additions to the household library....) Anyway, that leaves me working furiously to finish the socks before my willpower wavers, and considering which sweater-in-progress I want to try to finish up in the next few days. Shall I break out the Cosima for which I managed to knit two right fronts? Or should I give the Minimalist Cardigan a good whack, since it has been patiently waiting for me to finish Christmas knitting? The Cosima would be faster, but the frustration level with that one is still pretty high. Minimalist would be happier, but I still have a good bit to go. (Like I have said in the past, this is my favorite kind of dilemma!!) Oh, and another point to consider is that the Minimalist has longer sleeves, so I might be able to get more wear out of it if I finish it earlier. Considering that it was almost 70 degrees today, I think it is likely that we are nearing the end of the cold weather for this winter! Decisions, decisions.

Oh, and go see Up in the Air. One of the best movies I have seen in a long time.... Loved Avatar and Sherlock Holmes, but this is in a league of its own!

I kid you not...

2010-01-07T18:07:00.002-05:00

The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Conditions Warning for this area because tomorrow it might snow. The first half of the entire local news show was filled with warnings about checking fluids and breaks before you leave the house in the morning.... If you have regular breaks, be sure to pump them and if you have anti-lock breaks, just apply steady pressure.... There will be 300 DOT workers patrolling the area overnight to keep an eye on the situation.... My mom's school is delayed 2 hours, and it is only 6PM the evening before.... You know, we just don't know how to handle snow here in the South. People panic, picturing being snowed in for days at a time, cut off from the basics of life. I bet there isn't a loaf of bread to be had anywhere in the greater Florence area!! We have to brace ourselves, because we are expecting SNOW, that's right folks, Florence might get.... wait for it....

.27 inches of snow!!

You read that right. That is one big ole' quarter of an inch of snow. I wonder if it is too late to stock up on staples?

It is true. I AM actually grown up!

2010-01-04T11:21:00.003-05:00

Today, I made a very mature decision. Today is the sign-up for the Rockin' Sock Club. Oh, how I wanted to sign up this year. Who wouldn't?? Look above at just one of the offerings from the website. And I read blogs of people all excited to get their STR packages, joyously knitting up their socks.... Last year, by the time I was knitting socks and knew about it it was full. I had a computer reminder set to remember to sign up.... But the fee is 289.00 USD, and has to be paid up front. I actually went to my bank's online transfer page and was ready to transfer my ENTIRE savings to checking so I could do it. At the last second, I came to my senses.... Man, does being a grown-up SUCK!

Instead, I will be paying that 289.00 on one of my credit cards. Have I mentioned "sucks" yet? Big plans are in the works, though, and one of those big plans is getting as much paid off on my credit card debt as I can this year. NOT a resolution, I am not making resolutions. Just a plan. Plans are open to revision....

Another plan that is NOT a resolution: I started Weight Watchers this morning. Weight is one of the things that I have let get away from me this year... Good news is that I weigh ten pounds less than I thought I did for this mornings official "after-I-pee-and-before-I-shower naked weigh-in." But it is still an appallingly high number: 172.0. That is right, one hundred and seventy-two pounds. And I am not tall! Time to do something about that. Good thing that I love Weight Watchers recipes so.... The Pepsi is going to be the hard habit to kick. Sigh.

Here is to a skinnier me in the new year, and with a better credit rating!

I think I am going to buy a skein of Socks That Rock Lightweight as a reward for not spending 289.00....