Bad blog mom! Bad!

Already falling down on my serious intention to keep up here! It has been that kind of a week! I need a vacation. I have made a huge list of things to post about, but that is as far as I have gotten.... Sad, huh?

Now I am going to take pictures during the commercials of Grey's Anatomy (re-run, damnit!), and get some of this list dealt with!

1. I have lost 15 pounds. I am so excited, and completely amazed! I have cheated copiously on my diet for nearly a whole week. Maybe it is true that cheating on a diet in a limited way once in a while jump starts the metabolism....

2. I got fabric for my Betty Shopper. As a matter-of-fact, I went a little nuts at the 7.99 fabric store! I am determined to get it done before Stitches, so that I can fill it with beautiful new yarn! The initial plan was to make the outside of the bag out of the yellow with polka-dots and the interior out of the green stripy. Now I madly love the green stripy for the outside and I will get something like a blue cotton duck for the interior. The other fabric was a remnant that was only 4.00 a yard!! Ahhh, fabric choices!

3. I received my summer yarn from KnitPicks. I LOVE the colors I chose. The purple Shine Sport is for the lacy v-neck tank from Classic Elite and the red Cot-Lin was intended for a top-down, raglan, cap-sleeved tee, but now I can't decide, 'cause I got the pattern for Camillia.... I guess some guage swatching is in the future for me. But not until....

4. ...I am very close to half way through with the You-tee. I have perservered, and the back is finished. I have started decreasing the front piece, and I am DETERMINED to get it done before I start any other knitting projects. Sewing projects don't count!! Barring any supremely stupid moves on my part, it should come together pretty quickly.... Can you hear me knocking on wood????

5. I got used Kim Hargraeves books on Amazon, Denim People and The Kim Hargreaves Collection. The Collection is pretty stirrup-pants-y, but the designs are still so beautiful. I wish I was good enough to change the shape of the sweaters while still keeping the overall feel of the design. Denim People is very up-to-date, however, and there are a couple that I really like. I am quickly building an ambitious mountain of projects that I will never be able to climb.... I have never let that stop me, though!

There were many, many other line items on my list, but I am pretty tuckered out this evening.... Ask me later about my suddenly up-in-the-air vacation plans....

Here is what Emily the Kitty thinks of the whole thing:

She believes that all our problems could be solved by sleeping in the sink. (Ignore the need-to-be-cleaned state of the sink!)

I should be doing SOMETHING....

I should be blogging. (I know, technically I am blogging. But wait until you read this, you will be convinced that it was not much by way of blogging....)

I should be knitting something. I would probably be doing that, except that I left the re-started You-tee at work. Almost seems subliminal, doesn't it??

I should be using my new sewing machine. Which by the way, lost its' sewing machine virginity on Sunday.... That is probably what I should be blogging about! It will have to wait for another post. I might be doing some sewing if I hadn't LOST my two newest Amy Butler patterns.... I am dying to make the shopping bag for Stitches, too.... I turned this place upside down and shook it this past weekend, nothing. It is driving me nuts.

What I am actually going to do is go to bed. The software release that was supposed to come out hits tomorrow, so it should be busy, busy, busy at work tomorrow. If I get lucky!

Fate strikes down the You-tee.

I swear, this yarn is cursed!! I got to the armhole shaping on the You-tee, and counted to make sure that I had bound off the right number of stitches. Only to find that I had THIRTY MORE STITCHES THAN I WAS SUPPOSED TO. I apparently lost my mind and cast on for the largest size, three sizes bigger than I was supposed to be knitting. And then knit 14 inches with that many stitches before I thought to count.

I debated and debated, then RIPPED OUT 14 INCHES of knitting. Is my frustration coming through in my liberal use of capital letters?

Remember, this is the yarn that tried initially to be a kimono, but whose cast on edge BROKE. This is fate punishing me for bragging earlier today that I could finish the back of this sweater today, isn't it??

