Knotts Knitts

Problem

2009-02-01T20:52:00.003-05:00

I think it's time to admit it to myself. I have a yarn problem. I noticed yesterday while at a swanky mall with Hubs. I noticed a woman wearing a garter stitch scarf by a make-up counter and had the following exchange with Hubs.

Me: Is it bad that I know what yarn was used to make that lady's scarf?
Hubs: laughs
Me: It's Lorna's Laces, Shepherd Worsted in the Aslan colorway.
Hubs: abruptly stops laughing

That incident occurred within weeks of my blundering attempt at complimenting a stranger's Lady Eleanor wrap. Immediately found out that she wasn't the knitter and had no idea what I was talking about, so I blathered on a bit to explain that it's a popular knitting pattern.

*sigh* There really needs to be an easier way to easily identify fellow fiber folk. :)

I Did It!

2009-01-23T00:00:00.003-05:00

I finally knitted a sweater, and keeping with my resolutions for 2009, it's for me.

Me blending in quite well with the white walls

It's the February Lady Sweater made from good-ole Cascade 220. I wish I would have made the next size smaller as it's a bit floppy in the arms. I decided to error on the side of caution and sized up to fit well in the chest area. Only modification I made was to work button holes every 2 inches to give me a total of 4 and not 3 buttons. I loathe gaping button bands. Started my sweater on December 26th and finished it on January 17th. I loved the lace pattern and the seamless construction. Going to have to find more seamless sweater patterns in my size :)

New Year, New Look, New Resolutions

2009-01-03T17:58:00.004-05:00

Whew! Knotts Knitts just saw a flurry of activity that it hasn't seen since the summer of 2007. I redid my template. Out with the Harry Potter related conundrums and in with something a bit more hobbity. I quite like the the new and improved look if I do say so myself!

Looking back at my 2008 resolutions post, I find myself to be pleasantly surprised that I did meet most of my goals for the year. Well, apart from not trying my hand at fair isle knitting. Throughout the year, I have definitely been more conscious of my professional look and have been putting a lot more effort towards it. I even wore make-up daily for a few months, but then I realized that the extra 30 minutes of sleep is desperately needed. This year, I'm proud to say, I kept my Christmas knitting in check. Amazingly, I was not up Christmas Eve trying desperately to finish gifts. Instead, I started Christmas knitting in AUGUST. (I kid you not!) I even had time in the days leading up to Christmas to start non-holiday related projects. I did successfully make a sampler from Subversive Cross Stitching, but I abandoned that hobby after a disastrous night where Bandit ate two skeins of floss.

For 2009, I have a few new goals.

Make strides on being more environmentally friendly. The subdivision where I reside is not offering trash service to residents starting in March, so I now have the opportunity to pay for new trash services which include recycling. More conscious efforts to use my plethora of green bags. I do well on large grocery runs, but flake out and forget the one I carry around with me for quick one off stops.
Focus on communication with family, friends, and community. Interwebs, blogging, and otherwise offline, too.
Make time for myself everyday, and make stuff for me. In 2008, I only made one pair of socks for myself. Shameful!
And darn it, this will be the year of knitting fair isle!

Pumpkin Roll

2008-12-28T00:21:00.003-05:00

Dipping my toes back into blogging post holidays. I'll catch up on holiday knitting a bit later. Tonight, I'm sharing my pumpkin roll recipe. I tend to take a pumpkin roll with me to most holiday gatherings and have received a lot of great feedback about them over the past several years. Enjoy!

Roll Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Filling Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
4 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

To Make Filling: Cut cream cheese into roughly inch squares. Place cream cheese in food processor evenly. Add butter and vanilla. Blend. Add powdered sugar by 1/4 cup increments, blending well after each addition. Set icing aside. (Note: Make sure to cut the cream cheese and place evenly in processor and add powdered sugar slowly or else the food processor may trip a breaker.)

To Make Roll:

1. In a large bowl, combine eggs and sugar beating well. Add pumpkin, mixing until blended. I use my mixer for this step.
2. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Make sure all baking powder isn't clumpy, baking powder clumps taste nasty in a finished roll. Add to egg mixture gradually, mixing well.
3. Spread batter into a greased and wax paper lined jelly roll pan. I use a 12x17 inch jelly roll plan, but I don't spread it over the entire pan. Can use a smaller sized deep sided cookie sheet just fine, too. Shake pan vigorously to evenly distribute batter.
4. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Remove the cake and waxed paper and place upside down on a cooling rack.
5. Remove the waxed paper carefully. A sharp knife really helps with the hard to peel off sticky spots.
6. Roll the cake up in a tea towel fairly tightly so it will cool in its eventual shape starting with the shortest edge. Set aside and cool for 20-30 minutes.
7. Unroll cake and spread filling over cake and roll it back up.
8. Place the cake, seam side down on aluminum foil, wrap in foil and chill for at least 2 hours in fridge or placed directly in freezer if freezing for future use.

I usually set aside an entire day before the holidays and mass produce these rolls. They're pretty easy to set up in a more production line style. While one roll is in the oven, another batter can be started. Also, the cooling step in #6 can last longer than 30 minutes until you've completed the baking steps for all rolls you're making. Finally, if you wrap the roll very securely in aluminum foil, the pumpkin rolls can be frozen for a few weeks with no degrading of the taste or texture. The night before an event, I can take a roll out of the freezer and thaw it in the fridge. Happy baking!

Be Still My Fangirl Heart..

2008-09-17T21:46:00.003-04:00

cause AC/DC is coming to town on tour!!!!! Seriously, I've wanted to go to one of their concerts since I was in junior high. *crosses fingers for good-seat-foo*

Lame

2008-09-15T21:30:00.003-04:00

I believe I should receive the award for the lamest "active" blogger out there. Enough posts on my blog right now that posts from March are still visible on my front page in September. *head desk*

It's been a trying week. After spending all day last Sunday and most of Monday evening completely engrossed in Spore, my main computer completely croaked Monday night. Lots of game progress and ~1.5 years of data gone when my hard drive took a permanent face plant. A replacement hard drive came in the mail last Friday. I had set aside Saturday for a rescue attempt at my files on the old one. No such luck, even as a second disk it couldn't be mapped. :( But, I was able to salvage my iTunes library from my iPod. *cheers* Note from the now very wise, take frequent back-ups of home PCs, too. I work in IT and should know better than keeping everything locally. >.<

Overall, the summer was pretty damned crazy schedule wise. I've been relishing a few quiet weekends at home lately, particularly getting in a lot of reading and knitting time. I'm a huge homebody at heart and judge how well a weekend or vacation goes based off the number of days I didn't have to leave the house. :)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-08-13T20:44:00.003-04:00

It's that time of the year again, Gencon Indy starts tomorrow! Can't wait, so stay tuned for gaming goodness :)

What the Hell I've Been Doing All Summer

2008-08-10T13:00:00.002-04:00

To say I've let my blog go to the back burner this summer is a complete understatement. Now time to start playing a bit of catch-up.

Hubs and I have been completely occupied by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel complete series DVDs since late June. Please don't do the math and figure out how many hours/days we spent in front of the TV. I have been marking the hours going by with tons of finished knitting projects and don't want to even think about it in terms of hours. :)

Last item off my needles, and largest summer project by far was the Serenity Baby Blanket made for buds Zoe and BP who are planning on starting a family this fall. This took me the vast majority of season 1-5 of Angel to complete, but I just had to knit a project inspired by Firefly, a show by Joss Whedon, while watching another of his series.

True to color shot

True to proportion shot

Mmmmm...cable-y and lacy

Cotton-Ease didn't block so well

Pretty center motif

I loved doing this project! If you want the knitty gritty details, see my Ravelry project page.

With a Little Help

2008-06-15T22:37:00.002-04:00

First off, a GINORMOUS thank you to Hubs, Marcus, Mary, Zoe, Sylvia, Phollower, and Betty Please for all your help moving on Saturday. We couldn't have done it without your help. :)

The past 5 or so weeks have been one of the craziest times in my life. I haven't been in the right frame of mind for much knitting, blogging, or much of anything other than pacing or worrying and attempting to escape in DVRed tv shows. I've been helping my mom and sister move and get a fresh start to life that they both needed. The biggest part of that being getting them into a place of their own which was finished yesterday afternoon. I cannot even say what a huge relief this is to me and my family. So, here's to second chances and good friends and family!

I'm Not Dead Yet

2008-05-26T21:41:00.004-04:00

Been going through some, well let's face it, shit lately. May's completely sucked. Bring on July! I realize I may be getting a bit ahead of myself but that's the light at the end of the tunnel for me. :)

That's not to say that I haven't been busily stitching away. I have three finished objects I'm just now getting around to blogging.

First up, I've taken up cross stitching. Cross stitching had a bit of a rocky start for me as Bandit devoured two skeins of floss in one night. Let it be known that if an emergency vet ever gives you the instructions to dose your dog with hydrogen peroxide and have him exercise until he pukes that you're in for a long night. >.< This sampler is destined to be hung in our office at home.

Modified "Bite Me" Sampler from the Subversive Cross Stitch book

Also, I've finished the Pinwheel Blanket for Astro Knotts.

Such an easy pattern, but oh so cute and modifiable

Also finished a pair of socks for Mother's Day only 2 weeks after. Loved working the twisted stitch cables in this pattern.

Conwy Socks from Knitting on the Road using Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn

And, I'm over halfway completed with a pair socks for Hubs. Only been working on these since January! :-/

Gionormous Hub Socks

I'm sort of between projects at the moment with only the huge Hub socks to work on. I think I may have to pick up a lace project soon, too.

Posting a Question

2008-05-01T19:33:00.002-04:00

Do kids still TP houses this day and age? I see there are videos as evidence of the practice's existence now, but I don't recall seeing it in YEARS.

Books!

2008-04-09T22:44:00.002-04:00

1) One book that changed your life

Systems Analysis and Design Methods by Whitman et al. Course book for my first systems analysis and design class where I first learned the basics of data modeling which was my first area of computers that I felt that I could excel.

2) One book that you had read more than once
Rather hard one for me since I tend never to re-read books. I have read the Lord of the Rings trilogy a few times, but that's been a few years ago at this point. I've listened to the Harry Potter audiobooks many times, too.

