Dust Bunnies

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...

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

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 :(

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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.