Since I am posting, I shall give a quick craft update.... I went to Barnes & Noble this evening and had coffee and looked at craft books. I love those fabulous fluffy chairs in front of our local craft section.... I had a great evening and eventually bought a cool new sewing book called Sew What! Bags by Lexie Barnes. It has some great information in the front and nice, simple, lovely bags. I especially like the messenger bags, and am considering several for presents! My Amazon order came before I left, containing my Interweave Press Simple Style knitting book, too. I see all kinds of things there that I want to make, but all of it seems like cool weather knitting, so I am going to stay focused on the summer things that I have already picked out.... As mentioned in the post from just earlier today!!! (Is this proof that I am obsessed with blogging? That I couldn't resist posting for the second time in one day?? Maybe it is just proof that I have had entirely too much caffeine today!)

Speaking of that Classic Elite wish list.... I broke down and made a Knit Picks order today, too.... I got the yarn to make the v-neck tank in a great, deep purple color. The Shine Sport has a very similar fiber content and cost less than half the price of the yarn called for. And, since I am a sucker for a shameless marketing ploy, I also got the yarn for the stripy top down tee. I am making it out of CotLin, again nearly the same content for significantly less money, in the color Pomegranate. It is so, so beautiful! So, if I don't anger the gods of knitting fate again, I should have an olive green, half sleeved tee, a purple tank with lacy details, and a deeply red raglan sweater in my favorite fabric, linen! All by the end of this summer. I am very excited!

And now I am going to go knit row four of that stupid tee again... until I crash from the caffeine high.... :-)

Ahhh, Saturday, how I love you.

Here is what we are doing today:

That is absolutely Maggie-dog's chair, and we have finally given up all effort to reclaim it. The only encroachment allowed by any other animals, as you can see from the picture, is the lovely re-upholstery that Valentine-kitty has done with her claws.... Seriously, we have given up on that chair.

In case you can't tell, Valentine, my sweet, fluffy girl, is sleeping in a bread basket in the dining room. The Mom just loves it when she does that.... But I think it is adorable, especially since I can't figure out why you would need to use a bread basket, anyway. I am not one for formal dining gee-gaws, makes a much better cat bed in my opinion!

I sent a GREAT email to my friend Wolfgang (Hi, Wolfgang!), but it got eaten by the internet and never arrived. He had said something about me being a knitting and blogging maniac now, and I thought a lot about it. To the non-knitters out there, I tend to react kind of defensively.... I considered carefully this time, and came up with a brilliant response. I emailed, into the ether though it was, that I am so happy to be so happy about something right now, that I don't even care what anyone else thinks of it... Other than a strong urge to share the knitting love! I am rambling and not making much sense here, but what it boils down to is that I am absolutely immersing myself in knitting, sewing, creating, and the blog world of the similar minded. And it makes me smile. Too bad the email didn't survive....

It also made me contemplate one of the things making me the most happy right now: My cup is positively running over with creative possibilities right now. First there is the new wonder-machine, bearer of endless sewing potential! I am dying to sew my first Amy Butler bag!! I have a very strong urge to shirk all other responsibility today and start cutting out fabric! Or at the very least, sew the monkey lining for my Bravo Bag which has been languishing.... Right now I am pretty dedicated to working on the You-tee that I started, however. I got several inches behind me while watching DVR'd episodes of Saving Grace and Castle....

and may I take a moment to say, I heart Nathan Fillion. I loved him in Firefly, and I love him nearly as much as Rich Castle.... Sigh.

Back to crafting. I think I could finish the back of the You-tee today if I really stuck with it. (That doesn't sound like me, does it??) As far as knitting goes, the possibilities are almost endless for starting something new, too. We all know how we love to start something new... I have baby knitting to do, for Debbie and Courtney. (Happy!) I have a bag to make for a Bat Mitzvah for Julie's daughter. I have the Minimalist Cardigan calling to me from a box of yarn in the other room.... AND, I got new patterns!!