3) One book you would want on a desert island
Probably one of those ginormous Bathroom Reader books. Really, where else would I have learned that Queen Elizabeth and I share a liking for Dick Francis novels?

4) Two books that made you laugh
Small Favor by Jim Butcher. Bob the Skull is awesome!
At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much. The Yarn Harlot is freakin' hilarious. Can't wait for her book tour stop in Indy at the end of this month!

5) One book that made you cry
Oh, only the last 3 Harry Potter books made me outright sob. The Earth is Flat was depressing enough to make me want to cry.

6) One book you wish you had written
Wikinomics by Dan Tapscott. Completely opposite tone from The Earth is Flat, made the US tech industry sound viable and exciting :) Plus, Dan made a very inspiring keynote speaker at the DAMA conference last March.

7) One book you wish had never been written
Bless the Beasts and Children and Moby Dick. I was forced to suffer through these books in high school. Bless the Beasts and Children was such whiny drivel. Moby Dick contained an entire 30+ page chapter describing "The Whiteness of the Whale". That chapter could be summarized as "Whale is white. The end." Talk about long-winded!

8) Two books that you are currently reading
The Book of General Ignorance by John Mitchinson and John Lloyd is my current hair drying read. (Yes, I keep a book for reading while I dry my hair.) Did you know that the nose of the Sphinx wasn't blown off by the Nazis or Napoleon? It was long-gone before either of them!

The Unnatural Inquirer by Simon Green is my current fiction book. Front cover recommendation by Jim Butcher and modern fantasy setting made it look appealing, but I'm just not into it.

Molecular Biology Made Simple and Fun is my on-going non-fiction book.

9) One book you have been meaning to read
Next on my to read pile is the Twilight series, so no spoilers, Sylvia :)

Completely Hypothetical, of Course

2008-04-09T22:41:00.004-04:00

Say, your dog just ate the vast majority of two new skeins of embroidery floss. A call to an 24 hour emergency vet gives you the advice to give said dog hydrogen peroxide and make him run around in the yard to make him get rid of the floss quickly. You'd be in for a long night. Especially if your dog has a cast iron stomach like Bandit.

All is well now, and I need more embroidery floss to finish my first cross stitch project. All floss will now be stored in a zippered bag. :-/

o.O

2008-03-31T23:43:00.001-04:00

Apparently, I write much differently than I talk.

Subtle Hint from Bandit

2008-03-25T21:53:00.001-04:00

that we've been on the computers too much these past few evenings.

Subtle, eh?

Finishing and Starting

2008-03-21T15:04:00.004-04:00

The Idella scarf was washed and blocked last Sunday. I was shocked when I washed it as it grew several feet in length. It's pretty and over 7 feet in length. I was quite thankful for the blocking wires Hubs gave me for Christmas. I can't even begin to imagine how long it would have taken if I had to use individual pins. I used one skein of Malabrigo lace yarn (barely had a yard or two left in the end!) and did 17 pattern repeats per side.

Finished Idella

I started a new project Wednesday night, a Pinwheel blanket using Cotton Ease in "Lake". Round projects bring up an interesting question, how in the hell do you get a decent picture of a flat round project when it's in the hairnet looking bagging off the circular needles stage?

Laid flat and focused on middle - not too shabby!

Zoomed out a bit to see size, but it looks lumpy

Well, it DID look like a ginormous beret...

E is for E Flat

2008-03-16T18:58:00.004-04:00

Which is the lowest and my favorite note on my bass clarinet! Too bad Bandit doesn't seem to appreciate it.

E-flat key is the lowest key in the picture.

As of Friday, I'm the ecstatic owner of my very own Selmer Paris bass clarinet. Grenadilla body, no fake plastic could compare after playing a wooden one for my college years. New Vandoren mouthpiece because I really dislike the idea of a used mouthpiece. *shudder at germies*

I call her Vera

It's MINE!!

2008-03-07T18:40:00.003-05:00

All mine!! *Squeeeeee* Introducing my fresh, new eBay purchase, a Selmer Paris bass clarinet. So.Excited.

Still Alive

2008-03-02T17:01:00.003-05:00

Crap, now I'm going to have the Portal song stuck in my head all day...

Hubs and I are back on the mend though still under the weather a bit. It's been a few phlegmy weeks around these parts.

New Lace Project

My hands haven't been idle. A new lace project was started over a week ago - the Idella scarf from "Stahman's Shawls and Scarves". Little bit over halfway finished with it now, only 14 repeats of the lace pattern left. My hands deserved a bit of a break after hefting the Saffron Cables blanket around for a few weeks. Loving the pattern and the Malabrigo lace yarn. Goal is to finish this by this Friday evening.

D is for Diet Pepsi

2008-03-02T16:54:00.003-05:00

D is for Diet Pepsi, my sweet elixir of life and go-go juice of choice since high school. I can skip the big frou-frou frozen coffee drinks that I enjoy as long as I have my daily dose of Diet Pepsi to keep me going.

House of Pain

2008-02-25T20:59:00.002-05:00

Well, at least House of Body Aches and Fevers...

I've been knocked on my duff for almost a week with a sinus infection and assorted yuckiness. Today's the first day since last Tuesday that I've felt human again. Cue Hubs to enter with flu-like nastiness today. Bleck!

C is for Chumby

2008-02-18T20:00:00.002-05:00

My Chumby

Chumby is my wireless internet appliance that acts as an alarm clock, internet radio, electronic picture frame, YouTube browser, white noise generator, and general interwebs awesome-ness viewer. Hubs gave me one for Christmas, and I love it! Allessia the Chumby lives on my nightstand. The photo above shows half of my morning info channel; it also displays current local traffic conditions. The virtual Chumby below shows my news and information channel. I really like the fact that I have a lot of information at my fingertips without the need to turn on a PC or TV in the morning. :)

Taming the Beast

2008-02-08T16:45:00.000-05:00

Recent cold snaps have been chilly enough for me to rescue my Saffron Cables afghan out of the bottom of the works in progress basket. The first pattern repeat is completed and the second is nearly halfway there, too. I've finally been able to find the pattern's rhythm and haven't had my eyes glued to the pattern charts. It makes for great TV knitting - lots of episodes of Monk and What Not to Wear have been sucked into this blanket. Bandit is trying to lay claim to it - every time I work on it, Bandit's on my lap with at least his head cuddled up to the completed work. Very cute, but it makes an all ready heavy project feel like it's made of lead! Sunday, I hope to be able to log a bunch of knitting hours on this between doing loads of Mount Laundry. :-/

Favorite Concert Piece

2008-02-06T22:57:00.000-05:00

In the spring of 2001, Purdue's Symphonic Band tackled David Holsinger's In the Spring, at the Time When Kings Go Off to War. For weeks, I disliked rehearsing it; all the weird vocalizations that depicted a battle scene were a bit too "out there" for me. Eventually, after we learned to trust in our director and really go after the vocalizations, the song quickly became one of my favorites. The huge chord at 1:21 in this video used to send chills down my spine. That chord and the ones at the end of the song won me over, and I loved performing this piece.

Seven years later, I'm kicking myself in the pants because I was too cheap in college to buy recordings of all the Symphonic Band concerts. But thanks to the YouTubes and a renewed longing to play bass clarinet again, I have unearthed a concert recording of a different band playing it. Enjoy!!

B is for Bandit

2008-02-03T15:11:00.001-05:00

As if you didn't see this one coming for my "B" in the ABC Along. :)

Bandit's patented "pet my belly" paw move

Life's not always been roses for our rather spoiled little guy. He started off his life at ~4 weeks of age abandoned in a cat carrier with his 7 brothers and sisters in the countryside on a hot Labor Day weekend. His luck turned when found by a postman, and he and his littermates were taken to a few local farms - Hub's father's house was one of them. Hubs met Bandit before I did, and he called me to ask if we could get a puppy. How could I say no? He was less than 5 pounds when he came home with us that night. I couldn't find a dog collar or halter small enough for him, so here he is in a kitten halter that was small enough to fit.

Bandit and me in the fall of 2002

Now, he's our ~70 pound lap dog, and we wouldn't want him any other way - spoiled, sock-eating, calzone-thieving, constantly shedding Bandit. :)

Hello Me, It's Me

2008-01-22T20:47:00.000-05:00

Inspired by Zoe's post today.

Dear 17 year old Lk,

Heyas - omg look you're like all old and stufff 10 years later. First off, senior year is going to completely SUCK. You'll be a bitchy, bummed out shell who spends way too much time on this new thing called the interwebs. Have no fear. After 10 months of lonely, hellacious school, you’re going to embark on one of the best times of your life - college!

Pointers for senior year, trust in Hubs, he is all ready at college, but he won’t forget about you. He's a keeper. When an uppity cheerleader states “I never thought I’d have something in common with a person like you” after quoting Monty Python skits while handing out band uniforms, have a witty comeback. Don’t just stand there dumbstruck with your jaw dropped at her lack of tact and obviously over-inflated ego. Remember the witty comeback you did have that shut up a jerk on the bus back from an Academic Super Bowl match. If you don’t, you’ll be wracking your brain years later to remember what you said that worked so effectively.

Academically speaking, check citation formatting in your senior term paper; it may be the difference between an A and a rather disappointing B after months of research and planning. >.< Stick with music in some form, you'll meet a lot of great people and learn a lot from these experiences.

Now this one is a bit harder. People that you’ve considered to be friends for years will prove otherwise. You’ll be lonely, feel horribly left out, and wonder if there’s something wrong with you, but you can get through it. It’s best you don’t follow their lead. Besides, you will hardly ever talk to these “friends” after high school graduation. It will take you all of college and a good couple of years into your working years to find your social groove.

Don't be afraid to rethink your long-held dreams of being a psychiatrist. You can’t listen to people’s problems all day. You’re too empathetic and would need serious therapy yourself after all that. Oh, and being a psychiatrist would require you to talk to people all day – yuck! Don’t be worried about announcing that you’re changing majors two weeks after getting to college. IT work is a much better fit for you.

Basically, stick with it, persevere and you'll get through whatever is slammed at you, blah blah blah...

With much nostalgia,
Older (and wiser!) Lk

P.S. Don't get too hung up waiting for the newest installments of the Dark Tower series, the ending really blows!

P.S.S. Patent the words Google, flickr, Facebook, and MySpace...

Nostalgia TV

2008-01-21T20:27:00.000-05:00

On our way home from dinner tonight, Hubs and I were discussing shows that we used to watch when we were little. Of course, I had to come home and look up old clips on YouTube. I used to love this old HBO intro clip. In my 2 or 3 year old brain, I knew that this music meant Fraggle Rock was coming on - woot!!

What the Hell Have I Been Doing?

2008-01-15T21:06:00.000-05:00

Finishing things, albeit slowly. This weekend marked the official end to the holiday gathering season - horray! Finally finished the first book of the Wheel of Time after succumbing to the vastness of Christmas knitting. And, getting pretty darned close to finishing a pair of socks.

More Fun with Hubs' Light Tent

A is for Alapaca

2008-01-07T21:15:00.000-05:00

I've joined a new Flickr pool/bloggers doing an ABC Along throughout this year. Every two weeks, I'll be posting pictures I've taken that correspond with the current letter of the alphabet for the group. Hoping to improve my photography skillz and blog posting frequency, too. :)

Without further ado, A is for Alpaca. I <3 alpaca yarn, so warm and fuzzy. Add alpaca to sock yarn, and you get a yarn that I just couldn't resist - Alpaca Sox.

Alpaca Sox in the "Garden" colorway.

Just the thing to chase away those dreary day blahs.

And Another Thing...

2008-01-06T01:41:00.001-05:00

One more item for the stuff I want to do in 2008 list. I want to stitch at least one Subversive Cross Stitch kit. :)

A New Year, A New FO

2008-01-05T16:38:00.000-05:00

So long 2007, don't let the door hit you on the way out! Now is the time for me to reflect on the past year and take a look at my past resolutions. Only item which I resolved to do in 2007 on which I didn't make any progress was finally knitting a sweater; something which I've resolved do to for the past two years. For 2008, I'm admitting to myself that I'm just not a sweater knitter. My goals for the next 12 months:

Take my look up a notch...or 12 - Too many Tivo-ed episodes of "What Not to Wear" have opened to my eyes that I need a more polished professional look.
Admit defeat with Christmas knitting - Being up at 3:30 in the morning on Christmas morning with horrible achy hands stunk. I've got to learn to keep the scope of holiday knitting in check and manageable.
Try colorwork - I'd really like to try my hands at a colorwork project this year, maybe a Fair Isle hat or something along those lines.

And now for the recent knitting!

Pattern: Dashing from Knitty
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathered yarn with a long-lost ballband
Needles: US 7 Crystal Palace dpns
Project Thoughts: Mom's poor 2 year-old, much loved fingerless gloves popped a few stitches. Trying to fix black yarn made by eyes go buggy, so replacement gloves it is!

Having some fun with Hubs' new light tent for macro shots

Christmas: The Aftermath

2007-12-27T19:41:00.000-05:00

Whoo boy. Christmas is done, and I thought my hands were about ready to fall off at 3:30 AM on Christmas eve night/Christmas morning when I finished the last of my Christmas knitting projects. Every spare moment that I could be knitting I was - in line at the Target deli, team building events at work, pre-Christmas gatherings, and several gaming sessions. This year's knitted gifts included:

Reversible Cable scarf - still need to send
Pair of Monkey socks for my mom
Faroese Shawl for my grandma in PA
Juno Regina stole for my aunt
2 pairs of men's socks in grey and black for my grandpas
Mini Jayne Hat for nephew, Zach

Jayne Hat as modeled by Zach - very cunning I think!

Finshed Juno Regina stole modeled by moi!

I have picked the needles up after a day off for Christmas. Working on a pair of Dashing fingerless gloves currently. Hubs gave me a big skein of Laci yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and I downloaded a copy of the Irtfaa'a Faroese shawl from Knitspot.com today. Think I'm due a project to keep for myself after the flurry of Christmas knitting. :)

Return to Sender?

2007-12-05T15:44:00.001-05:00

Hubs and I have started our holiday shopping. It's been all online at this point since neither of us enjoys the hassle of going shopping in person in Indy during December. Last night, a large, heavy package was waiting for us on the front door. Addressed to me, but I didn't recognize the sender. I placed it on the kitchen counter, and Hubs and I wracked our brains to figure out what would have been in the package since neither of us wanted to ruin a present intended for each other. Meanwhile, Bandit started going nuts sniffing and licking the package. Aha! It's a gift boxer set for Bandit from Three Dog Bakery! As Gandalf said (at least in the movies), "If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."

Freakin' Genius!

2007-12-05T13:45:00.001-05:00

I Should Have Known Better

2007-12-04T23:35:00.000-05:00

My slightly scratchy throat last week was definitely not from playing too much Rock Band. Instead, it was the precursor before a heinous respiratory infection which has kicked my ass since this weekend. By Saturday, I sounded much more like the squeaky voiced kid on The Simpsons.

I can say two things for sure about whoever had the bright idea that people should cough or sneeze into their hands. One, said cough designer has NEVER had a phlegm-y case of bronchitis. Two, said person also has stock in laundry detergent or owns a dry cleaners.

Right, knitting blog...

Work continues on the Juno Regina shawl. Still slogging through the middle length section. If the end result wasn't so darned pretty, I'd be bored to tears by this point.

Knitting has also started on a plain ol' black ribbed sock for Christmas knitting. Was so glad I had this stashed in my purse when we got caught in an ice storm over the weekend. Took us around 45 minutes to travel one mile in rural Tippecanoe County. So sad we had to miss Stephen and Jennifer's wedding as a result :(

Hoarse

2007-11-28T22:55:00.000-05:00

*clears throat*

Hubs and I beat Rock Band on medium tonight. Hubs played the drums, and I did the vocals. Had to finish the night with 2 sets that totaled 14 songs. Including a few go rounds of "Run Through the Hills". I'm going to sound nice and raspy tomorrow, but had a lot of fun getting that way :)

Fesssing Up

2007-11-27T19:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, been wondering why I haven't been posting much this fall? Truth be told, I'm a fall TV season addict. Every night of the week, I have at least one hour long show scheduled to record on the dvr. Then there's Tuesday nights when I record 5-6 hours of TV. It's a sickness, but I'm getting a hell of a lot of knitting done! TV people, seriously, deal with the screen writers guild that's on strike, they're worth it! Don't take away my House, or Bones, or multi-variant CSIs, or Heroes, or Journeyman, or Chuck, or.... *ahem*

Helllo to my shadow! I can't take decent pictures in the winter.

Current big Christmas project in progress is Juno Regina from Knitty Fall 2007 surprise. Working it in a cashmere and silk blend from Colourmart with US3 Knitpicks classic circular. The pointy end part was really fun, but I'm slowly slogging through the 2 row pattern repeat for the vast majority of the stole. Wishing for some pointy get grippy needles about now to keep a better hold of the end stitches. Overall, a pretty enjoyable project thus far.

Dear Morning Mowers,

2007-11-19T14:19:00.000-05:00

Last time that I checked the calendar, it's mid to late November. Not really prime grass growing season here folks. Yet, the mowing service for the subdivision was out at the buttcrack of dawn making slow laps around the open area behind our house. So glad to see that our $200 a year HOA fees go towards useful services like early winter grass mowing. Added to that, our next door neighbors were out weed whacking their entire backyard this morning, too. Please note neighbor-ino, using a lawn mower is much more expedient than using a weed whacker on your entire yard. Our lawns aren't that big, 2-3 swipes with a lawn mower and you would have been done and no longer using loud lawn equipment 5 feet from our bedroom wall.

Much hate,
The Vacation Sleeper - Lk

Knittin' Fool

2007-11-12T20:05:00.001-05:00

Faroese shawl got a good blocking over the weekend, and the final ends were woven in. Second Christmas present is done! *dance*

Project Details
Pattern: Faroese Shawl from "A Gathering of Lace"
Yarn: 2 skeins of Malabrigo lace weight yarn in "Orchid"
Needles: Knitpicks Options US 4
Project Thoughts: LOVED this project. The yarn was wonderful to work with - not splitty yet very soft. The final piece is beautiful and is a very manageable size. Rarely do I say this, but I would reknit this project in a heartbeat. The Faroese shawl style stays on your shoulders easily, too.

Guess it's a very serious shawl based off my facial expression

I've started another Christmas present and am over halfway complete all ready. It's the His/Hers Reversible Scarf from "Cables Untangled". Simple quick knit using Malabrigo worsted weight in "natural", but my hands are itching for more lace knitting.

Cheap knitwear model for hire - will work for cookies...

or belly rubs while watching "Chuck"

Block Party

2007-11-08T22:01:00.000-05:00

It's a block(ing) party!

Busy bee me has finished the Faroese Shawl, Monkey Socks, and have gifted Grandpop's Father's Day socks in the past few weeks. Better pics will be forthcoming - best I could do tonight in the dark :)

Gorram Right!

2007-11-05T19:55:00.000-05:00

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in with? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Serenity (Firefly)

You like to live your own way and don't enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.

Serenity (Firefly)

88%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

81%

Moya (Farscape)

63%

Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

56%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

56%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

44%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

44%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

44%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

38%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

31%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

25%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

25%

SG-1 (Stargate)

25%

These Ol' Hands of Mine

2007-10-04T22:10:00.001-04:00

Sometimes when knitting lace, I have a hard time believing that something so fine and delicate is being made by my hands. My hands are more utilitarian in nature. Hands that were made for working not for hand modeling. Callouses can still be felt on 6 of my fingertips from years of playing electric bass. Damaged nails and frequent scars show my true klutzy nature. Polish never worn on nails that feel like they're suffocating under a layer of lacquer.

Somehow, they fit the bill nicely for lace knitting though.

Pics Taken by Hubs

Catch Up

2007-10-02T19:25:00.000-04:00

Guess what's back? My knitting mojo! Coinciding with the return of fall TV shows, my drive to knit came back full force, and I couldn't be happier. Of course, I didn't pick up the multitude of wips shoved in a basket in the spare bedroom. It called for a new, big project!

Faroese Shawl from "A Gathering of Lace"

I've been working on this for just over a week and am on the 36th row. Doesn't look like too much progress, but that's around 14,000 stitches. I'm using Malabrigo lace weight in "Orchid" and Knitpicks Options US4s. All around enjoyable project thus far, and the Malabrigo is sooooo soft.