I ordered two Classic Elite leaflets. Something about their patterns really appeals to me, so I got John's Bay and Round Pond from the new spring line. I have become very attracted to summer knitting suddenly! Originally, I got interested in getting the classic elite patterns because of this tank on the right. I think this is so pretty, and has such a summery appeal. I wish I could afford to make it in the Premier yarn that it calls for, in that exact mulberry color, but cost wise, I can't do it. I priced the yarn yesterday at around 60$ plus tax and shipping. Can't have that. I believe I will be able to sub Knit Picks Shine Sport for that, however and come out at less than 30$. Way more my speed. Only having paid for the room for Stitches keeps me from ordering it today!!

Now that I have the booklets, I have found MANY more patterns that I want to start... Hold me back!! Can I make every one of these before it is cold again?? I think Knit Picks and I have a beautiful future together, at least as far as summer knitting goes!! I think the next one will be the stripy tee..... Oh, how I love the possibilities!

Untapped.

Here it is in all its untapped potentiality, my sewing machine:

Isn't it wonderful? I haven't even plugged it in yet. I am just wallowing in the fact of its existence, in its belonging-to-me-ness. I could sew anything, anything at all. No project is too big for my 1000+ stitches all programmed in just for me. I could even sew eight, count 'em, eight layers of denim if I wanted to!! I know because it was in the video on HSN!

Maybe tomorrow I will take it out of the case.... :-)

Today was a much better day than the last few. For starters, migraine gone. That always makes for a better day! Next, I spent my whole day in the cube dreaming about a new kind of stitching... with my previously mentioned wonder machine! The week is now speeding right along, so hopefully it will be over before I know it!

Then I can go to the Columbia Museum of Art to see their show, Turner to Cezanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection. I am constantly impressed with the high quality operation they are running over there in Columbia. For such a tiny little museum, they get some great shows. The museum itself is lovely, too. I am looking forward to the trip!

And here is a terrible picture of the You-tee that I have been working on. (Man, I have GOT to work on my still-life photography skills. Would you believe I have a DEGREE in photography???) Just wanted to get an idea of the color on here.... If it tells you how out of it I was yesterday, I left my knitting on my desk at work when I went home for the day. And did not remember doing it. As a matter of fact, I was completely convinced that I had a memory of carrying it into the house.... My how the mind plays tricks! The tee is coming along well. I love the yarn, which I have used before, and this is my favorite color on the planet. It has a beauty that just can't be seen in the blurry monstrosity of a photo that I included here.... There are pale tweedy bits that result from the silk not taking they dye the same way, and every once in a while there is a tiny patch of brown that gives it so much depth and texture.... I couldn't be happier.

Now if I can just keep the cast-on edge from snapping, as it did on the ill-fated kimono. (I swear, one of these days, I WILL knit a kimono. It is like Don Quixote and the windmill. I will keep coming back.... No matter how they mock me for my futile efforts.) I tried something new to try and prevent that. I knitted it on instead of the long tail cast-on. It does seem much, much stretchier. (Is that a word? If not, I decree it so!)

Thanks to my commenters for your kind words about my terrible day! And my adorable doggie! She likes the collar, but you should see what happens if I try to put a t-shirt on her!!

Terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week.

In response to a special request for pictures of the Maggie Dog, here is my favorite photo of her! She loves her party collar, even though her face seems to promise retribution!! I love that she looks like she is actually frowning in this one.... My sweet doggie!

I am having a very bad week so far. Yesterday, I was supposed to work 8:30 to 8 because of a big release of our software. I got there early to go to a mysterious meeting that turned out to be just for service awards, none of which was for me. When I got back to my desk, I discovered that the software release had been delayed, and NOBODY bothered to tell us.... My whole reason for working almost 12 hours, down the drain, to be repeated later in the week. Sigh. So, instead of letting me get overtime, my boss sent me home at 9:13 to come back at 11. Does that seem worth it???? I can assure you, it isn't. I get home and the world's cutest dog had taken a gigantic poop in the hall. So, false start going to work and then dog poop patrol because my delicate flower of a dog won't go outside in the rain! Then I go back to work at 11 for my normal day, and got three whole phone calls. My goodness what a day!!