Saturday, I received my Knitty Sock Swap package from Ms Pixie Riot. She knitted the Clementine socks from Socktopia using her very own Yarn Oddity sock yarn in "We Want the Airwaves". They fit wonderfully and are beautiful - thanks Pixie!!

Clementine Socks from Ms Pixie Riot

Hubs got a new toy over the weekend - a Canon EOS 40D digital camera. It's big and it takes wonderful pictures. Oh, and it has a wicked fast burst mode...see?

CHOMP!

Sheesh

2007-09-18T20:04:00.001-04:00

At this rate, I'll barely ever post to my blog or finish a new knitting project. As of this weekend, I'm halfway there on Grandpop's socks though. :) Second sock is in progress. No other knitting, still licking my wounds from the month or so of futile knitting I had.

Looking kinda baggy on my women's medium sock blocker

Perfection is Achieved...

2007-09-12T20:19:00.000-04:00

The Perfect "Welcome" Mat

Sock Swap Windfall

2007-09-07T13:46:00.000-04:00

Most of my day's been spent at a local car dealership having Hubs' car fixed. Nothing quite like coming home to find out that Hubs' car had a bad rattle last night coming from a loose panel over the drive shaft. That did give me 3+ hours to work on Grandpop's socks and read more Dresden Files. :) I came home to a package from Knitchick07 on my front porch. Oh, how spoiled I feel! My socks fit wonderfully and are made from a very soft Targhee wool. I've never knitted a pair of toe-up socks and after seeing how well the short-row heel fits, I have to learn how to knit toe-ups. :)

Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks from Favorite Socks
A few short pages away from the Meida's Socks pattern
I used for her socks!

Mickey toy met Bandit's approval easily :)

Thanks a bunch, Knitchick07!!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

2007-09-04T21:04:00.000-04:00

After my recent lace disasters, I've scaled back on my project complexity for the time being. Enter a new sock on the needles for Grandpop. Knit 3, purl 2 all the way around the cuff. Counting to 5 is all I felt I could muster last week. Knitting these with no particular pattern in mind, 80 stitches around, trusty US1 dpns, and Paton's Kroy yarn.

Plain ol' sock = Good knitting vibe salve

One of my Knitty Sock Swap Pal, Knitchick07, received her sock package last week. I made a pair of Meida's Socks for her from IK's 25 Favorite Sock Patterns. These didn't take too terribly long to finish, mainly because I worked on them while listening to the Deathly Hallows audiobook.

Pattern: Meida's Socks by NancyBush
Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Wool in "Teal Lake"
Needles: US1 dpns
Misc Thoughts: The cuff and foot repeat was really quite easy to memorize and knit on the go. The honeycombed heel is quite another story. I had to rip these back a few times after getting a bit lackadaisical with following the pattern. Overall, a very enjoyable knit!

Apart from still being sucked in by the Dresden Files books, I also have painted a new mini for a new D&D campaign. Perpetual cleric player me turned in her wooden holy symbol to play a rogue for this campaign. Rogues apparently wear much less clothing than clerics...

Much sadness ensued when I saw the wear marks on her hair and arm :(

Well, Crap!

2007-08-26T22:47:00.000-04:00

Back in fifth grade, my teacher had a rewards program. Every Monday he gave us a $50 in play money, and if we still had it at the end of the week, we could use the play money to buy a candy bar, soda, or other small toy. We could lose our $50 bills by not behaving, being late, or the kicker, not following directions on assignments. That's the one that always tripped me up - following directions. I maybe had 10 $50 that I could turn in all year due to my habitual scanning of paragraphs of directions and eventual missing of some of the finer points of the directions.

Seventeen years later, I haven't learned a damned thing and skim paragraph-like directions. I found out the hard way just a few minutes ago when I realized that the past 22 rows of the Feather and Fan shawl have been knitted incorrectly. Rather than alternating chart 2A and 2B within a row, I read it as work chart 2A once then chart 2B once and repeat that progression 7 times. Many curses were thrown, direct threats for burning of said shawl were made, and a nice temper flare erupted. Twenty-two rows may not sound like a lot, but there are 624 stitches on the needle now and I haven't used a lifeline for that stretch either since it was the easy-peasy section of the shawl.

This happens literally 24 hours after I had to frog a Waving Lace sock that was down to the gusset for being too enormous. Not sure what kind of screw up I had on gauge, but it was roughly properly sized for Kris' size 13 foot. Don't think he'd wear a lacy, pink sock though.

What a waste of a weekend's worth of knitting. I'm going back to reading my Dresden Files books, I've never had any horrid feeling of defeat from reading! :(

Gencon: It's Over

2007-08-19T21:22:00.000-04:00

First off, a big D&D announcement was made on Friday night, D&D 4.0 comes in 2008. For more details, see these announcement videos.

The last two days of Gencon can best be summed up with a picture.

Swag and Purchase Haul

All the new board game purchases were made with the lens of "How well do we think this will go over at Game Night?" and "Can it be played in the time of a Game Night gathering?". Not too long, no cumbersome rules, and heavy on the strategy and light on luck. New board games include from the top of the stack on down:

Anathema from Ape Games. Kris won a copy for winning a Order of the Stick: The Shortening event. Haven't played nor demoed.
Condottiere from Fantasy Flight Games. A bidding style Euro-game for taking control of Italian cities. We played this in an event Saturday night, but lost to the demo team.
Patrician from Mayfair Games. A building themed Euro-game for building towers and gaining fame. We demoed this on Saturday.
Cavetroll from Fantasy Flight Games. Haven't played or demoed, but small games are like potato chips, can't have just one!
Domaine from Mayfair Games. And another Euro-game. This one's all about land, city, and resource control. We demoed this game today, and I actually won! I think this ranks up there as my favorite game that we played at Gencon.
Fury of Dracula from Fantasy Flight Games. Partially a co-op game for up to 5 players - 4 players are vampire hunters and the fifth controls Dracula. I've been very curious about this game for some time, but no demos or events for it were being offered. :-( Went out on a limb and bought it anyway after reading the Boardgame Geek write-ups for it.
Pirate's Cove from Days of Wonder. Build up a pirate ship, battle other players and famous pirates, and gain fame. Played this game in an event Friday, and it was a lot of fun!
Monster Mayhem from White Wolf. Now, don't let the rather "meh" rating on BGG run you off. We demoed this on Thursday morning and had a lot of fun. Compared to the other games we purchased, it is fairly light on strategy, but the theme is engaging.

By far the highlight of Gencon 2007 for Kris was winning a spot in the Warhammer Online beta yesterday afternoon. Hard to believe it's all over for another year!

Gencon Day Two: Electric Boogaloo

2007-08-17T23:23:00.000-04:00

Today was our event heavy day. It started out with two painting related classes, Painting Beyond the Basics and Miniature Photography. The techniques we learned in the Basics and Beyond class got us motivated to improve our miniature painting, so we picked up seven Reaper minis to practice painting. The mini photography class was very informative, and we got the chance to try our hand at using better lighting options and a diffuser box.

Anath from our old World's Largest Dungeon D&D campaign in a diffuser box
Painted by yours truly in 2005

This photo of a dryder (defnitely NOT painted by me!) made the guys with the big expensive cameras jealous of my new wee Lumix point and shoot camera. Mwahaha!

After the fab painting and photography classes, we booked it to a 2pm game of a new Reiner Knizia game, Gravediggers. To say the game was a bit of a fiasco would be an understatement. Two guys from the publishers were at the table, yet the game was being demoed by a kid who couldn't have been more than 11 years old. Add into that mix an elderly lady who didn't "get" the mechanics of the game nor the way it was being taught, and it was a train wreck. After having played many of Reiner Knizia's games and several bidding style games, Hubs and I wound up teaching the game mechanics. It was very similar to Amun Re, but you didn't know the exact contents of the graves for which you were bidding. I won by a landslide, but my rewarded $10 off coupon at the publisher's booth won't be redeemed. I thought it was very unprofessional that they let the kid to flounder through the demo that we all had paid to play, so none of our Gencon budget for them. Monthly gaming nights hosted by Phollower and Sylvia have really improved our gaming "s|<1llz". Between the two of us, we've won 4 our of 5 games we've demoed/played. :)

Unopened box at home tonight

Sample of the 1000, 100, 10, and 1 gold denomination coins

Now, let me tell you, it got down right chilly in the dealer hall today with the AC set to "sub Arctic". I was prepared today and pulled on my trusty Jayne Hat. Ooof, the reactions the hat received just blew me away! Lots of compliments, some questions, and one eardrum nearly burst by someone scaring the beejesus out of me by loudly shrieking in my ear that I was wearing a Jayne Hat. Yeah, I know I was wearing a Jayne hat. >.< But I tell you one Gencon secret that I found for all the gamer ladies. Personally, I get tired of being treated like I'm only shopping for Hubs when I go into a game store. I wandered off through the dealer hall after leaving Hubs on a video game demo at one point this afternoon when I was wearing my Jayne hat. The level of attentiveness of exhibitors to a lone female wandering through the dealer wearing a tell-tale sign of geekhood was astounding! Wonder if it would work the same way in Best Buy...

To scale troll in the RPG room

Big ass dragon in RPG room

Tonight, we played Order of the Stick: The Shortening expansion that's due out roughly by the end of this year. With this expansion, there will be more options for gaining points, new schticks and monsters, and Xykon has the ability to invade the upper levels of the dungeon if it's taking too long for players to reach him. After two hours of play, Kris had the most points and won a copy of Anathema.

The final event of the evening was the Friday Night Live concert. After seeing that the Brobdignagian Bards were playing, I had to go. I've listened to their podcast for over a year and absolutely love their version of "Jayne's Theme" from Firefly. After their performance, we bought one of their CDs. I saw them while waiting in line and let them know that I really enjoy their podcast. Hubs was surprised that I didn't ask for them to sign my cd, but I didn't want to look all scary fangirl-ish nor did I have a silver Sharpie. :)

The Brobdignagian Bards during their set

It's Gencon Day!!

2007-08-16T22:52:00.000-04:00

Be forewarned, only 1% passively mentioned knitting will be mentioned in this post with the other 99% dedicated to my other all consuming hobby, gaming.

This year was a bit of a departure for Hubs and me. Usually, we're in the first hundred or so to get through the doors to rush the Order of the Stick booth for limited swag items and books. Since OOTS didn't come this year and we didn't have another pressing reason to be in the doors quickly, we were able to make our way over to the new electronics gaming area first thing. This year, the miniatures hall which would be a partitioned section of the dealer hall was opened up for electronic gaming companies. For the first time since my very first Gencon, I was taken aback by the sheer size of the hall. One other layout change that I liked is that the huge, traffic clogging Wizards of the Coast booth has been moved from the front and center entrance of the hall to a less conspicuous back corner thus keeping the flow of people manageable. Hurray for less crowding! Also, one choice that Hubs and I made was to not participate in True Dungeon this year. Although it is a very immersing experience, it's also pricey and not as much fun with random strangers in your party.

Overview of new electronic games area

Never thought there would be enough room for an annoyingly loud tour bus in the Dealer Hall

First stop of the day was at the EA/Mythic booth for Warhammer Online. Hubs has been vying for a beta spot for quite some time. His attempts at schmoozing out a beta invite with his 3+ years of playing and beta testing another Mythic game, Dark Age of Camelot, and working as an web code monkey for a big fan site was rebuffed. We both registered for a raffle for an open spot of 25 beta testers. Alas, neither of our names was called, but one of Hubs' friends received an invite from the raffle. The green convention center carpet lent a nice shade of green to his face to match the jealousy, lol. :) Still, 75 more beta invites will be raffled off before the end of Gencon, so we're hopeful.

"I want a beta invite; look how well I play Warhammer Online!"

After meandering out of the electronic gaming area, we came across the White Wolf booth. We sat down to play a demo of Monster Mayhem. As we were settling in, who should sit down for the same demo than one of my old co-workers. It's a small con after all! :) Hubs and I had a blast playing Monster Mayhem and picked up a copy of our own. It's a very quick to pick up, every ~~man~~ monster for himself, fun game. We think this has some definite potential for game nights. As we were checking out, my eye was caught by a display of White Wolf pins. I got the last Gangrel clan pin, and we picked up one for our favorite Vampire storyteller, too. :) (Pssttt! BP, that's you!)

Spacious White Wolf booth and some random person who walked in front of me :/

After a few hours of strolling though the dealer hall, we came across a small booth offering a very cool new product, Campaign Coins. One of the best things about D&D adventuring is the loot. Kill a nasty, badass monster then get their stuff and money. Usually, gold is doled out and managed by tracking it on your paper character sheet or a journal. About as fun as balancing a checkbook :) The Campaign Coins set is ~70,000 gold pieces worth of copper, silver, and gold pieces made out of metal. Stab a kobold? *chink, chink* Get a few copper pieces. Suffocate a rakshasa and the rogue can dive into a real pile of gold and platinum. After an evening call to our DM, Phollower, we'll be picking up a set tomorrow. :)

This evening, we played a game of Pirate's Cove by Days of Wonder. They published our most requested board game purchase from last year's Gencon, Shadows Over Camelot. Each player captains a pirate ship and navigates to island's through 12 rounds to boost his/her ship's guns, crew, hull, and mast. Battles amongst pirate ships occur when more than one pirate ship navigates to the same island fighting for gold, treasure, bonus action cards, and fame. The pirate with the most fame at the end of 12 rounds wins.

That's Kris' "Haha, I smashed your hull and stole your treasure!" smile. :)

I've been running low on energy reserves lately, and the day finally caught up to me when we sat down for dinner. No way around it, I was spent. We ditched our 8pm-midnight game of Britannia and headed home.

Tomorrow will only have two hours of dealer hall time and lots of events.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2007-08-15T21:04:00.000-04:00

It's Gencon time! Hubs and I are celebrating the best four days of gaming starting tomorrow with tons of board games, miniature painting and photo classes, and dealer hall shopping. In honor of our annual geeky retreat, we got a new digital camera last night. It's a wee Panasonic Lumix point and shoot camera. I've been eyeballing the Lumix cameras for a few months after reading an online review. Hopefully this will equal out to lots of Gencon photos to share. In the mean time, I've been screwing around with Picnik this evening with a shot Hubs took of me while we were impatiently waiting on hold with our DSL provider. If using Photoshop gives you hives like it does to me, Picnik is a very user-friendly alternative.

Slightly touched up original - fixed red eye, cropped, and auto fixed colors

Same shot with Lomo-ish effect applied. Like how vivid my hair color looks.

Evil Christina in Duo Tone - mwwahahaha!

Right, this is a knitting blog. There has been sock knitting afoot. Hehe..get it! Sock knitting afoot! Eh... I haven't forgotten about my Knitty Sock Swap pals, PixieRiot and KnitChick07. In fact, I finished and blocked the last sock earlier this week. I'm really pleased with the finished products - just hope they like them, too! Hope to get them out in the post next Friday. I knitted an entire 3 rows of the Feather and Fan Shawl Monday night. Only 76 rows into it and it takes for-friggin'-ever to finish a single row. Definitely a long-term project. I started a pair of birthday socks for my mom last night that I've been planning since this spring. I'll be carrying around my Gryffindor Stripe sock that I started at the Deathly Hallows release night through Gencon. Lots of lines to wait through equate to lots of opportunity to knit plain ol' stockinette.

Why Can't I Stay Away From These?

2007-08-02T20:54:00.000-04:00

Personality quizzes are like crack to me, especially Myers-Briggs tests. I always receive the INFJ result, so it's not like I change, but I still like to check every now and then. I must say, this is the first time I've ever scored completely on the Introverted side. Guess I am turning into a hermit!

As I sat down to start the Multiple Intelligences test, I was whistling a song that was stuck in my head. First question was "Do you have a song running through your head rarely, sometimes, or usually?" Spoooooooky!

Dust Bunnies

2007-07-29T16:15:00.001-04:00

Has it really been over a week since I've last posted? All my free time lately has been spent with by eyes glued to books. Kris and I picked up our copies of Deathly Hallows last Friday and spent all of last weekend enraptured by the audiobook version. I laughed, cried, and had two of my theories confirmed. Recently, I've become hooked on the other wizard Harry series, the Dresden Files. In a fit of multi-day migraine induced yuckiness yesterday, I finished the third book in the series, started and finished the fourth book, and started the fifth. I may have to send Hubs to Borders on Monday to pick up the next few books in the series.

Now, don't think I haven't been knitting, because I sure have. It's just all been for my Knitty Sock Swap downstreams, PixieRiot and KnitChick07, so I won't post pictures till I've mailed them out. Pixie's are finished and blocked, just have to drag my tired carcass to the post office sometime. I'm on the foot of KnitChick07's first sock. Hoping I don't run out of yarn!

Instead of knitting progress pics, I'll share a pic of Bandit this afternoon. Since he hurt his paw on his crate a few weeks ago, I tore down the crate and moved his bed from the office into the kitchen. His replacement office bed arrived earlier this week.

Dog Days of Summer

Huh...

2007-07-18T22:47:00.000-04:00

Only an hour of so of being 26 for me. And how am I marking the occasion? By taking a new Harry Potter audiobook quiz of course. I hate to admit how quickly I was able to go through all 15 audio clips and answer them all correctly. Unfortunately, there's no chance in hell for me to finish re-listening to the remainder of Order of the Phoenix and all of Half Blood Prince before the Deathly Hallows release this weekend.

Harry Potter Goodies

2007-07-15T14:46:00.000-04:00

Two weeks of having my HP Secret Pal goodies, and I'm just now getting to posting them to my blog. Shameful, me! My upstream pal was none other than the fab KnitChick07. She must have been as busy as a house elf knitting all these lovely gifties for me. :) Thank you very much, I love it all, Knitchick07!!

Messenger Bag in Ravenclaw Colors

HP Scarf Bookmarkers in SS/CoS Style for Gryffindor and PoA Style for Ravenclaw

Knitchick07 must have hit Honeyduke's to find Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Jelly Slugs, Chocolate Frogs, and Blood Pops. Dalegarn Ull in Ravenclaw colors (I'm thinking....socks!!), Sirius Black bookmarker, and yummy hot chocolate.

In other HP news, I saw Order of the Phoenix last night and was completely blown away. I'm a huge stickler that movies should follow canon as closely as possible and don't enjoy when movies stray too far from the book. (Don't get me started on the dumbass shrunken head in Prisoner of Azkaban...) David Yates did a wonderful job directing this movie and stayed very close to canon given the huge size of the book. Only complaint I had is not with the movie, but with someone who sat in front of us in the theater. Right at the emotional climax of the story in Dumbledore's office after the fight at the Ministry, someone let out a loud fart. Yeah, Chelsea and I then giggled through the whole scene. :)

Poor Baby :(

2007-07-14T23:21:00.001-04:00

Friday morning, Bandit went to his vet appointment to fix his bum nail. After stomping in fresh poo with his injured paw. >.< He went into the vet's looking normal, but came out limping with a bandaged paw and a weepy eye from a procedure to unblock a gland on his eyelid. Giving him four antibiotic pills a day and eye medication is a complete joke. I've resorted to opening the antibiotic capsules into a blob of peanut butter and disguising the medicine bearing peanut butter in his Kong. He's getting along well enough, and I'm surprised that his foot bandage is still in place.

My knitting mojo has been severely lacking. I'm working on a cursed heel. Thursday night, I went to a sit and knit group at Stitches n Scones. Started working on the heel but it wasn't following the pattern correctly. Odd. Looked down at the side of the heel and saw two big loops at the base of the heel. Yup, an end stitch had popped off my needles. Much ripping followed. I did show a fellow sock knitter how to pick up stitches for a gusset, so all was not lost. :)

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-07-11T21:43:00.000-04:00

Righto. Simple words of advice tonight, expect the unexpected.

After a very crazy start to the week, all I wanted to do when I got home tonight was veg on a couch with my nose in a book. Instead, Hubs and I spent this evening cleaning blood splatters from all over the house. Within minutes of getting home, Bandit caught a back paw between two bars of his crate and broke off yet another nail. His reaction is to tear through the house running and jump on our bed. :( Again, I'm sooooooo thankful my parents bought us a Spotbot for this past Christmas!