I did discover that I am able to knit whole rows with my eyes closed. That is how sleepy I was while I was home in between times driving to work!

Now today, I have spent the entire day with a screaming nightmare of a headache. Seriously....

On the crafting front, my sewing machine came today!! Yippee! And only a few days after I ordered it.... I am very excited, but it is hard for others to tell with this headache. Plus, to cap off my day, I was trying to get the machine out of the box and tore my index fingernail off. I think that is the final straw. I think I am taking headache medicine and going to bed!!

I did some work on Stitches South the other day!! I searched out a hotel that was less than the Renaissance Galleria, but is still much nicer than what I usually spring for.... And only half a mile from the venue! Plus, I have started a sweater for wearing to impress my knitting colleagues. It probably isn't that impressive, really, just the U-tee from Berroco, but I am making it in the so far ill-fated Silky Wool I got on sale. It is olive green! Olive green makes me happy.

Sprung!

There it is, my own little slice of cubicle heaven.... From which I am sprung for the weekend! Everything worked correctly today, so it was slightly less painful than yesterday, but MAN what a week! I am really, really happy not to have to be back until Monday.... Sigh. Can you see all four flamingos that I managed to squeeze in this single picture??

Funny story about the system outage that we had yesterday: Someone at our remote server changed out a switch (not that I know what that entails) in mid-afternoon, and to do so unplugged a network cable. And then forgot to plug it back in. For like 11 hours. I don't feel so very silly about not guessing that my customers forgot to turn their servers on....

On the home front, the Maggie-dog didn't manage to kill herself this time, despite her best efforts. Her gums are nice and bright pink and she seems her usual energetic self. Right now she is throwing some little doggie fit, but so far she hasn't learned to talk like Lassie.... She has just been out and we just checked her food bowl. The only thing I can think of is that Matt is sitting in her seat! Too bad, doggie. (I am so glad she is ok. Love the doggie.)

Haven't knit a stitch since lunch yesterday.... I have been too busy reading knitting blogs to knit! Ravelry has this thread, see, so I have subscribed to like a hundred new blogs. I love them all.... And read all the samples that Google Reader gave me! Ravelry is both my biggest inspiration to knit and my biggest deterrent to getting any knitting done! Oh, love/hate relationships!!

This weekend I plan to knit and knit. Once again I vow to finish Brenda's Brea bag, at least the knitted part of it. Then all that will be left is the crazily difficult lining to be done! But the fact that it is made from monkey fabric will surely make that burden a little easier to bear, right? Who wouldn't love to work with monkey fabric, even if they had to sew a freaking 3D pentagon!!

I have some thinking to do about the upcoming Stitches South. I only get to go for one day, so I have to plan a strategy.... I have been reading others' blogs about the recently finished Stitches West, and apparently I will need a good plan!! I don't want to miss anything worth seeing, and I surely don't want to go all nutty and buy the wrong things. I am not rich (unless I win the lottery, but that is not today's life strategy!) so I have to be careful. What do I want to make?

And what do I want to WEAR?? When I went to SAFF, it seemed that I was the only one that didn't have something I had made to wear. There were Wisterias everywhere I looked. I love that one and want to make it, but this will be late April in Atlanta. I don't want to melt.... I wonder if I could wear the Beachcomber Tunic if I finished it? The only thing lacking on that one is the seaming and the neck edging. It would be good to have it finished! However breezy it may seem, though, it is still made out of Silky Wool. I wonder if that would be too hot?

Hmmm. I shall have to ponder the possibilities. Maybe I have time to make a tank.

My sewing machine should be here in 9 days! The countdown has begun!