This brings his grand total of nails heinously hurt up to 3. >.< Thank the doggie overlords that he all ready has a scheduled vet appointment on Friday. Guess he just couldn't stand the idea of going to the vet without some painful injury.

Normal life should come back around in a few weeks or so and regular blogging should start back then. I'm a bad blogger. *sigh*

Busy, Busy

2007-07-02T19:20:00.000-04:00

Whew, this past weekend went by all too quickly!

Last Thursday was our 4th wedding anniversary. I surprised Hubs with an overnight stay at Cabins and Candlelight on the Boone/Montgomery County line in Indiana. I'm proud to report that the steaks I grilled for our anniversary dinner turned out yummy and not briquette-like as per my usual grilling standards. :) We had a wonderful, relaxing time. Just the ticket after a pretty stressful week!

Once we were back at home on Friday afternoon, knitting began again. Feather and Fan Shawl is now on the second chart. I wish I could pin out and flatten the shawl with it on the needles to show how it's progressing. It's now back to knitted shower cap stage on the 24 inch circular.

Progress as of July 2nd

After a several month long stretch of being in book "blahs" trying to slog through a crummy book, I chucked it aside and have regained my reading mojo. I've finished reading two books in the past week, including Darkly Dreaming Dexter which completely gave away last night's episode of Dexter. :) Worth it though to be enjoying reading again!

Blargh!

2007-06-27T22:19:00.000-04:00

Ever have one of those days when everything you touch just seems to turn to shit? That's been my life since Monday evening. Oddly enough, I had an easy time in Photoshop and Blogger getting my new decorations up.

Refinished Object

After a crummy day, I went to slap my Jayne Hat on for a few minutes while getting ready for bed Monday night. Wearing my doofy Jayne Hat lifts my spirits, so I'll break it out at odd moments. After putting it on my noggin, I noticed a big effing HOLE in the top of my hat that kept running and getting bigger. :( 45 minutes later, I had the top decrease section ripped out and ran a lifeline though the now live stitches and left it for the night. Tonight I re-knit the top, doubly securing the gathering of the stitches at the top of the hat. And making sure the pompom was securely back in place. A Jayne Hat just isn't a Jayne Hat without the pompom! In the picture of my newly recommissioned Jayne Hat, take a gander at my shirt. I bought it from Cafepress 2 weeks ago. It took UPS nearly 2 gorram weeks to ship my Cafepress order from Louisville, Kentucky to the northside of Indy. :-/ Thanks UPS - my Dad's Father's Day gift is now obscenely late. >.<

Redecorated

2007-06-25T20:18:00.000-04:00

In case you read my blog via an RSS reader, pop on over and see my redecorated site. Thought I may as well get into the spirit of the season - Harry Potter season that is! With the Order of the Phoenix movie and Deathly Hallows book premiere in a few short weeks, I had to reflect my excitement on my blog. Oh, and if you wonder why I didn't use Gryffindor house colors of gold and burgundy, I'm more of a Ravenclaw house member. :)

Yes, it has grown!

I finished 1/4 of my Knitty Sock Swap knitting yesterday evening (one sock done out of four!), so I picked my Feather and Fan shawl out of the works in progress basket. It's ready for row 54 of the first chart. With 240 stitches per row, it's taking me awhile to get through 2-3 rows per hour. Of course, that was also hindered by watching last night's Dexter rerun. :)

I would be amiss if I didn't apologize for my lack of posting last week. Feeling horrid for 2-3 days really set me behind, and my poor blog was left gathering dust. I'm back with now and hope to resume more frequent posting this week. :)

Covert and Crummy

2007-06-19T19:51:00.000-04:00

I'm working on two covert knitting projects at the moment for secret pal swaps. Sorry for the lack of blog fodder. I should be able to finish one of my covert projects tonight, but I feel like asscakes after having a migraine all day. :(

Geek Test Indulgence

2007-06-17T19:52:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I took another test and feel the need to share on my blog. I saw this one on trillian42's blog earlier tonight.

Your Score: Outcast Genius

60 % Nerd, 73% Geek, 52% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in all three, earning you the title of: Outcast Genius.

Outcast geniuses usually are bright enough to understand what society wants of them, and they just don't care! They are highly intelligent and passionate about the things they know are *truly* important in the world. Typically, this does not include sports, cars or make-up, but it can on occassion (and if it does then they know more than all of their friends combined in that subject).

Outcast geniuses can be very lonely, due to their being outcast from most normal groups and too smart for the room among many other types of dorks and geeks, but they can also be the types to eventually rule the world, ala Bill Gates, the prototypical Outcast Genius.

Congratulations!
Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

I'm trying to convince myself that my high dork score is due to my asthma. But damn it, I may rule the world yet!! Mwahahah!!!

Progress

2007-06-13T19:51:00.001-04:00

I've been catching moments to work on the Feather and Fan Shawl for a few days. After a few evenings worth of knitting on the dpns, it looked like a lunch lady's hairnet. :-/

No, it's not a hairnet!

Much better on circs!

There are still 15 rows or so left in the first chart, but it's all ready on a 24 inch circular needle and over 200 stitches around.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-06-13T19:46:00.000-04:00

If bad things happen threes, then disgusting things come in twos. Case in point, yesterday evening around our house.

After work, I made a quick stop at the local grocery store. After the shopping was finished, I popped the hatch of my beloved Escape to find something lurking for me. A quart of milk from last week's grocery store run, or newly forming cheese depending upon your point of view. So glad the top didn't pop off!!

Later in the evening, I stuck my head out the back door to see how Bandit was doing. He seemed to be playing and mouthing....something. I said "Bandit, what do you have in your mou....EEEWWWWWW!" He was bobbling a deceased robin in his mouth and started to shake it. Dogs can be so damned gross!

Weekend in Review

2007-06-11T19:53:00.000-04:00

Ever have a weekend so busy that you feel like you needed a weekend from your weekend? That's the point I'm at today. This past weekend was jam-packed with stuff. Biggest news, Hubs got and accepted an offer for a new job. He starts July 2nd. Horray for new opportunities!

I started another new knitting project yesterday evening when I had some down time. I'll be sending it to my downstream Knittyboard Harry Potter Swap Pal. Lemme tell you, this project is a finger/hand killer, but will be oh so cute!

Summer 2007 Knitty hit the interwebs today. In addition to fab new patterns, I found the article on knitting socks for diabetics very informative and applicable to my sock knitting. Several of the my sock recipients have diabetes, and this article provided me with great guidance in what fiber types to use, what type of stitch patterns, and even what type of heel will work best.

Time to crash for the night!

The Finger

2007-06-09T15:00:00.001-04:00

After reading about this quiz on knitspot.com, I had to give it a go.

You Are the Thumb

You're unique and flexible. And you defy any category.

Mentally strong and agile, you do things your own way. And you do them well.

You are a natural leader... but also truly a loner. You inspire many but connect with few.

You get along well with: The Middle Finger

Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?

More Socks!

2007-06-06T20:36:00.001-04:00

Blogger ate my Movie Musings (not so) Monday post last night on Casino Royale. Instead, I give you another finished pair of socks!

Horcrux Socks

Project Specs
Pattern: Horcrux Socks from ImKnittingAsFastAsICan.com
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns "Hedwig"
Needles: Trusty Crystal Palace US1 DPNs
Modifications: To keep the fiddly factor down, these were knit over 4 needles, not 5 as specified. Also I made the cuff a bit longer. Kinda sad that the fab lace pattern in light yarn is lost against my pasty, pale legs.

Started at Last!

After swatching, winding yarn, and drooling for months, I cast on the Feather and Fan Shawl last night at long last. My summer-time opus knitting has begun!

Surprises!

2007-06-01T15:05:00.000-04:00

Something came in the mail this afternoon...

A Package from my Spring Fling Pal, Bluetangle!

It had an awesome knitting card, froggy notions pouch (too cute!), Artyarns sock yarn, hand lotion, guitar shaped note paper (have I mentioned that I play bass guitar?), Hello Kitty pen, and Lego magnets. The little frog pouch has made it's home in my Beatle knitting bag - perfect size for stich markers and my Chibi!

Artyarns Sock Yarn - so summery!

Thanks a bunch, bluetangle! You ROCK!

Preparations

2007-06-01T14:24:00.000-04:00

Knitting this week has taken on a big theme - preparations for starting the Feather and Fan Shawl from "Gathering of Lace". I've been eyeballing this pattern for a few months after seeing it on the Knitpicks site. Never before have I hashed through an example project before just casting on and starting a new project. But, I didn't want to waste an inch of the beautiful Briar Rose yarn earmarked for this shawl. Tuesday night, I sat down and figured out Emily Ocker's circular cast on. I had a hell of a time with it since I couldn't find an online example video and used pictures instead. Wednesday, I wound the project yarn and was shocked all 2,500 feet (almost half a mile!!) fit on my ball winder.

Briar Rose Fibers "Angel Face" Lace Weight Alpaca

Last night, I sat down with some superwash Cascade 220 to try the start of the shawl. It's a circular shawl, so it starts with a belly-button like cast on in the middle and is knitted outwards. I decided the sample I knit last night was too pretty to just banish to my knitting drawers, so Mom's going to use it as a small doily.

Sample Start of the Feather and Fan Shawl

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-05-30T19:29:00.000-04:00

Do not attempt to learn a new cast on method 20 minutes before you'd like to go to bed. I tried last night, and an hour later could finally do Emily Ocker's Cast On. Probably didn't help me that I've never used a crochet hook for anything other than picking up dropped stitches before. :)

Sock Machine

2007-05-29T19:22:00.000-04:00

Through our week-long plus Heroes marathon, I've been a pretty productive knitter! Last Thursday, I finished the Whitby socks and gifted them Friday night.

Project Details
Pattern: Whitby from "Knitting on the Road" by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool
Needles: Crystal Palace US2 DPNs
Pattern Thoughts: The cable/diamond front was very easy to memorize and even more fun to knit. The Sea Wool was nice to work with, and they knitted up very smooshy. The heel turn was a bit odd with a slipped stitch pattern, but looks very nice.

After finishing the Whitby socks, I cast on a par of Horcrux Socks Thursday night..

And finished the first last night

Yeah! My Mountain Laurel is blooming!

Movie Musings Monday: Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End

2007-05-29T18:52:00.000-04:00

Sunday night, Hubs, my little sister, and I caught Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End at a late night viewing. I had high hopes for the 3rd installment as I really enjoyed the first two movies quite a lot. Keeping with my usual trend, critics mainly panned the movie, but I enjoyed it. Visual effects were superb; I bet this will be a fantastic Blu-Ray or HD DVD title. Plot lines could be a bit confusing at times, but who can complain when there's multiple Johnny Depps in one scene? The underlying love triangle plot hook with Elizabeth-Jack-Will was as thick as ever. Keith Richards as Jack Sparrow's father is absolutely hilarious. At one point, he's shown playing an acoustic guiter, but I was disappointed that a pirate-y version of"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" wasn't played. Be forewarned, this movie is quite long, over 3 hours with previews and staying for the hidden post closing credits scene.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars. Proving for a fact that pirates > ninjas :)
Knitting Rating: 1 out of 5 Skeins. I didn't bring any knitting projects with me, but I wish I had during the ending credits.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-05-23T19:05:00.003-04:00

I shouldn't even bother making my bed. 10 minutes after making it on Sunday night, I was greeted by this.

Now maybe he could learn to make the bed since he has unmaking it down pat!

And Now for More Socks!

2007-05-22T20:17:00.001-04:00

Finished Whitby Sock from Nancy Bush's "Knitting on the Road"

Lazy Ass Me Brought Out the Tripod for Extreme Cable-y Closeups!

Second Sock is to the Heel Flap

I've been on a big Nancy Bush kick lately - love her patterns! I started the Whitby socks last Thursday evening, and I had the first one finished by Sunday night. Using size 2's and smooshier thicker sock yarn makes me feel like I'm cheating though.

Movie Musings Monday: Borat

2007-05-22T19:50:00.000-04:00

Um. Yeah, I know it's not Monday. I couldn't peel my eyes away from the DVRed episodes of Heroes this weekend. Last night, we sat down to finally watch Borat.

My reactions during the movie ranged amongst mild amusement at the way over the top antics, belly laughs at less forced bits (bear in the ice cream truck = hilarious!), shock at folks' reactions and answers, and wanting to drench my mind's eye with bleach. *shudder*

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars. Rather enjoyable, but some bits are just too gross.
Knitting Rating: 5 out of 5 Skeins. Have a very engrossing, focus-intense project on hand for the more heinous scenes.

Another Finished Object!

2007-05-18T12:42:00.001-04:00

Only a week late for their hoped for Mother's Day debut, I present Fancy Silk Socks!

In repose after a long night of blocking no flash to show the lace better

Blared with flash for more true to color shot

Project Details
Pattern: Fancy Silk Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks

Yarn: J Knits in "Indiana" colorway
Needles: My old sock standby needles, Crystal Palace US 1 dpns
Duration: May 4, 2007 to May 16, 2007
Project Specs: I worked the first sock in record time and used the first recommended toe which had me decrease to 8 stitches and pull the yarn through to finish the toe. Results were rather nipple-y and awkward. Second sock ended with a 20 stitch kitchener stitched toe with much better results. This marks the first time I've ever ripped out a toe of a finished sock to rework it. Overall, I loved this pattern with the kitchenered toe. When I ripped out the first toe, I found the J Knits to be very splitty, but it softened up to almost a buttery texture after blocking. :)

72

2007-05-15T19:25:00.000-04:00

72 hours. That's how long I've had this damned migraine. Regular blogging will recommence once my brain doesn't hurt anymore.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-05-09T19:45:00.000-04:00

Organizing can be addictive.

After accidentally missing a family wedding a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to try some calendaring options. Enter Google calendar. Now only can you record events and share them, you can make multiple calendar views. And, get this. You can text message your calendar from your cell phone to view scheduled events and ad new ones. I should get some type of plaque or reward for the geekiest calendar views - shared gaming view for tracking which RPG is to be played on a given night, TV view to remind me to set the DVR to record my fave shows, and an in depth view listing all our GenCon events. I'm also hooked on Ravelry. I've added add my recently finished projects and specs and my current works in progress. Now, I have to get more of my photos onto flickr to share on Ravelry.

Who knew a simple New Year's resolution to get more organized would lead to many hours being sucked into websites!

Another Lost Weekend

2007-05-07T20:25:00.000-04:00

Whew, where did the weekend go? Last thing I knew, I was nice and cozy on the couch knitting away for hours watching "Bones". But, oh, what a knitting filled weekend it was!

First off, let me reveal last week's mystery knitting. It's a set of Dashing fingerless mitts from Spring '07 Knitty. They are for my pal, Zoe whose computer is in a cold room.

Project Specs
Pattern: Dashing from Knitty Spring '07
Yarn: less than one skein of undyed Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted
Needles: US 7 Crystal Palace DPNs
Project Thoughts: The Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted was so soft and wonderful to work with. Pattern was clearly written. I was able to finish both in two evenings worth of knitting. But, oh, I stink at making thumb gussets!

First Finished Fancy Silk Sock on the Sidewalk

Friday night, I cast on a Fancy Silk Sock using the J Knits sock my SP, JaynesHat, sent me. Call it a perfect combination of a beautiful, fun pattern and pretty sock yarn, but I couldn't put it down all weekend! Lace + Sock = Knitting Addiction

Saturday, I went to my first ever knitting group, the Lace Group at Stitches N Scones. I quietly observed from the outside for a few minutes, but everyone was so welcoming that before I knew it, I'd been there knitting for almost 2 hours! I definitely plan on coming back next month. :)

Movie Musings Monday: Eragon

2007-05-07T20:12:00.000-04:00

We've finally gotten back into the Blockbuster Online groove. Just in time for beautiful outdoor weather. >.< Up for discussion this week is Eragon.

For full disclosure, I have read "Eragon" and its sequel "Eldest." I'm also a fierce believer that movies should closely follow canon and have been known not to enjoy movies that stray too far from the book. Don't even get me started on the shrunken head scene in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. That said, Eragon the movie did stray from canon quite a bit, including several plot lines with major characters, Brom and Arya. I was highly disappointed that my favorite butt-kickin' elven warrior chick, Arya, was so flat and damsel-in-distress-like. Feh.

Plot diversions aside, the movie was very visually interesting. Good action and fighting sequences, Saphira's gift to Brom, and an absolutely cuddly-wuddly baby dragon. Awwww.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars. Decent enough movie, especially if you haven't read the book.
Knitting Rating: 4 out of 5 Skeins. I was able to follow a pattern and keep engrossed in the plot.

Absolutely Stunned

2007-05-04T15:37:00.000-04:00

On my return home this afternoon from running errands, I was greeted by my final package from my Knitty SP8 Secret Pal,Rincaro! She pulled together an absolutely fabulous black and blue themed package.

Chocolate, gothy black nail polish, blueberry Lip Smackers, 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca lace in black (so wonderfully soft!), skein of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille (I see this being a small scarf), Austermann Step (LOVE this yarn!), and bestest of all, a sock blocker!!

Rincaro, I want to know who your spies are in Indy because not 10 minutes before I opened your package, I was eyeballing this bag in Target! I love it so much I've all ready moved my D&D and sock knitting stuff into it!

Thank you very, very much Rincaro! You were a fabulous Secret Pal!!

Knitting Community News

2007-05-03T18:39:00.000-04:00

If you're a knitter, crocheter, or fiber enthusiast, get thee to Ravelry and sign up for a beta account. I received my beta invite last night and am hooked. The site's premise is to create a community with a repository of patterns, yarns, and more. As a person who has spent far too many frustrating hours googling for examples of finished products, I love the relevant, easy to use search function. Maybe I'll actually find someone who has finished the Saffron Cables afghan. :)

In local knitting community news, there's a new lace knitting group starting at Stitches N Scones in Westfield. Meets the first Saturday of the month from 11AM to 1PM. Hopefully, I can drag myself out of bed in time to attend!

*abrupt change of topic*

I had a bad realization today. Mother's Day is only 9 days away. No way in hell will I have time to knit the Fancy Silk Socks and mail them out prior to the holiday. Ah well, they'll just have to be late. :)

Mystery knitting continues. I'm well over halfway completed and hope to have them finished tonight or tomorrow!

Grrrrrrreat Socks

2007-05-02T20:31:00.000-04:00

Finished Tiger Socks

After the first sock marinated in my works in progress basket for awhile, I was surprised that I was able to finish the second sock over 3 days. Spurred on by Mother's Day closing in, I was able to finish them off though. For my next pair of socks, I plan on using Nancy Bush's Fancy Silk Sock pattern from "Knitting Vintage Socks". The need for lace is calling to me, regardless of how cute these tiger stripey socks are.

Currently on my needles is a secret - shhhh! Covert knitting makes for spotty blogging, but hopefully I'll be able to finish the second half of the covert project this week.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-05-02T20:30:00.000-04:00

The worst possible food to leave forgotten in a refrigerator is sushi. And, no this was not in our fridge at home. *shudder*

Movie Musings Monday: Underworld Evolution Blu-Ray Edition

2007-04-30T21:35:00.000-04:00

Hubs and I undertook a new project this weekend - hooking up the PS3 and DVD player through HDMI cables, upgrading the surround sound system to optical cords, and adding an HDMI source selector to our home theater setup. Ok, more like my idea to add all this stuff and Hubs hard work to get it working properly. I did google around a bit to find a cord that would let these HDMI devices be plugged into our TV's DVI input though. :) Thanks to our college friends, Christina and Tony, who we got the chance to see for the first time in ages this weekend, we even had a Blu-Ray movie recommendation.

We have a copy of Underworld Evolution on regular ol' DVD, so the plot didn't have any big unexpected twists for me to be caught by. What I didn't count on was just how amazing high definition through an HDMI cord looks compared to a non-HD signal. Said amazement led me to say things like "Wow, look at that guy's head get ripped off in HD!" and "Wow, look at that shine off Kate Beckingsale's ass in HD!" By far the best effect was the blue vampire eyes...in HD. :) As Hubs said, this movie will be "The Matrix" DVD of the Blu-Ray format - everyone had to buy a copy of "The Matrix" when they purchased their first DVD player. So it goes with Blu-Ray player and "Underworld Evolution".

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars. Visually stunning on Blu-Ray.
Knitting Rating: 0 out of 5 Skeins. Far too visually interesting for the simplest stockinette in the round. I abandoned the sock midway through the first scene.

Knitting Knitting, Who's Got the Knitting?

2007-04-26T18:03:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I've actually been knitting! Main work has been on the Opal Tiger socks. I decided that these will be a Mother's Day present, so I better get cracking!

Love these stripes!

Much more lace inspiration lies within!

Since the most recent Knitpicks catalog has been sent, I've been enamored with the Feather and Fan Shawl. I scoured over all the local bookstore and vendor at the fiber fest trying to get my hands on a copy of "A Gathering of Lace". Being the impatient yet cheapskate person that I am, I ordered a copy from Overstock. And waited...and waited...and waited. Finally, it arrived on my doorstep last night, and I've been drooling over the lace projects since. Can't wait to cast on!

The Good and the Fibery

2007-04-24T19:40:00.000-04:00

First off, let me take a minute to say "Thanks!" for all the good healing thoughts for Bandit. I dropped him off at the vet's office this morning for a thorough check-up after noticing he had developed a limp overnight. At lunchtime, I got a call from the vet that Bandit has a sprained left shoulder. He'll need a week or so of painkillers and lots of rest. He's in a bit of pain, but he'll get better soon. :)

Catching up a bit on blogging backlog. After a very tough day last Thursday, I was greeted at home by a wonderful package from my awesome Knitty Spring Fling SP, JayneHat!

J Knits hand dyed sock yarn in "Indiana", bath bomb and Dreamtime bath melt from LUSH(!!!!), and yummy Vosages hot chocolate

On Saturday, April 14th, I went to The Fiber Event at the Putnam County Fairgrounds. There were lots of fiber vendors from all over the Midwest ranging from yarn stores to alpaca farmers to dyers. I was so happy that the sinus infection from hell eased up in time for me to get out and enjoy the event. The weather was horrid - rainy and cold. Shortly after I got into my SUV, sleet and snow started to fall. I was very happy when I picked up an elephant ear for Hubs at a food vendor that they were selling hot chocolate.

Of course, I couldn't go to a fiber fest with multiple buildings worth of yarn-y goodness and not buy some.

2500 yards of alpaca lace weight Angel Face by Briar Rose Fibers

Fleece Artist Sea Wool sock yarn

Fleece Artist superwash merino sock yarn

Opal Rain Forest in "Bumble Bee"

Sick Poochie-Pie

2007-04-23T20:15:00.000-04:00

Bandit didn't have a very nice weekend. While at the dog park Saturday morning, Bandit was on the receiving end of a tousle with a German Shepherd and Lab. Once we got home, he seemed to be in a lot of pain - crying out when he tried to bark and shaking. We took him to the emergency vet hospital and walked out with some pain pills for him and a diagnosis of just general pain. Tonight, he's not doing any better; still refusing to bark, shaking, and lethargic. :( I spoke with his regular vet this evening, and will take him to the vet tomorrow morning. I'm so scared that something is wrong with him or that he's in a lot of pain. Please keep our little guy in your thoughts tomorrow.

Jayne, the Dog That's Not Called Jayne!

2007-04-21T16:35:00.000-04:00

How's it sit? Pretty cunning, don't ya think?

I think it's the sweetest thing ever.

Hell, he poses like a true knitwear model after a rough and tumble hour at the dog park!

Pattern Specs
Pattern: Jayne Hat Kit from Wear With Style
Modifications: No mods this time
Needles: US 10.5 Crystal Palace Bamboo DPNs
Thoughts: Loved this project! It was a great quick turn around project that fit in with my hellish schedule this week. I've been wearing it around the house all afternoon. :)

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-04-18T20:04:00.000-04:00

As with so many other things in life, you can't have too many dice.

Jayne, the WIP They Call Jayne!

2007-04-16T21:34:00.000-04:00

I finally broke down last week and ordered a Jayne hat kit from Wear With Style. Oh, how excited I was to see a package postmarked Osiris and Canton in my mailbox when I got home tonight.

Hero of Canton Overlooking Hat Kit

Realizing that I didn't have a 16 inch size 10.5 circular needle at my fingertips, I learned the Magic Loop technique so I could get a start on my Jayne Hat. However, I quickly realized I'd rather poke myself in the eye with the pointy Knitpicks Options needles than do Magic Loop long enough to make a hat. I'll have to make a mad dash to the LYS tomorrow evening to get a set of DPNs.

Who wouldn't want a cunning hat like Jayne's?

Movie Musings Monday: Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest

2007-04-16T21:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I started catching up a bit on our newer additions to our DVD collection. If you like a good pirate brain candy movie, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are just the ticket. Sit back, relax, grab some knitting and just enjoy the impressive visual effects, soundtrack, and staggering antics of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars. Good movie, but it's a middle movie. Lose a star for the fate of the prison pooch.
Knitting Rating: 3 out of 5 Skeins. I got a bit distracted by the visuals while picking up stitches on a sock for Hubs. Good for mindless knitting though.

Finished!

2007-04-14T20:32:00.000-04:00

Thursday night, I finished knitting the North Star Scarf. I ended with 7 full pattern repeats , 2 repeats shy of the pattern specifications. I didn't want to tempt the knitting fates by trying more repeats with the wee bit of leftover yarn. In a fit of energetic productivity, blocking commenced this afternoon.

Cause of this evening's back crick
But wait..

ARGH! A MISTAKE!! Why couldn't I see this big honkin' mistake before blocking?

Artistic pose over the snowy April afternoon

Really, the bathroom and I aren't orange. Guess it's new camera time!

Project Specs
Pattern: North Star Scarf from "Arctic Lace"
Modifications: Only completed 7 out of 9 repeats due to short yardage
Yarn: Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in "Horizon Heather". The Knitpicks website has this listed as needing one skein of Alpaca Cloud, but to have a full-sized version, buy two skeins.
Needles: US 3 Knitpicks classic circs
Project Thoughts: Once I got the hang of the slippery Alpaca Cloud, the KP classic circulars were very nice for the lace work. Loved the pointy ends. Pattern was very well done with easy to read charts; I especially liked the inclusion of plain knit stitch counts between pattern elements on the chart. The evenness of the k2tog and k2togtbl kept the stars crisp looking. Overall, I loved this project, and it's a major downer that it's finished.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-04-11T21:15:00.000-04:00

Today's words of wisdom are "don't burn the candle at both ends and then set fire to the middle, too." I've been keeping a pretty crazy schedule lately, and my body decided to revolt. Sunday and Monday, I felt a bit off - headache, burning sinuses. That was just the small beginnings of a nasty bout with sinusitis I have now. Much <3 for antibiotics, cough suppressants, and Puffs with lotion. Hopefully, I'll be able to rejoin the human race in a few days.

No Movies, More Lace

2007-04-09T20:27:00.000-04:00

Once again, I find it to be Monday without any weekend movie watching for a "Movie Musings Monday" post. Keeping busy with trips to my hometown on Friday and Sunday, and a general lack of energy on Saturday left little time that I felt cognizant enough to follow a movie plot.

But, there was knitting. Oh, and how there was knitting.

Now on 7th repeat of the North Star Scarf

A rather large chunk of time Saturday afternoon and night was spent curled up on the couch with CSI Season 5 and The L Word Season 3 DVDs. (Can I just say, sad Alice just breaks my heart!) An 8 hour chunk of Saturday to be exact. I do love lazy weekend days.

On a separate note, there is no way in hell that I'll be able to do a full-sized 9 repeat North Star Scarf with one skein of Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud. If you want a long flowing North Star Scarf, get an extra skein of yarn. I'm hoping beyond hope I can eek by with the wee ball remaining and finish the 7th repeat.

Why I Haven't Bought Much Yarn

2007-04-05T21:29:00.000-04:00

Hubs' Helm

Hubs has gotten involved with medieval reenactment with the SCA over the past year and took up heavy fighting. Since he rather requires the use of his brain to make a living, I insisted that he get a schweet helm to protect his melon. He commissioned the helm in September and picked it up tonight. Halfway to getting all his armor pieces done now, but this was the most expensive piece.

I really deserve some major yarn shopping after this.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

2007-04-04T21:02:00.000-04:00

This week's words of wisdom are fairly serious. Don't allow other's perceptions of your vocabulary influence how you speak.

As a college sophomore in a program that was around 85% male dominated, I took an intro to computer programming course. Being one of five females in the class, I was clearly in the minority. I have always been one to keep up with the pace of lectures. When the professor or presenter asks questions to the class, I will go against my quiet nature and offer an answer to keep the flow of the course going; I don't like those long awkward pauses waiting for responses. During one early morning class, the programming prof had a Visual Basic code snippet on the overhead and asked for a critique of the code. Seeing that there was duplicated code and after waiting until the requisite long awkward pause happened, I raised my hand and stated "The second line of the code is superfluous. It has the same effect as the first." Apparently, using a four-syllable word was just too much, and the professor went on a sarcastic diatribe on my vocabulary stating that he would work "superfluous" into all his lectures. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for the next four months, he worked "superfluous" into every lecture, the ass. I was mortified, especially when I learned that he carried on the tradition into the following semester, too.

My intentions weren't to sound smart or try to impress the class; I was only attempting to get my point across. Looking back, this occurrence is one of those times of my life I could revisit and have a "do over" as it caused me to be quite unwilling to speak up in that class ever again.

Today's Doggie Randomness

2007-04-03T20:01:00.000-04:00

Why are you on the floor taking my picture and not scratching my belly?

The Ol' Switcheroo

2007-04-03T19:46:00.000-04:00

With the untimely demise of Rome and general lack of any other programming that caught my attention, I canceled HBO last weekend. I picked up Showtime just in time to catch the series premiere of The Tudors - loosely based historical drama, count me in! However, we did watch Dexter and enjoyed that more than The Tudors which I purchased Showtime to watch. What can I say, I love those CSI-like shows. My Sunday evenings will be TV filled once again with Dexter, The Tudors, and Dresden Files. :)

As you can guess, I was able to work in some knitting time with all that TV watching.

Lookie, four repeats done!